Why cleaning 1 category a week is working – wk 3

Why cleaning 1 category a week is working – wk 3

NEXT – Visit week 4 HERE

Visit all the series to date HERE

As you already may be aware, I’m going full force on cleaning my home from top to bottom based on (affiliate link) Marie Kondo’s book, The life-changing magic of tidying up. Even if it takes an entire year!

But I will admit, it isn’t a pretty task. It doesn’t make pretty pictures, just clean ones.

It’s hard, because it takes EVERYTHING out of me not to go full-tilt on a room.

For example, I was working on my master bedroom closet, when I realized the task was going really quickly, since I go through my closet a few times a year. I eyed the room, and was SO tempted to gut everything aside from the main furniture. Clean it top to bottom, and paint where needed…

But that’s connected to the ensuite that still needs work… 

Squirrel brain! NO! NO NO NO!

I quickly put my foot down and refocused…  I didn’t want to end up with a pretty one-room makeover… I wanted to end up with a clean house!

Well, first.

So I proceeded to drop my much more exciting thoughts of painting walls and go through ALL the clothing closets, ending up with a pile to go to my son’s place, 3 garbage bags bound for the thrift, and a lot of empty hangers. And even an empty shelf!

Thanks to the looming weekend deadline, over one afternoon I got all 3 closets done, including photographing this coat I never wear, getting it photographed, listed on a Facebook bidding site, successfully selling it and getting paid, all within 24 hours!

Goodness.

Why I’m sharing this

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And there of course is a reason I’m sharing this with you. 

In the past, I use to go full speed ahead, scoff at the book, (that may still come LOL), and just end up doing my own thing.

But I quickly got overwhelmed, hating devoting so much time to just cleaning, then I’d end up deep gutting a room desperate for a makeover, leaving me with no time to continue cleaning the rest of the year.

So… here’s why I think this kind of challenge works…

Why I think cleaning 1 category a week is working
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  • It’s big enough to make a dent, but small enough to stay on task.
  • It’ll give you time to live life aside from just endlessly cleaning.
  • You won’t be overwhelmed. Once the category is done, you’re cleaning is done for the week and you can move onto other things. It’s about balance!

I know the messier work is coming soon though. Boy is it. But for now, I’m sticking to the plan! 1 category a week, then once I hit miscellaneous, I may go room to room.

But so far? This is do-able. And it’s working.

I wasn’t even going to blog about cleaning any more. And I will stop if there’s no interest. 

But I did want to share this segment to encourage you to keep going! I am, regardless of whether you see it show up on the blog or not!

Below is a short documentary of my closet process… thank goodness for cat entertainment…


View video below:

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This week’s challenge – Books!

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In case you’ve decided to follow the challenge along with me and you are not on Facebook, the next category is books! Here’s what Marie Kondo says about it:

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A reason to keep a book:

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One you return to frequently.

You truly DO want to read it and will start. TODAY. LOL
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4 categories to consider:

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General (for pleasure)

Practical (cookbooks, instructional, etc.)

Visual (photographs, etc.)

Magazines

 

Tip: You may have wanted to read the book when you bough it, but if you haven’t read (or finished) it by now, the book’s purpose was to teach you that you didn’t need it. And the likelihood of you actually reading it is low.

 
So books it is! Cya next week…  hopefully much more book-less! 
 
What will you be working on this week?

 

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Visit all the series to date HERE


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18 thoughts on “Why cleaning 1 category a week is working – wk 3

  1. I’m inspired by your weekly cleaning and for one would like you to continue blogging about it…its inspiring and seeing someone stay with it on line is motivational.
    Ann

  2. You might try the book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, by Dana K. White. Although you don’t seem to have a huge declutter issue. I don’t relate to Marie Kondo but Dana could be my sister!

    • Oh cool! Thanks for the great recommendation Carla! I know what you mean about Marie. Some of her theory feels a little flighty, but after I punch through that part, I’m finding the instruction pretty sound! So far. If I start floundering, I’ll be in search of your recommendation.

      In fact… I’ll do one better. I’ll go see if it’s avail in my local library… wouldn’t hurt to at least peek at it, right?!

  3. I am going to throw all of my clothes on the bed and go thru them. I too love my flannel shirts! 🙂 The problem i foresee is that instead of a cute little cat i have a 90 lb. dog that loves to get on clothes and she is stubborn. If there was a way to send you a video i would. Keep going, i’m right behind you.

    • Good morning, Donna

      You are my motivation to keep going. I did manage to get my spices in order finally. I ordered the spice bottles shown by one of the gals on “crap to clean.” At least now I can see what I have and also have a pretty empty cabinet. The closet I have been through and need to do it again. Still too many clothes. I do not have many books, thank goodness. Thank you Donna for keeping me on tract.

    • Haha! Well, I’d still welcome a 90 lb dog’s help if it helped encourage me to stay the course!

      You can certainly share short clips in the Facebook group if desired!

      Regarding the flannel shirts? I even picked up some ‘blouse’ types so I’d feel dressy on occasion. LOL

      True blue Canadian, eh? getting back to work now…

  4. I too am reading the book and took advantage of having a day off work in order to complete the project in one day. With the project off my “to do” list I actually realized I found something in my closet that I have been looking for….space 🙂 I also had to fight off the squirrels today and resist the urge to tear the whole room apart and do a deep cleaning dive, but stopped myself so I could stay on task. Slow and steady will win every time…or so I am told..excited to be on this journey with you. Keep blogging….people are reading and listening 🙂

    • I could have written your post! In fact, I think I did! LOL

      It’s true! We have this massive tendency to sprint in all directions. That won’t get the cleaning job done though!

      I also found pounding it out in a day really motivating! Clear results were shown quickly, and it was then just done. Kudos to us!!!

      Glad you spoke up, you’ve helped motivate me to keep posting about it!

  5. I’ve needed someone and something to inspire me & you and your Facebook group have done both! It’s like having a push behind good intentions and it’s been fun to follow along. Now if I could only downsize my closet, like yours, but living in SD where we have four distinct seasons is the excuse I use for keeping way too much clothing and too many shoes.

    • Hey Luane, I’m positively thrilled to hear both the blogging AND group are working so well for you! YAY!

      And also bear in mind, I live in my home on my own, so I get the whole entire place to myself. I think my biz takes up the most room, but I’m willing to share if it can all remain under one roof though…

      But my closets are tiny, so I had to maximize them with those cheap closet kits which tripled their space.

      And I do go through my clothes several times a year to keep up the space.

      Maybe you can cut down on the amount of each season if you don’t wear everything? Some people turn their hangers backwards, and if it’s worn, it gets hung up properly again. Anything backwards gets ditched at the end of the year because it wasn’t worn. I think that’s really smart!

      • Thanks, Donna, for the encouragement and great idea of turning the hangers in my closet backwards. I’d read that somewhere but forgot about it. Now that I’m retired I don’t need as many clothes so have to let go!

        I became a widow 7 yrs. ago at 62 so have 1600 sq. ft.(the top floor) of house to myself, but was blessed to have my daughter, now 41, move into my downstairs walkout apt. 5 yrs. ago. She works 7 mos. and travels 5 mos. doing house and pet sitting overseas so I have the entire house to myself from Dec. to May.

        Ask myself all the time “if I moved, would I take this” but I’m also a collector of rustic junk and builder so love all your ideas!

  6. I do enjoy enjoy all the blogs ….. I began cleaning my main coat closet, but got distracted by first, cleaning all the coats, then setting up to paint the interior of the closet.

    • Glad to hear Ann! And Uh oh… you got bit by the squirrel syndrome! haha

      But here’s the thing. If you are in need of the space, and it’s just a quick refresh, I say go for it if you don’t want to revisit the closets again. At some point you’ll need to do it anyway!

      Maybe while the paint dries, you can do the rest of your clothes, so there’s that!

      • Donna: I indeed got the closet done now can return the coats, purses, shoes etc. which have all been cleaned and sorted. I am still in hiding from facing my clothes closet (actually 3 closets, so you can see its never been done for years and years). I do anything to avoid those spaces.
        hiding behind a book is one. afn, ann lee s

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