Be Intentional Challenge #15 – Complete the Home Map for Complete Clean-out and Organization

It is day #16 of our Be Intentional Challenges!

As a reminder, the 30 Be Intentional challenges this month are designed to get you on the right foot, the right track and give you energy, efficiency and organization which will propel you into a life that is able to develop an overall financially smart, happy and frugal home.  We are going to have different themes each month this year (and we have very exciting stuff planned) and this month is your foundation!

We encourage couples and families to do these challenges together so the whole house can function well!

As the 30 days go along, we will be focusing on 5 areas for the Be Intentional Month:

• Self
• Home
• Budget
• Schedule
• Frugality

Here’s the previous 15 challenges in case you missed them and want to get your life on the right track:

1. Set and Be Strict About Bedtime
2. Work Towards Waking Up At The Same Time Everyday
3. Making Your Bed Everyday
4. Get Dressed To Shoes Everyday
5. Hydrate Yourself
6. 5 Minute Stretching and Breathing Exercise
7. Implement a 20 Minute Quick Clean with You and Your Family
8. Menu Planning
9. Dinner by 10
10. Take Your Vitamins
11. Have A Family Meeting To Review, Discuss and Figure Out How To Solve Obstacles Preventing You From Doing Challenges #1-#10. Plus read about the results of our family meeting and our solutions so far HERE.
12. Develop a Nighttime Routine
13. Write Out Daily Schedule
14. Complete the Financial Summary Questionnaire
15. Clean Off and Scrub the Bathroom Counters and Then Do A Daily Wipe Down

So now we are going to do something really fun! We are planners, we like to have a plan, follow a plan and complete the plan.  That is finally how we paid off our $100k debt – with specific baby steps planned out.  So now we are going to prepare the home for the same type of approach so that every nook and cranny gets a good clean-out with precision, consistency and in the end, your home will be all cleared out.

Be Intentional Challenge #16:

Complete the Home Map for Complete Clean-out and Organization

To be completely honest with yourself, you may or may not be a super home cleaner/organizer, but all of us have spaces in our home that get ignored for weeks, months and years! I know of many cupboards and drawers that haven’t had a good clean out in a good long while.  I love to get things cleaned out.  It makes our home nice, it makes our outlook great, our stuff is recycled or not forgotten, we find things we have been missing – or we can just plum get rid of lots of junk! It is just a world of love. BUT, unless I have a baby step plan, two things happen to me:

1. To try and think of what I can do when I have a spare 10-15 minutes seems near impossible in those few moments,
2. I don’t do anything when I don’t have a plan because if I walk in a room, like the bathroom, I feel like I need to clean all of it up and clean it all out right then to feel accomplished and if I don’t have time, then I don’t do anything! I think that is called an “all or nothing” personality…and yup… that’s me!

But I overcome these by setting small goals with small amounts of time.  That is where the home map comes in! Just simply print off this free download for each room and literally break up the room into bite size 5-20 minute tasks.  Then when you either have a few minutes to spare or you have a goal of completing one a day in your normal routine, then check it off and give it a completion date!

This does several things:

1. Helps you to identify the parts of a room that need attention and writing it down is a bit more insurance that you will get to it.
2. By completing the home map and then starting to do each task (again when you have a few spare minutes here and there or the goal of one a day) EVEN IF YOU ONLY CLEAN OUT ONE DRAWER…. you can check it off and feel accomplished!
3. By writing a completion date and trying to give everything a completion date on your home map… you will have addressed and cleaned out every part of your house! What a fantastic feeling!!
   
4. Then you know the work in a home never ends.  But it is a simple thing to start the map all over once you have wrapped around! Just print if off again for each room and start again!  You may complete a map in a few months, or it may take you the full year – but either way, you can admit that there are already spots in your home that don’t get touched each year – so it is okay if it takes you time because you will most likely be further ahead than if you didn’t have a specific plan.  

Here’s a sample of my home map that I started this year.  Some rooms, like my kitchen, will need two sheets to get as specific as I would like.

Here’s how to complete your home map: (it will probably take 30 – 60 minutes if you did your whole house at one time)

• Print off a Home Map for each room
• Then go into that room and write each part of the room on a separate line – each counter, drawer, cabinet, shelf, under the bed, desks, etc. Even the vents! Other than the bathrooms, my vents open to allow me to vacuum and clean them out! Just try to be as specific as possible.
• Also make an estimate of how much time that specific task will take so that you can quickly glance at the list to decide what you are able to quickly complete each day.
• Make any notes at the bottom of maybe a need, something to replace, or a honey-do for that room.
• Then either work this into your daily schedule to do one (or more) home map tasks per day… or reference it when you have 10 minutes.  Instead of dancin’ around and wasting 10 minutes… dance into a room and get a small deep clean project done!
• My goal when I complete one of these tasks is to get it cleaned-out and wiped/scrubbed down.

<== Download your printable Home Map HERE

It’s that simple, but the rewards are much greater! So come join us as we make home maps and take the baby steps necessary for a whole house clean-out! 

One final thing….. we also have a Facebook Group where you can engage in discussions, receive encouragement and talk to others that are participating in the challenges too for more ideas! Head to the Be Intentional with The Thrifty Couple Facebook Page HERE and ask to join us there! You can also invite friends and spouses too!