THE LIST!

So as I embark on this organisational life journey, I thought I might start with something I love: lists. I am technically the world's most organised person, it's just when it comes to applying that organisation in the real world, I seem to fall short.

But I excel at lists. I really do. Anything you want, I will list the crap outta that bad boy. When packing for holidays or festivals, I write out lists involving clothing (sub-listed into t-shirts, trousers/shorts, hoodies, accessories), toiletries (sub-listed into make-up, daily essentials, nail polishes etc).

And then end up wearing one t-shirt and a pair of jeans, no nail polish and the same make-up every day. But the thought's definitely there!

For my homemaking list, I thought of some headings and then went, room-by-room, around my house listing things that need doing:

• One-Offs: for things that are fairly major and would take up maybe half a day or more/less, that wouldn't need to be done again, possibly ever. Stuff like GETTING THE BLOODY DISHWASHER FIXED (ahem), painting assorted skirting boards and door frames/radiators that we've ignored for far too long, odd jobs in the bathroom (hanging loo roll holders and hand towel holders), and fixing my precarious Jenga-esque wobbly clothes rails.
• Major Projects: this is stuff like opening up our chimneys so we can have open fires for next winter (a long unrealised dream for my husband Rob), re-tiling and re-painting the kitchen, finding and installing major shelving in our front bedroom, and re-plastering and painting our grotty little haunted house bathroom alcove thingy.

Then I went on to specific cleaning and everyday tasks that will need doing:

• Bi-annual tasks: such as cleaning and polishing our tiled hallway floor, defrosting the freezer, washing our shower curtain, and many more.
• Quarterly tasks: this includes shredding mail, hoovering our upstairs couch and main front room couch, washing and hoovering our cat's beds, washing the bathroom walls, and then some.
• Monthly tasks: like sweeping and hoovering our front bedroom, cleaning the oven properly (and the microwave nooo00000ooo), inputting our gas and electric meter readings which we ALWAYS forget to do.
• Fortnightly tasks: sweeping and mopping our tiled floors, sweeping and hoovering our wooden floors, sorting out our mail and filing it away (a personal fave of mine - I'm actually serious), and loads more.
• Weekly tasks: this one is hideously long, but I'm hoping that set out over a week with other tasks lumped in, I won't notice. Most of the stuff on this task list is stuff like cleaning the bathroom thoroughly (another serious fave), dusting, doing Thursday laundry and putting away dry laundry/ironing (noo0000oo), and general sprucing.
• Daily tasks: this is layman stuff but cleaning out the kitties litter boxes twice daily, fresh water for said kitties, wiping down all kitchen surfaces and washing/drying up.

I've found some free printables that have enabled me to set out my weeks in an orderly fashion and laminated them in case of emergencies/wild parties/hangovers that might crop up meaning that tasks have to be shifted onto another day. I am particularly partial to the amazing free printables over at I Heart Organizing, which can be found on their printables page.

I looked at A LOT of printables and kept coming back to these as they are blank, but still categorized and relevant for me. I've mainly incorporated their 'Peek at the Week' and 'Family Projects' printables into my mission.

A lot of the other printables I saw were great and really extensive but had things that didn't matter to me one iota, such as cleaning ceiling fan blades and AC vents. Yeah, I live in the UK, there is no shortage of cold air, thanks.