Baby prep + Bathroom cleanup

I have a few friends that are pregnant and due around the same time as me, or after. Lately they've been posting a lot on Facebook about getting ready for the baby: baby registries, washing baby clothes, arranging furniture, and so on. I haven't done a single thing for this baby yet. I don't know if it's because it's the second one and I'm not too worried, or because I just haven't thought about what I need to be doing. But I realized that the next 3 months are going to fly by and I do have things to do. Last night while watching Lady and the Tramp with the family I made a list of all the things I want to get done around here before the baby comes.

Bathroom

• clean and organize closet
• make inventory list of items we have

Kitchen

• clean and organize the pantry
• clean and organize the cupboards
• prepare 72 hours kits for all family members

Bedroom

• go through closet and get rid of clothes
• organize paperwork
• create office in walk-in closet
• arrange room for baby

Train lover's bedroom

• arrange room for baby #2
• sanitize all toys
• remove books from bookshelf that aren't age appropriate

Living Room

• sell and donate books/organize bookshelf
• arrange room to become playroom

Van

• wash inside and outside
• clean and empty out the inside
• set up carseat
• prepare emergency supplies and kits

Today I tackled the bathroom closet. Here's what it looked like before (sorry for the bad angles).

Here it is after!

• I labeled all the containers on the outside so we now know what's inside. 
• I also created an inventory list of all the items we have. Now I know I need to buy shampoo and deodorant before our current stuff runs out!

 

• The medicine and first aid supplies are now separated. 

 

• I moved a few things under the sink that belonged there, like hand soap refills. 
• I threw away expired things. 
• I took all the towels out of the closet and moved them to our bedroom closet. We never use those towels because we love our Norwex body towels too much!
• I also got a big pile together of things I know we won't use and posted pictures of the items online to sell. I should get about $50 for all the items I posted! 

Best thing about cleaning the closet was figuring out the things we need and making $50!

I also organized Train Lover's bookshelf. It was jam packed with books before. Now all the books on the shelf are perfect for his age. No more red, black, and white books and no more chapter books. Maybe seeing the books he has will get him more interested in reading :)

All the books I took off his shelf. A lot, right?

I tackled 3 things from my list today and it only took a couple hours to do. Going slow and steady each day for the next 3 months should make my list a piece of cake to achieve!

Messy Solution

With school loans being gone for the summer, Brent and I were left to our own devices to pay rent and bills. It feels great to work and make money and pay for things on our own without help from the government (in the form of loans and debt). I can't wait for school to be over so we can fend for ourselves and live without collecting more debt.

We were both lucky to find jobs with different schedules so one of us is always with the little one. I work at a local cafe, and am enjoying the work there, in the mornings and afternoons a few times a week. Brent works at a call center on campus in the evenings. We also buy and sell things on the side and are doing pretty well on eBay right now. And the plasma center is still enjoying Brent's service there twice a week.

We're both enjoying time with the little one (LO). He is not so little anymore. He's getting big, going down the slides at the playground on his own, working on saying words everyday (today's new word is 'bubble'), and just as happy as ever. Where did my baby go?

Since we've been so busy, the house was getting into disarray often. With Brent's strong encouragement, I came up with a cleaning schedule for us. Here it is:

We've been using it a couple weeks now and it's going pretty well. I love having something to refer to each day. It helps me break down all the mess around me and see what needs to get done that day. There are days that we don't get everything done on the list that we should, but it's still a help to get some done and see our accomplishments.

I thought I would share it with all of you because it might be something you could use yourself (modified) in your own circumstances. Do any of you do something similar? What are your strategies to keeping your home clean?