Scour It Saturday AKA Spring Cleaning

My kids are thrilled. Ok not really. But I'm grateful to be dejunking & cleaning. We're downstairs in the basement and I'm determined to get it all clean today!

Scour It Saturday

Today is a house cleaning day. Due to Kim's birthday, not feeling well and just not caring my house has gone to pot! Today is going to be dedicated to getting the house in order. From dishes to laundry to bathrooms to vacuuming to decluttering... the list is long.

Scour It Saturday - The Bathrooms

ETA: I got it all done! It took a good portion of the day once again but I went through every drawer and cupboard and got everything cleaned, scoured and organized!

3 bathrooms to scour today. The downstairs bathroom will be easy because I got it clean earlier this week and just needs the shower done and a few touch up things. The "buggy" bathroom (named because when we moved in we'd find dead cockroaches in there) is only a 1/2 bath and will be easy too. The main upstairs bathroom needs attention. I plan to clean out all the drawers & cupboards, scrub the shower, walls, sink, toilet, floor...oh and of course caulk the shower and get a new shower curtain hung so we can use the shower after my unfinished project from yesterday.

Scour It Saturday - Report

Edit to Add: I'm Done! I cleaned my entire kitchen from top to bottom today. Fridge, freezer, cupboards, drawers, floor, sink, microwave, windows....The entire thing was scoured!

Cleaning behind the oven.

Look at all this dirt!

Cleaning the wall.

More walls.While we were scouring the kitchen Brian was vacuuming.

Putting the oven back in place.

Walls, windows and lights.

Cleaning behind the fridge.

So I'm not done yet but my help has abandoned me. With the kids help we cleaned the table and chairs, all the walls, light fixtures, fronts on the cabinets and scrubbed the floor. Brian and I cleaned the stove & oven. I'm now working on cleaning out all the cupboards, drawers, fridge, microwave, etc. I think I might run out of steam and time before I get it all done!

Scour It Saturday - The Kitchen

It's getting gross and needs attention! I'm going to scour the fridge and defrost the freezer, scrub the table & chairs, clean the stove and oven and get down on my hands and knees to clean the floor & baseboards. Wipe down the front of the cupboards and the spots on the walls, clean the light fixture and the microwave and clean out all the cupboards and drawer. And of course do the dishes.....Ok maybe I won't get to all of that today but I'm going to try!

Mother, Tackle, Wash, Thwart, Fix, Scour & Savor IT!

So I love Tackle it Tuesday. It so works for me. There are so many things I just don't get done and having just one project to take on has really worked for me. Unbelievable my office is still clean! It feels so great.

My good friend Yoga drove down to visit me on Saturday. After and early lunch at Durangos a couple hours of shopping and then a late lunch at Outback I left feeling rejuvenated. I love you Yoga and am so grateful you went out of your way to spend and afternoon with me!

One thing we discussed briefly was Tackle It Tuesday. Yoga had been trying to come up with something for the other days of the week. She'd come up with Wash It Wednesday and Fix it Friday. It got my brain going and I wanted to come up with something for each day of the week because I thrive with motivation and love the sense of having something that I can accomplish and be proud of.

After church today with the help of a dictionary I enlisted Brian and the kids to help me come up with something for everyday of the week.

So we already had:
Tackle it Tuesday - Tackle any project that you need to get done.
Wash it Wednesday - Dishes, Laundry, your car, the spots on your walls...Lots of possibilities for something that desperately needs washing.
Fix it Friday - Fix something that needs fixing, mend clothes, repair something, replace something that is broken, etc.

The remaining ideas come from my husband and children. We brainstormed and voted on them and this is what we came up with.

Mother It Monday - We had lots of ideas from Mend it to Make it to Move it to Muster it... but it was unanimous that Monday should be Mother It Monday - Do something to be a better mother, read a book, take a walk with the kids, a bike ride, go to the park, sit and talk... Anything to better my relationship with my children.

Thursday was nearly impossible to figure out! Throttle it, thrash it, throw it, thrice it, through it... Ultimately we decided upon Thwart it Thursday. The definition of thwart included: to oppose and defeat, to hinder or prevent. We decided on picking some area of the house needed to be defeated. Clutter or chaos or even bad habits in any form that need to be thwarted.

Scour it Saturday - Anything that needs scouring or to be clear or rid of what is undesirable. Some sort of deep cleaning task from the oven to the soap scum to anything that is needing a good cleaning and scrubbing.

Savor It Sunday - Obviously not a day of work but rather a day to reflect on all that is good in life. A time to appreciate and relish and enjoy what we have been blessed with. (Brett says we should call it Sit it Sunday so we can just "sit" and rest all day).

I don't promise to tackle all of these each week but my goal is to accomplish at least several of them each week. I know there will be days when simply meeting the basic needs of my family is all I will be able to accomplish. But I hope to be able to get a better handle on thing by simply setting a small goal each day and accomplishing it.