The Need for Clean

Two blogs, Chelsea? No, no! I didn't delete my other blog, but I'm going to. I decided to switch over to blogger because my previous host has been giving me nothing but trouble for the past month. Hence, why I haven't posted in a while. Trust me, I've tried. Anyway, this is my new blog address. I had to change my blog name slightly because my original (Thrifty Chic) was already taken. This whole process totally reminded me of coming up with an AIM screen name years and years ago. Whatever happened to AIM anyway? I used to think it was so awesome. HA, I guess someone invented text messaging and gmail chat. ;p

Today's post is all about cleaning, in case you missed the title. I don't have a need for speed, but rather a need for clean. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a little (okay, a lot) OCD and I am quite a neat freak. My house is generally pretty tidy not because I have people over or anything, but because I live here. I can't stand clutter or mess in general. You know that saying that says "Don't mind the mess, we actually live here". That saying does not apply to me. I MUST keep my house clean. I clean something or some part of the house every day without fail. I have decided that to minimize time spent cleaning on a daily basis and maximize efficiency, I need a schedule. I created a cleaning schedule (see below) as a means of holding myself accountable to daily tasks, as well as monthly, quarterly, and yearly. Not that I don't already do most of these, but I do them TOO frequently and I wear myself out. My hope is that this will limit what I do each day, week, etc.

Not only do I love cleaning, but I also love being clutter-free. Since becoming a stay at home mom I have become more and more aware of all the STUFF that's in our home. I don't like extra stuff, especially if it hasn't been used in a while or serves little purpose. I stumbled upon this instagram challenge called "clutter free 30" and it was initiated by 3 different bloggers, one of which is Angie over at Country Chic Cottage. I'm a little behind the eight ball because she started the challenge on January 1st and it's now January 21st. Regardless, it's 30 days of de-cluttering your home. She has broken down each day into a 5-30 minute task so that by the end of 30 days you have your entire house de-cluttered. I'M SO EXCITED to do this! It's going to require some diligence on my part, as well as some creativity in keeping the babe occupied, but I'm going to commit to doing it, starting today with 3 bags of "stuff" in 30 minutes. That ought to be pretty easy right...*cough cough*

I also follow BuzzFeed, and they e-mail newsletters to my inbox with the coolest life hacks and tips for all kinds of stuff, specifically cleaning. :) I can't wait to get started! Hopefully this has encouraged you to try something maybe you're not super into. Does anyone have any useful tips or tricks that you use when cleaning/de-cluttering? If so, please share below or on my facebook post!