A Clean House in under 20 minutes a day

Alyssa Osegard on November 22, 2018

Keeping the house clean can feel like an impossible task. But what if I told you that you could have a clean house in under 20 minutes a day?

Now I know what you’re thinking, “That’s cute, Osegards. But you have no children and a small house, so shut your face.”

And you’re kind of right. However, with the exception of one task, I’ve tested this out in a house three times the size of ours with four tiny children and a dog. The system works. It might push the 20 minute limit on a bad day with a giant house and a classroom’s worth of tiny humans, but it’s possible (especially if you have an awesome sidekick husband like I do).

Daily Routine (we do this at night)

Straighten up
Load dishwasher
Wipe off counters
One Daily Task

–> More tips for your daily routine and getting out the door in the mornings!

For us, a clean house starts in the kitchen!

Weekly Tasks

Dust
Vacuum
Scrub Bathrooms

Don’t worry, I can hear you already. “I can’t vacuum my whole house and do the rest of that in under 20 minutes”. I know you can’t. That’s why there are three tasks and seven days a week. Vacuum one level. Or clean only one bathroom. Just divide it up so it fits into your seven days!

Cleaning BONUS: Laundry!

I don’t always think of laundry as being a part of a clean house, but I do lump it in with these “chores”. Here’s my hack from the times we’ve spent caring for our friends tiny children (because let’s face it, Cody and I alone don’t make that much laundry). Any time you walk by the laundry room, you MUST do something. Put a load in the washer, move it to the dryer, sort, fold, grab a pile to put away. ANYTHING. In our friends house, any time I went upstairs, I walked by the laundry room. Just woke up? Start a load. Come up to shower? Move the load to the dryer and start another load to wash. Leave the shower? Well, you get the point. It helped us stay on top of laundry by weaving it in throughout the day!

As with almost everything, the key here is definitely consistency. Once these simple tasks become a part of your day, they seem, to just “get done” a little more easily. What are your keys to a clean house? Let us know over on Instagram!

Preparing for a Move (Without completely losing your mind)

Alyssa Osegard on September 12, 2018

Cody and I have done a combined six moves in just over three years. We’ve been married four years and lived three different cities. Our record is not great for being content where we are, which is why we signed a nice, long lease on our current place. Oops. All that to say, we are darn good at organizing for a move.

What we used

Spreadsheets

If you’ve been around me (Alyssa) any length of time, you know that spreadsheets are my friend. It should come as no surprise that I made spreadsheets for the move.

Sticky Notes

Sticky notes come in a million colors and are just the right size for writing the contents of the box. I’m not an advocate for writing EVERY SINGLE THING that goes into the box, but enough to give you a good idea. Again, the goal is to NOT completely lose your mind! “Kitchen” is too vague, but “6 blue plates, one corkscrew, that whisk that no one likes, and 3 wine glasses” is too specific. Using sticky notes helps you pack smart AND be able to unpack smart. “Dinner plates and kitchen tools” is clear enough!

Why sticky notes instead of just writing it on the box you ask? Well…I’m a fan of. . .

Color coding boxes

It sounds like a pain, but I promise you that on move-in day it will make everything so much easier. That’s where the different colored sticky notes come in to play! The key that most people forget is that you want to label it based on your NEW house, not your current house. When you pack up the office/guest room now (and label it as such) it is no help to you when at the new place the office and guest room are two separate places! It does take a little extra time up front to do this, but when your friends are helping you unload boxes and no one has to ask “where does this one go?” or open the box to find out what’s inside, it’s a HUGE time saver!

Lots of Tape

However much tape you think you need to pack up your boxes – double it. Or triple it. Whatever. The fact is with every move we never buy enough tape and it slows down the process! For packing tape, the one with the fancy dispenser is 100% worth the investment. We also found that having some masking tape on hand to keep the sticky notes in place throughout the move was essential!

Boxes

Boxes can be expensive! Some places have buy-back programs for boxes you don’t use, but even so, I struggle to pay a high price for a bunch of cardboard! To avoid the extra costs, I check local listings on Facebook and Craigslist for boxes. Often times you can get boxes for cheap (or even free!) that have only been used once! Another place to check for boxes are local liquor stores. Again, you can get boxes, often for free, that are heavy duty! We LOVE these boxes for our cups, bottles, and even toiletries. You can also cut down on the boxes that you need by packing into things you already own such as suitcases, backpacks, coolers, and any other bins you have laying around.

Now you have your supplies, it’s time to pack –

First things first

The first things to pack are things that don’t need to get used before the move. Typically, the most popular season in real estate is summer! Based on that, you can probably pack up your holiday decorations, winter clothing, and any other winter items you have.

Next up

The next thing you will want to do is go through your house and PURGE. It’s time to sell stuff and give stuff away. My general rule of thumb is that if it is not sentimental and hasn’t been used in the last six months (excluding seasonal items that are only used once annually), it’s time to say goodbye.

Everything else

It’s time to pack everything else, remembering to pack based on where you want it in the new house! Pack from least used to most used items to keep things that you need accessible. Depending on what vehicles you are using to move, you may even want to set the most essential things in a different area. If you have movers coming, have these essentials loaded last if possible, so they are the first thing off the truck. If you’re using your own vehicles, pack these in the car you plan to drive to the new place first!

Sign up for our newsletter to get a FREE checklist for packing (including the necessities you haven’t thought of for your first day in the new place)! Coming soon! Sign up now, Checklist coming this weekend!

New Years Resolution to Lifestyle Change

Alyssa Osegard on February 7, 2018

I am the kind of person who loves to write new years resolutions. I like to think I stick with them longer than most, but still never for the full year. A few goals and resolutions seem to be a theme nearly ever year for me:

1) Spending time with God
2) Eating better
3) Exercising

Basically – every year I try to be healthier in mind, body, and spirit. I create elaborate schedules and routines that I stick with for months at a time. But then I miss a day or two, and I feel defeated, so I quit. Is anyone else out there like that? Tell me I’m not alone in failed resolutions!

What’s Different Now?

This year is different though, and I’ve been trying to understand why. I believe it is because I have seen how life is different than it was before now that I’ve stuck to my resolutions and goals.

Until now, life had been passing by, and I’d just been accepting that mediocre is good enough for me. Stress and anxiety had been ruling my life for too long, and now is the time for my resolutions to win out. 2018 will be the year that I trust God to lessen these invisible weights I feel on myself that I have for too long assumed were just part of being an adult.

I kicked off the year joining a bootcamp for a new workout program (keep reading, I promise this

Prepping healthy meals ahead of time keeps us on track with our nutrition AND gives us time throughout the week to focus on our other goals!

isn’t an ad! ha!). This program requires 6 workouts a week, 8 hours of sleep a night, self-care, and healthy meals every 2-3 hours. I was excited for the program, but also pretty darn sure that I was setting myself up yet again with an elaborate routine that wasn’t sustainable.

The opposite has proved to be true. Everything that usually drops from my goals and resolution lists has actually gotten better! The first thing to disappear is normally my workouts, but I am in a community of women and men that encourage me daily to get it done. The next to get lost is my time with God, but since I have to get up to eat before my workout, I have no excuse but to do my devotions!

The Benefits

These things have residual good effects too. My workouts are intense, and so I have been eating healthier because my body craves to be properly fueled. My time with God is forcing me to really

I feel better mentally, spiritually, physically. Losing a little weight is just a side bonus to me!

examine parts of my life I’ve ignored, and I’m starting to see God’s direction in my life. The community of men and women started off as just names on a screen to me, but I am slowly starting to develop friendships with them. The organization of the program forces me to take time to relax (literally, I couldn’t function without extra soaking, stretching, and foam rolling) which calms my anxiety.

I never want to go back to living life at just “acceptable”. I’m learning what God wants for me in life and how a healthy body, mind, and spirit are so intertwined. I know that 2018 will be the year my goals not only stick, but become a true lifestyle change!

How to Conquer the World before Walking Out the Door

Alyssa Osegard on October 3, 2017

Mornings always felt rushed to me. I would see other people seemingly conquer the world before dropping their kids off at school. They had worked out, read their Bible, eaten a balanced breakfast, had fantastic hair and make up, packed a healthy lunch, and made it out the door in time to grab a coffee at Caribou.

Then there was me who could barely get up, grab some cereal and half-watch an episode of Friends while throwing my hair in a messy bun, quickly grab some carrots or something for lunch, and stumble out the door. My mornings looked like this whether I had five minutes to get ready or a ninety minutes. Oh, and I didn’t have kids to get out the door – just myself!

I decided enough was enough. I made changes to be able to get LOTS done and in just an hour and a half in the mornings. It’s not by any magic in the morning; instead, I learned to better manage my nights.

Nighttime Routines to Fix Your Mornings

Do the dishes. If my kitchen is clean in the morning, it is easier to find dishes and cook breakfast without getting sidetracked. I even have time to make eggs and bacon now!
Lay out clothes for the next day. It only takes a few seconds to check your weather app to see the forecast. When your clothes are already out, it eliminates the need to make a decision early in the AM before your brain is ready for it.
Have lunch ready to go. I put some leftovers in my Pyrex containers so that everything is ready to throw in my lunch bag. (This is a SUPER useful set of containers I use on a daily basis from Amazon. The sizes work great for portions and for packing into lunchboxes! This is an affiliate link, full disclosures here)
Make a pile by the door. Shoes, keys, anything else you bring with you (for me it’s a backpack).
Charge your phone far from your bed. The only way my morning “email check” doesn’t turn into 10-15 minutes of scrolling Facebook and responding to texts is by charging my phone on a different floor of our house than our bedroom at night.

I am amazed at what my mornings look like with these changes in place!

5:45 Alarm goes off

6:00 Workout

6:30 Shower/get ready

7:00 Breakfast/Devotions

And I can be out the door by 7:15/7:30!

How does your morning routine compare? What things make your mornings run just a little bit smoother? I would love to hear what is working for you. Comment here or let us know over on Facebook!