A Wrap Up...

The past few days pretty much proved to me that this public challenge was a good idea. Do you know how many times I've resolved to make a change, and then it all fell apart after a short while, and then I just gave up? 

I've felt pretty icky the past couple of days... and yes, thats why there were no posts. My house looked like a bomb hit it. I was adjusting to the challenge of living with no stovetop- preparing meals was taking all my possible organizational possibilities- I'm very NOT organized and preparing food in the crockpot or baking it meant no last minute dashes to create meals... 

And the cleaning aspect of organization... fell by the wayside.

But I got a few emails, blog comments, and facebook posts asking what happened with this blog...

And that's what gave me the push to get back on track.

I first have to say that one thing I have managed to do is get the bed made every morning, which has made a big difference.

Friday we were having guests for a meal, so the place got cleaned spotless by Friday afternoon. Friday, before bed, it was all clean other than dishes, which I finished Saturday morning. And then Saturday morning I got so into the challenge that I started doing so many other things. I swept the upstairs hallway, swept the bedroom, tidied the kid's bedroom, and emptied the dishrack. The place was spotless today- I didn't let even one dish hit the sink or dishrack- I would wash each dish as it got dirty, then dry it and put it away. The place didn't get one iota dirty the whole entire day.

I'm so proud of myself. Here's how it is now before bed. And it looked exactly like this this afternoon as well. Yay for me!

A bit too exhausted to tally up my points so far though tonight.

Gnite.

Those Nightly Dishes- A Solution

I've discovered that my biggest difficulty in this challenge is getting the sink cleaned before bed every night. Tidying up is fine and manageable, but too many times I am leaving the dishes in the sink and because of that, not "meeting the requirements" because I don't want to get my hands all cold and wet right before sleeping. Which almost makes me feel like there's no point tidying up, because I anyhow won't meet the specifications I set out for myself.
The reason I wanted clean sinks before bed is because I know I tend to let dishes build up and I don't want it to get as bad as it used to be.
But I don't want to set myself unreasonable goals, and I'm noticing that washing the dishes before bed every night is an unreasonable goal.
So, I decided that as long as the sink is clean of dishes by 9 am (by which point it is both supper and breakfast dishes), I will have gotten full points for the previous day (provided the place was tidied before bed).

Flexibility, and keeping the house in a state of relative tidiness at all times is the goal here, not rigidity and sticking to rules.

My sinks are cleaned now, and I decided I get full points for last night.

December 5th, 2011- Afternoon and Bedtime

Ok, today was better than previous days, but not perfect.

By 3 pm, the counters were cleaned, table was cleaned, floor was cleaned, and all dishes were washed. Didn't snap a pic.

I also had made the beds and sorted out the laundry, for an extra 3 bonus points.

This evening, I really wanted to go to sleep. Instead, I put the few supper dishes in the sink, cleaned off the counters and the dining room table and swept the floor.

Ok, I didn't wash the few dishes (I am cold, the water is cold, and I don't want to freeze my hands right before heading to bed), but I plan on doing them first thing in the AM.

I'm proud of myself for tidying up when I only wanted to sleep.

So, full points for this afternoon, and half points for this evening, plus an extra 2 bonus points. Too tired to look at the tally so far, so I'll add it up in the morning.

Gnite y'all.

How's your house today?

December 4, Afternoon and Bedtime

I don't really know how to give myself points for today. I wasn't even home at 3 pm to get the place clean or dirty. I was in the city from 10 am until 5 pm, so there's no 3 pm picture.
Before I left in the morning, the table was cleaned, as were the counters and floors, and the beds were made, and there were exactly 4 dishes in the sink, which were subsequently washed when I came home at 5 pm.
I think, even though there were those 4 dishes in the sink, the fact that I made the effort to tidy the place before I left at 10 (when I usually am leaving in such a rush that I leave a place a royal mess) will give me full points for the afternoon challenge for today.

Then tonight, I definitely deserve kudos. I was at a marriage workshop this evening and I came back really late (ok, not even so late, but I was tired enough that it felt really late) and wanted nothing more than to conk out the second I walked in the door.
Instead, I stayed up and got the place cleaned up, the counters cleaned, the table cleaned and the food put away, the floor cleaned, and I even mopped the floor!!! When I would have preferred to be sleeping!!!

I'll be honest. This is the part where it becomes hard for me. Its easy for me to get excited at the beginning of a challenge, go all gung ho about a project... and then a short while into it, I kind of give up, and there go my plans.

Its a regular thing for me. In fact, the fact that I've had my Penniless Parenting blog for so long is quite an accomplishment for me, because its the project I've stuck with for the longest time.

I'm having a harder time staying motivated to clean now. The past few day's posts kind of show that I've been slacking a bit. But I don't WANT to slack. I am enjoying the tidiness. I am just also feeling very very very tired lately (no matter how much extra sleep I seem to be getting) which makes it harder for me to motivate myself to clean...

I need extra encouragement to not give up this challenge.

Even though its making my life better and is doing wonders for my marriage, my relationship with my husband and kids, and even is just making me feel better... I still have this little voice in my head saying "Just give up, don't bother, you'll always be messy, you're just trying to kid yourself..."

Anyhow, so in terms of how I scored so far, I got the place to the proscribed standards 11.5 out of 15 possible times, and 11.5 out of 60 total times. I get two bonus points today, one for beds in the master bedroom made, and one for the floors mopped, for a grand total of 24 bonus points.

So, how do you work when it comes to motivation? Do you start a project all enthusiastic, and then the enthusiasm wanes and the project peters out? How do you learn to stick with a project or task?

December 2-3, 2011

Hrmm. Slacking off with the pic taking and blog posting, I know. I just had a crazy past 48 hours, including not having any gas in my house and having repeated black outs, and having lots of cooking that needed to get done. I pretty much spent the whole day yesterday at my friend's house, cooking all my food there, and then lugging my things back and forth repeatedly. No fun.
And then on top of that all, I've just been so exhausted that I've been crashing at 9:30 pm and on top of that, taking naps during the day.
And on top of that, Ike's been having lots of potty issues so.... yea, there goes any modicum of relaxation I might be able to get.
So I don't really have pics for Friday afternoon, evening, or Saturday afternoon. Only for Saturday night. But I am keeping track of whether or not I accomplished my goals.

So, how did I do?

Friday Afternoon:
The place was pretty clean. Dishes washed, table cleared, floor cleaned. Full points for Friday afternoon. Two bonus point for the kid's bedroom and master bedroom's bed's made.

Friday Night:
No points. I crashed at 9:30 pm with a sink full of dishes, counters full of stuff, and supper stuff still on the table. Hey, at least the floor was clean.

Saturday Afternoon:
No points. Dishes on the table, in the sink, on the counter. Yea...

Saturday Bedtime:
Finally. Back on track.
Full points.

Counters cleaned. Sinks cleared. Floors cleaned.

Table cleared.

No bonus points though. 

Total tally so far- I've gotten the place cleaned to the standards I set 9.5 out of 13 possible times, and 9.5 out of the 60 possible so far.

22 total bonus points.

I gotta get back on track. Being tired isn't an excuse to let the place slide into disarray.

But at the same time, I'm not going to eat myself up for being human. Even when the place was a mess, it was a far cry from the accumulated mess that I've managed to let build up in my home at times. My house was never messy for more than 24 hours at a time, and that's saying something, fortunately. (Not sure if more about my current standards of cleanliness or my previous lack of one, but any improvement is great!)

Anyhow, I'm off to bed now. I'm STILL tired. Even though I've slept more the past few days than I have in a while!!!

How was the cleanliness of your place these past few days?

December 1, 2011- Bed Time

Ok. Moment of truth has come to pass.
I went to bed last night and left the house a royal mess. Too tired to tidy up even a drop. Too tired to even take a pic. I need to get more sleep regularly so this doesn't happen again. But I KNOW the house will get in tip top shape by 3 pm today and will be clean at bedtime tonight.

Eek.

Embarassing.
But I need this to be my motivation.

(I snapped these pics first thing in the morning and didn't move a THING to be as honest as possible as to how it was before bed.)

No words necessary.

Aside from- "Well hey, I've seen the house get worse than this, and this will take less than 30 mins to clean up."

Lol does your house get this messy, less messy, or worse?

December 1, 2011- Aternoon

So last night, in my extreme tiredness, I let the standards of cleanliness in my place slide, leaving a very little clutter on the table and counter, and a small amount of dishes in the sink. After some thought, I decided to give myself half credit for that, because it took less than 5 minutes to clean up last night's "mess" this morning. And even that mess was much better than how my house usually would get.

Today, I got back on the bandwagon and got my act together, and I'm proud of how I got the place clean again, and even did more than the bare minimum standard that I set for myself.

Counters free from clutter and cleaned, and sinks cleaned and dishes washed. I've got some chicken defrosting in the sink now.

Dining room table cleaned, and floors tidied and freed from clutter.

I also made the beds, as you can see through the door in the picture.

Today, one of the "extras" that I did was organizing my freezer. I emptied it all out, and then put it back in neatly, in an organized fashion, so I can see what foods are where and be able to stock my freezer more effectively for after birth.

Top shelf left- frozen fish. Middle- raw meats. Right- frozen chopped vegetables.

Middle shelf left- ready made meals. Right- precooked proteins including cooked gizzards, hot dogs, and cooked beans.

Bottom shelf left- ready made breakfasts (including waffles, crepes, hash browns. Middle- grains and such. Left- cooked broths and tomato paste.

So far, I got the place to the standards I set for this challenge 7.5 times out of the total 8 possible so far (counting yesterday as half), and 7.5 out of 60 possible times for this challenge.

Today I get bonus points-

+1 for making the master bedroom beds

+1 for making the beds in the kid's room

+1 for sorting and putting away the laundry

+1 for cleaning and sorting the freezer

That makes a total of 20 bonus points thus far.

Good for me!

I'm proud of myself for not using last night as an excuse to get back into my messy rut!

What types of things usually get you into a messy rut?

November 30, 2011- Bedtime

This post was going to be entitled "Mess, and I'm too tired to care." Up until 5 minutes before I took this pic, there were supper dishes on the table, food on the counter and stove, and things on the floor. But yea, I decided not to leave them as is and to put them away. Mostly, anyhow.

I have dishes in the sink overnight for the first time since starting this challenge. Not a million dishes, but still dishes.

And I honestly am too tired to care. Too tired to wash them. Went to sleep too late last night and was up with the kids too many times in the night to stay up later to wash these.

Oh well.

I'll decide tomorrow if that means I "failed" this challenge today, or if I passed, or if I get "half credit". I'm leaning towards half credit.

Because other than those eggs, the counters are clean. And so is the floor.

And aside for that backpack that I'm too tired to deal with at the moment (emptying it out, etc...), the table is also free from clutter.

I'll tally up the score in the AM.

Good night.

I'm zonked.

What do you say? Points for cleanliness for tonight, or my first "incomplete"? Do you leave dishes in the sink overnight?

November 30, 2011- Afternoon

Today is proof that this challenge is a good idea for me. I had a lazy morning this morning, let dishes lie around in the sink, and the counters were full of stuff. It was 2 oclock, and I realized that I'd be taking pictures in an hour, and I didn't want my mess posted on the internet! So I quickly washed the dishes in less than 5 minutes, tidied the counters and the floor, and cleaned out the sink. Avoiding public humiliation certainly is a great motivation to not be lazy!

Clean table. Ike took out that toy- the pile of papers from the past few days is now missing from the table.

Clean counters and sink. I started a batch of citrus cleaner, and that now is sitting on the counter in addition. Yes, there are dishes in the dish rack.

So far, out of the 6 times so far in the challenge, I passed the test of keeping the place to the proscribed cleanliness standard 6 times. 6 times out of a total possible 60. That's 10% and that's big!

No bonus points for me today. Floor needs mopping, beds haven't been made, and laundry needs to be put away badly. Thats ok, I don't need to be perfect all the time. 16 bonus points so far. The point isn't perfection and always doing more than needed, its to make good habits and make sure the basic living area in our home stays presentable most of the time, and I've been accomplishing that so far.

What motivates you to clean? Does not wanting to publically humiliate yourself work to motivate you?
How was your house today?

11-29-2011 Bed Time

Got the place cleaned before bed tonight! This wasn't such an easy feat as I did a massive grocery shop tonight and only arrived home late, but even so, sinks and counters are cleaned. Dish racks empty!!! Yay for me!

Dining room table free from clutter and dirt.

And floor mopped!

This means that so far, I succeeded to keep the place to the standards I set for myself 5 out of the 5 times so far, and 5 out of the total 60 times possible for this challenge! Really proud of myself!

2 bonus points tonight.
+1 for the mopped floor
+1 for the empty dish racks

Total of 16 bonus points so far!

Aight, have a good night!

Will you manage to have a clean house before bed tonight? Why or why not?

11-29-2011 Afternoon

Today, I am so glad that I didn't fall off the bandwagon last night, because waking up to a clean house, clean counters, and empty sink (with breakfast already made) set the tone for another great day like yesterday. I cleaned up from breakfast, then the kids and I went out for a playdate, then went to the store and foraging, and then came home and did projects while I made lunch. I cleaned up as I went along when making lunch, something I rarely ever do, but it was easier to motivate myself to do that when the sinks started off empty and I wanted to keep them that way.

Here's the kitchen. All clean. Counters freed of clutter and cleaned, sinks empty, and DISHRACKS EMPTY!!! Woohoo!!!

Dining room table cleaned and floor cleaned! Yay!

Through the door, you can see the beds were made in the master bedroom. :-D

So, thus far, I've managed to keep the place to the standards I set for myself 4 out of the 60 total times, and 4 out of the 4 chances so far! I'm really proud of myself!

Bonus points today as well!
+1 for bathtub cleaned
+1 for dish rack emptied
+1 for master bedroom beds made
+1 for kid's bed's made
+1 for sorting and putting away all the clean laundry
+1 for tidying up the master bedroom

For a total of 6 bonus points in addition to the 8 bonus points I earned yesterday for a total of 14 bonus points so far!

Because I'm doing such a good job so far, I realized there's a chance that I will be getting the place perfect 60 out of the 60 possible times, and if I manage that, I'll reward myself by buying myself those nice earrings in addition to taking myself out for sushi.

Today, I was talking with a friend of mine who started reading this blog and was cheering me on (you know who you are!) who is very much "queen of neat", who gave me some tips for some of my messiness downfalls- cooking. She gave me tips how to not get the sinks entirely full while cooking meals, and I applied then when making lunch today and they worked out terrifically.

I also had a talk with my kids about bad habits, bad habits that I have, bad habits that they have, and how its important to break bad habits. I mentioned to them that messiness was one of my bad habits, that leaving things lying around was one of my bad habits, as well as dropping things on the floor and not picking them up. We decided to work on our bad habit of messiness as a family, and when they leave things lying around, I just mention "bad habits" and ask then if they see what bad habits they're doing, and then cheerfully they go up and pick up the things they left lying around on the floor.
I think part of the reason the place would get so messy is that I wasn't good about having the kids clean up after themselves, and then I'd resent having to clean their mess, so I'd just leave it. By working on our habits as a family, I think it'll be less work in general for everyone, and less feeling overwhelmed because no mess is building up.

How was your house today? Did you manage to keep it clean?
Do your kids clean up after themselves or are you always picking up the things they leave lying around?

11/28/2011- Day 2 Bed Time

I'll be totally honest here. I was about to fall off the bandwagon tonight, after only my third post. I was in the city this evening meeting my doula, and came home absolutely wiped out. I actually fell asleep on the bus and wanted to roll into bed and sleep for the rest of the night, even though it was still really early. Last night I only slept 2 am until 6:30 pm, so that's understandable, but I was torn.
My bed was desperately calling me.
But the supper dishes were on the table, and there were the lunch dishes in the sink. I really didn't want to leave dishes overnight, because I was afraid that that would stop my clean streak and just encourage messiness. And because I knew I had to post here tonight with a pic... and I didn't want to post a pic of a less than spotless kitchen, especially not on day 2 of the challenge.

So I convinced my husband to wash the dishes while I made his breakfast and lunch for tomorrow (extra challenging because I haven't been grocery shopping in 3 weeks and am really short on ingredients- I ended up making him pancakes- with eggs and milk- and mashed potatoes with green beans).

So... This clean house. Well, for the most part it was my doing. I didn't let it become the royal bomb it usually does with toys all over the floor and dishes piled high in the sink and pots and pans all over the counter and stove, etc...
But the fact that the sink is all the way clean, that there are no dirty dishes in the pic... That is thanks to my husband, Mike.
Of course, Mike often does do the dishes in our marriage and often resents it, because there really is no reason why someone like myself home all day should be messing the place as terribly as I generally do and not clean up after myself (and today proved him right about that)... but because he saw how hard I worked to not only keep the place clean but to work on the other things as well today (cleaning under the bed, et al), he was more than happy to clean up the few supper stuff while I cooked food for tomorrow.

Clean sink, post breakfast and lunch prep for tomorrow. I actually did wash those dishes (hubby just did the dishes that were in the sink prior to that) as well as cleaning off the counter.
Yes, I do want to start having the dish rack empty before bed, but that'll come in time, I hope.

Ike sitting at the clean table on a relatively clean floor. Yes, he's still up. Thats what happens when he falls asleep at 6 PM while I'm out, wakes up at 7:30 asking for Mommy and doesn't fall back asleep because he wants Mommy. 6 PM is NOT a good time for a 2 year old to nap.

And no, he's not wearing pants. He's holding them in his lap. Somehow, he's not cold. 2 year olds...

As for the cleanliness state of the house- laundry on the line that will be dry by tomorrow AM and needing to be sorted, laundry in the machine that needs to be hung up, and the floor could use a mopping.

Tomorrow, they say, is another day.

So far, 3 out of 3 possible chances for a clean house. 3 out of the potential 60 times for this challenge. No bonus points for tonight, and I really shouldn't be getting today's points either because my husband did help with this one... But the fact that I did stay up and didn't go to sleep when I wanted to, but instead stayed up to get things done that needed to get done... I'll give myself credit for this one.

Oh, and as for rewards and motivation, I allowed myself to window shop and look at a display of nice earrings while I was in town today, to show me what I can have if I stick to this resolution of mine. And I passed by the sushi place, was very tempted to treat myself, and then refrained, saying "No, Penny, that's only if you manage to keep the place clean. No cheating!"

So, did you manage to keep your place clean today?

11-28-11 Afternoon

I'm living up to the challenge so far, not only keeping the standards of cleanliness from last night, but cleaning even more, despite actually living in the house today with my 2 homeschooled boys and taking care of breakfast and lunch.

At 3 pm, the counters were clean, as was the sink. (They only stopped being clean for a few minutes at a time, and stayed clean from 11 am and onwards.)

Floor clean, and dining room table cleaned!

2 out of 60 possible chances to get the place clean, and 2 out of 2 possible chances so far. Woohoo for me!

To be honest, once the place was clean already, it got me motivated to keep it clean, because it was only a few minutes work at a time to keep it that way, and I was proud of how the place looked.

I even got motivated to go above and beyond what I needed to do. The whole tone in the house was pleasant this morning. We were productive with homeschooling, did projects, went to the park, prepared food...
And also cleaned extra stuff.

I get bonus points today.
+1 for cleaning the stove top
+1 for making my bed
+1 for making the beds in the kid's room
+1 for tidying up the master bedroom
+1 for tidying up the kid's bedroom
+1 for cleaning the upstairs hallway and stairs
+1 for sorting and putting away all the clean laundry and washing and hanging more loads
+1 for sorting out the stuff on my shelves

Woohoo for me! I am really proud of myself, and can't wait to keep up this streak!

11/27/11- Bed Time

I cleaned the place pretty well this afternoon. It really set the tone in the house, and two people who came over commented on the place. That was enough to motivate me, and to get me to want it to stay like that. The atmosphere in the house was very relaxed because of the state of the house.

Even after the house was clean this afternoon, the kitchen got a little messier again because of making and serving supper, and then making my husband's breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. Even so, I washed up and tidied up before bed.

Here's the results!

Cleaned kitchen counter, empty sinks. Dish rack full of dishes, but that's fine.

Dining room table clean. Floor free of clutter. (Yes, under the table that's a booster seat. That's where we store it. Lol.)

Floor in the general kitchen area also clean.

Yay for me! 

So far, 1/60 possible times cleaned up to the standards I set for myself! 1/1 chances so far successfully completed. 

Yay!!!

Three cheers for me!

What This Blog Is About

I am a very messy person by nature.
However, neatness, cleanliness, and organization are traits that are important to me. They're traits I want to improve, both because of character development, and because I think it'll improve my life and the life of my family members to be living in a clean house and not in a pig sty.
The problem is, I try to focus on working on myself, but it usually peters out because of lack of motivation and accountability.

This blog is my accountability and maybe my support group and motivation.

I am due to give birth in approximately 30 days with my third kid. My life is already pretty hectic; adding a third kid will only serve to make my life more hectic.
If I can add some peace and sanity to my life by keeping the house orderly, I know the transition from mother of 2 to mother of 3 will be a lot easier.

Hence, this challenge.

30 days of cleaning, accountability, and rewarding.

30 days in which I will try my very best to make the main living areas in our home neat and tidy 2 times a day.

My husband comes home from work approximately 3:00 PM. I go to sleep somewhere around 12 AM.
2 times per day, I am challenging myself to get the place clean to a certain standard, and post pictures of the results on this blog.
What standard do I mean?
At 3:00 PM and before bed, I want the kitchen counters to be clean from clutter, cleaned, and wiped down, the kitchen sinks to be free from dishes and cleaned out, the dining room table to be free of major mess/clutter, and the kitchen/dining room floor to be cleared from toys, clutter, garbage, etc...
This is my challenge, and it is what I will try to stick to.
2 times per day I will be snapping photographs. 2 times per day I will be posting them on my blog. Even if the kitchen is a mess. Maybe embarrassment might motivate me?

My reward? Aside for feeling good about myself and my clean home, I will be rewarding myself.
If out of the next 60 times I am going to try to get the place clean I manage to actually clean it 40 times, I will buy myself some nice earrings, something I don't need but really would like. If I clean it 20 times out of the next 60, I will treat myself out to a sushi dinner.

I will also give myself extra points for each of the following:
Make the beds in the master bedroom.
Clean and tidy the floor in the master bedroom.
Sort, fold, and put away all the clean laundry.
Make the beds and tidy the children's bedroom.
Clean and tidy the bathroom.
Mop the floor.
Empty the dish racks completely.

If I manage to do all those on top of everything else, I'll give myself some other reward, I still have to figure out what.

So, here's my challenge.
Think I'm up to it?

Why 30 days? Because 30 days of working on myself, I feel, will be enough to hopefully start off a good habit, break me out of my messy rut, and get me into a good cleaning routine.

Who wants to join me in this challenge?