Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Household Maintenance

I have had a little more time on my hands.  Further, my parents were in town and I saw the benefits of sweeping the floor daily.  To that end, I have been trying to do some daily cleaning.  The bare essentials are loading/emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen table and cleaning the countertops.  I define these as the basics as when I fall behind on these, it directly impacts our ability to cook/dine at home.  Vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms and changing the bed sheets are more of tolerance thing.  Some people prefer daily while others can go once a month or even longer intervals.  Laundry is strictly an inbox and outbox scenario and clothes piling up in hampers are no reason for alarm.

Clutter is a challenge that I feel is best tackled in stages.  De-cluttering one room or even one section of a room is a reasonable pace for me.  Our household clutter is primarily children’s toys and accoutrements and paperwork.  By having a place for everything, children can put away their own toys.  Paperwork can take care of itself.  For example, bank records can be reviewed and tossed.  However, receipts from big ticket purchases need filing.

Our clutter tends to accumulate in the kitchen and formal dining area.  However with small kids we have to confiscate items that end up on top of otherwise nice furniture items or interwoven with decorative items in display areas.  This creates an environment where things are hard to find and the living space can be challenging to enjoy.

Instead of expensive 100% solutions, our household is attacking in stages by utilizing reasonably priced items from Ikea.  We have so far had success with the Billy bookcase and clear bins for organizing toys.  

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