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



Comments

  1. You are doing a great job and seeing the pictures of your hidden corners at home makes me feel so much better about mine! I haven't got underway as I wanted to but this has given me the shove I needed. I'm going to give everything a quick surface tidy and clean today and then start on my craft cupboard. I might discover some lovely yarn I've forgotten about!

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  2. You're doing better than me ... a catalogue of minor disasters has slowed me down. But I have made a start ... it's just that what I've done so far is change what I store where to make life easier for me so there's nothing much to actually see. I'm planning some cushions to gussy up the living room though, hopefully they'll be putting in an appearance on the blog soon, just as soon as I get the sewing machine serviced :D

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  3. I am still going too, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, I have had two decluttering sessions and got rid of about seven black sacks full. The trouble is, you can't notice! it all gets dirty again and it is exhausting. I am not going to give up though! This is a long term project right? I just picked up nine black sacks of Alpaca fleece today that somebody gave me. I have nowhere to hide it! It is hiding in the car. I better get spinning! x

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  4. I was doing really good with the cleaning and decluttering. I organized most of my Christmas decorations. Made my heart go pitter-patter to see them all organized in their boxes.
    Then..... I tore my calf muscle!!! wah. I can hardly do anything now.

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  5. It's nice to see that my crochet corner lookes exactly like your knitting corner in the before photo! I get it cleaned and tidied and then it doesn't take too long and it's a disaster again... always a work in progress.

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  6. You're doing a great job! I really must do something similar myself as my house currently resembles a bomb site! I just need the motivation. I thought I'd followed you already but obviously hadn't. I definitely have now. xx

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  7. Hi Sandra,
    Your making great progress. Love all your little baskets your using for storage. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    Food for Thought
    http://100sweets.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-may-remember-me-saying-i-was-going.html

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  8. Good on you for your de-cluttering. I need some baskets for various bits and bobs they are a nice way to store stash.

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  9. Looking good Sandra! Great progress!

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  10. WOOOOO HOOOO I'm a year late but hey I dont care, it's always good to be organised.. Thank you again for doing My Pretty Home xx

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