I’ve actually been doing pretty well at doing cleaning/decluttering projects with the kids lately. We pretty much do at least one project a day. Cleaning their room, sweeping the floor, wiping cabinets….that sort of thing.
I’m actually on kind of a cleaning kick lately, which is strange….but good.
One project we did this last week was the kitchen floor. First we did a big sweep. We put things away and threw away the trash and dirt. My plan was to do some spot cleaning, thinking that over several days we could get through the whole floor. Well, I guess we were on a roll, because we did the whole thing in one afternoon!
The kids asked if they could put sponges on their feet so that they could skate around the kitchen to clean the floor.
My answer: Of course!!
They had fun trying it, but it didn’t really work as well as they had imagined.
We kept on cleaning anyway! The kids were into it. Maybe a little too into it at times, but it all worked out and we got it all done!
Simple pleasure? Walking barefoot on that floor without stepping on little bits of who knows what. The floor feels so smooooth now.
I’ve also been battling with the infamous Clutter Island. This picture is from Thursday:
This is how it looked on Friday:
And here’s how it’s looking today!
I don’t really love that big pile of papers, but let’s just say this is a big improvement!
Coming Soon: A BIG toy decluttering project. That’s right. We already started. Later this week [Edit: Or early next week!] I’ll post the before pictures and the progress we’ve made so far.
Have you been working on any cleaning and decluttering projects? I’d love to hear about it.
looks great. We have ants in our kitchen right now. We spray ant killer and the atns move over to the next cabinet. As a result, we are cleaning and decluttering all of our drawers and cabinets…so at least I am getting something out of this process.
Ants. Grrrr. I’m sure it will feel good when the project is done, though!
Know what I see in those island pix? Do you see much clutter on the counters? Do you see dirty dishes stacked in the sink? I don’t. Go you!
Thank you, thank you. {takes a bow}
I LOVE how the kiddos are helping!! WTG!
I noticed the clean sink on thurs, too!
Thanks! It’s funny that I didn’t notice the sink was pretty clean in all 3 pictures.
I’ve been decluttering everything, since we’re moving in a week! I can’t believe how much we’re finding to get ride of. We’ve sold a lot and taken multiple trips to Goodwill, and just today I found more stuff to take! Your island and floor look great!!
One week! So exciting! Great job on avoiding a move with stuff you don’t need!
It looks like you really made a memory for your kids! That’s so great! You are teaching them that cleaning can be fun!
I’m coming out of lurkdom to say that I’ve been reading your decluttering posts for ages now, and have always loved how honest you are and how real you keep it. To answer your question, I am suddenly facing decluttering my whole house within a month, to put it up for sale, and I’m terrified! We’re downsizing, so lots has to go, and lots of cleaning has to be done (without any enthusiastic little helpers, which can be seen as both good and bad!)
Thanks for all the inspiration, and say a prayer for me as I wade in…I think I’m going to need it!
Thank you! I’m so glad you de-lurked! Wow. You do have a big job ahead of you! My (non-professional) advice is to try to work on it at least a little every day (maybe set a timer?), and if you have any family or friends around that might be willing to help, give them a call! We moved about 7 years ago and I know that really helped me. I will say a prayer for you right now. You can do it!
I’ve always wondered about letting my kids skate on sponges to clean the kitchen floor and wondered if they’d slip or if it even worked. A clean kitchen floor is so nice. I like the progress of your kitchen island.
Hi Jean! I think there would be a way to make sponge skating work better. Bigger sponges would have helped, and also if straps were sewn onto the sponges to hold them onto their feet. I’m sure the slippery factor would also depend on the type of floor. Might be fun to try a revised version sometime. We’ll see.