x
  • Home
  • House Tours
  • Homemaking
  • Miniatures
  • About
  • Contact
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Little Victorian

Little Victorian

DIY Interior Design

  • House Tours
    • Little Victorian
    • The Mid Century Modern
    • The Mid Century Cape Cod
    • The Cabin
  • Remodeling
    • Before and after
  • Decor & Furniture
  • How to decorate
Home › Homekeeping

Orderly housekeeping (+ a funny fail)

December 10, 2013by Christina
Today’s post was inspired by Leena from Onshore. Originally, I was just going to share my failed project, but she had a great idea of sharing her new homekeeping schedule. It’s always great to share our systems and get ideas to tweak and improve our own! So here is what I do: To keep things […]

Today’s post was inspired by Leena from Onshore. Originally, I was just going to share my failed project, but she had a great idea of sharing her new homekeeping schedule. It’s always great to share our systems and get ideas to tweak and improve our own! So here is what I do:

sidetracked-home-executivesTo keep things clean and orderly around the house, I use a simplified version of The Sidetracked Home Executives card file system.  Well, when I remember to use it, things stay clean and orderly…  It’s a fairly simple cleaning schedule already, but I’ve found it easier to stick to if it’s even more simplified.

Basically, you write down each household task you have to do every day and week on a 3×5 card and file each task into a the day it needs to be done.  (I have dividers for each day of the week.)  For example, today is cleaning day, so I have all of my daily tidying tasks (washing dishes, clearing off tables, etc) along with the weekly deeper cleaning jobs like washing the towels and vacuuming filed under “Monday.”

As you do what is on each card, you file it into the next appropriate day.  So when I wash the dishes, that card will get moved to Tuesday; when I wash the towels, that card will get moved to next Monday.

It’s very motivating to have the jobs broken down into quick easy tasks, it makes you feel like you’re accomplishing a lot and you can get through everything so quickly.

So where does the failed project come in?  Back when I had the Etsy shop, I kept a card file for online tasks as well.

Since I used a simplified version though, I only had a dozen or so cards to flip through, so I didn’t need the whole big plastic card file box.  I cut off the lid and tried using that for a while.

20130508_115919

But it was ugly.  I had some leftover balsa wood from dollhouse projects, so I attempted to make a simple new card file box with the balsa wood.  It was going to be pretty cute.

box

I used one of the cards to measure the width.  Then I cut out the other pieces based on that width.  And then hot glued the pieces together, and I was very pleased.

Then I tried to put the cards in.

20130508_121722

HAHA!

I measured everything wrong.  Looks like the old plastic box lid will work just fine.

Anyway…it does sound funny to have cards for the simplest of tasks, but it’s the little things that make the house a mess and when one is left undone, it’s easier to leave the rest undone.  Like Martha says (and I so often repeat…) “Tidiness begets tidiness.”  When I actually follow the card system, the daily tasks only take about 15 minutes and then I have the rest of the day free in a tidy house.

Have you found a system that really sticks and works for you? Any tips?

FacebookTweetPin

Tags: life

Stone wall basement before-and-after

Already a major upgrade to the laundry room

About Christina

I'm a full-time web developer with a dog sitting business, home renovations, and a blog on the side.

Reader Interactions

Join the Conversation Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I have a question
I have a suggestion
I did this!

  1. Leena

    LOL the box 😀 You can make a new one later.
    I don’t think I need to write individual tasks anywhere but if I would I think I would prefer these cards to a traditional list, the list just seems so long.
    Thanks for the link love

    Reply
    • Christina

      Yes, that’s one of the things I love about the system: you only see one task at a time and each one looks so small and quick, so I end up flying through them all.

      Maybe I will try to make another box. 🙂

  2. mary

    Just cut those cards down.
    That box is too cute to give up on.

    Reply
    • Christina

      Ha, maybe I should! Thanks, Mary.

  3. Katrina

    The box is adorable. I’m going to get my supplies to make one today. Hope you got to use it for something else.

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Christina.

Little Victorian is your place for inspiration, education, and encouragement for how to be your own interior designer and decorator, and how to carry out your big plans yourself too.

It starts with psychology, then artistry, and ends with power tools. None of those are scary, and you really can do it.

Read More

Sign Up

See more from:

DIY dog gate for cheap ($3.75)

DIY dog bed

How to fill in the grooves of wall paneling

My rotten day at least led to a finished project

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Go back in time:


Level-up today!

Please Note

As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Links

Home
About
Contact
Privacy Policy & Disclosure

Copyright © 2023 · Little Victorian · Website by Meyne