Catching up around the house

For the pasts few weeks my schedule has been off-kilter. I've been sewing items to put in a local craft mall for sale (they just went in a week ago and I have no idea yet if anything sold). Of course, I didn't make up my mind to make items until a week before the deadline, so I dropped everything and sewed, sewed, sewed. Now of course, I wish I'd taken pictures of what I made -- mug rugs, very sweet heart-shaped pot holders with matching tea towels, fabric covered refillable journals, and more.

When you're on one of these creative/production jags, all else goes by the wayside -- including housework. So today is catch up day.

The funny thing about having no fulltime kids in the house (though Mr. B. is here at least part of the time, 4 days a week), is that my house doesn't get dirty like it used to. If I keep spills wiped up, trash emptied, dishes out of the sink, and run a Clorox wipe around the bathroom now and then, I actually don't have to do a major housecleaning day every week. This is a benefit to the Empty Nest Syndrome no one talks about!

The key is keeping up with any clutter. If the clutter but is allowed to invade my home, the whole house starts to feel dirty and in disarray. But if I keep up with putting things back where they belong, getting rid of junk mail and old magazines, not allowing old food to collect in the refrigerator, and collecting and taking out the trash every few days -- it all stays "presentable". I can simply dust, vac, and clean bathrooms (more than a Clorox wipe) every two weeks now instead of every week.

So today is my every-two-week cleaning day, and my To Do List looks like this:

• Change masterbedroom sheets
• Collect all upstairs trash
• Clean bathrooms (sink, toilet, tub, wipe down tiles, wash floor)
• Dust guest room and master bedroom
• Vac all upstairs rooms
• Vac stairs, wipe down stair molding and bannisters
• Dust dining room, den, family room
• Vac entire downstairs
• Mop kitchen, hallway, bathroom floors
• Windex TV screens, patio doors, front door windows and front storm door
• Windex kitchen appliances
• Clean kitchen sink, wipe down counters
• Empty all downstairs trash

It sounds like a lot, but I estimate it will take me about six hours total. Six hours of heavy housework every two weeks is not so bad!

Now if I can just find a way to consolidate my laundry the same way....