Martha Home Mary Way Day 1

Day One of Martha Home the Mary Way~ 31 Days to a Clean Home
Challenge is to Put a load of laundry in the wash.
Kitchen: Do the dishes, scrub pans, clean out sink.
Gather Papers from counters and set aside
Wipe Counters

I am following the challenge but also doing some deep clean and organizing as I go. We have six people living in a space meant for four come May. That means we have work at fitting a lot in a small space.
Today I  put the laundry in the washer, and ran two loads.
Then I tackled the kitchen- dishes, counters, walls behind sink, the sink.
I also wiped down appliances.

This seemed like a small task, this is before.

This is after. We have a container full of lids and a couple extra containers that I hope to go through once my husband brings home all his work containers and then the dishwasher finishes running. I am thinking I will be able to part way with 90% on that bottom shelf. That will be nice.

I also tackled the fridge and freezer. We parted ways with expired food, cleaned all the shelves and drawers and organized the food contents. 

We also wiped down the outside, put up all the recipes into a binder.

I still need to wipe the top, pull the fridge out and clean the wall and underneath but that is a bigger job for the weekend.
Day two task:
Kitchen: Clean out and wash down interior of fridge. Clean out interior and exterior of microwave.
I will be working on the upper cabinets, microwave and stove top.
I am loving the #MarthaHomeMaryWay Challenge
Join the Challenge with Sarah Mae

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Martha Home the Mary Way Book Giveaway

Just a reminder, don't forget to enter my giveaway
It ends soon
You will love this book

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Martha Home Mary Way Book Giveaway

I am giving away one copy of Sarah Mae's new Book

I posted some more information about the challenge, links to her blog earlier today. I wanted to do a little more and provide you with a copy so that you can participate in the challenge. I will be posting the days challenge and accomplished task, so you can follow along for the 31 days if you would like, you can also participate along with her Blog or mine until your copy arrives.

If you have cleaning tips of your own, supplies you love, I would love to hear all about it, leave me a blog post comment.

6 Months of House Cleaning

A few years back I participated in something called 31 Days to Clean, what a blessing that was. You can see a post here
Sarah Mae has written a book based on that printable/challenge many of us followed called Having a Martha Home the Mary Way. I absolutely love it.
Recently I entered a contest for 6 months of house cleaning for free. I truly need it. Working in your own home is challenging. It is difficult sometimes to balance everything from quilt orders to homework to being a taxi service for my high- schoolers and college student.
At least once a week I ask the Lord to help me in this area, probably truly much more often than that.
Organization is something I truly need help on. Its challenging because this house has many old features, it lacks a garage, attic space, closets. These are places where you store things you aren't using, things you don't need every day. We have none of that. One of the bedrooms is so challenging because the previous home owners put the washer and dryer where the closet should be. The Loft, which now houses two boys isn't even tall enough for them to walk in. At the very center of the room where the stairs lead you can actually stand, but if you veer either direction you must duck otherwise you hit your head. We recently added some mock closet space to it, but it requires some other creative solutions to become a little more livable.
When I saw this new book, I new it was calling out to our family, not just to me. I had been following Sarah Mae's daily posts on her blog and I entered the contest. I will admit I never dreamed I would truly win 6 months of house cleaning. I don't even know what that would look like.
Surprise, I won~
It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. We live in a small town, it has stores and a post office and lots of schools, however, we live in a sort of farm lifestyle as well. I mean you have seen my posts we are hatching chicken eggs inside our home. Now how exactly do I explain that to a house cleaning service, it seems a little strange I am sure.
The only obstacle I saw was that I had planned to go through the 31 Day Challenge that starts April 11th. I didn't really want a service to come in until after that was complete. (If you would like to sign up, you can go to the link and their is a place for your email. Her blog posts can be sent to you directly)
What is truly interesting is as side work to help ends meet I often clean peoples homes, watch their animals while they are out of town etc. Now I am looking at someone clean our home. What an awesome prospect.
I need a service that does more than clean. I need help organizing our tiny space, which is much smaller with a quilting business in my living room, an exercise area in my den and my daughters personal study nook in my bedroom.
Anyway it is going to work out wonderfully. I feel a sense of relief. I know the Lord is answering this desire of my heart. I am super grateful to have this GIFT.
I can't wait to see how it all unfolds between June and December. I plan to post some photos of the progress. I also am wanting to host a giveaway of Sarah Mae's new book, you can also purchase a journal to go along with it. The challenge starts April 11th. If you need to do a little spring cleaning, organize a room, get something under control, then join us. Lets take back our homes and make a martha home the mary way.
I am very excited for this new journey.