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Post by zenavoidance on Oct 8, 2013 1:36:51 GMT -5
At work, i'm the consummate professional. At home, i'm the consummate procrastinator. My house is amazingly awful. I have moldy pots on the counter and moldy fruit in the fridge. If anyone ever knocked on the door, I cringe! How do you guys do it? I hate doing dishes and folding clothes and cleaning anything. I had a cleaning lady every few weeks. I was horrified when she moved. Where does all this stuff go? Why can I never get it straight? uggh.
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Post by aquamarine on Oct 8, 2013 2:40:41 GMT -5
Zen, welcome to this forum. Many people get themselves sorted out after coming on here.
How they do it depends on various things.
I did it by making it top priority and doing things regularly for the first time in my life. I had to learn a lot of new habits, which take time to become established. I too hate every aspect of home making, but I am getting it all done.
The first step is always to start with rubbish. Take a small bag with you every time you go to work: you can drop it in a public bin to avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention where you live. Have you got stuff to recycle? Anything to donate to a charity shop? Rubbish and de-cluttering are the place to start, together with not bring inessential stuff into your house while you are doing this.
Keeping up with the daily tasks such as mail, dishes, clothes etc. while chipping away at the backlog from the past is a system that works.
Just posting on here what you have done seems to release energy for doing more. If you look at the various sections, you can see what might motivate you.
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Post by messymimi on Oct 8, 2013 6:15:05 GMT -5
Welcome, ZenAvoidance.
It's a bummer that we wash dishes and clean the floors and then have to do it all over again, and while the reward is that we have a nice house, it doesn't feel like much of a reward.
While it isn't easy, it can be done. We can learn the habits to keep things up. You are your own magic, and you get the spark to start the magic by reading here, being inspired, and doing something. If that first something doesn't work for you, try the next thing. Eventually, you will find your zen.
It's good to have you here.
messymimi
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Post by joyinvirginia on Oct 8, 2013 6:20:43 GMT -5
Welcome! I agree that maintenance is boring. There are LOTS more fun things to do than clean out the fridge or clean the bathroom. That's why we post here. Some people like chat challenges, I like the Listzilla Working in Threes daily list, some people post an individual listzilla, some have blogs, some post here every day, some check in once a month or so. Check out the site, try a few ideas that seem like they might work for you, and post how it is going. Share your ideas!
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Post by rededen on Oct 8, 2013 22:26:34 GMT -5
Hullo Zenavoidance, welcome to this site. Ah yes. Housework. I hate it too as very many people do BUT. BUT. Unfortunately it has to be done. I think we should have advanced enough in technology to have robot slaves. Programmable houseworking robot slaves. Then we wouldn't have to do ANYTHING !! You many not want to hear this but in very many cases it is just an issue of self discipline. I don't have domestic staff so I have to organise the house. I have kids, one of whom is a total neat freak in his room, but his brother and DH, in my opinion would be perfectly happy living in the local tip and don't want to do any cleaning or tidying. And guess what, I want it all done for me !! Nah, not going to happen. Now in all seriousness, try clean as you go. Do that for starters and you will find it helps. We do this in our kitchen at home. Don't leave it for someone else to do because they won't. Mental and physical fatigue affect us in various ways. If we're mentally tired we don't want to do anything and even the simplest task appears overwhelming. Maintaining a home, whether it be a mansion or a cave, can be boring. Er, I think I just said that ('m repeating myself) The big plus is that being organised saves time and saves stress. How do we do it, you ask? Well there's no right or wrong way. Having a place for everything and everything in it's place is a big big help. If one doesn't have the room, then one has to cull. But you will find that many of us will advise that creating routines and habits helps. I've done time and motion studies and oddly enough you'd be surprised how little time many tasks take Yes, really !! Darl, start with something simple. Set the timer for 5 minutes and see what you can accomplish. URGH Is 5 minutes too long? Try 2. We have 2 minute tidyups in our house. We also have 10 minute tidyups. Even in you lived in a cave, you'd have to keep your cave tidy.
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Post by zenavoidance on Oct 10, 2013 4:30:57 GMT -5
Thank you so much for the inspiration and words of encouragement. They really seem useful! It's time for a little perspiration now.
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Post by lula on Oct 10, 2013 10:37:33 GMT -5
Hehe, a little perspiration. You got it, Zena. If you have crusty dishes, scrape them and put them in hot soapy water to soak for 10 minutes or so. Then wash and rinse and stack one. Do something else, Wash, rinse, stack, etc. until they are done. Having a stack of clean dishes is a nice feeling. Then you put them away once dry. Another nice feeling...and empty sink!
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Post by PaperGrace on Oct 10, 2013 12:19:24 GMT -5
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