"Before" Project 1 -- the bedroom

My approach to this project is going to be to post a set of "before" photos along with a plan of attack for the particular area I'm cleaning. In a separate post I intend to post "after" photos along with a discussion of how the cleaning went, and any problems or observations.

To be a bit fair to myself there are extenuating circumstances for why the bedroom is in this much disarray in the photos. When my offspring were about to arrive for their recent visit, I used the bedroom as a "sweep things under the rug" area. I also stripped the beds to wash the sheets. and piled some clothing from the dryer which I unwisely decided to wash a few hours before they arrived (which didn't give me time to put them away, causing it's own set of problems). But this is where I am at the moment.

My plan of attack is to.

1. Put all the clothing away, including ironing as needed.
2. Put away all the objects which don't belong in the bedroom
3. Put away all objects which belong in the bedroom, but are out of place
4. Clean out and neaten the closets
5. Clean out and neaten the drawers
   
6. Fill bags with stuff to donate to the American Kidney Fund, and other stuff to recycle or discard.
7. Clean and vacuum (including the ceiling fan, blinds, windows, floors, and underneath the furniture).
8. Hang three framed posters my fiance and I bought years ago and which I still haven't hung (I'm going to involve her in that part of it in celebration of getting the other stuff done).

My estimated time for finishing this is one week, so my plan is to hang the posters next Sunday afternoon.

Here are the photos.

Plan of Attack

There are two problems I'm faced with at the moment:

One is that I've never really had the house thoroughly neat and clean, even when my late wife and I moved in. Soon after we moved in her health began to decline significantly, and house maintenance was not my top priority.

The second is that I have bad habits with respect to the cyclical housecleaning chores. If I do get one area under control it rapidly fills with clutter, and I don't take care of the dusting, cleanup of spills, and other constant attacks on the orderliness of the house.

Also, I can divide the solutions into a number of categories, all of which need attention, but different kinds of attention:

1. Enormous tasks. Those include cleaning out the back room and basement, which contain twenty years of accumulated junk (from my previous house and this one)
2. Big one day tasks. Mopping the floor, cleaning the carpets and other things which require rearrangement.
3. Daunting but relatively small tasks. Cleaning the refrigerator and stove, sorting through and providing some method to my clothes.
4. Short term cyclical tasks. Sweeping, counter wipe down, policing for clutter, dusting.
5. Correction of bad habits. This includes stopping myself from throwing mail on the futon, washing dishes immediately after use, cleaning and or removing my shoes when I enter the house ... and others too numerous to mention.

I'll be working out a schedule to manage the categories above, and will post it here when I've completed it.

Back on Track

This blog was a very good idea, but I never really followed through. I'm going to give it another shot.

My current motivation is that I got the living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom at least acceptable for a visit by my son, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend. Now those three rooms are maintainable, and I want to motivate myself to avoid letting the work I've already done slide, and I want (and need) to push ahead on the project of really getting the house organized and neat.

Here are a few photos of the state of the first few rooms. As you can see I've presented a mix of areas which are in control, and areas which need further work. Most of my blog posts will be before photos, after photos, and a discussion of my mode of attack on the area I'm cleaning. I hope to make these posts fun for readers in addition to motivational for me.