Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's party!"
Robin Williams

Good morning! According to a study conducted by a Boston marketing firm, the average American loses 55 minutes a day--roughly 12 weeks a year-looking for things they own but can't find. "While our lives are complicated, our cleaning doesn't need to be," says Brook Noel, author of The Change Your Life Challenge: A 70 Day Life Makeover Program for Women "When equipped with the tips of the pros, we can quickly conquer Spring Cleaning," continues Noel. She offers 10 tips to successfully ease the spring cleaning task.

1. Break your home into stations: Walk through your home and break it down into manageable tasks. Cleaning a kitchen might be composed of the following "stations:" emptying the pantry, cleaning appliances, emptying/sorting cabinets and drawers, cleaning surfaces. Each station should be small enough that you aren't overwhelmed before you start! Record all your stations in a notebook.

2. Choose your timeline: Sit down with a calendar and choose a goal date for completing your cleaning. Assign your stations to dates in order to meet your goal. Consider enlisting the help of a friend or family member.

3. Get busy: If you have a hard time getting started, use a timer and spend 30 minutes in one station of the home. You'll be relieved to hear the beep and amazed at what you can tackle in 30 minutes.

4. Get motivated: Choose a reward for each room that you tackle. New pillows, fresh flowers, a framed piece of child's artwork are good options.

5. Design a cleaning caddy for each home area: Place everything you need to clean a room in a small caddy. For example, a bathroom caddy might contain glass cleaner, paper towels or rags, a scrub brush, toilet and tile cleaners, a small sweep broom, etc. Caddies allow us to take advantage of extra moments. We can quickly spray down a mirror or countertop while drawing bathwater. This will make your home much easier to maintain.

6. Work with your family - instead of against them: If family members tend to "pile," instead of trying to change their ways, create a place for their piles. Purchase a set of plastic stacking drawers and give each family member a drawer for their pile. When the drawer won't close, they need to sift through it.

7. Don't over-organize: Be careful not to implement a system that it too complicated to maintain. When we go to an organizing store, we can fall prey to all the wonderful looking tools and contraptions. Often, these just become a different way to store clutter.

8. Trade in your junk drawer for a "deal with it drawer:" A junk drawer is a silly concept. Why save junk? Instead create a deal-with-it-drawer for things that you need to deal with, but can't at the moment (i.e. an odd item that you need to find a home for, a manual that you need to file.) Make sure to go through this drawer every other week and "deal with it."

9. We all survived Y2K: Don't become obsessed with saving everything. Don't save every plastic bag, paper bag, etc. This just becomes clutter. Save only what you know you will use within the next month. Recycle or give away the rest.

10. Find a way to enjoy your cleaning time: Often cleaning can become drudgery. Consider listening to books-on-tape or learn a new language while you clean. Doing something for yourself and learning something new can make time fly and actually make you look forward to cleaning.

For more tips on organizing or dealing with clutter, visit www.changeyourlifechallenge.com

Your Turn:
Choose at one least tip from today's list to implement this week and get ready for Spring!

Your Affirmation:
My home is a way to express my care of family.
 

Challenge Life!

Brook Noel