Just keep cleaning

Morning, morning, morning!  The sun is shinning, the sky is a bright, bright blue and my ears are bright, bright red!  I've just got back from dropping my Little One off at school and it's a glorious sunny, crisp winter's day - the perfect kind of winter day and I feel good.  Exhausted, but good.

You might recall I talked about making myself a Pretty Crafty Home?  Well, the first stage, which I shall call 'cleaning everything in blooming sight' is a go-go and I've been working like a little demon through January turning this house upside down and inside out.  I've made fabulous progress, but... aghhh... I'm still not done yet.

To be fair, it's taking so long because I'm also de-cluttering and re-organising as well and that takes time.  So....much....time....!

It turns out I'm a master at squirrelling stuff away.  Once I pull everything out that needs to be sorted, I wonder how on earth I fit it into the room in the first place.  I stuff things into every place conceivable...

So, although I'm a long way off my ideal home, changes are making themselves felt, and things are starting to look a lot better around here.

In the kitchen...

In my room...

and in my little knitting corner...

That doesn't mean I've not still got things to hide though...

Try as I might, it seems practically impossible to fit everything I want to into this house.  I'll keep working at it though.  I have a feeling that this 'de-cluttering' business is going to be something I'm going to have to keep working on for a while.  Pruning things down a bit at a time until I have things under control.

The same thing seems to be true of the cleaning too.  It's a bit of a 'painting the fourth bridge' kind of job at the best of times, but it's dawning on me just how much I've let things slide up to this point.  I've been splitting things into rooms or 'zones' to work on them and I've realised that if I gave just one room/zone a 'spring clean' per week it'd take me the best part of three months to finish the whole house, by which time, I'd have to start in the first room again!  And I don't have a huge house at all.  Sobering thought indeed.

How's your project going so far?  Are you cleaning and de-cluttering first like me?  I thought a little cleaning inspiration would not go a-miss in helping us keep our cleaning mo-jo going:

1.  Anthea Turner - The Perfect Housewife
If you live in the UK you may well remember a programme by this name.  I loved it and found it very inspiring.  I know a lot of people don't rate 'doing housework' as a high priority but Miss Turner sure does!  She goes a little over the top for me sometimes, ' polishing my bathroom taps every day' is just never going to happen, but I do love and follow a lot of what she says.

2.  The Fly Lady
I've never really tried the 'Fly-Lady's' techniques myself but I've heard great things about it all over the internet, it could be what works for you!

3.  Grandma knows best
Anthea again with simple but effective cleaners, very useful and definitely worth knowing.

4.  How clean is your house?
Very, if you check out this site.  Tips for removing all kinds of stain and 'How to' clean everywhere in your home - brilliant.

5.  Baby Wipes
Yep, just plain old baby wipes.  A lot of people know about this one, but it's worth repeating in case you don't.  Baby wipes are excellent for cleaning up all kinds of spills on clothes and floors including carpet.  Great for cutting through grease on microwave tops and cooker hoods.  You name it, baby wipes will probably clean it!


Want to join us on our quest for a better home?  All the details can be found on the PCH page.  Or, got some tips of your own?  Photos of progress so far?  Come and join the Pretty Crafty Home group on Flickr.

See you all soon.


S x