CLEAN – Lounge Room
We spend a lot of family time in our lounge room, playing games on the floor or watching movies together so I enjoy having a clutter free room so I can relax easier.
Laundry pile clutter
One of my biggest pitfalls with an untidy lounge room would be my clean washing pile on the couch. The key to getting control over the clean washing pile is to create a routine:
- Fold and put away while kids are having their daytime nap
- Fold before you start dinner and then the rest of the family can put away the washing
- Fold later that evening while watching favourite TV show and put away in the ads (this is my current preference)
Read more: Readers share their laundry routines.
Toy clutter
When the kids were younger they often left toys on the floor. For a quick tidy up I had a nice basket next to the TV unit which I threw their toys into and then got the kids to put them back into their rooms/playroom before bedtime.
Read more: How to get kids to clean up their toys.
Cleaning task
Today’s cleaning task is to do the following in your lounge room:
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- How to clean walls
- How to clean windows
- How to kill dustmites in non washable items
- Spot clean couch and carpet using your all purpose cleaner
- How to clean remote controls
Remember just do the tasks above, we will be coming back to other tasks. Cleaning floors is tomorrows task.
Here are a few posts I have shared previously about organising the lounge room:
DECLUTTER – Your magazine collection
Do you have a pile of magazines that you have read and no longer need? Are they occupying a space that could be better used? Then it’s time to purge.
I collect a lot of cooking magazines. Read an old post here sharing what I did with my food magazine pile, I still use this same system and it’s made searching for something new for dinner so much easier!
Then when you have your firm family favourites, take the recipe out of the recipes to try system and place into a recipe binder.
Have home magazines? Make yourself a home binder to store all your future home design ideas.
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ORGANISE – Pamper yourself with ‘me’ time
Our days seemed to be filled with cleaning, caring or doing things for others. Yes we love doing all these things for our family but often we forget about ourselves. It’s important to take time out for yourself. Today’s organise task is to plan and organise some ‘me’ time, by yourself or call some girlfriends and make a date in your diary.
- a coffee date, dinner or movie night with friends
- get a pedicure or a massage
- plan some time one afternoon or during bubs naptime to read a book or take a long bath.
My friends and I now have a planned day each month that we get together for a coffee or dinner. Sometimes it needs to be planned far ahead just so we can all coordinate a date that suits us all.
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NEW HABIT – Say No
Do you reluctantly say yes to people asking you to do things just because you’re trying to be nice, want to help or don’t want to let them down? But reality is that you don’t have time to be saying yes and you are then putting your own priorities aside.
Quite a few years ago I found myself saying yes to things that didn’t fit into my schedule, I was a yes person to everything, babysitting, projects, school committee, I wanted to make my friends and those around me happy and just be a help. But reality is I needed to say “No”, I needed to commit myself to my own projects, my family. You could answer:
- I’m sorry I have something else planned on that day, I hope you can find somebody else that can help.
- I’ll get back to you (so then you have time to look over your calendar)
- I’m sorry I’ll have to decline, but thank you for thinking of me
- I can’t at the moment as I am trying very hard to complete a few projects I have started
- I won’t be able to today, but can organise something in a few weeks time
- That sounds wonderful, I’d love to do this, but I can’t right now. Thank you for asking.
- Sometimes no is enough, you don’t need to justify and give explanations to everybody
Great quote from Paulo Coelho “Don’t say maybe if you want to say no”.
Download this print for FREE from my shop. Use coupon code at checkout: 20DaysNO
Click here to download
When you say YES to others, make sure you are not saying NO to yourself – Paulo Coehlo
One of my friends that followed the challenge last time did a fortnight of no’s. She said no to everything that was asked of her as she had just moved and wanted to get her house into order. During this time she managed to get her house unpacked and become more organised than she imagined. Give saying no a go.
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5 MINUTES ONLY – Clean windows of main areas in your home
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Read here for my tips on how I clean windows in my home.
DOWNLOAD
Print the daily sheet and checklists to keep for reference while you are completing the above tasks.
- DAY 4 DAILY TASK SHEET – file behind ‘Daily Task’ divider – click to download.
- LOUNGE ROOM CLEANING CHECKLIST – file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.
- BLANK LOUNGE ROOM CLEANING CHECKLIST – use this to create your own checklist, file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.
116 comments
Done! And dint take long at all as this is a room that is a main priority every day. The homemade anti bacterial wipes worked really well for wiping down remotes and the PlayStation and light switches and smell amazing! On to the pantry… Ian a day whi d but as my pantry is pretty organised already I should be able to knock over today’s tasks too without too much hassle.
The wipes are so handy Kody, I even use them to clean the wall sometimes when I see marks and the dirt comes off really well.
Halfway through cleaning lounge room but already back to original state thanks to two kiddies;/
Think I’m just going to do this 20 day thing on a rolling roster! Lol! Like at day 21 I’ll go back to day 1 and get done what I didn’t the first time:)
get the kiddies to help you clean it up at the end of the day Anita, doesn’t matter how old they are it’s always a good idea to teach them from a young age to tidy up after themselves. I remember when my twinnies just started walking, I sung songs to help them help me pack up their toys.
Hi Kat I’m a little behind. Do we have tasks over the weekend? I want to concentrate on catching up to stay on track for next week. Thanks Lisa
No tasks over the weekend Lisa, it gives you time to either relax or to catch up, how has your week gone?
Very hectic! Husband away, work, kids sport and training etc. but I’m making a big dent and enjoying it.
Caught up on Day 4 this evening while hubby is out – yay! 😀 still need to clean the walls and windows but I’ll wait for daylight to do that! 🙂 Might try get a start on tomorrow’s tasks…
Lounge done! Bit over cleaning verticals! But looks and feels great!
love your persistence Katrina, you should be proud of all you have done!
Day Four accomplished in a morning – I’m getting good at this routine business!! Rolled up my rug and got rid of it, shag pile (three kids, what was I thinking?!?) and unclean able. Lovely excuse for something bright in the room now 🙂
love that work unclean-able, there are things like that, the shags look great, but I agree they must be very hard to keep clean.
Well day 4 complete, fantastic window cleaning method! thanks Kat, my nearly 4 year old did a fantastic job. had a look at tomorrow and am terrified its the black spot of my kitchen the pantry, may need to start that early!!!!!!
that’s awesome that you got you little one in helping you too!
Ready to tackle my living room in the morning, but have mainly exposed brick walls. How would you go about cleaning them?
You actually stumped me on this one Blaire as I haven’t had to clean brick wall, however I have just done some research for you. Use the small brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner to remove dust from the wall. Then wash the walls with a rag and water or if they are a little grubby add a squirt of dishwashing soap to the bucket of water. Hope this helps.
Thank you! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Looks and feels great!
Very refreshing to have the cushion covers washed and inserts aired, being a beautiful day they’re back on and look renewed.
it would too, all beautifully cleaned!