Week 17

 First of all, I'm just impressed that I've been consistent for 17 weeks. I think what helps is the encouragement from the GOHQ Facebook page and this project being listed as a "want-to" from my Work Life Harmony training. 

The master bedroom is finished!!!! Before the end of the month! No scrambling on Tuesday trying to finish to stay on track. Wednesday I had a 25 minute time slot so I thought I would pull everything out of my side of the closet and put it on the couch. I'm so glad I did this. I had a Zoom meeting scheduled for 11:30 on Thursday. I also wanted to get a lesson of my C.S. Lewis course done before the Zoom call. This meant I needed to be done with closet stuff by around 10:30. Around 8:30 I got started. First I pulled a box from the crawl space to have Doc look at when he gets home. I was then able to move in a couple boxes of books and rearrange some of Trixie's toys to clear up space at the entrance to make it easier for me to add things later, if necessary. I vacuumed and dusted a little in there, but didn't pull everything out. I then tried on almost all the clothes in the pile on the couch. I set aside some items for Trixie to look at and I had a huge donate pile. I flipped my hangers backward to see what I really end up wearing. I was able to get things back in the closet including the reduced pile of sweaters and the not so reduced pile of sweatshirts. I do love sweatshirts. The only thing I didn't get to on Thursday was the box that had scarves, sexy nighties, and some jeans. I did that on Friday. Nighties all went to the donate pile, scarves went into a smaller shoebox and placed in one of the bed cubbies. The box was eliminated and now I have a small pile of pants and capris on the closet shelf. 

Saturday morning I popped in an Avalon CD and emptied the storage closet. Tossed a few things, added a few things to the donation pile, relocated a few things, and intentionally put back items in the closet. Still looks like a jumbled mess. It's such a weird space under the stairs. I'm hoping Trixie and I will be able to sort craft supplies this summer. Craft stuff is now stashed in four separate locations. Hopefully that won't be the case after we sort things.

The office is next. I did make a general timeline for different sections. Not sure if Thursday-Saturday will be enough. Some sections have two weeks. The physical cleaning can certainly get done on those days. It's the paper clutter that is going to take time. Do I do what I can do in the assigned weeks or save paper clutter as a separate project? Save physical cleaning for Thur-Fri and work on the sorting on Sat. and maybe other days of the week? Do what I can until the end of March and add whatever isn't done to my backlog until Mt. Vernon is done? Although, I think some of the boxes of stuff in the office are already listed on my backlog. It would be nice to get it all done and off the backlog. 

The first week's assignment is the long wall with the coat hooks and the stairs. Since it's mostly just physical cleaning for this section, Thursday morning may be sufficient. Then I could get started on the next section early. It includes the cubbies in the hall, the shoe cubbies, the shoe rack, the Christmas boxes that still need to go back to the garage, the huge pile of stuff in the corner near the stairs. I did weed through the drawers of the cart a year or so ago looking for items for Trixie's scrapbook for her graduation open house. The papers left should be things I wanted to keep, read or do something with them. I was going to wait until towards the end to clean out the storage area under the stairs so I could gather all that I wanted to put in there. Just wondering where to keep those items until then. No room currently in there. I also need to make a plan for things not staying to have an exit strategy. I have some sheets to go to the animal rescue and books to Forest Academy to see if there are any that can find a new home. This is going to be a big project.

Week 16

 I did the Monday and Wednesday chores and three workouts. On Wednesday I did the workout, ran the vacuum and then showered. This week dusting of the master will be added to the downstairs chore list. I finished all the sections of the bedroom on Friday. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish the whole clothes closet this Thursday. I finished the sections early so that I could work on the closet yesterday. I did Doc's side first since he is going out of town again. I needed him to make some decisions. The last time I cleaned out the closet was pre-Covid. At that time I had flipped his hangers backwards. As shirts were worn and washed, I flipped those hangers the right way. There were a handful of hangers that were still backwards. He said they could all go without even looking at them. I had his sweaters and sweatshirts spread all over the bed so he could look and decide on the keepers. The old, tattered, and stained are gone now. Hangers have been flipped again and groups have been reorganized. I also flipped the basket of inside out socks. Matched the pairs and stacked them nice in his drawer. I had some widowed socks. I didn't discard them yet as sometimes socks get left in his suitcase when he pulls out laundry. I'll reevaluate the widows after this next trip.

I didn't do my side of the closet because I was waiting for Doc to decide on the shirts on the bed. He was riding his bike so it took a while. I think I can do my side on Thursday and probably the crawl space. That will give me Friday and Saturday for the storage closet and floor.

I did make a general timeline for the office area dividing the sections over February and March. Still need to figure out the best schedule for actual cleaning and sorting through the stuff. Some areas get two weeks. 

Week 15

 Yes, I did get some things done this week! Did the weekly cleaning on Monday and Wednesday. Still trying to figure out the most efficient way to do each floor. Also started some easy Leslie Sansone and Body Groove workouts. Trying to figure out if doing them before or after housework is better. Thursday I did three sections of the bedroom. Friday I did two. I purposely picked those two thinking it would be very dusty. Doc was still out of town giving time for things to settle. Didn't hear any sneezing last night so it must have been okay. I should have done his nightstand area on Thursday. That area is very dusty. The last seven sections will be done this week on Thursday through Saturday. After that will be the two closets and the floor. Doc leaves again next weekend.

Looking ahead to the next space....the office. What a disaster! Not only does the physical space need a good cleaning, organizing and decluttering, but there is a lot of paper clutter. Things to read, file, do and hopefully discard. I'm guessing there will be many items I thought were important to keep because of further action needed that won't be important anymore. I just need to figure out how to balance the cleaning of the physical space and sorting through the paper stuff. I did give myself two months for this area. Maybe one month for the physical and one for the mental stuff. Not sure if Thursday-Saturday will be enough. Might need to do the mental stuff in daily spurts. Maybe I should start the task list so I can make a plan before Feb. starts.

Week 14

 This week went pretty well with the new schedule. Still need to work out some kinks. Trixie was still on break so taking her to work and the doctor threw things off a little. She's back at school now. Doc is out of town. Dash has his own car to drive to school. I should have no excuse for not getting things done as I'm all alone this week.

I was able to do the upstairs chores on Monday and the downstairs chores on Wednesday. Felt a little chaotic, but I think it will flow better with more practice. Need to work in the monthly and quarterly chores. Work in progress! 

I did start the Mt. V in the master bedroom. Doing the silly ceiling panel method. I did two and half sections on Thursday, one and a half on Friday, and three on Saturday. Pretty pleased with how it is going so far. I won't be available this Saturday so the plan is to do two sections on Thursday and three on Friday. Or five between the two days. Friday may be a little crazy so shifting more to Thursday would be okay. Some sections are easier than others. Oh so dusty! It's a good thing Doc is gone or he'd be sneezing. 

Week 13

 Monday started really well with the bathroom. Wiping down the walls, dusting the vanity, wiped out the medicine cabinet, organized the drawers and cupboard. And then nothing! Getting the calendar and budget ready was more fun. Saturday I spent a lot of time cleaning the toilet and surrounding area. I thought Dash would hop in the shower so I waited on that, but he was waiting on laundry. So the shower didn't get done, but I did clean out the linen closet and hall closet. Added some projects to my list. I need to sort the hair accessory box and the box of sheets. From the hall closet, I did organize the grocery bags. Water bottles and lunch boxes need to be weeded out. I took out the door organizer to wash and repair. The elastic for the pockets needs to be replaced. Sounds like a good Murder, She Wrote task.

I will take a shower upstairs today and clean the shower when I'm done. Then I'll mop the floor. I'll dust the banister and vacuum the stairs as part of Monday chores. Next room of the Mt. Vernon adventure will be the master bedroom. The storage closet and clothes closet are right at the beginning. I think I'll save those for last as I'm pretty sure there are things in other areas of the room that need to be put in the closets. So this room I probably won't do around the perimeter. Need to shake things up a bit. I'll number the ceiling panels, pick a number and do whatever is in that section. There are 19 sections to do and then the closets and floor. I'm changing the cleaning schedule a little. Monday I'll focus on the upstairs. Tuesday will be for errands. Wednesday will be downstairs cleaning. It will be minimal as I work my way through the downstairs with Mt. Vernon. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be Mt. Vernon focused. I'll see how that works out. I need to figure out what weeks to plug in monthly chores for the upstairs. I'm excited to finally be moving downstairs. This is where I'll be for the next seven months.