As of yesterday, our apartment was shameful. While it wasn’t disgusting, per se, it was cluttered beyond belief with dust bunnies large enough to fight the cat. We’ve always been pretty good about keeping icky trash— things that would start to smell, things that were meant to be eaten, etc.– off the counters, but we are notorious for letting papers, empty recyclables, half-cleaned dishes and clean-but-not-folded laundry pile up in various parts of the apartment. The kitchen table, desk and bedside tables seem to take the most of the mess, but when it extended to the seats of the arm chairs, we knew it was time to get our shit together.
How’d it happen? It makes perfect sense, really. When you combine a less-than-obsessed attitude toward organization with two busy schedules in an apartment full of oddities, it’s obvious. I work full-time; he goes to school full-time. In my free time, I blog; in his free time, he works out. His school work merged with back copies of the paper I write for and the million fashion magazines I subscribe to, and they had some sort of clutter baby that spread throughout the loft. So we cleaned. A lot. And then I made a list. While we’re far from Martha Stewart tidy, this new system ought to keep us on track for a cleaner, more enjoyable apartment. A little order should clear– or rather, clean– this problem up quickly.
How does that compare with your cleaning schedule? Cleaning lists are highly personalized– for example, we don’t have carpeting or a private outdoor space, but we abuse the power of the junk drawer and forget about what’s lurking in the back of the fridge. What we needed probably isn’t what you need.
To keep yourself on track, feel free to download this fill-in-the-blanks PDF cleaning chart. Two freebies are available: one Clean It Up! ‘clean’ (as in clean house and clean language) cleaning chart and one Get Your Shit Together ‘motivational’ (har har) cleaning chart. Personally, a little profanity gets my broom in gear, but pick whatever makes your scrub your Sunday away. Does life get in the way of your cleaning schedule? How do you stay on track?
