My home is in need of a serious deep-clean, the kind of clean that involves power washers, a crew of 8 housecleaners and possibly some new furniture. The daily wear and tear of two busy little boys, two teens and a dog, followed by the chaos of the holidays have really taken a toll on the floors, carpets, closets and cupboards in my house. However, thinking about the numerous hours/days/months that will be involved to get my house back in shape sends me looking for something soothing to drink. Not to mention, with my two little guys underfoot it is simply impossible to do all at once. After some thought, I decided the best way to reclaim my house and keep my sanity was to break the tasks down into manageable projects and try to accomplish one of them each day during naptime for the littlest. At the end of the month I'll still be doing the daily shoveling of Legos and Thomas trains, but at least I'll have an organized place to put them away and the revealed floor underneath them will be mostly clean.

I challenge all of you to join me in my month-long mission. This is the basic plan I'm going to take, but your home may need a completely different plan. I encourage you to survey your own home and divide the big projects into 31 smaller ones. Although it won't be fun to take an hour or so each day scouring a drawer or closet, the finished projects will leave you feeling more productive and will also help reduce the overall chaos in your home. And that, my friend, will feel GOOD!

January 1 ~Take inventory throughout the house/garage. Jot down what needs a deep clean and divide the projects into 31 different days. Look at your monthly calendar to take note of what days have activities and are already busy. Work around these days by planning rest days or smaller projects. If you're really geeky put your plan into a spreadsheet. Or if you're more like me, handwrite it into a notebook so you can have the pleasure of crossing out your accomplishments each day.

January 2 ~ Take down all Christmas decorations. Toss any that are broken. Set aside those you no longer like, but are in still usable condition, to give to a second-hand store. Put away all decorations in well-marked containers. Make sure to carefully wrap any breakables and wind up strings of lights to keep from tangling. Once decorations are boxed up, put boxes away until next year.

January 3 ~ Go through Christmas cards. Update addresses of any friends/family that have moved; save pictures and either frame them or place in a box or album.

January 4 ~ The kitchen - I'm starting in the hub of my home. First, start with the sink full of dishes that accumulated when you weren't looking. Once the dishes are done, clear everything off of the counters . Clean all surfaces, including the walls at the backs of the counters. Clean and dust as you replace items, putting away any papers or junk that do not belong. Wipe down the dining table and chairs. Lastly, scrub the sink with some baking soda, spray of vinegar and a bit of elbow grease. End with a spray of window cleaner on the faucet to make it shine. Resolve from here on out to do the dishes and clean messes in the sink right away. Step back, look at your fantastic work, then make a call to your husband to let him know you're eating out tonight.

January 5 ~ Kitchen pantry! Go through each shelf, looking at the dates on all the items. Wipe down all the shelves, walls and clean the floor. Organize like items together with older use-by dates in the front and newer ones in the back. If you find you have way too much of one item, say canned tomatoes, then consider adding dishes to your weekly menu that include tomatoes or perhaps donate some of them to your local food bank. Also take note of any food items that you noticed you're low on or missing. Put those on your shopping list for the week.

January 6 ~ Kitchen cupboards! I will divide today’s job into two days. Tackle a little over half of the cupboards, empty them, wipe down surfaces, organize and replace the items. Set aside any broken or unused items for the garbage or second-hand store. Honestly, if you haven't used those margarita glasses in over a year then it's probably a safe bet to just give them to someone else. You'll love the free space for the fabulous ceramic bowls you love. (Just using that as an example, I personally would never fall in love with something silly like a fabulous Emile Henry ceramic dish - wink)

January 7 ~ Finish cleaning out kitchen cupboards. Wipe down the fronts of all cupboards with warm soapy water, dry with soft towel. Wipe down the front of the dishwasher and any standing appliances, as well. Give the kitchen floor a good sweep. Make sure when you're done that you close all the cupboards again. They tend to look much neater when they're not all gaping open.

January 8 ~ Clean out the refrigerator! Wipe down all surfaces and scrub those corners. Pull fridge out and clean under, as well as wipe down the front and top. Dump any food that looks questionable and try to group like food items together.

January 9 ~ Today we are taking on the bad boy of the kitchen, the oven. If you have a self-cleaning oven, then this is definitely your day. If not, set aside your gloves and cleaning spray and get ready to SCRUB. Clean the stovetop and under the burners, wipe down the fan area and all those splatters behind the stove. If you prefer a chemical-free method of cleaning I recommend a good scrubber, plenty of baking soda, vinegar and a little water. It will take some time but your lungs will thank you for the healthy air and you can count it as your upper arm workout for the day.

January 10 ~ Hooray, this is the LAST kitchen day. Today I'm going to make the floor shine! I normally spot clean my floor a couple times a week. However for the deep cleaning I'm going to take time to get the corners and clean around the oven and fridge. Once the floor is clean and dry, I will put a put a small towel by the door to ensure that all four-footed creatures (and some two-footed ones) get their feet wiped before entering.

January 11 ~ Moving into the office! I'm starting at the desk. We actually have two desks so today's project time will be spent emptying the junk off of them, cleaning the wood and putting everything back where it belongs. I also need to shred that stack of papers sitting on top of the shredder. (Why do my family members do this? Am I the only person capable of hitting the shred button?)

January 12 ~ The office, part 2. Continue from yesterday. If your desk has many drawers then you might need to spend a couple days just at the desk. Our desk has very few places to store things so everything gets dumped into the closet. Today's "fun" project will involve organizing the shelves, clearing out anything that doesn't belong in the closet and ridding our lives of century's old disc and computer garbage.

January 13 ~ The office has to be one of the most misused places in my house. Today I will start to tackle the filing cabinet. I will go through files in the first two drawers, purging unnecessary papers, filing papers correctly, putting anything personal into a shredding pile (or shredding it today if my boy's give me the time). This task can be broken into two days - in my case it will take AT LEAST two. Note to self: do NOT throw away important papers needed for tax purposes!

January 14 ~ Day 2 of personal papers and the dreaded file cabinet. I will continue on with purging, organizing and filing. When organizing important papers make sure you have a file folder for each member of the family, including the pets, and organize paperwork accordingly.

January 15 ~ Front porch! I need a little break from inside projects today so I am going to sweep the front porch, clean the front door and door jam and clean the window. I also need to do a little winterizing with the planters on my porch that didn't survive our December storm. I think it's important for the main entry to look "company ready". It just feels more inviting.

January 16 ~ Halfway day - I am going to take a break from big projects today. I'll do a quick pick-up/clean of all the house and maybe make a batch of cookies.

January 17 ~ Deep vacuuming! My plan is to move the furniture in the family room and living room, and vacuum under them. I will also vacuum the cushions of any couches/chairs that need it.

January 18 ~ Dusting! This is definitely my least favorite chore. I plan to dust all the surfaces, but especially focus on those hidden areas that don't get hit when the kids dust, such as the china cabinet, picture frames and other miscellaneous ledges.

January 19 ~ Trim board scrubbing! I will use a small bucket of warm sudsy water with a good splash of vinegar to clean those bad boys. This is definitely the area of my house where the power washer could come in handy. My plan is to do as much of the downstairs as I can today.

January 20 ~ Trim boards - day 2. I hope to finish the upstairs trim boards today. Handy-dandy tip for cleaning trim boards? Use an old toothbrush to get into that top crease. Just remember to put the toothbrush back into your cleaning supplies or toss it away when you're done. You don't want your hubby to accidentally brush his teeth with it.

January 21 ~ Book and Magazine day! I am TIRED of cleaning and need a project today that involves sitting down and watching a good movie while doing it. For the magazines I will purge any that I have finished reading and are older than a couple months old. If they are in good condition it's a great idea to donate them to a senior center or women’s shelter. Or you might have a neighbor with similar interests that would enjoy them. Next I'll go through our bookshelves. Books that are in great condition and being used get put back on the shelf and others are set aside to be donated or listed on Paperback Swap. If you haven't use Paperback Swap before I highly recommend it. It is a way of trading books with others for only the cost of media shipping. I have saved a lot of money and gotten many new to us books for my family. You could also consider selling online through eBay, Craig's List, local book store, etc.

January 22 ~ Boy Clothes. Go through the closets and drawers and sort all the clothes into piles. My boys are like little tornadoes when they choose out their clothes so their drawers need frequent organization. The first pile is clothes that are in good shape and fit now. These are folded nicely to go back into the drawers. The next pile is ones that no longer fit but are in very good shape. These are saved in plastic containers in the garage for little brother or go in a bag for the consignment store. I love my consignment store. I have saved so much money buying my boys clothes there. The next pile goes to the second hand store and the final pile is straight to the garbage. (Boys are so hard on clothes!)

January 23 ~ My and husband's clothes! Same routine as above, except I have to be a little sneakier about removing clothes that he never wears but has owned forever. Or removing those favorite items that look like they should have gone to the trash years ago.

January 24 ~ Daughter's Clothes! This project usually needs to be done when she's home so she can try things on and give input. She is also old enough to have the privilege of reorganizing and cleaning her own closet.

January 25 ~ Break day! I've been working hard on my projects so today I'll go through the house, tidying and wiping down counters. Turn the music up loud and sweep the kitchen floor.

January 26 ~ Medicine Cabinet! I try to periodically go through our over the counter medications and weed out any that are past expiration date. I take the old medications to my local pharmacy so I'm not adding anything strange to our sewer system. I also take note of any medicines that we're running low on so I can take advantage of great sales when I find them.

January 27 ~ Towels and Linens! Fold and stack towels and sheets neatly. Set aside any that are no longer needed for the second hand store. A handy storage tip is to put unused linen in vacuum-pack bags to take up less space.

January 28 ~Bathroom drawers/cupboards! I like to wipe down all the drawers as they seem to accumulate lots of hair and hairspray. I also will take this opportunity to toss old make-up, lotions, perfumes, personal supplies, etc.

January 29 ~ Coat Closet! Place all mittens, hats and scarves into baskets or plastic containers. Toss any gloves without mates. Organize coats and set aside any that are in good condition, but no longer used, to give away to the homeless.

January 30 ~ Laundry Room! We usually enter the house from the garage into the laundry room so this seems to be a catch-all place for everyone's stuff. After I've returned all the stray items to where they belong I'll tackle the shelves and wipe down the washer/dryer, including the inside area of the washer that gets all gummy from detergent.

January 31 ~ Wooohooo, it's the end of the month and errand day. Take all the items that have been collected throughout the month and drive them to the second-hand or consignment store. List any sellable items and deliver magazines and coats to the shelter.

Lastly, take a deep breath and RELAX! I didn't get to all the really scary areas of my house (in particular the garage) but what I did attack feels really good. I am feeling pretty proud of myself and if you took on some extra organizational projects this month, you should too!

Lynette is a wife and mom of four from the Pacific Northwest. She is a recovering neat-freak that finds the best way to accomplish things is by breaking them into manageable tasks. She's also gotten really good at just letting things go. If something doesn't get done during the day, but the kids are healthy and happy, then it's all good and that task can be tackled another day.