Happy 2017!
A new year always makes me want to clear and sort and clean and tidy, especially after the festive period. I know it is a cliche to talk about starting the year as you mean to go on, but I think there’s something positive and important about trying to set positive intentions for the year ahead, and for me this includes working to try and keep our home clean and as clutter-free as possible.
In this spirit, this morning Frida and I worked together to clean her room. We took her toys off the shelves on her playframe, and Frida dusted them with her duster (from her Melissa and Doug cleaning set, which I really recommend).
We then did the same for her shelves which house her blocks and building materials. At this point Frida was a little fed up of dusting so I took over half-way through. I think she was getting impatient to start mopping “with water!”
Anything involving water is still a huge hit with Frida (indeed for most toddlers), so mopping is a great activity – her room got cleaned and she had a fantastic time doing it! I put a tiny bit of soap and some warm water into the bowl (I just gave her a wooden salad bowl to use) and just let her go for it.
I won’t pretend her floor coverage was perfect – we had a few dry patches and a few puddles – but the pride on her face as she mopped her own room was worth every last drop.
When she was finished, Frida picked up the big bowl of water so carefully and with no prompting, and carried it out to the bathroom to empty it.
Frida also enjoyed wearing her new apron, which was a lovely Christmas present from my mum.
I have started to slowly sort out our wardrobes, and have already gathered a big bag to go to the charity shop – there is plenty more to do, but I’m trying to break it into manageable 15 minute chunks so I don’t fall into a black hole of sorting piles of old socks and odd earrings and paperwork for hours on end (anyone else?).
I find I have so many good intentions for things I want or need to do to our home (empty cupboards, paint wardrobes, re-touch paintwork, sort out getting our bathroom redone… the list goes on!) but I find it so hard to make the time with a toddler around. I would love to know how other people make it work!
I too always feel like January is a time for cleaning out the house. My way this year has been to join the month long declutter challenge. Each day you clear the same amount of things as the date – 1st of January you get rid of one thing, 10th of January you get rid of 10 things. I’m up to day 20 and what a difference I am seeing in the house! Now it’s getting to be quite a few things each day I’m having to re go over things I’ve already sorted/decluttered and make sure I want everything I decided to keep. Has worked great for me!
I love Fridays mop, having a bit of trouble finding a realistic small one here in Australia, I am terrible at online ordering, I get lost in a sea of toys and never end up submitting the order. We just got the ikea kitchen for our son this week, he’s 17months, so starting out a bit slow there, but he is loving access to water, pours a million glasses of water. What is it about water!