A Virtuous Woman Plays Catch-Up--Clean in 30, Days 20-22

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

Today is Day 22 of the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, but because most of us take the weekend off, we have three daily tasks to choose from--surface cleaning the living and kitchen, surface cleaning a bedroom, or surface cleaning a bathroom.  Monday is usually my "catch-up" day anyway, and since it really is getting easier and easier to clean and keep things clean, I decided to tackle all three tasks, surface cleaning all four rooms. 

Kitchen before

I put away the clean dishes from the drainboard, washed up the few I had in the sink and on the counter, put the fruit in the fruit bowl, wiped down the counters and the stove, and was done in about 10 minutes.  I came back later and put away the now clean-and-dry dishes.

Kitchen after

Bathroom before

I did my regular "swish & swipe"--wipe the sink and faucets, straighten everything on the vanity and wipe it down, wipe the outside of the toilet and swish the inside, pick up the dirty towels, and put out a fresh hand towel. This took all of five minutes, if that.

Bathroom after



Bed area before

The first thing I did in the bedroom was, of course, make the bed.  That takes care of most of the mess around the bed, including the extra pillows that get piled in the chairs at night.



Bed area after



Dresser area, before

This is not as bad as it looks, I usually keep a laundry basket for dirty clothes, and it got waylaid this week!  I picked up a couple of pairs of shoes and put them away, sorted laundry and started a load in the washer, and picked the rest up and put in the now-found basket. I had already dusted the furniture Saturday--new trick I've started doing is leaving a microfiber dust cloth in one of the drawers of my dressing table, then when I'm sitting there doing hair and make-up and notice dust, I have something handy to take care of it right then.  No more "I'll get a dust cloth and do this later", only to leave the room and never remember (until the next day when I'm doing hair & make-up.)

Dresser area, after.

The whole bedroom took maybe 6-8 minute, maybe 10 minutes tops. 

This is my living room, love seat area, before  

I put away one pair of shoes, dusted, put the remotes in a little basket I now have for that purpose, and did my best to "fluff" the pillows attached to the back of the love seat, and refolded a throw we have draped across one corner.   This love seat is about 10 years old, so it doesn't "fluff" much any more!

Love seat area, after

  (I used to have lots of little decorative items sitting around, and I changed them out periodically or seasonally, but lately I've been enjoying the "less-is-more" look!)

My main "hot spot" in the living room

  

There are always books here, plus a magazine or two, a planner, a Bible, and usually my prayer journal. This is not nearly as bad as it used to be--since I've been doing the 30-Day challenge, I tend to keep it picked up a little better these days. (The green and blue things on the front corner are re-usable sticky note tabs that I use to mark something I want to come back to when I'm reading or studying.)

What I've been doing here is going through the stack to make sure it only has things I'm still reading in it, purge what needs to go back on the book shelves, pick up and little bits & pieces and straighten the stack so that it looks a little neater.

No "before" for this shot, I straighten the pillows, refold the throws, and fluff a little.

I dusted as I went around the room, then finished with dusting the tv and tv stand, and I was done--in about 5-7 minutes.

The first day I did "surface clean the living room and kitchen, it took me a couple of hours just to do those two; today I did all four rooms in less than an hour, and that was with going back and forth putting things away. 

All of you ladies participating--are you noticing a big difference in over-all cleanliness and neatness?  I'm not sure if which system I'm going to use after this, but I definitely love having something concrete in place. 

What did you clean today?

Until next time...