Since panic was my first thought, I decided I needed to ask the experts. I asked Overcoming Busy facebook fans what they would do. I thought it was interesting that the ideas where very similar. The common thread was to just take care of the main areas and do it quickly.

“pick up toys, wipe down kitchen, wipe down bathroom (just the main one), if time left, run the sweeper”

“Big huge plastic bag to clean up all the clutter. Hide the full bag. A quick wipe down of bathroom and spot vacuum where company will be.”

“Spray air freshner in living room area, by the front door & bathroom. Then, do a quick touch-up of the bathroom. Sink & Toilet.
And if you have boys, the floor and wall ALL Around the toilet. (Ask me how I know)”

“Vacuum,sweep, mop. I have a steam.mop it takes like ten minutes. Clean the toilet. If your nosey enough to look in the shower you’ll know we actually live here. Plug in the scentsy and call it even.”

“Potties, counter tops and my personal pet peeve: clean out the sink!!! The sink makes or breaks it–IMO!”

This comment had lot of wisdom -

“I try to keep my main living areas where 15-20 min is all I need”

And, this one just cracked me up because we’ve all thought of it at least once -

“Start coughing & pretend I’m sick…..wink”

 Would you do anything different?

Jenny – an Overcoming Busy reader

Congratulations Jenny on winning the Weekly Household Planner fromThe Confident Mom!

If you didn’t win, I highly recommend you grab the download. It is only $9 for an entire year! I am really seeing the benefits of this planner already and I’m sure you will, too. If you missed it, you can read the review HERE.

(**disclaimer—I am an affiliate of the Weekly Household Planner, meaning that I earn a little from each sale that goes through OvercomingBusy.com. It helps update the site and with hosting fees.)

I just may have the answer for you!!

Susan Heid at The Confident Mom just released the 2012 Confident Mom Weekly Household Planner. This planner will make completing your daily and weekly household chores a snap! It helps keep you on task and productive by giving  chore lists for each day of the year. This keeps housework from building up and becoming large and overwhelming. Most of the items on the lists can easily be completed in 3 to 30 minutes, and you can select appropriate items to delegate to family members. (Hey, no one said YOU had to do it all!) And nothing feels better than being able to check off those items as DONE!

Here’s a sample of the types of tasks you will find in this planner:

• Plan/cook dinner
• Make beds
• Clean out expired food in pantry
• Water indoor plants
• Clean bathroom sinks/shine mirrors
• Wash car
• Pay bills due
• Pamper yourself
• Plan cards/gifts for January birthdays/occasions
• Quiet time (Gen 4-6; Matt 2) (Note: A version without the Bible study is also available.)

You can even personalize the planner by adding special weekly tasks or notes to remember. A fun or inspirational quote is featured each week to remind you about the joys, and sometimes humor, of family and motherhood.

To see a sample page for yourself click HERE. You can download an entire year copy for yourself for only $9 or….

You can win one!!! ########CONTEST CLOSED########################

Leave a comment and you are entered to win! I will draw a name at random Friday January 6th and will announce the winner Saturday. That’s it. Easy peasy!  You are going to love this planner! Good luck!

All month long, Today’s Housewife is hosting the “Countdown To A Better 2012″ series. The writers will be sharing tips and ideas to make 2012 more organized, more efficient, and more peaceful. Each tip will be simple, one day projects that can make a big impact on your family.

Join me today at Today’s Housewife as I share the idea of a housekeeping schedule.

Are you ready for winter?

Is your home ready for winter?

While the weather is still decent, we are preparing our home for the winter ahead. The last thing we want to do is have problems when the weather is freezing that could have been prevented now.

Don’t know how to get your house winter-ready?

Visit me today at Today’s Housewife for some winterizing tips from a homebuilding professional!!

In true Flylady fashion, I like to take on housework in baby steps – a little each day. So, I came up with a bite-sized housecleaning plan that will work with our schedule and that involves the kids as well. Instead of adding each cleaning task to our daily calendar, I came up with this chart that I could post one copy for the kids to see and add another copy to my binder with our other schedules.

I left this as a blank template because each week might be a little different around here. This way, I can customize our cleaning schedule for the week on Sunday evenings when I do the rest of our weekly planning.

Feel free to click on the image and download a copy for yourself!

I’m linking up to Works For Me Wednesday and The Mommy Club!

********************

Up until yesterday, it still felt like summer even though the kids are in school, the leaves of my walnut trees are turning and my summer garden is about finished. The temps have been in the 90s and the humidity was still hanging around. But these last couple days with the dry air and temps in the 60s make me think fall. Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer, you know?

The cooler temps got me thinking about fall and starting to plan some fall decorating. You cam see some of the inspiration I’ve been getting from Pinterest today at Today’s Housewife.

I’ve been planning this homeschool year since last spring. Each year, I do an inventory of what we have learned and then decide where we need to go from here. I spend the summer searching out books and resources that will help us on our journey.

This summer, I found maps for geography and history, biographies of historical figures, cool field trip sites, hands-on science activities and a new writing curriculum. We are sticking with the same math and grammar since it worked so well for us in the past.

Sounds like a well rounded curriculum, but something is missing. What about character?

Visit me at MOD Squad blog to read more!

Click over to Today’s Housewife and see!!

This week, the kids and I took on the toy/homeschool/tv room. This is our multipurpose room that changes with the seasons of the year and life. I needed to take that into consideration when organizing this space. This summer, it has become the tv/wii/craft room. Generally, a mess.

To get started, I used the same system as I did with my daughter’s room.

1. Empty the room. Including shelves.
2. Deep clean. We vacuumed the floor, wiped down the baseboards and washed the windows.
3. Add the large, must-have items back into the room – desks, chairs, couch, table
4. Start sorting. 4 piles – trash, yard sale, keep, storage.
5. Put old curriculum away and replace it with new.
6. Find a place to store necessary items.
7. All items in the keep pile must have a place. If it doesn’t, ask again if it is necessary.
8. Add the keepers back into the room in their proper place.

With the kids getting older, there are less toys in the room. That certainly cleared up some space. Last fall, this room became our homeschool room. So, I filled the toy shelves with books and manipulatives. It is also the location of our only tv in the house, so the couch is necessary.

I am still working on the walls. I need to re-hang the white board  and move some things around (maps, bulletin board, etc.). Now that the room is organized and clean, I have a much better idea of where things should go.

Do you have a multi-purpose room? What’s your organizing secret?

Last Friday, I introduced the Living In The Moment series that will be running each Friday on Overcoming Busy. Check out the intro post and then plan to link up your Living In The Moment story this Friday.