Probably my most annoying coping mechanism…

Dear Brain,

Now is not the time to be hyperfocusing on how you will maintain Little Man’s (4) German after you move back to the United States. Yes, it’s incredibly important, but you can’t do anything about it right now. You can’t start using this specific curriculum you are hyperfocusing on for another 3-4 months. You can’t even trial it, or any other methods of incorporating German at home, for almost 2 months. You can calm down. We’ll invest time figuring with all out with Husband in June.

No, instead, now is the time to focus on the 20 minute presentation about your Master’s Thesis that you need to prepare. You know, the one you are giving next week? The one where you still need to do quite a bit of research in order to convincingly convey the relevance of the topic?

If you could even just shift a little bit, just to give me an ounce of motivation and executive function to make some progress on this while I have time, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you for your consideration.

Baby Step 46: Take Pictures and Reflect

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Take Pictures and Reflect

You’ve done it! Whether you’ve tackled your mess over this challenge and feel on top of things, or you’ve planned more than you’ve accomplished, you’ve made a lot of progress! Take pictures of your home today to compare to the ones you took on day one. Hopefully you will see improvements. But remember, we’re looking for progress, not perfection! You don’t have to have control of everything now, as long as you are on your way to getting control of your mess.

However, also take the time to reflect on the things that still need work. What can you do to make improvements? What isn’t working? It’s okay to take the next few weeks to just continue the routine you’ve built. But if there are changes to make, at least put them in your schedule to figure out.

If you need help or inspiration, here again are links to my top websites when I’m in need of resources or making a change.

UFYH
UFYH Tumblr
Clean Mama
FlyLady

And make sure you celebrate tomorrow! You got to the end, and you deserve to celebrate what you’ve accomplished!

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 45: Program Monthly Schedule

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Program Monthly Schedule

Now, just like we did on Wednesday, today we’ll program our monthly schedule. There are a few ways to do this. For example, you can group them into 4-5 categories and focus on one per week – either based on type of cleaning or into 4 groups that would take approximately similar amounts of time to complete. However you do it, make sure that however many 20/10s it will take to do monthly tasks get scheduled.

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 44: Brainstorm Monthly/Rotating Tasks

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Brainstorm Monthly/Rotating Tasks

Over the past several weeks, you may have started adding some things to your list of tasks that need to be done on a less than monthly basis. Today we will complete the list. You’ll know some of your home’s own needs, and you can check out the following for more inspiration:

UFYH Monthly and Seasonal Tasks
Clean Mama Rotating Tasks

You know know how frequently the tasks on your list should be done in your home, jot that down. If you aren’t sure, write them down for once a month. You can always change the frequency later.

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 43: Create and Program Weekly Schedule

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Create and Program Weekly Schedule

You should now have a good idea of what needs to be accomplished in your home on a weekly basis. Looking at your personal schedule, create a weekly cleaning schedule that will work best for you. Ideally, you will spread the tasks over the week so that you only have to do a little every day (here’s a example from FlyLady and Clean Mama). But maybe it works better for your family to keep up with the dailies and knock out the rest in a couple hours one day. Whatever your decide, program it into your planner/app/journal, however will help you keep on top of it.

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 42: Brainstorm Further Weekly Tasks

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Brainstorm Further Weekly Tasks

Are there other tasks that need to be accomplished in your home on a weekly basis? Make a list. For example, we need to sweep the landing and steps outside our apartment every week.

You can use the FlyLady weekly routine for inspiration. But you definitely don’t need to do all of these if you don’t need to do them on a weekly basis.

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 41: Take Garbage Out

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Take Garbage Out

Any garbage, recycling, compost in the house – take it out to the bins. And going forward, make sure that pick up days (or the night before) is noted in your planner/app/journal so that you don’t forget to take the trash out to the bins and put the bins out to the curb. (Or whatever combination is necessary for your living situation)

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 40: Rest and Reflect, Look Ahead

It’s Sunday, so we have nothing we “have” to do today. Take that weight off your shoulders. Do what makes you feel good. Stick to any habits that keep you sane. Maybe today is a better day to reflect on what you’ve read so far, and what barriers you may need to overcome.

You’ll also want to take today to take a look at the week ahead. If you’re doing this challenge over Lent, this week is Holy Week and Easter is coming up! Jot down any plans you have, and any preparations you need to make. If not, take a look at any birthdays or holidays may be coming.

If you’re up for it, I highly recommend sticking to some of the simple habits we’ve build so far. But taking care of yourself comes first.

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps

Baby Step 39: Wash Sheets and Towels

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Wash Sheets and Towels

Throw all your bedding and towels in the wash today. Everyone has their own tolerance for how often these need to be cleaned, so determine your own. We wash our pillowcases, hand towels, and wash cloths every week. We wash our sheets every other week. Due to our bathing frequency, we usually wash our towels every other week, but some times more.

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Baby Step 38: Wipe Down Stove and Oven

Current Habits:

• Get dressed and brush your teeth
• Make your bed
• Reboot the laundry
• Write down a positive phrase
• 2 Minute Hot Spot
• 20/10 for Weekly/Rotating Tasks
• Deal with ALL incoming mail
• Stay on top of clutter (put it away, not down)
• Sweep the kitchen
• UFYMorning
  • Do the dishes (and put them away)
  • Wipe down kitchen counters
  • Lay out clothes before bed
  • Your personal evening routine
  • Go to bed on time

Wipe Down Stove and Oven

Clean your stove and oven, then spend the rest of your 20/10 tackling things you may not have cleaned in a long time. Are there any other unique things in your kitchen that may need to be dealt with? For example, I need to schedule to clean our water filter once a month, and to replace the filter once a year.

Back to Housekeeping Baby Steps