Category cleaning how to

As a disabled stay at home parent, keeping up with the housework can be tricky, if not impossible. Between my slipped discs and my C-PTSD, the work can really pile up on me. I've joined some different online support groups and through them I've learned some tricks that really helped. The thing that changed my life the most (at least as far as cleaning goes) was learning about category cleaning. The categories are Trash, Dishes, Laundry, Things that have place, and Things that don't have place. There are two main ways to go about this, but also the beauty of it is in its flexibility to adapt to your needs and constraints (whether it be time or energy). I like to break it down by room, and do each category for one room at a time, but it can also be done by category through the whole house. (Or any darn way you please). The trick with it is that you stick to one category at a time. Do not skip ahead to other categories or doing other cleaning until you've finished the one category. Supplies you will need are trash bags, a box or basket to collect dishes, a hamper to collect laundry, a box to collect items that have a place, and a box to collect items that don't have a place. Start with trash. Get your trash bag and pick up all the trash in one room, then either keep going room by room or move to the next category for the same room. DO NOT TAKE THE TRASH OUT YET!! Simply set the full bag at the entrance of the room or by the door to take out later. When you've collected all the trash then move on to dishes. Get your box or basket and collect dirty dishes that have piled up. DO NOT WASH THOSE DISHES YET!! Just put them in the kitchen sink. Once all the dirty dishes have been collected then move onto laundry. Pick up that hamper and gather the dirty laundry off the floor, the couch, the chairs, wherever it wound up. Take the hamper to the laundry room/area. DO NOT START A LOAD OF LAUNDRY YET!! Just leave the hamper there or dump it all out on the floor if you need to keep using the hamper. Once all the dirty laundry has been collected and dumped into the laundry then you can grab your box for things that have a place. Go around and collect those random items that have accumulated around the room but you know they have a spot elsewhere. DO NOT PUT THEM AWAY YET!! Just gather them in their box until all you see is stuff that you have no idea where it needs to go. Now go grab the box for that stuff and gather it up. DO NOT TRY TO FIND A PLACE FOR IT YET!! just put in the box. Multiple boxes may be necessary for all the things. That's ok, just make sure to keep things that have a place separate from things that don't have a place. CONGRATULATIONS!! You're done. Well if you want to be because you've used all your spoons up for the day, If you've still got spoons then take the trash out, run the washer, wash a load of dishes or 3, put away the stuff that has a place, and go through the stuff that doesn't have a place (either find it a place or get it out of your home). If you need help keeping track of the categories or rooms you've finished and you want a cute little checklist then head over to my shop.