Forty-Five Days
Jan. 31st, 2008 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckAnd now, I find a way to make my real life journal even more pointless and boring! Yay!
Kind of like with the Diva Cup reports, I'm going to make this one open post. If you are interested in seeing any further post on this subject, let me know and I'll include you in the Houskeeping group. The remaining posts on this subject will be locked because they will be so boring they will make your eyes bleed.
I am actually a damned good housekeeper. I just have no time and even less inspiration. And I'm used to my mess. It has logic. I know where everything is.
But Wednesday, when I was trying to tidy up a bit for the people coming to view the place, I kind of got going like a cat after it's own tail. Because I couldn't figure out what mess to tidy first.
I realized the time has probably come to take matters in hand.
Part of the problem is that we never really finished moving in here. As you may recall, we moved when I was six months pregnant. Just getting in here took a herculean effort for someone whose own loving son had taken to calling "the full force whale" (don't ask). It was a true challenge for me during those months to go up and down the stairs with the laundry. Oh, how I cursed the architect. I hurt my back just trying to wash dishes. Husband took a few days off eventually to try to shove all the boxes of stuff into their new homes, but in the end, there were residual boxes that just stayed in the corners where they were shoved.
Then the baby arrived. And we started taking out baby stuff, and getting more baby stuff, and most of it just stayed out, getting more and more cluttered. Her clean laundry is piled to one side of her diaper table. Her books are in a couple of heaps on the floor. Her toys tend to live in a pile by the computer desk. Empty Huggies boxes, and some filled with baby stuff, and some filled with AG33's stuff, line our upstairs hallway. My exercise clothes are piled on top of the boxes, because I often need them when Husband is already asleep and I don't want to wake him up bumping around the bedroom.
In our bedroom... Back when we moved, I just crammed all my clothes in the closet. I am far from a clothes horse. Those who read this journal know what an event it is when I get new clothes, but in the last, oh, 20 years or so, I have gotten rid of very few things. I never organized the stuff in the closet, partially because I was in maternity wear. Over the last 20 months I have pulled out the clothes I use for work during the week. Those clothes have come to live in a pile by my side of the bed, because my drawers were full of other clothes.
The kitchen table is the catch all for our daily messes. Baby diary sheets, AG33's graded school work, receipts from my wallet, and other paper detritus build up there, along with random junk.
Then there's the things that happen. Like during the croup emergency, we took out the nebulizer, used it in the bedroom, then I ran out to the hospital and it never got put away. It just stayed where I left it.
The kids' bathroom tends to be a big disorganized pile of kleenex boxes and toilet paper rolls and other bathroomy items heaped on the window seat, and other weird things get stuck on their tiny counter space.
On top of all the clutter is the fact that I have trouble making time for basic cleaning. The bathrooms get done every 6 months or so or when I absolutely cannot stand them anymore. Husband will clean out the toilet bowls about monthly. And the bathtub, ironically, gets cleaned before every bath. Cleanest place in the house. Why? Because the cat poops there. Doesn't pee, which would be really nasty. She does that in her litter box. Just little dry pieces of cat poop that I pick up with toilet paper and flush. You can't even tell they were there once I flush them. But I always, without fail, wash the tub before I bathe a child, so the tub gets washed 3, even 4, times a week.
It is all I can do to get the dishes completely clean all at once ONE TIME PER WEEK. Often, there are things that sit around and don't get washed til I need them again. It is all I can do to get all the laundry clean weekly (which I DO manage) and get it all folded and put away after (which I almost never manage - we tend to live out of laundry baskets).
And don't even mention filing. Or vacumming.
Anyway, I have decided it is time to get things under control so I can stop dealing with huge disaster areas and get onto some kind of regular maintenance schedule.
I have made a list of trouble spots, broken down in to half hour jobs. I have made a tentative daily schedule to attempt to knock out one trouble spot per day, plus go to bed with the kitchen clean. I have also scheduled workout time and writing time. I am going to attempt to keep to this schedule for 45 days. They say that if you do something for 45 days, it becomes a habit. Maybe I can turn myself back into a tidy person. If not, at least we will be 45 days better off than we were.
I was musing on these topics with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zats_clear, who is also frustrated with her current home environment. We have agreed to support each other as we try to get things back in order. That could be one reason to monitor these stupid boring posts - to try to inspire yourself, if you feel you could also use some getting into shape.
So.
A couple of weekends ago I cleared out my maternity clothes drawer, shifted some things around, and got my every day clothes to go in my dresser. Yesterday, I took all the remaining clothes from my floor and shoved them in the closet. The closet is a problem for another day, but my side of the bed is now clothing free. Boxes will be for another day, too. Tonight, I put away the nebulizer. Carefully. In it's case. With meds. So if there is another emergency, I can easily instruct Husband or AG33 just to bring me the case and I'll have everything I need.
Yesterday, I started the attack on the supply piles in the kids' bathroom. Today, I finished that task. The toilet and sink could still use some cleaning, but it looks A LOT better in there. Especially since last weekend I cleaned the cat's basket, which had gotten cat barf on it.
Yesterday, I cleared the baby's toy pile away from the computer and back into the toy box in teh kitchen. Her downstairs books are in a tidy pile. Another day, I will figure out something to store them in.
In the last two days I have washed, folded and put away four loads of laundry. One load is still in the basket and one is drying. Hope to fold both of those before bed, put them away in the morning.
Oh! I refilled all the empty soap bottles. Everyone was ridiculously pleased that I did this small, five minute task. :D
And right now, I'm going to go in the kitchen, finish the dishes, and POLISH THE SINK. (More on sink polishing later).
I have used up my writing time for the evening on this post, sadly. But I still plan to work out. Though if I am too tired, I will stop.
The last couple of days I have been a little crazed. I plan to try to pace myself. I think the means to doing this is to STOP even LOOKING at the computer before work. I waste so much time that way. Instead, I plan to try to use my mornings wisely, so my evenings can be more pleasant, and I will still be more productive.
So, I plan to start getting up on time again and working out. But only 30 minutes for these first few weeks. After workout and shower, I plan to spend 30 minutes working in the kitchen and 30 minutes working on a special task. The rest of the morning will be spent getting the kids ready.
And I am going to start thawing Husband's breakfast in the morning before I leave, so I can throw it on the grill while I'm cooking dinner. I have been in the habit of thawing it when I get home, which is retarded, because then I have to cook it later, after the kids have gone to bed, meaning my evening is tied up in that. Dumb, dumb, dumb, when just remembering in the morning would save me a bunch of irriation later.
In the evening, I plan to spend one hour playing on the computer - and these first 45 days, I plan to try to be ONLY writing during that time - and one hour working for Boss. Then to bed on time.
Once I have my filing caught up, I plan to add in filing before I start on the computer. If I filed every day, I would hae 3-6 items per day to file. 2 mintues, tops. I need to form that habit, because we all know how hideous the filing is when you let it go for 6 months then you are faced with a whole afternoon's work.
So. The schedule for the next 45 days will be:
Wake up.
Exercise.
Shower.
Clean kitchen.
Special project (30 minutes on a trouble spot).
Take care of kids.
Thaw fish before leaving for work.
Work work work.
Home, dinner, visit with Husband, love Husband, etc.
Run out for kids.
Feed kids, take care of kids, love kids, kids to bath (as needed) kids to bed.
Work in kitchen and shine sink.
File.
Work for Boss.
Play on computer.
Bed on time.
Variations, of course, for weekend and nights with restless family members.
I think this is really, really doable. 45 days.
Kind of like with the Diva Cup reports, I'm going to make this one open post. If you are interested in seeing any further post on this subject, let me know and I'll include you in the Houskeeping group. The remaining posts on this subject will be locked because they will be so boring they will make your eyes bleed.
I am actually a damned good housekeeper. I just have no time and even less inspiration. And I'm used to my mess. It has logic. I know where everything is.
But Wednesday, when I was trying to tidy up a bit for the people coming to view the place, I kind of got going like a cat after it's own tail. Because I couldn't figure out what mess to tidy first.
I realized the time has probably come to take matters in hand.
Part of the problem is that we never really finished moving in here. As you may recall, we moved when I was six months pregnant. Just getting in here took a herculean effort for someone whose own loving son had taken to calling "the full force whale" (don't ask). It was a true challenge for me during those months to go up and down the stairs with the laundry. Oh, how I cursed the architect. I hurt my back just trying to wash dishes. Husband took a few days off eventually to try to shove all the boxes of stuff into their new homes, but in the end, there were residual boxes that just stayed in the corners where they were shoved.
Then the baby arrived. And we started taking out baby stuff, and getting more baby stuff, and most of it just stayed out, getting more and more cluttered. Her clean laundry is piled to one side of her diaper table. Her books are in a couple of heaps on the floor. Her toys tend to live in a pile by the computer desk. Empty Huggies boxes, and some filled with baby stuff, and some filled with AG33's stuff, line our upstairs hallway. My exercise clothes are piled on top of the boxes, because I often need them when Husband is already asleep and I don't want to wake him up bumping around the bedroom.
In our bedroom... Back when we moved, I just crammed all my clothes in the closet. I am far from a clothes horse. Those who read this journal know what an event it is when I get new clothes, but in the last, oh, 20 years or so, I have gotten rid of very few things. I never organized the stuff in the closet, partially because I was in maternity wear. Over the last 20 months I have pulled out the clothes I use for work during the week. Those clothes have come to live in a pile by my side of the bed, because my drawers were full of other clothes.
The kitchen table is the catch all for our daily messes. Baby diary sheets, AG33's graded school work, receipts from my wallet, and other paper detritus build up there, along with random junk.
Then there's the things that happen. Like during the croup emergency, we took out the nebulizer, used it in the bedroom, then I ran out to the hospital and it never got put away. It just stayed where I left it.
The kids' bathroom tends to be a big disorganized pile of kleenex boxes and toilet paper rolls and other bathroomy items heaped on the window seat, and other weird things get stuck on their tiny counter space.
On top of all the clutter is the fact that I have trouble making time for basic cleaning. The bathrooms get done every 6 months or so or when I absolutely cannot stand them anymore. Husband will clean out the toilet bowls about monthly. And the bathtub, ironically, gets cleaned before every bath. Cleanest place in the house. Why? Because the cat poops there. Doesn't pee, which would be really nasty. She does that in her litter box. Just little dry pieces of cat poop that I pick up with toilet paper and flush. You can't even tell they were there once I flush them. But I always, without fail, wash the tub before I bathe a child, so the tub gets washed 3, even 4, times a week.
It is all I can do to get the dishes completely clean all at once ONE TIME PER WEEK. Often, there are things that sit around and don't get washed til I need them again. It is all I can do to get all the laundry clean weekly (which I DO manage) and get it all folded and put away after (which I almost never manage - we tend to live out of laundry baskets).
And don't even mention filing. Or vacumming.
Anyway, I have decided it is time to get things under control so I can stop dealing with huge disaster areas and get onto some kind of regular maintenance schedule.
I have made a list of trouble spots, broken down in to half hour jobs. I have made a tentative daily schedule to attempt to knock out one trouble spot per day, plus go to bed with the kitchen clean. I have also scheduled workout time and writing time. I am going to attempt to keep to this schedule for 45 days. They say that if you do something for 45 days, it becomes a habit. Maybe I can turn myself back into a tidy person. If not, at least we will be 45 days better off than we were.
I was musing on these topics with
zats_clear, who is also frustrated with her current home environment. We have agreed to support each other as we try to get things back in order. That could be one reason to monitor these stupid boring posts - to try to inspire yourself, if you feel you could also use some getting into shape.So.
A couple of weekends ago I cleared out my maternity clothes drawer, shifted some things around, and got my every day clothes to go in my dresser. Yesterday, I took all the remaining clothes from my floor and shoved them in the closet. The closet is a problem for another day, but my side of the bed is now clothing free. Boxes will be for another day, too. Tonight, I put away the nebulizer. Carefully. In it's case. With meds. So if there is another emergency, I can easily instruct Husband or AG33 just to bring me the case and I'll have everything I need.
Yesterday, I started the attack on the supply piles in the kids' bathroom. Today, I finished that task. The toilet and sink could still use some cleaning, but it looks A LOT better in there. Especially since last weekend I cleaned the cat's basket, which had gotten cat barf on it.
Yesterday, I cleared the baby's toy pile away from the computer and back into the toy box in teh kitchen. Her downstairs books are in a tidy pile. Another day, I will figure out something to store them in.
In the last two days I have washed, folded and put away four loads of laundry. One load is still in the basket and one is drying. Hope to fold both of those before bed, put them away in the morning.
Oh! I refilled all the empty soap bottles. Everyone was ridiculously pleased that I did this small, five minute task. :D
And right now, I'm going to go in the kitchen, finish the dishes, and POLISH THE SINK. (More on sink polishing later).
I have used up my writing time for the evening on this post, sadly. But I still plan to work out. Though if I am too tired, I will stop.
The last couple of days I have been a little crazed. I plan to try to pace myself. I think the means to doing this is to STOP even LOOKING at the computer before work. I waste so much time that way. Instead, I plan to try to use my mornings wisely, so my evenings can be more pleasant, and I will still be more productive.
So, I plan to start getting up on time again and working out. But only 30 minutes for these first few weeks. After workout and shower, I plan to spend 30 minutes working in the kitchen and 30 minutes working on a special task. The rest of the morning will be spent getting the kids ready.
And I am going to start thawing Husband's breakfast in the morning before I leave, so I can throw it on the grill while I'm cooking dinner. I have been in the habit of thawing it when I get home, which is retarded, because then I have to cook it later, after the kids have gone to bed, meaning my evening is tied up in that. Dumb, dumb, dumb, when just remembering in the morning would save me a bunch of irriation later.
In the evening, I plan to spend one hour playing on the computer - and these first 45 days, I plan to try to be ONLY writing during that time - and one hour working for Boss. Then to bed on time.
Once I have my filing caught up, I plan to add in filing before I start on the computer. If I filed every day, I would hae 3-6 items per day to file. 2 mintues, tops. I need to form that habit, because we all know how hideous the filing is when you let it go for 6 months then you are faced with a whole afternoon's work.
So. The schedule for the next 45 days will be:
Wake up.
Exercise.
Shower.
Clean kitchen.
Special project (30 minutes on a trouble spot).
Take care of kids.
Thaw fish before leaving for work.
Work work work.
Home, dinner, visit with Husband, love Husband, etc.
Run out for kids.
Feed kids, take care of kids, love kids, kids to bath (as needed) kids to bed.
Work in kitchen and shine sink.
File.
Work for Boss.
Play on computer.
Bed on time.
Variations, of course, for weekend and nights with restless family members.
I think this is really, really doable. 45 days.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 03:41 am (UTC)keepin' that flychick thing to yourself right now?
*looks around*
clean kitchen - check
polished sink - check
my work is done for the evening
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 04:02 am (UTC)I'll probably give her about 5-10 minutes a day, and see what I can learn from her. Also, I am thinking that as I conquer the kitchen, I won't need 30 mintues in there every morning. May devote that extra time to learning from the FlyLady, at least at the beginning.
But! My sink is also polished! And I am going to bed with a clean kitchen! Though no workout. Ah, well. It's an ambitious new lifestyle I'm tackling here. Tomorrow is another day. :D
Yay for polished sinks!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 04:04 am (UTC)Wow. Tentacles would be handy for housecleaning. And kid chasing. We all could use them. I wonder why we did not evolve them? If the squid ever DO come out of the ocean, as envisioned in The Future is Wild, they really will have the advantage!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 04:33 am (UTC)*looks at piles of papers, of piles of clothes that have nowhere to go, of books* Help? *grin*
~Kris
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 09:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 10:35 am (UTC)I'll read your supber house-cleaning adventures! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 04:56 pm (UTC)And of course you know that the snowball effect will help matters - as you get stuff under control, more stuff will be easier to get at. I think it's all doable too! Go go you!
And throw out ANYTHING YOU CAN. I live with a packrat, and that's my constant challenge.
Oh! And put me on your filter or I'll punch your arm.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:19 pm (UTC)Me! Me! Me!
Date: 2008-02-01 05:03 pm (UTC)I'm in the process of de-cluttering my apartment. A couple of months ago, I did a sorting of clothing and took six bags to Goodwill. w00t! The rule I made for myself was "everything had to fit." Not only did I get my closet in shape, I cleaned out my chest of drawers, a plastic set of drawers, and a night stand.
Two weeks ago, I cleaned and sorted my kitchen. That was ugly and I had to wear latex gloves in order to convince myself to do it. I ended up with a lot more counter space.
Last weekend, I organized my fabric and sewing supplies, and started a massive laundry effort. I can see my floor and shut my bedroom door in case of guests.
Over the week, I cleaned out my old make-up and organized my jewelry.
This weekend, the laundry continues. gah! My project for next month is cleaning out the books. I want to get rid of enough to lose a bookshelf. Double gah! There's a chance I'll be moving in the next couple of months and I hate to ask my friends to move books I haven't read and probably never will at this point.
My favorite blog in the world had a post on de-cluttering recently: Clear your clutter. The link for "My Mother is Insane" did wonders for my motivation.
Re: Me! Me! Me!
Date: 2008-02-01 05:19 pm (UTC)Re: Me! Me! Me!
Date: 2008-02-01 09:38 pm (UTC)You wouldn't say that if you saw my desk, my living room, my bathroom, my laundry pile...I did three loads last weekend, I'm doing five now,and I think I have another four or five to go.
What I'm trying to do is take on smaller projects to get motivated for the bigger ones. It's kind of working. I just cleaned through a small pile of papers in preparation for tackling the desk. Now that I know where my important stuff is I can be less careful with the rest.
gah!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:38 pm (UTC)Me too. Our house was already full when Best Beloved moved in with all 6the things necessary to fill a house twice the size of ours, so yeah, boxes. I'm thinking of stacking them all against the same wall and putting up wall paper.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 03:09 am (UTC)My own house is a lot less messy, mainly because my kids are older. The boys room is the biggest problem, mainly due to old clothes that don't fit anyone and I can't get the boys to agree to get rid of.
I'm late so many nights a week that my dishes usually get done on the weekends.
The bathrooms get scrubbed thoroughly about once a month and I vacuum whenever I get the odd urge too or when the dog has been rolling around on the floor.