Charles and I start our day early, when all is well I get up around 4:30 and Charles about a half hour later. I spend my early time looking at my schedule, starting coffee, and a quick check of messages and quick chores, breakfast, feeding the girls, and so on. The schedule is not rigid but I like to get several things done before 6:00 a.m. because that helps my day start off on better footing.
I started setting out the cleaning items that will be used the next day to decrease laundry. If I do not do this I use too many cloths and rags during the day. One day I realized that somehow I had become a cloth & towel waster causing extra laundry. If I was not paying attention I would have three different dishtowels in one day. This photo above is all that should go into the wash pail this particular day of cleaning including mopping.
Above shown is a drying rag for dishes, a dish cloth an old cleaning cloth, a striped hand towel to dry my hands during the day, and 3 mop cloths to mop the floor. A small bucket for making soapy water for small jobs. that require a simple cleaning cloth or brush.
Since I keep a journal and planner I set things out the night before so it is ready for the next day and makes me feel more organized. It also says to me, this is here and this is what you need to do today.
When I got up this particular morning and opened the window I noticed that a worm of some kind had laid across the outside window seal and obviously been there for a while because it had damaged the wood.
I removed the expired worm and it had rotted into the wood. This is how a house starts to deteriorate and why we need to do spring and fall cleaning or more often if needed.
Over time of keeping house, we figure out the helpful tools we need to do certain tasks. I have accumulated different types of brushes that I use for cleaning that I keep in a little basket in a cabinet. I hang the larger brush by the back door. The large one on the right is used to clean lampshades or something that is not very dirty but dusty. I keep this brush clean so it does not soil the lamp shade while I am dusting. There is only a few things that I am very particular about and this brush and my sewing scissors are off limits and can only be used for their intended purpose. The other brushes are for many uses. I forgot to add a toothbrush that I use often because I had used it to clean the air filter.
I normally clean the ledges thoroughly in spring and fall and was not planning on cleaning this window this particular morning but while I was cleaning the area where the worm dug into the wood I decided to clean this ledge.
I soaped up a brush to clean the corner track.
This is good to do to prevent rotting of the wood. Our house is 60 plus years and so the wood is old.
I use my handy little pitcher for rinsing small jobs. When you keep a home and try to maintain we accumulate the items we need to have on hand for ease of cleaning.
This will hold and when we do the fall window cleaning this will be cleaned again when the windows are washed inside and out, then it will be clean and ready for touch-up painting.
We have much to do this fall because we have a lot of cleaning to do on the eves of the house.
I prefer to use real soap, homemade or store-bought as long as it is not synthetic soap.
On my one-room proper cleaning, I remove as much furniture from that room so I can do a better job. I use furniture sliders so I can slide the furniture without needing a lot of strength.
It always amazes me how much dust and dirt can accumulate behind furniture.
To mop, I use a wet soapy cloth and lay it on the floor, and push it around a section at a time. Then I rinse with rinse cloths. I do this because I can manage rinsing and wringing easier. About ten years ago I would have been cleaning the floors with a bucket, scrubber, and cloth on my knees because I would be cleaning baseboards at the same time. I truly miss being able to do this and I still try at times. I cannot find the type of mop I used many years ago. Whoever designs mops today must not ever use one or they would be made like a mop should be.
This was a morning we ate a big breakfast of salad, avocado, and nitrate/msg/gluten-free sausage because we were going to have a late lunch.
Charles drove up and picked up Madge so we could take her for a doctor's appointment. I stayed home and cooked lunch while they were on the road. When her afternoon appointment was over we all had lunch here before we drove her back home. It was a pleasant day and nice to have her here for a visit.
I moved the buffet back to the living room last week, it just wanted to be there instead of the dining room. Elizabeth likes to sit in that chair so I keep a cover on it for her. She dozes and also keeps a watch out the window.
I mentioned in a recent post that we can have a clean but unorganized home if we move things to clean under and then put the items back like they were. So cleaning does not necessarily mean being organized.
I have added to my one-room proper cleaning schedule to spend a little extra time while I am in there cleaning to see if there is anything that needs to be donated, discarded, or put in a better location.
My one-room proper has nothing to do with regular cleaning. It is spending a designated day to give one room in the house a deeper cleaning five days a week. It takes less time than you might think.
Right now the schedule that is still working for me is,
Monday - Our bedroom, main bathroom.
Tuesday - Dining Room, Laundry Room, Desk area
Wednesday - Living room, main bathroom
Thursday - Green Bedroom, half bath
Friday - Blue Bedroom and sewing corner main bathroom
The kitchen is every day and one room proper has nothing to do with laundry, cooking, and regular things. It is a way to get the house clean and stay clean as long as we repeat that the next week.
Now I am ready to add decluttering to my One Room Proper schedule. I want to spend a little time, no longer than a half hour doing some decluttering. For example, a small chair in the corner of our bedroom. This is a little chair that I sit on to dry my hair if I am using a hair dryer or I sit and roll my hair here if I decide to roll it. I tire easily with my arms up so I sit down to do my hair and I have a small mirror across from the chair.
One day I placed a basket of items that I needed to go through on this chair only I kept adding to that basket and the chair became a place to put off putting those things away. Each time I dried my hair, I had to remove the basket and set it on the bed and then put it back. This is when I realized I needed to add a few minutes of organizing on the day I do the one-room proper to this bedroom.
Trying to organize too many things at once seems to overwhelm me now that I am older and not as strong. If I pull out too much then I am in real trouble. Doing a little organizing in the room that I am already deep cleaning makes more sense to me and so now I seem to be making better progress chipping away at it. I do not want to spend too much extra time in that one room so the day is more balanced with cooking, laundry, taking care of the pets, mending, and so on.
I move what I can to clean under and behind, top and bottom and when I finish I then decide does some of this need to be donated or find a place for it.
I know what I want for the end result but I am not focusing on that, I have resolved my thoughts of wanting it done right away to accepting that I actually make better progress if I do a little on a designated day in a particular room that I am already cleaning. This stops me from getting behind on other things because I was so disorganized due to organizing. Does that make sense?
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This is simply my method of cleaning that I made for myself, I named it One Room Proper to define what I was doing that day. I know when I am cleaning that room I will be back the next week deep cleaning again because that is what I need to keep my home clean and we have pets. We all have different ways of doing things and we need to find our own way that works because we have different homes and items and needs. But my suggestion is to have some kind of system that works for you that you can manage.
On my one-room proper cleaning scheduled, I also have bath days for "the girls". Monday, Bernadette, Wednesday, Elizabeth, and Friday, Katherine. The schedule has cleaning the main bathroom Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I don't clean the bathroom until after I bathe whoever gets a bath that day. It all just starts to flow better for me and holds me somewhat accountable that day and helps to motivate me to get it done.
I was bathing all three girls the same day and that was just too much for me. This adjustment works much better.
I do get off schedule if I feel bad or something comes up but the good part of this is there is always next week to pick back up. Actually, my ear/balance issues have been what has led me to come up with a cleaning routine and this one just leads into the next week looping each week.
I have some new information for you.
I have been making a lot of changes behind the scenes so to speak. I want to catch you up. First I just wanted to talk about the different kinds of devices we use to read the blog. Computer, phone, tablet, etc.
My blog is best viewed on a computer because then the sidebars show and there is a search area on my home page where you can type in a topic you may be looking for. However, you can view posts on any type of device you use you just might not be able to see the sidebar.
*This one is a shock for some who know me and someone nudging me along to actually do this. I have managed to get my brain to open an Instagram account and I have just started it and am "Still learning" how to use it. I may or may not have driven my daughter a little looney asking for help. My Instagram name is; decidedlysimple
I am learning a lot of new things right now and for an older woman, I am slow but trying. Some of you know the program I was using to do YouTube videos stopped working and I had to save the money as we do for most things new, to purchase a new program so there was a gap in posting videos. I am slowly getting new videos up but it has not been easy for me to learn this program nor the older one and remember how I did it from one video to the next. There are a total at this time of 28 videos and 2 using the new program. I keep trying to learn and remember it and once I get it I got it.
I hope that you enjoy the videos and find calm in this crazy world.
Here is a link to my newest YouTube video "A day in our Life" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjtF1QXG-98
As many of you have found, there is a new comment section at the bottom of each post. I never had a comment section on my blog and I am thrilled at all the wonderful comments.
My hope is that we build a community of friends as we move along with comments. We are from all over the world and so this is a small space where we can get to know each other. I know my readers from years of emails and you are kind, caring and respectful.
Many years ago when I first started my blog and I actually had readers, I had to buy a world map so I could understand where you lived. I was always terrible at geography. I had to learn what a Courgette and Chook were and so many other things there is no room to type all of this.
With all that is going on today, I hope we can keep the comment section a great place to comment and for you to read comments from others.
Here is a link to my first One Room Proper post so if you have not read that post and do not know what I am talking about when I say My One Room Proper. https://gdonna.com/living-like-the-past/one-room-proper/
Hugs to all, Grandma Donna
