Monday, June 15, 2009

Camp GonnaWannaFly

Good Morning, Campers :)

I have a new plan. (ta da da da daaaa!) A new *brilliant* plan. (ta da da da DAAAAA!) For getting my house in order.

Let me explain.

Over the weekend I found myself wishing, if I had oh, two hundred dollars, I could pay someone to come over and clean my house from top to bottom. Then I thought, no, really it needs more than that. It needs clutter cleared away and closets cleaned out and shelves and drawers organized. How much would it cost me to pay someone to do that? Hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Yes, yes it would. That's how pathetic things have gotten here. (And I have to fight off adding, "pathetic and hopeless.") Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not in danger of child protective services coming knocking at my door. And I can still watch Clean House and be slightly comforted that it could be worse. But it is enough that I think about all that needs done, and I feel overwhelmed, and I don't even want to start.

Now, FlyLady would say, "You aren't behind, just jump in where you are." And she would say, "You can do anything for 15 minutes." And I considered trying to get back on the FlyWagon. I even went to her website last week to see what the zone missions were. I put "declutter for 15 minutes" on my daily top ten list.

But, I have the attention span of a squirrel and the patience of a toddler, and I want my house clean NOW. I don't want to spend all summer with the decluttering projects looming over my head. And after doing a few 15 minute stints, they seem like a drop in the bucket.

So, new plan.

Camp GonnaWannaFly.

Here's how Camp GonnaWannaFly works. (And yes, I stole the name from FlyLady.) Every day for a week, I spend an hour or two decluttering flat surfaces, corners, and edges of rooms. I'll take a different room in the house each day. By the end of the week, each room should be looking pretty good when I walk into it, and that will give me a lot of steam and encouragement to start....

Week Two. Now I spend two hours each day, while the kids are at VBS, to do some serious decluttering. I'll start with the hall closet, and work my way around the closets of the house. I won't get it all done in a week, but I'll get some real ground gained.

Week Three will be a fun week of daytrips and playdates and swimming if we can beg our way into anyone's pool.

And I haven't figured out the other three weeks of summer yet. One of those weeks needs dedicated to Sweetling's room.

Here's what my Week One will look like:
Monday: the front porch, the entry, the living room.
Tuesday: the kitchen
Wednesday: the school room
Thursday: my bedroom
Friday: fun day. order May photos and birthday photos to start scrapbooking next week.

Now, the goal each day is to spend just an hour or so in each room in the morning and so still have the afternoon free to play, watch a movie, go to the library, or go grocery shopping. So, my daily schedule for week one, hopefully, will go like this:

7am--up, stretch, dishes
7:30--breakfast and devotions
8--get kids breakfast
8:30 shower
9--devotions and phonics with Toa of Boy
10--cleaning
11--on Tuesday and Thursday--leave for Toa of Boy's speech therapy
12--(or when we get home) lunch

Anyone want to go to camp with me? I could use a little support and accountability.

And my daily top ten list--
1. Up-yes.
2. Stretch. No, I blogged instead.
3. Weigh 120.8
3a. ha ha
4. Dishes-not yet. I was still blogging.
5. Devotions and breakfast--
6. exercise--
7. Declutter--
8. glasses of water--
9. No-S--
10. Evening--

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Intense. I guess you could always move. That'll force you to declutter quite rapidly.

Many Blessings,
Holly@aiminghigh