Something New: DO Three Things

 

I said I've been shaking up my homemaking ways of late.  I started working with the Fly Lady methods of keeping house three weeks ago.  I did sort of skip last week but this week I was back at it.  As I was working on my Home Blessing on Monday, I kept coming across little things in each room that I noted ought to be done.  They weren't cleaning related but they were things that I felt should be done.   So I thought I'd make a list...and then it came to me that I could do this in a far more manageable way so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed or feel that I had to do ALL the things at once.

I decided to cut my list down to just three things for each room or space I was cleaning.  Just three things and I decided to give myself a week to accomplish those three things in each space.

Just for example, I will share this week's list with you.  It might be something you will find helpful and want to implement.  

I started first in my master bathroom.  Each week as I've been cleaning, I note that I really need a tie back for the curtain.  Do I ever get around to making that tie back?  No.  I forget it until I am cleaning the bathroom all over again!  So that went on my list.  Then I made a note to find a soap dish of some sort (I have pretty old saucers which will do just fine) for the soap we keep on the sink.  My third note related to getting the other blue bin cleaned up and seeing how much of the stuff sitting in milk crates I can fit into that, hopefully making the bathroom storage area look a lot more neat.

I felt really comfortable with a list of three items because I felt it was very doable in a week.  I tried to keep my list to things I could do right away, using what I have, rather than having to plan in a shopping trip to buy something.  You'll see in a little here that I did make an exception to this 'rule', but in general it's one I tried to follow all through the day.

In our room, I noted that my desk needed to be properly cleaned off and I had shoes under the edge of the dresser. Those were my first two items.  As I continued to clean, I moved the dry-erase glass calendar that Katie no longer wanted.  It's really nice.  She'd complained that she couldn't get the dry-erase marker off the face of the thing.  I made a note to see if I could find an online hint about how to clean it.  It's a very nice calendar and would be nice to use if I can clean it. 

In the living room, I noted that I wanted to put pretty candles and candleholders on the mantle to replace the short candles I put out a few weeks ago when the electricity went out.  One of our end tables has taken a beating from glasses sweating.  It's eaten away at the decorative edging around the tabletop.  I've tried to stain the edge in the past but I can't find a stain dark enough.  I've been seriously considering replacing the tables.  I noted on my list to try permanent marker.  Those were the only two things I wanted to do in the living room.

In the dining room, I decided to freshen the dining table using the faux Snowdrops in a vase.  I noted that I hadn't put my Challah platter back on the buffet.  I had moved the plate holder to a drawer in the bedroom and I needed to retrieve that.  Onto the list.

In the entryway, I wanted to make sure to organize the printer cabinet and the cabinet where we keep our CDs and records.  Both storage areas are visible to view and I felt they could be made to look neater.

In the kitchen, I want to pot up some plant cuttings I've rooted and find the frame for an old picture that should be in the shed.  I also noted that the flowers I'd had in the kitchen were looking faded and made a note to deadhead them.  

One last thing was the need for thermometers in my kitchen.  I've meant a dozen times to order both a meat thermometer and a clip-on candy thermometer.  So I made a note to get those two things ordered this week.  This is the only purchase I put on my list.  I have needed a thermometer no less than four times in the past week but since mine had broken, I had nothing to use.  Onto the list.

That's it.  That's are all the extra things  I thought of today as I was working in those rooms.  After I got done with the cleaning, I managed to knock out about one-third of the list today, choosing the items I felt I had time to do.  The rest of the list will be done this week as I am working in my home.  

What do you think?  Would a List of Three help you in your homemaking journey?

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