9 Time-Saving Checklists
Now that spring is here (cue singing birds, blooming flowers, shorts, and flip flops), it's time to clear out the weeds in your life. The first step is clearing out spaces you frequently interact with. Has your car become a trash mobile? Is your hall closet so packed that it's nearly impossible to find your spring jacket? When was the last time you cleaned out the fridge?
It's time to tidy up these 9 spaces and ditch the clutter so you can step into the new season feeling lighter and more ready to embrace what spring and summer have to offer.
- Detail the Car
Do you spend a lot of time in your car each day? Your commute feels so much better if your car is clean. Here's how to get it feeling like new.
Approximate time required: 1 hour
Tools needed: Dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, rags, white vinegar, newspaper, car chamois- Pop in your favorite CD and pour yourself a glass of water.
- Pull everything out of the car.
- Decide what you really need in there, what can be thrown away, and what can be stored somewhere else.
- Vacuum the whole car.
- Wash the inside windows.
- Make a solution that consists of 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar, and up to 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap or detergent. Mix it in a spray bottle and use it to wash the windows with a rag or newspaper. Now you have a nontoxic, nonstreak formula to keep your windows crystal clear.
- Dry them using a dry rag or newspaper.
- Wash the dashboard and doors with the same solution you made for the windows. It removes grease and eliminates odors.
- Grab a bucket and fill it with warm water and a cup of dishwasher detergent. For extra grimy cars, add a 1/2 cup of powdered laundry detergent.
- Hose the outside of the car down and, starting at the top, soap it up. Once your car is all sudsy, hose it down top to bottom.
- To dry it off, pull out your car chamois. Soak it, wring it out, and then lay it flat on the surface you want to dry. Grab a hold of the two corners closest to you and start to pull them toward you, this will ensure that you won't leave streaks. When it gets soaked, wring it out again and repeat the process.
Clean Out the Fridge
Our refrigerators can be symbolic of how our lives look when we get too busy. Piled up food, stinky odors, and stained shelves are no way to treat a fridge—or a life. Give your refrigerator a good cleaning every few months.
Approximate time required: 30–45 minutes
Tools needed: Trashcan, cooler, dish soap, rags, white vinegar, baking soda- Start by cleaning the outside of your refrigerator. Remove all pictures, magnets, and other decorative items before you do. Then, mix together warm water and dish soap and wipe down the outside. If you have a stainless steel fridge, make sure to go in the same direction of the natural grain of the steel.
- Then, move to the inside. Toss all of the expired products and foods, and put food containers in the sink or dishwasher. Put any remaining items in the cooler for safekeeping while you clean the shelves.
- To clean the shelves, combine equal parts white vinegar and warm tap water. This is a nontoxic way to kill germs, clean stains, and remove odors. Using a sponge, wipe down the shelves, refrigerator walls, and all nooks and crannies in the fridge with this solution.
- To help minimize odors, place a box of baking soda in the back corner of both the freezer and refrigerator.
- Tackle the Garage
Your newly detailed car deserves a clean, organized home, don't you think? This one may take some time, so set aside a few hours to really tackle it.
Approximate time required: At least 2 hours
Tools needed: Trashcan, boxes/plastic bins, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, broom
Pull everything from the garage out onto the driveway or lawn.- Sift through what you need, what you can sell at a garage sale, what you can dump, and what you can give away to charity or friends. Organize anything you plan to keep in the garage into large plastic bins or boxes.
- Hose the garage floor down with water.
- Grab a bucket and fill it with warm water, a cup of dishwasher detergent, and for extra grimy floors, 1/2 cup of powdered laundry detergent. Use a wide mouth broom to spread it across the floor and scrub the floor until it's clean.
- Hose off the floor until no suds remain and give it time to dry.
- Once the garage floor is dry, create an organizational system that works for you. Consider hanging hooks for tools or hoses and hanging shelves to hold the boxes.
- Clean Out Your Pantry
Just how long has that can of beans been sitting in your pantry? Clean your pantry to make room for new products and to take inventory of what you have.
Approximate time required: 30 minutes
Tools needed: Trashcan, white vinegar, rags, baking soda- Empty out the contents of your pantry onto the kitchen counter.
- Check all the expiration dates and decide what must be laid to rest in the trashcan. Also check all spices, flours, and other raw ingredients for critters. Place all raw ingredients in sealed containers and label if necessary.
- If you have new food restrictions, set aside anything unopened that you may want to have other family members eat, give to friends, or donate to charity.
- Mix together equal parts white vinegar and warm water and wipe the shelves and cupboard doors down. Rinse with warm water, and dry the shelves and doors.
- Place your baking soda boxes in the back throughout the pantry to eliminate odors.
As you place items back in the pantry, organize them according to: snack food, breakfast food, baking goods, grains, seasonings, and so on
.
- Streamline Your Media
If you're still holding onto your CDs or have a lot of unwatched DVDs, it's time to make the move to the modern age and make room in your home.
Approximate time required: Up to 3 hours
Tools needed: Computer, external hard drive, MP3 player- Go through your CDs and DVDs and survey what you don't listen to or watch any more. Make a pile of the CDs and DVDs you want to keep and another to donate, give to friends, or sell.
- Upload your music onto an external hard drive. Create playlists and add these to your MP3 player.
- Reevaluate Your Friendships
I know making friends can be tough these days. We love our friends so much we'll jump through fiery hoops for them at times, which is fine if they are doing the same for you. But, it's really a waste of your precious time and energy if you continue to feed relationships that don't feed you.
Approximate time required: Not specified
Tools needed: Paper, pen, heart and mind- Get out a piece of paper and make a list of all your friends, or look through your friend list on Facebook®.
- Using a piece of paper, or a program like Word or Excel™, make two columns for each friend. One for "Benefits" and one for "Costs." Fill in the blanks and detail what you get from each friendship and what is physically and mentally taxing.
Benefits Cost - She makes me laugh
- She is a good listener
- She is kind to my children
- I always have to work around her schedule
- She only gets in touch when she needs something
- Using the results of this exercise, evaluate how much you gain from this friendship. For the friends that do not offer an equal exchange of energy, either tell these friends how you feel and offer solutions to even out the balance or let them know that you love them but it just simply isn't going to be possible to continue the friendship.
- For less close friends, this communication is not necessary if you do not want to continue the friendship. However, if you want to strengthen it, find ways to do so! Invite them out for coffee or an event and make an effort to build this friendship.
De-clutter Your Closet
People tend to wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time. That means that more than half of the clothes in your closet are taking up space. While some clothes may be used for special events only (suits, evening dresses, jerseys, etc.), I'll bet that other clothes either don't fit or don't reflect your current style.
Approximate time required: 1–2 hours
Tools needed: Bags, hangers, vacuum, white vinegar, rags, (optional: scented sachets in lavender or sandalwood)- Pull all of your clothes out of the closet and lay them on the bed, dressers, etc. Empty the closet of all other items you have stored in the closet.
- Vacuum the floor.
- Wipe down the walls and shelves using an equal mixture of white vinegar and warm water (you may have noticed this solution is good for cleaning almost everything). Rinse with warm water, and dry down with a clean cloth.
- Install anything that may help you further organize your closet throughout the year. This could include additional shelves, corkboards on which to pin jewelry or small items, a hat holder, a shoe organizer, and so on
- 1.) Have I worn it in a year?
- 2.) Do I feel good when I wear it?
- 3.) Does it fit?
- 4.) Am I waiting for it to come back in style?
- 5.) Does it give off the impression I want to make?
- 6.) Who could use this more than me?
Carl Jung said, "Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain."1 The best way to get myself into a spring mindset is to get my hands into my garden.
Approximate time required: 1–2 hours
Tools needed: Trashcan, gardening gloves or soap, grubby clothes, a hat, soil, coffee grounds, new pots
- Put on clothes that you don't mind getting wet and dirty, a hat to shield you from the sun, and gardening gloves to keep your hands clean. If you prefer to garden without gloves and get your hands in the dirt, master gardener Paul James suggests rubbing your fingernails across a bar of soap first to seal the undersides of your nails so soil can't collect underneath them.2
- Begin by pulling out all the weeds. Weeds use nutrients that could be used by the flowers and plants you want to grow.
- Prune any dead leaves and stems.
- Place an inch of dry coffee grounds around the soil of your plants. Slugs can't stand caffeine so this will ward them away from munching on your garden.
- For potted plants that have outgrown their pots, give them a larger home with new soil. This will allow them to spread out their roots and grow. Give plants that still fit their pots additional fresh soil.
- Consider adding some decorative elements to your garden—signs, gnomes, lights—to help it further reflect your personality.
Is your computer slowing you down? Cleaning out your disk space can really speed up your experience on the computer.
Approximate time required: 1–2 hours
Tools needed: Computer, external hard drive
- Begin by uninstalling any programs you no longer use and remove applications you don't use from the dock, or access your startup wizard so that only the programs you want automatically open when you start your computer.
- Uninstall, delete, or store in a folder any applications you don't use anymore, like the game your child used to play but hasn't touched in a year.
- Transfer your pictures and music files to an external hard drive to free up a ton of space and help your computer to run faster. Plus, if your computer ever crashes, you won't lose these files.
- Organize your bookmarks into folders and delete any that go to pages that no longer exist. Then, clear your cookies and history.
Resources:
- Jung, C. G. (1958). The Undiscovered Self.
- http://www.hgtv.com/gardening/14-simple-gardening-tips-and-tricks/index.html
- Original post By Sarah Stevenson
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