|
|
Post by andrea on May 27, 2009 21:38:50 GMT -5
The entire kitchen is now at 0 degree squalor including the pantry. My boys floor, bookcases and beds are all at O squalor. My living room is 0 squalor except for the floor which will be done tomorrow morning. My bed and the bookcases in my room are at 0 squalor as is the bathroom. It feels really good that probably close to 85% of my apartment is at 0 squalor. Actually all the cabinets in the kitchen are at 0 squalor also.
Still don't worry about it I was fine with what was said.
|
|
|
|
Post by yellowhouse on May 28, 2009 19:18:39 GMT -5
I haven't posted for a few days....we have been busy spring cleaning my daughter's playroom. It has a fresh coat of paint and zero areas of dust/dirt/grime. New shelves and pretty bins for storing stuff.
My daughter was ruthless when it came to sorting her toys. She did this on her own (because I would have kept far more stuff than she did) and we are both amazed at how much room she has in there now.
The best part is that during this time I still managed to keep my front cupboard at 0 degrees of squalor!!!! Mail, bills, checkbook, school and work schedules are still in order and not scattered all over the house!!
This is a really big change for me. I am the type of person that when I get one area of my life under control...and then turn to the next area....the first area somehow explodes and becomes messier than ever. It feels really good that it didn't happen this time.
yellowhouse
|
|
|
|
Post by sleepymom on May 29, 2009 0:49:21 GMT -5
Wow- wtg with all of those clean areas! Andrea, you are amazing to have almost your entire home in such good shape!
I haven`t managed to keep my kitchen counter clear, except for brief moments, since I first talked about it, but I am more mindful of what is there. Trying to pay attention to things that are sitting on it that don`t belong so that they don`t "blend in" and I will get to them when I get a chance.
I did, however, get 2 bookcases clean- dusted, culled through & straightened. I have a small stack of books that belong on other cases (we have quite a few), and another of books that need to go, probably next time I go to the library unless I can get a freecycler to pick them up.
|
|
|
|
Post by still on May 29, 2009 18:00:01 GMT -5
I am sooooooo glad to be back on the 0 Degree thread again today. Yesterday I got up late due to a rough night previously, then I had to get out for a walk and get some grocery shopping done. By that time my daughter was home and she gets the computer for the rest of the afternoon and evening if she needs it. So I missed being here - and the WIT thread. Andrea, thank you for your forgiveness. I am a little lost, though. The only thing I can think of that I said was a post on the WIT thread where I mentioned that you are leaving me in the dust in getting 0 Degreeing going on. That expression means that if this were a race, you are so far out in front that I would be running in the dust you stirred up. And that far from being jealousy or discouraged, I am exicted at what you are accomplishing. If that was not the comment, please let me know. Even though you are ok with it, I don't want to offend others who may not be as comfortable with things I say so it would be helpful to know what I said that could have been taken differently than I meant it. Thank you.  Meanwhile, you are doing an AMAZING job!!!! I am so PROUD of what you are accomplishing! And very, very grateful that you are sharing it here on the 0 Degree thread so the rest of us can be happy for you and be encouraged. You are a cleaning master!     I hope you are taking your bows, you have earned them  Yellowhouse Your daughter's playroom sounds beautiful! New paint and decluttering - awsome! Take your bows, too! I am so impressed with you letting your daughter sort through her own toys. I would probably have been questioning every decision and trying to talk her out of getting rid of some of them.  Woo-hoo! on maintaining your front cupboard! YES!  I KNOW the whole "getting one thing tamed, going onto something else, and the other one explodes" thing. That is such a demoralizing experience. I am so happy that you are able to prevent that from happening with your cupboard. Please take your bows!!! Sleepymom Woo-hoo! about the two bookcases! Take your bows! That is so awesome about the new awareness of what is on your kitchen counters and what belongs there and what doesn't. For me, that kind of awareness is a new skill and just beginning to develop, so I feel I fully understand how special this is to you, too. I am so glad you shared this, it makes me feel warm all over to have someone else with the same experience. Well, I have had fun seeing what everyone else has accomplished since Wednesday. Now I need to go check/spruce up my 0 degree areas so I can post them. brb 1. The Chair 2. itty bitty fireplace 3. daughter's bottled drink cupboard 4. bathroom sink area 5. wall to left of bathroom sink 6. work table  Something I've noticed is that after I get an area 0 degreed, as I spruce it up every day to maintain it I start seeing things I didn't notice the first time. Today it was how dirty the wall was below the light switch plate to the left of the bathroom sink. That has been a weird experience with mixed feelings. Part of me is chagrined - why didn't I see that the first time. Part of me is resentful - why should there always be one more thing?!! And part of me realizes that I am devloping skills of noticing that I havae never had before. I have to fight frustration, a feeling of futility, and a perfectionistic view of the whole thing. THAT is more work than actually just getting it cleaned up! Anyone else have this experience?  octopuses use seashells as yard ornaments |
|
|
|
Post by lozzylooloo on May 29, 2009 19:17:55 GMT -5
hello all  have been following this thread with great interest, and even greater admiration!! You are all so amazing - whether you have large or small areas of 0 degree, you all Have them, and you are all Maintaining them!!! I am so inspired by each and every one of you {{{hugs}}} Still, I hear you about noticing new things. I don't have as many areas of 0 degree as yourself, but I have been working on keeping my kitchen dishes at least up to date and the main counters at least clear (but not quite 0 degree...). Anyway, I was in there this morning putting away the dishes, and getting more and more annoyed about how much more there was to do - the dusty fly screen, dirty fridge, etc etc. I agree, it is good that I am noticing them more, but it is removing some of my accomplishment about the dishes and benchtops.... hmmmm.... will be interested to hear others thoughts on it ... anyway, just wanted to pop in and say thank you all for so much inspiration. you are doing such amazing work!! good on you, and will hopefully...... no, scratch that; I will definitely be able to post some of my own 0 degree stuff soon...... no, i need to set not just the goal, so a timeline, so i will say by the end of this weekend.... cheers all |
|
|
|
Post by andrea on May 29, 2009 21:20:10 GMT -5
Still, I have definitely noticed that once I get an area to 0 I seem to keep finding little things. Actually I have been reading a book called Progress not perfection but I am having trouble because I want it perfect. All of my areas are still at zero and my boys both worked and cleaned out their smaller closet today. So add one more area to the 0 squalor in my place.
|
|
|
|
Post by still on May 30, 2009 15:34:06 GMT -5
Andrea I am SO PROUD of you and your boys!!!!   Woo-hoo! You are doing such an amazing job! "Progress not Perfection" sounds like exactly the right book for the process of desqualoring. That is a phrase from the Big Book of A.A. and one I am deeply grateful for. I just need to remember to apply that to squalor recovery as well as other recovery. Thank you for bringing that to me 1. The Chair 2. itty bitty fireplace 3. daughter's bottled drink cupboard 4. bathroom sink area 5. wall and decorations to left of bathroom sink 6. work table octopuses use seashealls as yard ornaments
|
|
|
|
Post by yellowhouse on May 30, 2009 21:14:36 GMT -5
lozzylooloo Welcome to 0 degree squalor  Congratulations on keeping up with your dishes!!! I have yet to come close to mastering that chore.  yellow
|
|
|
|
Post by Serendipity on May 30, 2009 22:28:49 GMT -5
I washed my kitchen floor which has't been done in a year thanks to the support on the chat this morning! and I have one small counter place in my kitchen at 0 degrees and my stovetop.
|
|
|
|
Post by Serendipity on May 30, 2009 22:31:13 GMT -5
Also some cutlery in the cutlery drawer. Amazing how habits become ingrained. I open the cutlery drawer everyday when I need cutlery even though there has been nothing in there for months!
|
|
|
|
Post by yellowhouse on May 30, 2009 22:42:58 GMT -5
Woo Hoo for Serendipity!!! At this rate you will be a cleanie in no time!!!! |
|
|
|
Post by still on Jun 1, 2009 13:37:07 GMT -5
Lozzylooloo Welcome, welcome, welcome!!! I am SO GLAD you have joined us on the 0 Degree thread! I love your avitar - the little chick with the heart. That is so sweet!  Congradulations on the way you are staying on top of your dishes - and I mean that! Even if you are not at 0 degree, keeping most of the dishes done most of the time is truly WONDERFUL! I have been thinking about what it would take to be able to get 0 degree on dishes. I am thinking that if I get them all washed, and then rinse and stack in the dishwasher dishes as they are used, that might do the trick. I guess they could be washed by hand each time something is used, but I don't know how practical trying to set that goal would be for me. Anyway, for me, whose kitchen has been so squalorous I haven't been able to cook, your accomplishment is Master's Level! Hopping mushrooms to you!  Serendipity I LOVE your boardname! Some useless trivia and an equally useless personal opinion: Carl Jung coined a word that for me, means the same thing as serendipity: synchronicity. I know that there are slightly different meanings, but when I think about the process involved in each, if they are not the same thing, they are joined at the hip, so to speak -  ! Anyway, they are both very happy words Congradulations for your BEAUTIFUL kitchen floor! And the counter area, and the STOVE TOP!!! The stove top is one of my biggest bug-a-boos - mine always sends a shudder through me - ! Hopping mushrooms to you for all this marvelous 0 degree stuff! (In a gently teasing manner  ) I didn't really understand about the cutlery drawer. Were you saying you have cutlery in it for the first time in months? Or that the drawer is 0 degree because there is no cutlery in it? Or that it is clean and ready for cutlery? Whatever the situation - woo-hoo! You listed it, so it has to be good! Yellowhouse Thank you so much for being so generous with the "attagirls" on this thread! Some how I completely missed seeing Lozzylooloo's post and didn't even acknowledge it - which is not like me, as you know. It was when I read your post giving her an "attagirl" that I realized I must have skipped something. I am very grateful for you for helping me to avoid snubbing someone - even if it was unintentional If you are willing, please come here and hand out all the 'attagirls" you want! Thank you! Still's 0 Degree list: 1. The Chair (had to move a basket of folded laundry, a box of tissues, two lenths of fabric and some bits of cat fuzz) 2. Itty bitty fireplace 3. daughter's bottled drink cupboard 4. work table (had to move a bunch of stuff off of it, straighten the stuff on it, and wipe it down with t damp washcloth) 5. bathroom sink area and wall, with decorations, to left of sink In process: 1. Under work table octopuses use seashells as yard ornaments (that's how you can find them - the piles are called middens)
|
|
|
|
Post by Serendipity on Jun 1, 2009 16:16:55 GMT -5
Hi Still! Nice to talk to you on chat! Although the cutlery sits in one of the double sinks everyday with boiling water poured on it periodically , I open the cutlery drawer EVERY TIME I need a spoon or fork or knife!That is alot of times! So today I opened the drawer and actually grabbed a spoon!! I got new cutlery and it looks so nice , it all matches ! Some of the old cutlery I want to keep, the two spoons from my childhood, with the stars on them, and the knife which looks like bamboo. All the other stuff came from who knows where! I might take amnesty on them or donate to the thrift store. Who knows, maybe someone will discover something they want in a serendipitous moment! I love all your colourful messages to everyone! thx for including me! Serendipity
|
|
|
|
Post by creativechaos on Jun 2, 2009 10:15:22 GMT -5
well this is one thread where it pays to be a big zero and be a winner! congratulations to you all! i love coming on here and lurking. i am nowhere near a level zero anywhere and every time i get there with some part of the apt however small, i re-mess it. for now i think i want to just read and learn. i am wondering about the correlation though. besides having too much stuff, it is a habit thing and i think i also need to resolve and reframe the underlying thinking that causes me to re-squalor. how do you KEEP level zero areas clear, once you have them? have most of you reduced your possessions down to where you can manage them without them managing YOU? (asks this hoarder who is very interested). what are your inspirations when all is a mess? did you have to work with any thoughts that were counter to your goals to keep things at level 0? right now i'm at a house sit and am working very hard to keep up with maintenance so i can know how that feels to keep a level 0 at a place with far less stuff and chaos than mine. i love the simple beauty and practicality of this place where i am staying. trying to absorb through osmosis, even though my friend did all the remodeling herself! (making notes to self of what she did and how i'd do it if i ever truly owned a place i could do remodeling in! this place is so easy to clean and user-friendly!) i have to say that right now, you all feel like distant cousins from a cleaner tribe than mine, and i don't 'get' you all at times, but that is just because i don't know the feeling of maintaining anything at a level 0 for any length of time, and that is what is so discouraging to me and why i come here to read this thread! i come here to learn how you all deal with things. thanks to all of you for letting a messie and a squalorer learn from you and try to raise my own bar of what is acceptable for me. raising the bar and seeing more seems to be two things that would help me want to be at a lesser level of squalor. still brought up that we each need to learn what is a level 0 FOR US. that really helped me! this is not about comparing selves with others, rather to learn our own comfort level and hopefully, as many of you describe, raise the bar as we 'see' more that can be done or that is no longer comfortable to live with. i'm noticing how much less stuff this place i'm housesitting has than my apt. TWO people live here in this 500+ sq. foot place. ONE of me lives in my 600+ sq. foot apt, plus i have a storage unit for years and a studio i use only sporadically. i am a hoarder, they are cleanies but nice cleanies and dear friends who would never judge me. (ironically, i used to rent this cabin 15 years ago! that was before it had a bathroom and a remodel, all of which the lovely wife did with her carpentry skills!  i feel so lucky to be on the sos boards where i can be with people of all levels of this thing. i really appreciate this thread. serendipity, i love reading your process and your insights, as i do the others' on this thread. luv, cc |
|
|
|
Post by andrea on Jun 2, 2009 12:36:04 GMT -5
CC - It has taken me many years and lots or relapses to get my place to a 0 for the most part. If it wasn't for this group I don't think I would be able to maintain my areas. The other thing that really helped me was working on my feelings and what made me continue to hoard things. Once I changed my way of thinking it has helped me to see what is truly important to me. Actually I have slid back a little this week since I have been feeling sick but most of my place is at a 1 and some are still at a 0. I hope this helps a little.
|
|
