Sell it. Give it away. Let it go.

Solution to Chaos

Solution to Chaos

Everything is everywhere? Can’t find it (it’s here somewhere) so you buy a new one? This is more common than you’d think. Save time, money and frustration by being organized. Psychologically, it may be a daunting task to tackle a chaotic closet or room. Do as motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, suggests: make it fun or make it easy.

Basically, you will need boxes and labels. Avoid writing directly on a box as you may wish to use a particular box for different items in the future. Labels are best.

Put on some great music and start sorting. Be honest with yourself if you have actually used something in the last year or two. If not, give it away or sell it. Someone else has a use for it.

If you do not have enough time to complete the room or closet, shut the door, put a lid on each box and come back another time. You will have no piles ~ just boxes ~ so there is no chaos to get in your way until then.

Post Construction Cleaning/Water Damage

Prevent damage to your home from a frozen water pipe by flipping off the breaker to your water pump when you leave for a length of time. Over the last several years, I have been hired to do post-construction cleaning due to frozen water pipes in which the homes were damaged from $10,000 to $150,000. In one case, the homeowner was consumed in a fight of over two years with the insurance company to pay for the damage. In the meantime, the house was unlivable with the homeowner in limbo, renting, with most of their belongings in storage.

The obvious damage of water is to your flooring but sheetrock wicks the moisture, it can also condense in the vents, damage ceilings and, in some states’ re-construction codes, require replacement of electrical wiring in the entire structure. In the home above, water flowed out under four patio doors, trapping moisture under the sills, swelling the doors and forcing their replacement at the cost of over $10,000.

Keeping detailed records in any insurance claim is a must. Photograph everything. Any meeting with an insurance rep ~ by phone or in person ~ should be followed with a certified letter to the company documenting it. You have up to two years (Minnesota) to make additional claims under the file for newly discovered damage. For example, water damage does not make itself evident on the finish of furniture as the wood takes its time to dry and contract.

Only Time Will Tell

Happy New Year 2006, originally uploaded to www.flickr.com by Click Attack.

How Long Does It Really Take?

Task: feed dog.

Estimate: 3 hours.

Actual time: 3 minutes.

One of my clients decided it was time her two teen-aged girls started helping around the house. You’d have thought the world had ended after one was asked to fold a basket of towels. In her mind, this formidable task was going to consume her entire evening! Being an astute mom, my client realized her kids were overwhelmed & so began estimating a number of minutes each job should take. When they heard feeding the dog took only 3 minutes or putting away groceries only 12 minutes they were much more willing to participate.

Cleaning Style of a Do-It-Yourselfer

From the blog of “Skdo” from Midwest,United States

“My process for cleaning our home”

• Begin with checking email, reading friends’ blogs and posting to own blog
• Check email again, just in case I have received one in the last ½ hour
• Eat dinner and dish up seconds
• Spellcheck latest blog post and correct stupid errors like “Grameboy”
• Walk into living room, kitchen, dining room area, sigh heavily and ponder where to begin
• Walk into living room, put everything that is on the floor onto the ottoman for later sorting
• Decide jeans are too tight for cleaning, climb stairs and put on PJ pants
• Pick up needy cat, listen to her purr, ponder lying down on bed with said cat, decide marital peace and a clean house are currently higher priorites
• Descend stairs, enter office, pull up MS Word on laptop to jot down process thus far so I don’t have to remember too much
• Wonder if I do in fact have adult ADD as some have suggested
• Keep typing draft of this blog post
• Return to living room to put stuff that is on floor onto ottoman
• Find obscure things on living room floor, like super mega sized ice scraper, blame children
• Hang up coats that previously filled hall closet but had to be removed so maintenance could spray enzyme cleaner on the hallway carpet after TT flooded the hallway
• Realize I forgot to blog the story about TT flooding the hallway with his bathwater
• Seriously wonder where husband is…have no idea

Read the rest of her blog entry here: http://skdo.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-process-for-cleaning-our-home.html

Attention to Detail – And Then Some

The most heartfelt thank you’s come from homeowners who have discovered a cleaning fairy spent time under their kitchen sink. Clean the bottles?? Yes, I’ll admit to paying this much attention to detail. Not only are things arranged by category, the labels face forward AND they are no longer sticky to touch.

originally uploaded by PoppyBuxom.

 

Naturally Clean Homes

Creatures of nature instinctively create environments using the “form follows function” guide. From birds to ants to pigs – yes, pigs – animals understand the importance of a clean, dry, well-built home.

On the subject of pigs, they are actually one of the cleanest animals. If given a large enough pen, they will assign uses to each corner: one for sleeping, a second for their “necessary”, the third for eating and the fourth for daytime relaxation. Pigs abhor a messy living space but must contend with small, dirty pens if humans confine them. Calling someone a pig is actually an insult to pigs.

Team Effort

evidence removal squad, originally uploaded by sgoralnick.

A full-time homemaker once told me she always looked forward to cleaning her house as it gave her more time with friends. How could this be?? She and two friends cleaned at each others homes weekly. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings were spent together instead of each dreading isolation while family members were at school or work.

Team Cleaning – Family Style

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefranden/115106583/

“If I can do it with one arm, you can do it with two.”
Growing up in a family of 9 meant organization or anarchy. My mother, with the use of only ONE arm due to polio, had the cleanest home in the neighborhood. How? She had a Saturday morning cleaning list and no TV, friends or playtime was allowed until it was completed. We were taught that as a family each member must contribute for the good of all. Each of us wrote our name next to a small, medium and larger task so everyone knew who was responsible for a great job done or who was called back if it needed a touch-up. There were no gender-specific jobs: boys washed dishes and learned to sew, girls mowed lawn and cleaned the garage.

Overwhelmed? Call for help.

cleaning_house_sept06 006, originally uploaded by martapiqs.

Photo found on flickr.com. Your home may not be a Berkely, California apartment housing several roommates but we all have messes at times.

Surfing flickr.com will de-stress you after a hard day. Click here: http://www.flickr.com/explore/ After that, email me for even more stress relief by scheduling your first of many house cleanings.