Challenge for this week – Attack the print clutter. This works both at home and at the office.

• Toss old Magazines that you either never got around to reading or were saving to re-read, but never did.
• Take a look at your bookshelf – Are the titles still relevant, entertaining or useful?
• Attack those piles – Mail, loose papers, clippings, files, recipes, etc. Look around – on your desk, your kitchen counter, your dresser, maybe even on the front seat of your car. Just choose one and get rid of it.

Most people tolerate more than 50 small, petty things in their life on a regular basis. It’s just ridiculous what we are willing to put up with and what we allow to hang over our heads.

Take 10 minutes to sit down and make a list of all of the annoying, nagging nuisances in your life, both at home and at work.

Then choose how you will eliminate them. Either set aside one  block of time (a mid-week afternoon or perhaps time on the weekend) to “attack” these annoyances that are hanging over your head and get rid of as many of them as possible; or choose to tackle one each day and slowly make your way down the list. Choose whichever strategy will work best for you.

You’ll find that the more annoyances you get rid of the more peaceful and energetic you’ll become.

So go ahead—make that phone call you’ve been putting off, clean out your desk, drop off your dry cleaning, call the plumber to fix that slow drain, purge some of your old clothes, buy a frame for that picture you have been meaning to hang for six months, fix the wobbling chair leg, fire that ineffective employee or let that time-eating client go; the list is seemingly endless –then go out and celebrate with all the extra energy you’ll have!

Housekeeping Routines: How to Improve Your Routine

Keeping your home clean, tidy and organized is a task that most people put off for another day, which is only serves to make cleaning up even more time-consuming when you finally do bite the bullet. It doesn’t need to be that way. With an optimized routine when you know exactly what to do, where to do it and when, you can turn an unwieldy and stressful chore into a lightweight point cheerfully ticked off your to do list.

1. Tackle one room or area at a time. If your schedule is already hectic, the idea of cleaning the whole house from top to bottom is likely to send you into a panic. However, you do not have to feel this way as long as you break it down into digestible parts. For instance, one day of the week you could handle the kitchen, then the next day scrub down at least one bathroom, and so on. In this way it is easier to get things done, and you will not need to rush just to finish and move on.
2. Keep the house free of clutter – Do not let a pile of magazines overcome your coffee table, and avoid letting the children leave their toys all over the yard. When the time comes to clean you are only adding extra work; after all, you cannot wipe the coffee table if it is covered in personal possessions. Put things away when you are not using them. If something is old and you do not even look at or wear it anymore, toss it or give it away. Should the item prove to be worth something, there is nothing wrong with selling it to bring in a little extra money. This not only helps speed up the cleaning process, but you will feel more at ease with less mess to deal with.
3. Get the whole family involved in the house cleaning process – Assign the children to vacuuming and emptying the dishwasher on certain days of the week. Have the spouse wash the windows and take out the trash when needed. The more people that are involved with the routine, the easier it will be to get it all done.
4. Keep a calendar of chores that need to be completed – Choose a place in the home where it will be displayed; a wall in the kitchen, your room, or next to the front door is all good locations. It does not really matter what you go with, as long as it is in plain sight and hard to overlook. By keeping track of what needs to get done, you are less likely to forget something, leading to a lot more cleaning than you anticipated or wanted.
5. Do certain chores at certain times of the year – In the winter season, known for its chilly weather and onslaught of snow, it would be unreasonable to leave rugs outside to dry. Removing leaves and debris from the pool is not critical. Nobody would expect you to clean out the garage during such weather, either. These housekeeping routines are not absolutely necessary, and can wait for warmer weather. By taking these chores off the list, you will be able to tackle what matters the most, rather than focusing on things outside of the months where they are appropriate. Keep in mind that some things can and should be done all year.
6. Do not ignore the hidden issues – In other words, though you may have wiped away the food stains in the kitchen, you may not have completely removed the germs from the area. Be sure to add disinfectant wipes and other cleaning solutions to your shopping list; when you make sure that your home is clean when it comes to both visible and invisible issues, it will become a safer place. For a house with children, this is something that will be especially prevalent. It does not take too long to do, however, and can make all the difference in the world.
7. Clean for only a few minutes a day – On top of taking care of one room at a time, another way to help prevent the feeling of panic is by spending only a few to fifteen minutes on each project. Should you attempt to clean for longer, you may become tired, and thus not want to do it anymore. Then the next day you are liable to be lazy about it, believing that it is not worth the work involved. Unless it is an emergency, such as an unexpected guest coming for a visit, excess cleaning should be avoided. Take it slow, and do not act is if you are being graded on the results. As long as you do your best, that is all that matters.

This is a guest post from James, a full time writer for Spares Next Day who specialize in hoover bags for vacuum cleaners.

Related articles

• How To Make Housecleaning Easier (mamasbagoftricks.blogspot.com)
• How To Clean Your House in 20 Minutes a Day for 30 Days (apartmenttherapy.com)
• The Best Housekeeper (ceryjazy.com)