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Day 8 of the challenge! Today was all about making the bedroom a sanctuary.

Well… I don’t think there’s anything that can be done with our bedroom right now. There’s nowhere to put plants, candles, etc. and I can’t hang any pictures on the walls. I made the bed this morning and made sure everything was picked up and put away.

Instead, I worked on the bathrooms. We have two, one in the hallway and one just off our bedroom. The bathroom off our bedroom is deemed the kitty bathroom. That’s where the catboxes are. Instead, we use the bathroom off the hallway because it has a full tub.

I hate cleaning bathrooms. It’s my least favorite chore. Unfortunately, I procrastinate cleaning either bathroom. I get grossed out by the bathrooms even if I clean them once a week. Instead (confession time!), I only clean it about once a month. The toilet bowl gets cleaned more often than that, but the entire bathroom receives a scrub down about once every 4 weeks. Bad Cassandra!

Because the cleaning challenge spends several days working on the bedroom, I decided to spend several days working on the bathrooms. Sure, I could do them all at once but then I’d have to work in there for several hours. No thanks. Instead, I’ll break it up over a couple days and then everything will be clean. Hopefully then I can get back to cleaning the bathroom once a week! So today I cleaned the mirrors and the countertops in both bathrooms. Tomorrow I’m going to tackle the toilets and the showers. On Thursday I will scrub both floors. Then both bathrooms will be all fresh and clean!

Instead of posting both before and after photos, I just have the Befores. I’ll post Afters on Thursday when everything is clean.

Kitty bathroom:
Yes, the cats are messy. I can sweep and there will be cat litter on the floor within four hours… Oh, and the clothes hanging in the shower are my line drying shirts. The kitty bathroom is the only place in the house with enough room to line dry, as the apartment complex will not allow us to use a clothes line on our patio.

Main bathroom:

Posting pictures on the internet of my dirty bathroom is really embarrassing. Maybe that will motivate me to keep it clean?

Today is day 7 of the 31 Days to Clean challenge. I can’t believe I’ve completed 7 days already! Time goes by way too quickly.

The mental aspect of today’s lesson revolved around six tips in leading a self-disciplined life.

1. Commitment – Sometimes I struggle to remain committed. I don’t have too many issues making a commitment; it’s maintaining commitment that is difficult.

2. Set and complete goals – Again, I have little trouble setting goals. I love creating goals and steps to complete those goals. I just have trouble following through.

3. Do what you say you will do – I try but need to try harder. If I don’t think I can complete something, I need to keep my mouth shut about volunteering. Which leads to number 4…

4. Learn to say “no” – Yup. Learn to say no.

5. Practice – Practice doesn’t make perfect, though it certainly helps improve. Moving forward and making progress is more important than reaching perfection, especially if perfection isn’t something that will likely be reached. It’s still important to try!

6. Don’t give up – Never quit!

Today’s cleaning challenge is general bedroom clean up. As evidenced by the pictures below, our bedroom is very sparse and didn’t need much cleaning. I put the clothes away, vacuumed, made the bed, and took the library books into the living room where they belonged.

Before:

After:

We live very simply (as in, we don’t have any money and therefore can’t afford nicer furniture). The only things in our bedroom are the futon we sleep on and a flipped over laundry basket that serves as my nightstand. It’s pretty easy to avoid clutter in the bedroom when you have nowhere to put it!

Day 4 of the 31 Days to Clean challenge. Today’s post talked about personality types and how we best clean. This week, listing out my “six most important things” is working very well for me. A strict schedule cramps my style, but telling myself that I will complete a, b, and c from the list by lunch and x, y, and z by dinner is working extremely well. Our house is actually staying pretty clean!

The cleaning assignment for today is the living room. Our living room is usually the cleanest room in the house, probably because we spend almost all of our waking hours here. A long time ago, the clutter drove me crazy and I spent a week long vacation cleaning and reorganizing our living room. We work, play, and relax in our living room and I try to keep it fairly clean.

Before:

After:

The extra office chair is our cats’ chair. Of course, they slept there more before we bought the new office chairs. They prefer whichever chair we are sitting in, not one that’s designated the “official cat hair collector.”

We also have a canvas library book bag that we keep next to the coffee table. When we finish a library book, we toss it into the bag and always have books ready to return. Of course, our cats love lying on the bag or rubbing on it and it is also covered in cat hair. Gotta love those cats!

Moving forward in the 31 Days to Clean series… Today is day 2 and Sarah Mae points out the importance of the “Six Most Important Things List.” I’ve heard the idea before but I’m not sure where. I’ve been implementing the list for the past few days and my productivity has sky-rocketed. The only thing I haven’t tried is to write my list out the night before. I’ve been writing it the morning of.

My six most important things list has some of the same tasks from day to day but most are different. I’ve reminded myself of upcoming bills, budget updates, work assignments, some research I’m currently doing, and various chores. Blogging is on my list today as I didn’t want to forget to write about day 2.

Sarah Mae also talks about scheduling issues. I have a very loose schedule, especially since my husband works from home most of the time. I tend to go to bed when my body says it’s time and I wake up naturally every morning. Immediately after waking, I write my morning pages (will blog about this some other time) and then exercise. Shower after exercise and then breakfast. By this time, it’s usually 9 or so already. The rest of the day doesn’t follow any sort of formal schedule. I complete my work assignment if I have one, work on my six most important things list, and attempt to tame our spare bedroom.

Maybe if my husband starts working out of client offices instead of home I will write out a time schedule for myself. But right now, I vacuum in between his calls. A formal schedule would not work with his current work situation.

My biggest productivity blocker is the internet. I try to limit my browsing time but I use the internet to work. It’s literally impossible for me to work without it. I also use the computer to work on the budget, pay bills, do research for my writing, write, etc. I think the easiest way to conquer my biggest time waster is just to limit the amount of time I spend surfing. I’m allowed to use the computer for personal reasons for a set amount of time, usually 15-30 minutes, and then I move on to something else that’s more productive.

In the spirit of productivity, I tackled the kitchen today and took before and after pictures.

Before:

After:

Ahhhhh, much better.