"If God had not intended empty pizza boxes to be used for furniture, He wouldn't have made them so sturdy."

More of my favorite housecleaning tips! (Tips #1-4 in Part One)

5) Try line of sight cleaning. This uses the same principle as #4 – maximizes the use of minimal effort. Stand at your front door. Look around. Act as if you were a guest to your home. What do you notice right away? Concentrate on those things; let the rest go for now.

6) Laundry basket filing. Not kidding. I have TONS of paperwork with this many children, adoptions, mental health issues, IEPs, running a home and family of this size. Paperwork and paper piles can easily swallow a home! This is the best filing system I’ve discovered, by far! Use a laundry basket and fill it with your paperwork. The paperwork at the bottom will be oldest; closest to top will be newest. When the basket is full, use a Sharpie to write the date on the side handle. Put it in a closet. Start a new basket. When full, stack on top of the first one. When you need to locate a piece of paper, you probably know approx. when you received the paper and can find it pretty quickly in the appropriate basket. I love this method so much, I’ll probably end up with another blog about it later.

7) www.flylady.net. This is a great website to help you get organized and focused with your cleaning efforts. You can join her “reminder list” and email reminders will come to your mailbox (fifteen per day; overwhelming to some; helpful to others). There are internet mailing groups that you can join to help with tips and motivation. “Flylady” herself has written a book. I own the book. It might be good. I have not read it, though. I’ve dusted it for the last few years, so it does have a purpose there. Haha....

To be continued.....