To do, to do, to do...

I love to do lists.  I really do.  Sometimes I will make a to do list just for the satisfaction of crossing stuff off of it.  Makes me feel accomplished.

Yes, I know I need to get out more.

But it seems that since our move... LAST MARCH... I just can't get myself back into a routine cleaning my poor house.  It's gross.  Okay, let's be realistic, it isn't gross, it's just dusty.  And the laundry isn't getting done until it's dire.  And the toys are pretty much everywhere.  Oh, and my office looks like it threw up.  I just can't seem to get a handle on it.

But what with being two months into a new year and all, I think it's pretty much time to get on it.  Because if I don't I might not be able to find my computer one of these days.

And then you might miss me.  Or at least I would miss you.

But even though I need to have a cleaning schedule, I don't really like to have a schedule because I feel tied to it, which makes me not want to do it.  Because I'm contrary like that.  So what I need to make myself is a schedule that tricks me into thinking that it's not a schedule but much more like a party involving cleaning supplies.

Ummmm.

OR....

I could create a schedule that has me tackle a little at a time, so that I don't feel like I spend all day everyday cleaning the house.  Which is kind of how I feel now, but I'm guessing that has more to do with having too much junk than it does with me actually cleaning.  Which means that I need do a severe clean out and then my cleaning schedule will go farther.

OR... I could get this:

This is my Home Routines App that I keep on my phone, and when I say I could "get" this, what I mean is I could actually use this, since I have had it on my phone for roughly the last year and I'm pretty sure that I haven't looked at it once since we moved into this place.

Hmmmmm.

But really, this app is ideal for someone like me who is, what's the word? Oh yes.  Lazy.  That would be me.  And scatterbrained.  That's me too.

The idea here is that there is a list of morning To Do items, a list of evening To Do items, and a list of Weekly tasks that need to be done.  Here is my morning list:

  

As you finish each task you can check them off your list by tapping that little star to the left of each task.  The more colored stars there are, the more you've done.  As you can see, I have done absolutely nothing this morning. Let's move along shall we?

But here is where it really gets good for someone like me.  See see that little timer thingy in the bottom left corner?  The idea is that you set a time for yourself to finish all your morning/evening tasks, and then you move on.  If you don't finish it all, oh well.  Set your timer longer next time.  This is a double win for me.  I get to play beat the clock while straightening up, and I get to walk away when the timer dings with no guilt at all.  (Do I?  No, of course not.  I completely ignore the timer and keep going until I'm finished so I don't feel like a slob.  That is, if I set the timer at all.  That is, if I even look at this list in the first place, which obviously hasn't happened this morning, or there would be stars checked off.)

Keep it moving, people.  Nothing to see here.

Then, to keep on top of the deep cleaning that has to happen in a house, there is a menu with Zones 1-6.  You assign these zones to areas of your house, like bedrooms and bathrooms.  Mudroom and Laundry.  Kitchen.  Office.  

 

This is my Zone list for Zone 4:  My Bedroom.  The zones rotate each week, so I have a whole week to really clean each zone, and again, there is the little timer.  And with this one I really would stop with the timer, because the whole idea is to take the week to deep clean the room.  That works for me.

You can get the Home Routines app for your phone too.  At least you can if you have an iPhone, and I am assuming you can if you have a Droid phone, though I wouldn't know because I don't have a Droid and I would have had to have thought to ask someone that before I typed this, which I didn't.  So there's that.  Check out the App Store.  

Also, just for clarification, I have no connection to Home Routines.  Like I said, I got this app a year ago, and I'm pretty sure I will love it once I actually start using it.  But they aren't paying me to say that.  I just wish they were.  

Happy cleaning!