kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 14:53:38 GMT -5
After years of being a member here and at the old Squalor Survivors site, my place is still a horrible mess. Piles and goat paths. It's totally unfinished; more of a shack than a house. I have few mod cons. I'm just trying to improve my place in baby steps. I'm trying to work around our busy schedule. Lately, dd and I are away from home all day Wednesday, all day and half the evening Thursday, and all day Friday, as well as most of the day Sunday and half the afternoon and evening on Monday. Saturdays, we are either home here or out of town at our home away from home. This complicates things because on our away days I have a hard time just staying on top of the basics; shopping & preparing food, packing up food to take along, unpacking, and basic maintenance cleaning. I'm trying to focus on the positive and do what I can instead of worrying and feeling bad about what I can't do but would like to. So, today is an at-home Tuesday! I will keep posting to this thread with my accomplishments throughout the day. The main things I want to accomplish today are; Wash dishes Clean out and defrost refrigerator/freezer Compost all compostables Unpack some items from the car Hand wash my cleaning cloths so they can be dried for Thursday morning Clear the kitchen table Put groceries away and unpack all the recent bags from our last few days away Clear dh's chair so he will have a place to sit this weekend Put away the new bags of cat food Start getting my tax paperwork required into one place so I can finish my 2008 (yes; I did mean 2008) return by the end of the month. Get organized for tomorrow Put together bags of recycling, trash, and deposit containers to take to town tomorrow My water is warm and I'm ready to tackle the dishes. I'll come back and post when I've accomplished a few things. Any and all words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Or, better yet, chime in with your own "At Home Tuesday" list  |
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 15:43:50 GMT -5
Ok; I got started Here's what I did so far; Put new bag of oatmeal in canister and put the bag into plastic recycling Put clean veggie serving platter away (was on dh's chair) Washed, dried, and put away first dishpan full of dishes including blender Dumped very full kitchen compost bucket Put pies and juice in cooler outside Put apples in fruit basket Put bagels and muffins away |
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MiSC
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,611 
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Post by MiSC on Apr 20, 2010 16:26:07 GMT -5
Excellent, kobwebs! It's 4:24pm Central time. Where are you? I'd be happy to have a partner for the rest of the afternoon.  |
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Post by bigtimetroubles on Apr 20, 2010 16:58:37 GMT -5
good to see you getting some stuff you targeted to get done done....hugs btt
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 17:39:20 GMT -5
Thanks MiSC and btt  I'm on the west coast; Pacific time zone. I'll be working for the rest of the afternoon and evening and so happy to have you join in MiSC  Here's what I did since last posting; Responded to an email about tomorrow Cleaned and seasoned cast iron frying pan and dutch oven Started split pea soup for tomorrow Started unpacking refrigerator, including composting a bunch of disgusting moldy science experiments Washed another load of dishes |
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Post by def6 on Apr 20, 2010 17:58:06 GMT -5
Hey Kobwebs! Congratulations on all you have accomplished today. And you are composting -very nice! I really appreciate your honesty in explaining where you are in the housework, it really helps people like myself.
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Post by jkai3 on Apr 20, 2010 18:14:07 GMT -5
 Kobwebs!  Wow, you go girl! You should be so proud of what you have accomplished!  Jkai3 
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 20:03:12 GMT -5
Thanks def6 and jkai3 I'm not brave enough to post before photos until some decent after photos are within sight. It feels totally overwhelming. It will take many days effort to make a significant dent in the mess. I need to work on my mess for hours every Tuesday and every other Saturday and then do enough on my away days to keep on top of the maintenance. I have established a few good habits in the last few years (Since SS). I mostly keep on top of the dishes and laundry and we eat healthy food. I compost because it's way easier and more pleasant than taking the disgusting rotted food to town and dumping it in a public trash bin. I also recycle what I can and burn the burnables in my wood stove. Since I don't have trash pick up at the curb, I have to limit my true trash as much as possible. Here's what I did since last posting; Dried the last load of dishes Continued unpacking refrigerator: more composting of disgusting moldy science experiments Washed another load of dishes including some refrigerator parts Brought some things up from the car & put away some canned soup Crushed some tin cans and put them into bag of recycling Added some trash to the trash bag to take to town tomorrow |
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 21:55:08 GMT -5
Here's what I did since last posting;
Dried the last load of dishes
Chipped at ice to dislodge remaining items from refrigerator/freezer
Cleaned refrigerator door and put washed parts and food items back in door
Took items out of freezer and put in freezer in other (teeny) refrigerator freezer (it was empty ~ yeah!)
Hand washed my cleaning cloths for my cleaning business and a pair of dd's socks and put them out to dry so they'll be ready Thursday morning
Brought another load of items up from the car
Throughout all of this I was also helping dd with her report for her upcoming debate
I really want to finish the refrigerator so I can put all the good food back in there tonight. Then I can even get half of our lunches prepared and put in the frig overnight ~ that will save me time in the morning. I won't finish everything on my list for today, but I think I'll feel good about the progress.
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 20, 2010 23:34:20 GMT -5
Here's what I did since last posting;
Fixed a quick dinner and dd and I ate
Chipped at more ice in refrigerator/freezer (there was a ton of build-up!)
Composted the last of the compostables from the refrigerator
Buried a few small meat scraps (dd and I eat mainly vegetarian, so most of these were from last time dh was here)
Put some deposit containers in bag to take down to car and return for refund in town
Put some plastic containers in the recycle bag to take to town tomorrow
Put a pot of hot water in the refrigerator to encourage the last of the ice to melt
It's getting late, but I WILL finish the refrigerator! It's just outside my door and since it's dark now, it's a lot harder to see (I'll finish with a flashlight). But the raccoons are hanging around and I don't want them to get at my food!
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 21, 2010 1:28:07 GMT -5
Ok ~ I'm done for the day! I finished the refrigerator/freezer. There was still a little ice in the freezer, but that will have to wait for another day. I wiped down the rest of the frig and freezer and put the good food back in. I also washed another small load of dishes including those we used for dinner. Tomorrow is an early day, so we're reading a few chapters and heading for bed. Goodnight all |
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Post by bigtimetroubles on Apr 21, 2010 4:15:11 GMT -5
I love split Pea soup....send a thermos thru the mail to me okay?
hugs btt
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Post by lizzie on Apr 21, 2010 4:46:19 GMT -5
woah Kobwebs, you have seriously accomplished an amazing amount today! I hope you feel pleased with what you have done; I am very impressed!
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Post by StuffNoMore on Apr 21, 2010 9:44:14 GMT -5
kobwebs - you've made great progress the past couple of days for which you should be very proud. Each little thing you get done is a big accomplishment of which you need to be very proud of. When I started cleaning out my home it seemed like the bottomless pit until I looked at the big picture and realized every little bit contributed to having a once again clean and tidy home. You'll also see that as your home looks better, we seem to feel better about ourself and then it's a win win situation. I'll be here cheering you on for all you get done, big or small.   Hugs SNM |
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kobwebs
New Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 14
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Post by kobwebs on Apr 21, 2010 21:38:30 GMT -5
Thanks btt ~ We were away all day and we're just getting ready to have that soup now. Dd and I love it as well. Probably not worth sending in the mail ~ although dh and I once mailed a fish to his grandma  and I mailed my brother a pizza when he was in college... Thanks lizzie. I was really happy about finishing the refrigerator/freezer. Still a lot to do and I didn't do all had wanted yesterday, but it's all good. Thanks SNM. I know the way to beat this is to eat the elephant one bite at a time. I just need to stay on top of the current messes and slowly chip away at the old squalor. I will aim for maintenance minimum on all days and at least 15 minutes desqualoring on most days (Thursday is my longest away day and I have a hard time doing the minimum then). Today I will do all the dishes from today and the ones from our lunch containers that we forgot at our other place (got them back from dh today and we need them for tomorrow), put the new cat food in the container, get organized for tomorrow and do 15 minutes of desqualoring ~ I think I'll tackle the window for my 15 minutes ~ it's getting so nice out that I think it will make a big difference. I'll post before going to sleep tonight with an update. |
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