Tag: Cleaning

A Week of Cleaning: Monday February 04 2019

On By jackiblosblackisIn Cleaning, House, OrganizationLeave a comment

I did not forget today! I just had a really late start so it is not quite as satisfying as I would look forward too. I just simply needed to try and get some sleep.

You can check out what I did on Sunday but this is about Monday. Monday consists of the kitchen and dinning area. The reason I do the kitchen on Mondays is because Tuesday is garbage day. Makes sense to clean out the fridge, pantry, and freezer out the day before. That way in the summer things do not start to go rancid before it is off my property. The kitchen I tried to get to all day but Missy was not in the mood to deal with cleaning. Lot’s of in progress pictures.

I snapped these before’s really quick Sunday night before I went to attempt to sleep.

I did put all the groceries a way though. Pantry is a bit of mess but I do not actually have homes for anything I put in there.

This is the before for Monday. Or an in progress picture since I did take one the night before. My counters are terrible I know. Not where I start though.

I started by opening two parcels that have been kicked around the house for an entire month. The Oatbox was just granola and I put those bags in the pantry. The Walmart box was all stuff for my nieces and nephew. The second picture is showing the box of a small portion of their gifts. It is all together now though till I wrap them.

I added an oven lock and knob covers on the stove next. I have only had them for a few days. I thought this was the best opportunity to put them on. Also Missy was asleep and the directions say to put them on when the child is not around.

No pictures but after this I emptied and loaded the dishwasher. I proceed to wipe off the counters after clearing them off. Most of which ended up on the dinning table.

I think it looks a hundred times better. I know it is not completely done but I made an impact. That is what counts.

This the before of the dinning area. Before I did the kitchen so the table was not quite so bad at this point.

Yes my Canadian readers, I have a walker. Even if it was not banned here Missy does not use it as a walker. With the exception of a time or two. She likes to push and pull it around. I am also not shaming any one for using one. Missy can walk I have witnessed it but she simply just does not want to yet. The only thing she ever really liked that was confining was her bouncer.

The after of the dinning area. Again not completley clear but I did put a LOT of things a way. I also took some stuff with me when I came in to write the blog post. The one box contains stuff my Brother needs to come pick up and the other box (that you cannot really see) is full of recycling. I do not have a home for the speaker at the moment. When I asked to borrow it from my Mother, she made it sound like it was a portable….it is not actually portable. I do need it for my Kindle and I got on the Audible train.

I also cleaned out the fridge. Not much was thrown out. A few things that I did not purchase and a thing of mushrooms that I did not get around to using. I needed to put things where they fit though. I just threw the groceries in there from Saturday.

I did have the intention of doing the freezers today. They badly need to be organized but I just do not have the time at the moment.

 

My ‘Got Done’ list is much better for Monday though. Besides a whole lot of laundry. I switched out all my main light bulbs. I had a white light in them and it was just too much in such a condensed area. I switched to a warm white. So much better. I put a way seven parcels! Scary that I still have two more to deal with. First two weeks of every month is when the donations are received in the mail. They pile up fast. I did condense the recycling in to empty boxes. It is very cold outside and that is why it has not gone out yet. The other thing is I have all the items from the car sitting in the house. Again the weather, it is just too cold to be out there for more for something that does not seriously need to be done this second.

Tuesday is just a floor day. If I do something I will try to remember to take pictures. I may get the freezers done. I am not going to take before and afters of the floors. If I even get around to doing them. Still a lot of stuff in the way. I cannot promise that there will be a post on Wednesday.

A Week of Cleaning: Sunday February 03 2019

On By jackiblosblackisIn Cleaning, Donations, House, Organization1 Comment

I almost forgot about this! Which is horrible since Sunday is such an easy day. My weekend also was not as productive as I hoped it would be but there is nothing I can do about that now. Just try to be better the next.

This is my weekly cleaning schedule and also for supper meal planning. There is no meal planning this week though. Maybe one day….

Now with Sunday we have the deck, entry, laundry area, and floors. Right off the bat I can tell you the deck is not being done. It is simply just to cold outside. I also did not get the floors done either since there is so much crap in the way every where. Reality is that the house should be picked enough for me to do a quick vacuum and wash. Lets see the before and afters.

Not that bad really. A few groceries to pick up and move to the kitchen. I need to put a way our outerwear. I am also going to wipe a few things down with a water, vinegar, and essential oil mix.

I mean it does look better. The wall of boxes are donations that I need to drop off eventually. Until then I just keep adding to the pile. The blue basket that is on top of the deep freeze is stuff that needs to go to the shed. I store all the too big clothing out there and NaiNai sends a lot of stuff for her Granddaughter. The couple boxes by the microwave are going to a clients as they are having a baby and I thought I would help out. I also have a second Christmas Cactus as I have killed the one Missy got when she was born. I have to move it out in the summer so it does not get sunburned.

Laundry area is pretty simple as well. Just needs to be picked up and a quick wipe down.

The iron is still there as it needs to go to the recycling. I did do a quick vacuum of the floor and the entry way. I switched over the laundry and pretty much moved everything off the floor.

That really is all I got done ha-ha

I also said I would include a copy of my ‘Got Done’ list. You can actually see my entire weekend. I had an appointment on Saturday so I went to that, went to help a client get paperwork together for their other accountant, and grocery shopping. We did nothing really Sunday morning. After Missy’s nap, we went and gave Grandpa his birthday card. I lazed on the couch until I remembered I was going to do a blog post.

Now this bad boy has been very picture heavy. I also know it was not overly exciting. What I am going to do is include the before pictures from when I was going to try to do this short series. You want to talk about real life in such a small place. Those are it. I just had a good week this time.

This was only a week ago. After another day off shopping. It is also a lot of other junk from a build of other weeks. You can see where I need to break some bad habits though. Like putting the shopping a way immediately. Or putting parcels a way once I open them. It is so hard when the rest of your house is in disarray though and I think a lot of you can understand that.

Monday we have the kitchen and dinning area. That will be quite the job compared to every where else. Something to look forward too!

This Week to Come

On By jackiblosblackisIn Baby, Cleaning, House, OrganizationLeave a comment

Now I was planning on doing this last week and that fell apart quickly. I want to do a week following my cleaning schedule… my attempt to keep the house together anyways. I have used this style in the past when I lived in the duplex and I liked it a lot. I just need to get back in the habit of it is all. My weeks start on Sunday. So, Monday I will post what was done on Sunday and what was not done of course. I will also include my ‘Got Done’ list. Something I really like but has not become a habit yet. I want to give it one more real shot.

Now I do not list something to clean every day because it is nice to just have a break or to deal with something that would take a way from what is listed. I also want to include my ‘Got Done’ list because I may not get a room completely done but I may have done a lot of other things that day. For example, last Sunday I did start doing what was ‘scheduled’. I than realized how earlier it was still in the evening/night so I decided that I should put the paint colour on Missy’s walls. That took about six hours. The next two days I was down for the count. My shoulders were completely killing me. I was too far behind to continue with the plan.

Now while I brought up Missy’s room. I do have it half way done. After I finish the last bit of painting I will make a post about the progress. The second post after that will be the putting together of her room. That one may end up in two parts as I will be ordering (well NiaNia will be) some bookshelf things once I know the space and area I have to work with.

Lets all have a week where we seem to have our ducks in a row!

Cleaning and Organizing – Office – Paperwork Part One

On By jackiblosblackisIn House, OrganizationLeave a comment

Something that has been stopping me in my office and causing me grief has been my personal paperwork. I did not have a place to put these things and the piles were everywhere. Literally everywhere in the house. One day I said ‘screw it’ and went out to purchase whatever filing cabinet I could from the local Staples.

Now the first place I started was mine and Mister’s tax returns. I did have them in another place but I wanted to put them in the filing cabinet. The reason I opted to move these first was because I knew there were NOA and what not mixed up in these piles and they needed to go with their corresponding year. In the above picture are the folders I had my taxes organized in up until 2015 I believe.

The entire bottom drawer is taxes and nearly full. I did not have tabs at this point so I just marked all of the hanging folder with whatever stickies I could locate. I also did not have folders (the ones I have in my office are for clients).

This lid did not contain much but I started with this box and moved onto the sorter that is on top of my desk (no picture). Which was stuffed full!

This basket was also over flowing with paperwork. As you can see though I had emptied it. I started putting my manuals here.

This ended up being my pile of recycling.

This is also where I stopped. I ran out of hanging folders and needed someone to pick me up more the next day. I was completely beside myself on the fact that I used an entire box of hanging folders and I was not done yet.

I did work on emptying out the desk the night after. Why I only took pictures of two out of three drawers I have no idea. But they were all full. I also want to get the desk out of the way. I am repainting it and using it as my vanity. Plus, it was just simply in the way. I cleaned off the desk top and emptied out the drawers. Desk was moved out to the shed in the mean time.

Now at this point my basket of manuals has grown ha-ha. Before you say I can get these online. I am aware of that but I honesty like having them immediately on hand.

In the end I got tabs for the folders. I also got folder to micro-organize.

I know it is not very exciting for photos and I am getting this together so that you can also watch a video of it if that is your thing. Despite all that though it was so weight-lifting to be able to put such a big aspect of my life a way. I do even now still have to go through the manuals and I have a few more piles that have accumulated since this was done.

I want to add about my office that  I do not take very many pictures in here because I also work from home and those things do not need to be shared. So, even if I am making progress I may not be able to document it.

Cleaning and Organizing – Kitchen – Making it Safer for Missy

On By jackiblosblackisIn Cleaning, House, OrganizationLeave a comment

I would have had this up earlier but I have been having modem problems. I am hoping new equipment solves this problem. So, going back to Update Part Two, I have moved around some of the cabinet contents. You can see the before pictures in the previous post but I am also going to include them in this post as well.

I needed to move some of my small appliances so they were not in such immediate reach when I finally unlock the cabinets in the future. I have a reason to be paranoid about this. I have a cousin, who was not so young at the time, that decided to stick his finger in a blender. Kids can do stupid things. Let get on with it though.

I am moving the small appliances into the cabinet were the serving dishes are. The serving dishes have been moved out of the kitchen and will appear in the dinning room post.

I have left the glass prep bowls in the cabinet as there is no other real place for them. On the bottom shelf I have all the mixer attachments. In the baskets I have the different paddles.

On the second shelf I have moved the Baby Bullet, the food processor, and the Ninja blender. In the back I have a basket that contains the cups for the blender, that way I do not have to worry about constantly knocking them over. The blender is a little heavy but not enough that I will avoid using it.

On the top shelf, I have a basket there. I have just left it there. This has stuff in it that Missy is still too small for and there is no point in moving it.

This is the before of Missy’s cabinet and her dishes that I wanted to move. You have seen already where I moved the baby blender to and I just want to move her dishes down. This cabinet does not have a lock on it.

I think this cabinet looks so much better! I left the food freezer trays because I am not that worried about them. In the basket on the bottom shelf are popsicle molds. She will not be able to use these for a while yet but she can play with them in the mean time. I have put the bottle liners down here as well. Her sippy cups (I had two more in the wash) will be there as well.

On the top shelf, in basket I have put just the smaller stuff. It has a few silicon self feeders and the formula to-go containers. Soon enough I will add snack pouches in there and what not. You can see her dishes are now accessible to her and behind those I have put her formula cans.

Now the cabinet that had the small appliances in it. I have moved the rice cooker in to here. I had it above the stove because there was no other spot for it. I expect I will use it more now that I can actually reach it. The water bottles and to-go cups have been moved in to here. I also put the spiralizer in here because it has just been sitting on the counter. It needed a place to go and this is where made the most sense.

A bonus cabinet that Missy will probably never be able to reach but I did it at the same time. This has vitamins and a couple medicines, vases, coffee and tea containers.

Again, another cabinet that looks so much better. I have moved the vases out of the kitchen. Them being there made me nervous every time I needed one. Plus, I want a to add a couple other choices. There was no room for that. I, of course, left the vitamins and medicines. They are out of reach and I take the vitamins with food. The kettle was in the small appliance cabinet and it should have been here in the first place. I only use it when I make full pots of coffee or tea. You can see my teapot and coffee pot. I put the grinder behind the pot. I had a french press in here and as much as I want to keep it. I HATE cleaning it, I have not used it in a couple years. When I make coffee, I grind the beans myself and my coffee never ends up with a burnt taste since I do not use a percolator. Maybe that is technically one but it does not have a heat source, I just have to heat it up the amount I want though out the day.

It is amazing how just having a few things done can make one feel so much better. Then I look around at the rest and I get overwhelmed again. One step at a time.