anyway, back when i first started this blog i talked incessently about decluttering and cleaning (or the lack thereof). after maya was born that stuff fell by the wayside and i let my house fall apart even more. i mean, honestly, who has time to clean and declutter when you have a baby attached to some part of your body practically 24/7? but now that maya is settling into a semi-routine and she can play by herself i have a bit more time to think about it again. actually, i'm not just thinking about it, i've been obsessing about it in my head. key phrase, of course, being in my head. but in the last week or so i've sprung into action. okay, "sprung" is an exaggeration, but i am taking baby steps.
instead of tackling the house room by room, i've decided to tackle it task by task. for the last week i've been working on clothes and books. i went through maya's drawers and pulled out everthing she's outgrown. i'll do ian's clothes next. i also made the very difficult decision to sell some of my books. i love to read and hoard books (but in my current state i guess you could say i'm more of a biblioholic than a bibliophile). i feel secure being surrounded by books, even if i've never read them or it's been years since i last flipped through the pages. as with most pack rats i always have that "i might need/read/use it someday" thought, which prevents me from getting rid of things, especially things i have emotional attachments to, like books. but there just isn't enough room in the house to continue storing everything and with maya on the verge of becoming mobile i have to streamline our possessions and clean. so some of the books must go.
also, this last week ian's been attending baseball camp during the day. he has to leave the house at 7:30am, which is early for
and even though the list of eight things i was supposed to do everyday also got neglected for ten months, i've managed to do a pretty good job with it for the last week:
1. Wash and get dressed --> i've actually been pretty good about showering, especially since it's so hot lately. i know, it's gross i don't shower everyday, but some days i just don't have the time or energy. you know how it is.okay, i've done enough writing for tonight. i must go to bed because i'm driving the carpool to baseball camp tomorrow morning and i need to be awake before i get behind the wheel of the car. toodles!
2. Make your bed --> i already said this would not happen and i'm sticking by what i said.
3. Load or unload the dishwasher or empty the sink --> i've been doing it everyday, either right after dinner or before i go to bed.
4. Do a quick cleaning of the bathroom -- swish the toilet, wipe the mirror and sink. Put things right. --> ok, the swishing of the toilet and the wiping of the mirror doesn't happen everyday. but i do try to wipe the counter and sink in ian's bathroom every other day or so. i'm not so diligent with my own bathroom because rupert is the only other one who sees it in all of its glorious griminess, and i don't need to impress rupert.
5. Sweep the kitchen floor if you didn't do that before you went to bed. --> also gross, but sweeping the kitchen floor was kind of a novelty to me until fairly recently. i have been trying to do it more often, mostly because i like my red broom so much!
6. Start one laundry. Do NOT start another load until this load is dried, folded and PUT AWAY. --> this i have been very good about. i don't think we've had a pile of clean, unfolded laundry on the couch for more than one evening in the last month. as much as i hate to fold laundry, it can be done while i mindlessly watch some tv. but i am annoyed that rupert doesn't pitch in, even though he's sitting right there in front of me while i'm folding his clothes (we usually do our laundry separately; but that's another story for another day).
and just because i'm annoyed please allow me to recount what happened this evening: since the only thing that really needed to be washed was ian's baseball stuff i had to find other clothes to fill the washing machine with. i asked rupert if there was anything he needed washed. he replied, "just the usual stuff that needs to be washed." that, for some reason, bugged me, so i snapped back while i walked away to get the hamper, "that's your cue to get off your ass and do some laundry!" i returned to find him still on the couch, which prompted my annoyance level to rise, "and yet, there you are, still sitting on your ass!" his not-so-correct response? "i'll do it if you want me to." um, do you not understand that if i'm ticked off i don't want to have to tell you to do the laundry, i don't want to have to ask you to do the laundry, i just want you to do the damn laundry! get it? apparently not because i ended up doing the laundry and folding the clothes from last night. okay. ranting over. i feel better. to be fair, there are many evenings when rupert does the laundry while i'm sitting around watching tv or reading my blogs. of course, he doesn't fold the laundry, but i shouldn't be so harsh on him ... it's a little too late for that, though, huh? (and usually i don't have a potty mouth. honest!)
7. Set a timer and spend 15 minutes tidying up the public rooms -- no more. But do this every day. Your efforts will add up. --> my efforts have not added up. i do try to tidy up the living room everyday. and yet the second anyone else enters the room it's like a tornado hit and it's worse than before. how is that possible? i make every effort to recycle junk mail right away, to fold the tv blanket, to put maya's toys away, to swiffer if i can, etc. etc. but ian, maya and i just have too much stuff. if there's one major thing rupert should be commended for it's his lack of stuff. i think the tidying will get better once i finish decluttering and eliminating more stuff from the house permanently.
8. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Set a timer and spend 15 minutes DECLUTTERING. This does NOT mean neatening up. It means taking two bags around with you and throwing trash in one and donation items in another. --> like i said in #7 i need to work on this. i already have bags and bags of stuff i need to take to goodwill. since all that stuff is still sitting in my house and garage it's contributing to the clutter, but i'm not done decluttering so the bags continue to wait to be hauled away. i guess i should give myself a deadline, declutter as much as i can until then, take what donation stuff i have, and then repeat the process. all righty, sounds like a plan. i'll recruit/bribe ian to help me with this.
1 comment:
hi! i found you through little mochi's blog. your kids are so cute and after reading your decluttering post, i feel so much better about my mess. i, too, have had to do the one load of laundry thing. most times it works. but folding and putting away is just the bane of my existence. anyway, i will definitely be taking away the idea of timing my decluttering activities(it's so easy to get distracted). right now, i have about a 5 feet wide clutter of paper and last night, i had a vision of being on network TV as the woman who was swallowed up by her mess.
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