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Getting organized is always going to be easier to talk about than do. You can say "today I'm going to organize my housework." Once you say that, the pressure is on to find a way to get organized. Soon the pressure becomes too much and you decide that you're going to try and do the best you can, but in the end, everything goes haywire. This is a big problem if you're having problems finding ways to get organized that works for them. One way that more people are looking at more than any other is to keep a simple journal that will allow you to keep track of your cleaning and organizing. There are a couple of different ways you can use a journal to get your housework and cleaning under control.
Make an Index First
Making an index in your journal might seem like a silly thing to do, considering that you are the only person who is going to be looking at this thing, but this is all about getting you plenty organized. Being organized is a force of habit. That means that you want to organize the thing you are using to get organized (say that five times fast) as a kind of practice run through. Making the index and laying out what sections will be in this journal will help you lay out how you want to go about tackling your house cleaning. You can certainly add sections after the fact, but this can also act to make sure you are sticking to the framework you laid out.
Use a Monthly Log Breakdown
When it comes to house cleaning, you are going to find that your work is never really done. That is why when you are putting your journal together, you should have a log for each month of the year. When you are talking about months ahead of time, you don't need to fill out a checklist just yet. Just make sure you have a page, or multiple pages laid out for each month.
Once again, when you go to make your index, make sure you are writing down the page numbers and names of each month. That part is still all about staying organized inside your organization. If you want to break it down even further, you can have four pages per month log and on each page, is a space for a week of the month. This will allow you to organize right down to the smallest detail.
Use Plenty of Checklists
On these weekly or monthly logs, you shouldn't be afraid to make handwritten checklists. Go through at the beginning of the week and figure out everything you have to do to clean up your home. Then go down the list and make a place where you can either check it off or cross it off. Some people say checking something off is better than crossing it out because you can more easily see what you have done and what you still need to do.
Don't skip a task you feel needs to be done. Make sure everything is on the list, even if the task is as small as "sweep kitchen floor." Depending on the size of your kitchen, this might take almost as little time as it did to write it down. You're still going to like checking that off and seeing that it's done. If you are someone who tends to get vapor lock because you don't know what you should focus on next, this can be a big help. You'll know when you did it and because of that, get a rough estimate of when you need to do it again.
Keep the Log with You
While you don't want such a small log that you have problems writing in it, you also don't want one that is so big that you can't keep it with you. If you have a log sitting in one room, while you're cleaning another you might decide it's not worth the effort to go and get it and cross your finished checklists off. The point of all of this is to stay organized. Repetition is how you do that. Don't slough any steps off.
If you have always had a problem really staying organized when you are supposed to be cleaning, you will find that keeping a journal allows you to stay on track always. You'll know at a glance what your day entails, and you'll know how to schedule around it. This absolutely makes life easier.
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