Be Intentional Baby Step #21 – Why It’s Helpful To Create a Home Map

 

As a reminder, the 30 Be Intentional baby steps 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.  

So now we are going to do something that I think is really fun! This is going to help us all to Be Intentional about our lost time and tasks around our home.

We are planners, we like to have a plan, follow a plan and complete the plan and feel like we have accomplished a lot when we get to check something off.  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. We have used this for well over a year and once you fill it in, you get to keep using it over and over with no need to change it (unless you make a house change!).

Baby Step #21

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! 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, and
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 and completely to feel accomplished. 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!

So how do I overcome this “all or nothing” attitude?

Well, I set small goals per room that require small amounts of time.

Have you ever written out where your time goes each day?  For most of us, it’s a scary realization! You lose 5 minutes here, 7 minutes there, 3 minutes here…. and soon you realize that you may have just lost an hour or two throughout the day with nothing to show for it! It’s ridiculous how lost we can become on our time.

Well, now you can redeem your 5 minutes, your 7 minutes, your 3 minutes…… and 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, or use the same sheets over 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 dowload.  Some rooms, like my kitchen, will need two sheets to get as specific as I would like (each cupboard shelf and drawer).

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 cleaning schedule HERE 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!
• Print off one for your spouse/kids for them to fill-out for their space so they can get bite sized projects done too!
• If you want, you can also take this list and create bag chores as another alternative (use the blank download to create yours).  Details on bag chores HERE. 

It may seem overwhelming to do, but not doing anything is not getting you very far either!

Remember, if you are super ambitious, don’t stop and go ahead and complete the tasks in one room in one day too! There is no daily limit! We are just trying to help you redeem your time and get your home/space in order!

<== 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! 

Are you excited to break the tasks in your house down into bite size pieces and actually redeem your few spare minutes here and there? 

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!