The January Cure: Update 1

We've completed our first full week of January Cure tasks and I wanted to update you on our progress.  It's also really good motivation for me to see it all at once.

Assignment One: Clean Floors

This was a lot more involved than I expected... it took a lot of hard work and sweat, but I vacuumed and steam mopped every surface.  This was a big undertaking, so I guess that's why it was a weekend project.

Assignment Two: Make a List.

We walked through the house and made a list of items that were in need of repair, reorganization or just needed to be cleaned or thrown out.  We have a REALLY detailed list that we made this summer of all the "trouble spots" in our house and what we eventually wanted to do with these spots.  We then input these into a spreadsheet and assigned each task a cost, ease and importance so we could sort by those factors.  I digress.  We made a really basic list this time and didn't include big changes or "would like to see in the future" items.  I also did not include Kendall's room, our room or our bathroom since we will be changing these rooms around soon.

Assignment Three: Set Up an Outbox.

The outbox is a resting place for items with undetermined fates. Per Maxwell, the rules of the outbox are as follows:

OUTBOX RULES

1. Anything can go in the Outbox
2. The Outbox is allowed to get messy
3. Everything must stay in the Outbox for at least one week
4. After that time you have several choices
a. Take anything back out
b. Leave anything you are undecided about for one more week
c. Dispose of the rest by moving to the garbage, recycling bin, or giveaway pile
Once you get used to separating first and disposing of later, you'll find that clearing clutter gets easier and easier.

The purpose of the outbox is to put all the items together in one place that's allowed to get messy and void of the pressure to make a decision right away. The item sits in the outbox and loses it's hold over you as it sits. Once the week has passed, you no longer feel the connection to the item and can easily make a choice. I like the idea that you are forced to make a decision about the item within a week. I put something in there that I semi know what I need to do, but haven't quite set aside the time to figuring it out.

Assignment Four: Purge the Pantry.
Ugh. This was something that really needed to be done but I'd been avoiding for a really long time. I'm not sure why, I just really dreaded dealing with it. It wasn't that bad, it wasn't that difficult and it really didn't take that much time. I feel so much better now that I organized our pantry.

Assignment Five: 10 Minute Observations & Select a Project From Your List.
I've wanted to rearrange the living room area for a while, so I spent a lot of time sitting in different spots with different views of the room, REALLY looking at it and thinking of the function and flow. I thought I had a really good idea, which we tried this weekend and it was so awful, but at least I know and I have an idea of how I want it to look when we move the TV downstairs.
We chose 3 projects from our list. One for me: Re-caulking the kitchen and guest bathroom. One for Cory: Fish Tank Situation. And one for the both of us: Replace the thresholds in the entry.

Assignment Six: Kitchen.
Luckily for me, I'd recently cleaned out the oven, cooktop, microwave and refrigerator and I'd rearranged and purged the cabinets, so this wasn't too bad of an assignment. I cleaned out the junk drawer and I'm amazed at how much was in there and how much of it was junk or belonged elsewhere! I scrubbed down all the cabinets and handles, cleaned the tile and grout lines and cleaned off the countertops and scrubbed them. I'm so happy with how my kitchen looks!