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Post by Starting Again on Mar 15, 2017 22:38:31 GMT -5
OK, I don't have rules for this thread (yet), and will start informally without any nicely formatted lists. I may add lists later... This thread will basically be about MY PROGRESS in tidying up my house and keeping it tidy. But anyone can post. (See my into post if you like)
First I wanted to talk about a couple of things I have done (or at least TRIED to do) in the last couple weeks, which include GETTING HELP FROM OTHERS.
1) Looking for expert (or at least experienced person) to help cleaning and organizing. I ALMOST got a lady last week for $22/hour (which I think is good?). But one hour before she came she called to say that just a half hour earlier, she received and accepted an offer for a REAL job that paid much more. I wasn't mad (I would have done the same), but very disappointed. Now I have to look further.
2) A handy man is coming tomorrow night to look at my front door locks/knobs of which 3 out of 4 aren't working right (only one is really locking the door). He may also look at my broken sliding closet doors (and other doors). But I am afraid that will involve moving the stuff behind and hanging on the doors out of the way... and onto OTHER big piles. Mess generating mess.
3) Had a corroded bathroom faucet replaced. Involved putting out notices for water shut-off. Faucets was cutting my hand!
4) I started posting again on this forum (and started this thread). I think that is a big thing. I just have to not spend TOO MUCH time here...
Some ideas for further posts here:
I am trying to "stop unnecessary cleaning" at 5:30PM in order to do my "nightly routine" which is about the most disciplined part of my day now: go for a walk, feed the cat, eat supper, do dishes, scoop cat litter, take out garbage, do a little good reading, say some night prayers, and spend very little (in theory) on another forum (or maybe this one). I will call this my "nightly routine". For health reasons I seriously need to get ready for bed at 10PM, lights out at 11PM. Not that I always succeed with getting to bed on time.
My mornings and early afternoon and much of the day I oversleep and am very tired. I will call this my "daily start" (I almost said "slow start", but OK I'll make it more positive). It includes feeding the cat, eating breakfast (currently I do dishes only once a day), shower and dressing, and tired naps and maybe a little (ok, too much) forum. It may also include lunch (I don't usually get much done before lunch). The "20 minutes of cleaning" I am aiming for to start will be somewhere in (or spread out through) the rest of the afternoon... baby steps. Positive steps that actually involve cleaning will be mentioned separately (or grouped together).
Of course (!) I may not even mention "daily start" and "nightly routine" every day.
I may mention non-cleaning related things but will try to make them very brief.
Anyhow, that is my current plan. I may only post occasionally, but hopefully more often.
Now I have to finish my "nightly routine". Good night!
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Post by hollyhock on Mar 16, 2017 7:25:05 GMT -5
Welcome to blogland. Your routines sound very good. I hope you can find another person to help you with the cleaning and organizing. Being a bird fan, I love your avatar. Looking forward to following your blog.
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Post by PerrinJade on Mar 16, 2017 10:49:50 GMT -5
Hi Starting Again. I'm glad to see you here. Lists are so helpful for me. I hope it is beneficial for you, too.
It sounds like you've already got a pretty good routine going. That's great!
I'll look forward to following your lists (although I'm not always good at doing that).
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Post by Starting Again on Mar 16, 2017 21:44:45 GMT -5
Thanks Hollyhock and Pamela! ----------------------------
My being tired too much is definitely an issue. I do take sleeping medication that is important because sleep deprivation is a real health risk for me. I have to "work through" the tiredness SOMETIMES (as I would if I had a dh or kids or a job). This issue (plus the big bad L word that we are not supposed to say - I can't help it, it is REAL) account for some days that are mostly blank.
PLEASE let me know if I am including too many things that are non-cleaning related (but take time out of the day). I will include those AFTER the cleaning items. (Also let me know if I have too much commentary)
3/16/17
CLEANING:
* Made bed (which is not a habit)
* daily start
* Dug through huge pile of sheets/towels hidden behind a sliding closet door. Only really productive thing came from that so far - started laundry for bag of sheets marked "dirty" (for years). Trying to make room for door to be fixed. Hope to give away some sheets.
* Handyman came over and fixed most of front door locks (yay!). He will need to insert shims in hinges to fix door alignment problems for one lock. (He is an exceptionally nice fellow, a building inspector, and lives in the same complex as me: a good find). Other doors not fixed yet.
* nightly routine Well I missed the walk & am running late.
NON-CLEANING:
* Went to tax-advisor to sign "final IRS return" (Yay!) for trust from my Mom's estate. (She passed away 3/20/15, so this about wraps things up as far as monetary things go)
Comments:
To start, I probably won't be taking the "start with one area and clean the heck out of it and then defend the heck out of it..." approach. E.g. I might start attacking paper that needs filing and thinning all over the house, stop one day to clean the sock drawer for variety (and then get back to main task)... etc. I'm making this up as I go. Maybe I'll eventually wise up and get to the "tried and true" methods...
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Post by creativechaos on Mar 16, 2017 22:29:45 GMT -5
Starting Again - the beauty of starting a thread, or a blog - is that it's your thread; you can write about whatever you want or need to! WTG on your daily routines and for getting handyman to fix most of the door locks! WTG on tax stuff done on your mom's trust. belated condolences for your loss. you're off to a great start! and we all start over every 24 hours, so... nothing wrong with that!
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Post by Starting Again on Mar 17, 2017 15:53:54 GMT -5
I think for things being tracked more minutely I will use other threads in listzilla (e.g. WIT).
NOTEPAD:
* First large long-term goal: PAPERS - One purpose: clear out areas blocking blinds because I seriously need new ones.
CONDO ASSOCIATION holding "shredding event" Sat March 25 2PM-3PM : GATHER PAPERS TO SHRED!!
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Post by Starting Again on Mar 20, 2017 20:07:22 GMT -5
I don't know if anyone uses this acronym BTIW? (I guess I just made it up) To me it means BETTER THAN IT WAS - something real was done and it is good enough for NOW. The perfect is the enemy of the good. It's BTIW!
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Post by def6 on Mar 20, 2017 22:45:36 GMT -5
Hello Starting Again Way to go on improving your home. I think it is so wonderful that you are activly pursuing the help you need in the house. I hope you find it.
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Post by hollyhock on Mar 21, 2017 4:29:39 GMT -5
I've never heard of your acronym - BTIW - but I think it's a great one. One we can all use!
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Post by wind on Mar 21, 2017 8:55:32 GMT -5
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Post by Starting Again on Apr 6, 2017 15:45:00 GMT -5
One idea I have (probably not novel) is focusing on one view (or ugly eye-full, or what is seen in one glance, etc) and just cleaning that for a while. The view can be as large or as small as you like. If you want to bring it to 0 degrees of squalor, fine, but you can just make it BTIW. Try to remember a bit what it Was like before.
I am calling this view my "attack area".
I cleaned "just the part of my dresser seen down the hall" this way, and also just the top of my small desk. No they aren't squalor-free, and in fact they are getting a little cluttered again (need to watch it), but just making one eye-full a little tidier made me feel good. Sort of like cleaning the bathroom, but expanding to other areas of the house, especially the ones you most often notice (when you pay attention!).
"Clever ideas" (hah!) like "BTIW" (or even "MAKING it BTIW" (which is not grammatical)) may or may not "do anything for you", depending on you and your mood. But (depending on my mood) I like "BTIW" because it means progress, not perfection; because it reminds you to keep a mental picture of what it WAS (otherwise looking at a semi-clean view isn't very exciting); and because it doesn't overwhelm you with how HORRIBLE it is NOW, but rather on how much BETTER it will be in the FUTURE (when so much ugliness is in the PAST). Focus on the future, a little at a time.
Before and After photos may help. I just got a little camera (having no smart phone and only a broken camera) and took just ONE photo of one little folding table next to my desk. I'm going to see what I can do with that... Maybe it would be overwhelming to take before and after pictures of the whole house, unless I summon up a LOT more motivation and long-term determination than I can manage now.
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