The Master Plan

Goals of Spring Cleaning:
Make new email address for bills/bank accounts: Paperless for EVERYTHING
Donate HALF of all clothes and shoes in drawers/closets/storage space
Find a place for the vacuum
Have a HOME that I don't feel embarrassed inviting people to.

Bedroom: Day One
· Take everything out of closet / dresser
· Get rid of boxes in closet:
· Figure out where they need to go and what we can get rid of.
· Move all furniture and vacuum
· Clean windows, blinds, window sills, and the crevices in the window panes
· Wash all sheets and comforters; pillows if needed.
· Vacuum and flip mattress
· Dust off and clean all furniture
· Get rid of knick knacks or anything that doesn't belong in the bedroom.
· Put furniture back
· Reorganize clothes: Get rid of anything that doesn't fit RIGHT NOW or you haven't worn in 1 year.
· Put all clothing back in closet and dresser, organized by type
· Make bed.

Bathroom: Day Two
· Take everything out of bathroom
· Clean sinks, countertops, toilet
· Scrub bathtub and shower walls
· Clean mirrors and windows
· Toss anything not needed.
· Vacuum / wash rugs
· Buy shower caddy? New showerhead?
· Put everything back

Hall Closet: Day Two
· Take everything out of closet.
· Toss, Donate, Giveaway or Recycle anything that isn't needed or being used.
· Shred all paperwork / receipts / paystubs. YOU DON'T NEED THEM ANYMORE.
· Replace drawers and label accordingly

Kitchen: Day Three
· Take everything out of cabinets
· Clean cabinets and cupboards
· Sweep and mop floors
· Clean appliances
· Take everything out of refrigerator / freezer
· Clean refrigerator / freezer
· Reorganize food in fridge / freezer
· Clean windows, blinds, window sill and crevices in window panes
· Dust walls
· Vacuum and Mop the floor.
· Clean counters and wipe down outside of cabinets
· Reorganize food in cabinets.
· Face everything.
· Toss anything expired or anything you won't eat.
· Take an inventory of food that you have while organzing it for a Master Grocery List.
· May be a good idea to do a list of everything that is in each cabinet and tape to the inside door.

Dining Area: Day Three
· Take everything out of Dining Area
· Fix cabinet drawers.
· Move all furniture and vacuum and mop the floor.
· Organize items in drawers
· Toss / Donate / Giveaway anything not needed or used

Living Room: Day Four
· Take everything out of the Living Room
· Dust furniture and electronics
· Vacuum / dust furniture and floors
· Clean windows
· Reorganize books on shelves
· Toss / Donate / Recycle or Giveaway anything that isn't needed or used

Office Area: Day 5
· Take everything out of office area
· Shred ALL PAPERWORK NOT NEEDED (which is pretty much everything)
· Organize remaining paperwork in binders and folders
· Dust furniture
· Clean computer and keyboard with compressed air
· Vacuum floor

The Bane of my Existence

Warning: These images not for the faint of heart.

The view from the Front Door:

Some of the Living Area. The boxes directly in the center are leftover Christmas decorations and random stuff that have nowhere else to go.

One of our bookshelves with most of the books and the movies shelf. I really want to find another way to store the movies, but I'm NOT willing to put them all in a book and get rid of the cases. That's not happening.

The other bookshelf.

The office area in relation to the Living Room. I wish we had a 2 bedroom apartment.

The "Office": I need to figure out a way to make this more efficient and cleaner. I think a big step will be getting rid of all of Aaron's knick-knacky stuff and all the papers we don't need anymore.

Aah the Dining Room table that we never eat on: That's a car seat from a car we no longer own, a sewing machine, pizza boxes, sewing hat box, and in the back of the table, a GIANT Foster's Beer Bar Mirror. Why? Because we have no where to put it and no one to give it to.

The Dining Room / Kitchen: We're going to fix the drawers in the cabinet there on the right so we can USE the cabinet. I'm going to try to convince Aaron to get rid of a lot of the crap here in the picture. We've gotten rid of a lot of the stuff so far. We also need to figure out somewhere to put the bikes, as we're not allowed to have them outside on our "porch" area, and the storage unit isn't big enough to put them both in there. I would also like to hang the spice racks and tea cabinet we have there to free up room on the surfaces.

The Kitchen: I want to clear out the cabinets and store some of the small appliances, if not all of them. I also want to clear off the fridge so it's a nice clean surface area.

Our Recycling / Garbage area: I think I want to get some cute containers for the recycling and garbage. The garbage can fit under the sink, and I think I would rather having the recycling under there as well. I'm just not sure how we'll be able to do it. We have a lot of our cleaning supplies under the sink right now.

The Pantry: Although we have a pantry, it doesn't have shelves, so I don't think we're utilizing the space to the fullest. I'm hoping to find a way to use all the space in there.

The "Hallway": I'm hoping to get rid of most of the stuff in the closet, and find a way to fit the vacuum in it. That is one of my main goals.

The inside of the closet.

The bathroom: Not much we can do storage wise. I'd just like to utilize the space better. That will be easier once we get rid of a lot of the crap under the sink.

Now, the Pièce de résistance: The bedroom: My least favorite room of the house.

And the closet. I wish I could use it. First off, we're taking all the boxes out of there, and either throwing it away, or finding somewhere else for it.

Well, that's everything. I hope I didn't scare you away. Any tips you have or comments to make, please make them. The only way this is going to work is if I get complete honesty from people..

I Think I Must Be Crazy...

I'm doing it.







I'm taking the plunge.





I'm (cue scary movie music) SPRING CLEANING!


I'm working on my list right now. I'm also going to post pictures of my apartment, so I can get feedback and feel like I'm accountable. So feel free to be honest and give me tips!