The Just Clean Something Challenge {final thoughts}

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Welcome to the final update of the Just Clean Something Challenge! I made it my goal to clean at least one thing in my house every day in July.  I started this challenge because I have been struggling to get back into a cleaning routine since my second child, Noah, was born.

{3 things I learned from the Just Clean Something Challenge}

1) I am really busy!  No wonder I don’t take time to clean.  Just look at all the things I did this month:

• weekend trip to the beach with girlfriends
• weekend trip to a wedding
• two trips to the emergency room
• three doctor appointments
• 4 play-dates
• library visits
• church
• canned two different kinds of pickles
• froze 40 lbs of blue berries
• about 5 hours of volunteer work
• nephew’s birthday party
• hours of yard work
• even more hours of reading books, cuddling, and entertaining the little ones
• laundry
• babysat twice
• blogging, paid pinning, and other social media work
• wiped noses and changed diapers
• approximately 100,000 meals prepared and cleaned up

Every time I shared on Facebook what I cleaned that day, I felt like saying, “I know this doesn’t look like much, but I did this and this and holy cow I did this today too!!!!!”

At the beginning of the challenge I felt guilty because I don’t usually clean the house while the kids are napping.  However, looking back over my month I can see that just because I take a break in the middle of my day that doesn’t mean I’m an unproductive person.  If anything, this challenge has taught me that I need that down time.

I’m in a season of life right now where it is hard for me to clean the house, but there are so many other things I am doing well.

2) Cleaning doesn’t take as much time as I thought it did.  I used to put off cleaning because doing a huge cleaning session just took so much time.  Newsflash: cleaning sessions don’t have to be huge.

There were so many cleaning tasks that I accomplished during this challenge that took less than 10 minutes.  Dusting rooms, sweeping floors, wiping down appliances, cleaning a toilet…  None of those things take much time and it is ok to do just one thing!

Am I the only one who thinks that cleaning the bathroom means you have to clean the whole entire thing?  Then I put it off and put it off because I don’t have the time or energy to do the whole thing.  This challenge made me realize that it is ok to clean just the sink, just the toilet, or sweep the floor without mopping it too.  Just cleaning something is better than not cleaning anything.

3) I can be productive after 7:00 PM.  Normally Nate gets home from work at 6:30.  By the time we are finished with supper and cleaned up, I am ready to be done with my day!  Yet, on most days during this challenge, 7:00 (or later!) is when I remembered that I still needed to clean something.  Surprise, surprise!  I found the energy to get it done.

Honestly, it is much easier for me to run the vacuum, dust a room, or clean a sink quick after supper than to squeeze it in during the day when I’m alone with my attention seeking children.  

{final thoughts}

Moving forward I hope to make a better effort at accomplishing smaller cleaning tasks on a more regular basis instead of waiting to do it all in one day.

I hope to take advantage of the time Nate is home in the evening instead of “checking out” for the day.

Finally, I hope to have grace with myself and recognize all the other things I’m doing well in my home.

{cleaning resources}

On day 4 of the challenge, I decluttered our kids’ kitchen cabinet.  It was bad.  You can read about the whole process and see before & after photos in my guest post for A Slob Comes Clean.

Speaking of A Slob Comes Clean… Nony has written an eBook that might be a good resource for some of you.  28 Days to Hope for Your Home is helpful book for those who are living in serious chaos.  If you need some major help figuring out how to conquer your constantly messy house, then Nony is the gal for you.  She is funny.  She is helpful.  She totally understands what it means to be a slob.  In 28 short days she will help you find hope for your sad, messy house.

Use the promo code SIMPLYREB to get $1 off 28 Days to Hope for Your Home!  Yep, Nony created that code just for us!  The promo code is good until August 15, 2013 so act fast and get the book for just $4.

One of my post popular posts of all time is my Free Cleaning Checklist You Can Customize – 1 Year on 1 Page.  Please let me know if you’ve tried my cleaning checklist.  I would love to hear if it works for you.

Did you participate in the Just Clean SOMETHING Challenge?  What did you learn from it and what do you hope to change?

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