Today's update is a little reflection on one of my earliest lessons while writing this blog. That of 'ask an expert'. This concept of asking an expert was a critical component of my 'Inspirational motivation' blog entry. Over the months, I've come to realise that the expertise of the experts you ask varies depending on the circumstances. We can't always access the best person in the field of our interest, but we can find out from others what is working for them!
So without further ado, my two 'expert' pieces of advice that I've gained this year are
1. Do both regular cleaning and decluttering simultaneously / take regular turns. This simple concept has taken me quite some time to adjust to. There have been challenges in accepting this simple advice. I'm learning to accept that our house may always resemble a cyclonic fallout zone at first glance. How deep the debis lies is the critical thing! When all the clutter seems to look like piles of junk from floor to ceiling there is a problem. When one can distinguish obvious recognisable furniture and fixtures and the floor is not inches deep in toys, then that is maybe as good as it will get. I'm also learning that the more decluttering I take on, the more I need to be wary of falling behind the normal cleaning - I still need to empty the fridge, do the dishes and handscrub some laundry items. On the other hand, I also need to be forgiving of myself if I do accidentally forget the damp towel in a bucket in the laundry and have to throw it out. I'm only one person and I'm taking on extra with the decluttering. Some of the things I used to have in a routine might suffer as I am adjusting.
and
2. Write one big long, huge list of things to do (in the phone). Now this concept I find particularly confronting. What if the list just keeps growing and growing and growing I said? "so?" replied my 'expert' friend. Let it grow. It was going to grow inside your head anyway, at least on the list it is written somewhere safe. She had a good point. And so I have reluctantly begun using 'REMINDERS' on the iphone, not as 'reminders' but as the depsitory for the greatest longest list of all-time things to do. The logic behind this apparently functional (yes I'm still skeptical) idea is that when you do feel inclined, or have a sudden moment alone, or an insane urge to do something truly useful, there is your list of EVERYTHING, waiting for you to peruse it and choose the exciting job of the moment. I have to say that I have hardly been an enthusiastic recruit to this system, however it does seem to be quite effective. It is said that writin things down makes a difference (you are also supposed to write down goals), and it seems to be proving true in this case. The jobs that are written down seem to be at the forefront of my mind without having to really 'use' the app to 'find busy work'. This is a bit of an experiment in progress, so I'm sure that like the balancing act of regular jobs and extra decluttering, it will in time grow on me.
Do you have any expert tips to share on the theme of organisation?
Showing posts with label cleaning tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning tips. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Setting Achievable Goals - Life lesson Day 3
I've been very pleased with
myself since the great Thursday of happiness (aka motivational
Thursday) Since then,
less than a month ago, I have managed to transform the look of 2 rooms that we
use every day, the entry and E's space.
This week I've started on a third project, the 'Front Room'. This room used to be the living room. At one stage, when our roof was leaking and yet to be repaired, it was our bedroom and living room, many years ago. Now it has given itself over the main residence of the decrepit cat of all blindness. He hangs on in this little spot, we've kicked the children out of the room, so the TV went back upstairs and its no longer the living room. In a stroke of opportunistic genius, I've decided to transform it into my husband's 'cave', alongside the cat :)
However before I can get carried away with the idea of a home to put the thousand screwdrivers, nuts, bolts and other man-stuff that hubby leaves lying around all over the house; the whole room needs a thorough cleanup. A daunting task, as its been allowed to turn into a bit of a cesspit in recent months.
I spent a few days pottering, using the simple principle of leaving the room better than I found it, and not achieving a great deal. I really had no idea where to start. The solution came to me more as a desperate idea than a full-blown certainty. In order to give myself somewhere to simply BEGIN, I decided to break the cleaning down into sections. Normally I'd clean the floors first, but in this situation that seemed pointless as the floors were basically acquiring flotsam from the junk falling off the piled up surfaces. So I took my phone and photographed every surface area that was junked up. Sadly on its last legs (like the cat), my phone managed to make every photo a hazy milky tone. Here's an example:
It does a wonderful job of highlighting the junk, even with the surreal effect.
Surprisingly, as soon as I'd taken the photos, I was resolved to tackle all the surfaces first, and to finish as many as possible today. I remarked that it would be a miracle if I got through them all.
I should have had more faith because as I write this, all 5 areas of the room that were the same and worse than this have been totally cleaned off. The Wrecking Ball soundtrack helped, and it took the entire album to get through it all. I have one tiny nemesis of paperwork and fiddly rubbish in the bottom of the green 'Trofast' drawer in this picture. After finishing this blog, I'll be working on that till bedtime!
I've exceeded my expectations for the day, all by simply breaking down the job into smaller pieces that were not so daunting. There were still hurdles along the way, and plenty of interruptions and breaks. Having the photographs helped to keep me focussed on how I'd progressed, and finishing off one discreet area at a time was terrific motivation to move on to the next area and the next. I even did a lot of bargaining with myself, deciding I was going to stop when I finished the top of the bookcase, and was so inspired by finishing that I kept going and started on the couch, then moved on to everywhere else!
Even the deep freezer had a mountain of stuff piled on it.
Now I'm feeling invincible and ready to have the whole room spick and span tomorrow, ready for its new life as the 'cave'!
We put up these little storage racks in a random spot temporarily as having them in use somewhere was better than all the component parts lying around :) Plus they are now filled with things, mostly all the tiny bits of Lego lying around.
And the most wonderful bonus of the exercise was that I found the first ring hubby ever bought me, it is more sentimental than my wedding and engagement rings and had been missing for over a year!
I haven't set the goals for tomorrow's instalment yet, but I'm sure that making the job smaller with manageable sections will be the backbone of how I get through it!
This week I've started on a third project, the 'Front Room'. This room used to be the living room. At one stage, when our roof was leaking and yet to be repaired, it was our bedroom and living room, many years ago. Now it has given itself over the main residence of the decrepit cat of all blindness. He hangs on in this little spot, we've kicked the children out of the room, so the TV went back upstairs and its no longer the living room. In a stroke of opportunistic genius, I've decided to transform it into my husband's 'cave', alongside the cat :)
However before I can get carried away with the idea of a home to put the thousand screwdrivers, nuts, bolts and other man-stuff that hubby leaves lying around all over the house; the whole room needs a thorough cleanup. A daunting task, as its been allowed to turn into a bit of a cesspit in recent months.
I spent a few days pottering, using the simple principle of leaving the room better than I found it, and not achieving a great deal. I really had no idea where to start. The solution came to me more as a desperate idea than a full-blown certainty. In order to give myself somewhere to simply BEGIN, I decided to break the cleaning down into sections. Normally I'd clean the floors first, but in this situation that seemed pointless as the floors were basically acquiring flotsam from the junk falling off the piled up surfaces. So I took my phone and photographed every surface area that was junked up. Sadly on its last legs (like the cat), my phone managed to make every photo a hazy milky tone. Here's an example:
It does a wonderful job of highlighting the junk, even with the surreal effect.
Surprisingly, as soon as I'd taken the photos, I was resolved to tackle all the surfaces first, and to finish as many as possible today. I remarked that it would be a miracle if I got through them all.
I should have had more faith because as I write this, all 5 areas of the room that were the same and worse than this have been totally cleaned off. The Wrecking Ball soundtrack helped, and it took the entire album to get through it all. I have one tiny nemesis of paperwork and fiddly rubbish in the bottom of the green 'Trofast' drawer in this picture. After finishing this blog, I'll be working on that till bedtime!
I've exceeded my expectations for the day, all by simply breaking down the job into smaller pieces that were not so daunting. There were still hurdles along the way, and plenty of interruptions and breaks. Having the photographs helped to keep me focussed on how I'd progressed, and finishing off one discreet area at a time was terrific motivation to move on to the next area and the next. I even did a lot of bargaining with myself, deciding I was going to stop when I finished the top of the bookcase, and was so inspired by finishing that I kept going and started on the couch, then moved on to everywhere else!
Even the deep freezer had a mountain of stuff piled on it.
Now I'm feeling invincible and ready to have the whole room spick and span tomorrow, ready for its new life as the 'cave'!
We put up these little storage racks in a random spot temporarily as having them in use somewhere was better than all the component parts lying around :) Plus they are now filled with things, mostly all the tiny bits of Lego lying around.
And the most wonderful bonus of the exercise was that I found the first ring hubby ever bought me, it is more sentimental than my wedding and engagement rings and had been missing for over a year!
I haven't set the goals for tomorrow's instalment yet, but I'm sure that making the job smaller with manageable sections will be the backbone of how I get through it!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Getting Advice - the upshot of motivational Thursday
So last Thursday, which will now be known as 'motivational Thursday', one of my lessons learnt was that I needed to seek feedback in order to succeed. Today I put that part of the key to success into action!
Very recently a friend said to me "You are your own worst enemy when it comes to cleaning up". Harsh criticism. So I thought that was the ideal place to begin my quest for feedback.
When clarified, her statement about being my own worst enemy was indicative of the way I get sidetracked, and don't stay on task. Personally the only reason I can agree with her, is through this blog, I see myself constantly swopping 'jobs' around, not finishing or focussing on what I intended to do. I still get stuff done, but I don't get the thorough results from staying on task.
So, given that I was inspired to clean our entry beyond my typical mop the floor so its all done type of clean, I jumped right in and asked advice on what she would do in our entry to improve it. In a state of half pride I had to explain that the floor was free of clutter and there was currently nothing in the room that glaringly didn't belong! (that is embarrassing to admit!)
Her thoughts were thus:
Get in a Expedit bookcase like this one:
As it turns out I bought a very similar thing from Bunnings! Looks pretty much like the one above. I think my husband bought white.
To store all the knick knacks, schoolbags and sports bags and other gear that we need within easy access of the front door. This means that the hutch we already have in the room will have to go, and I'm going to try this on for size, because, as the article says, success requires focus and feedback.
So the plan is to get on top of all the current things (at the moment mostly that is the pile of clean clothes); and get stuck into transforming the entry.
We'll see how I go, another project to keep everyone posted on. I think this kind of proves my friend's point about not sticking to one project!
Very recently a friend said to me "You are your own worst enemy when it comes to cleaning up". Harsh criticism. So I thought that was the ideal place to begin my quest for feedback.
When clarified, her statement about being my own worst enemy was indicative of the way I get sidetracked, and don't stay on task. Personally the only reason I can agree with her, is through this blog, I see myself constantly swopping 'jobs' around, not finishing or focussing on what I intended to do. I still get stuff done, but I don't get the thorough results from staying on task.
So, given that I was inspired to clean our entry beyond my typical mop the floor so its all done type of clean, I jumped right in and asked advice on what she would do in our entry to improve it. In a state of half pride I had to explain that the floor was free of clutter and there was currently nothing in the room that glaringly didn't belong! (that is embarrassing to admit!)
Her thoughts were thus:
Get in a Expedit bookcase like this one:
To store all the knick knacks, schoolbags and sports bags and other gear that we need within easy access of the front door. This means that the hutch we already have in the room will have to go, and I'm going to try this on for size, because, as the article says, success requires focus and feedback.
So the plan is to get on top of all the current things (at the moment mostly that is the pile of clean clothes); and get stuck into transforming the entry.
We'll see how I go, another project to keep everyone posted on. I think this kind of proves my friend's point about not sticking to one project!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Mould and mildew go away!!!
Todays post is all about mould - I figure that for south east Queensland where I feel it's a very topical subject! We've had 2 floods in one month and it's still raining!
So I'll share what I know with you about mould prevention and removal.
Annoyingly the first thing I learnt is that number onerous prevention is cleanliness and lack of dust. A wise friend informed me, and of course it makes sense when you think about it, that mould will form on any dirt or dust ANY! Which is a real bugger if you are like me and not the perfect housekeeper! But I'll come back to this because there is something eke I nee to say about mould prevention - you might think it obvious, but of you do, perhaps you're not quite on the same page of the cleaning journey as me!
So the second thing I have to say about mould prevention is this: do not leave things in areas where they might go mouldy. This list includes wet towels in the laundry basket, sponges in a damp area like in the sink, or in my case, ANYTHING on the back verandah of the house, where mould will spring fromm nowhere and invade anything in its path! It might mean don't leave bath toys in a container on the bathroom floor or even don't leave you dirty clothes in the bathroom. You know if there's a spot in your house prone to moulding up.
Go now and fix these problem areas!!! Save and rescue your items from mould!!! If its too late however, and the demon black gunk has set it, then here are the mould removing strategies that I know of, I'm sure there are more on google. Rather than go through the types of items, I'm going to list my knowledge of mould fighting super stuff - all of which require the use of gloves when applying, in no particular order (but with numbers because I like them):
1. Clove Oil.
Obtained: from the local health food store, or chemist. I have no idea why these people stock it! Uses: I've put it in soaks to remove mould with varying success, also between 2 and several drops in the wash to prevent or remove stains, I wash in hot water, but this could be wrong! Anyway here are 3 more mould and clove tip links. ABC North Queensland have this article. A Sydney blogger suggests clove oil to clean hard surfaces and gives more information of the properties of clove oil here. The Australian Whirlpool forums have some terrific answers about mould and clove oil here.
2. Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar
Obtained: from the grocery store.
Uses: I have used them in the following way to keep a shower clean and also to clean off a significant outdoor verandah area. It lasted about 18 months to 2 years. Step 1, wipe away excess mould. Step 2: make a paste with warm water and bicarb, scrub mouldy area. Step 3: using hot water and vinegar wash down area. This seemed to work a treat to clean it right up.
The sites above also encourage use of bicarb / vinegar with clove oil, which makes sense.
You can also make a scrubbing paste with bicarb to scrub clothes or textiles that have gone mouldy. It may bleach the area though.
3. Bleach
Obtain: a good quality straightforward bleach without added chemicals from whereever you can.
Uses: I give my husband the job of scrubbing fabric with a weakened bleach solution to remove stubborn spores after washing or soaking in oil of cloves.
Also bleach is not as effective in my experience as the good old bicarb and vinegar trick in the shower.
These three items are pretty much all that stand between you and a mess of mould, so thats why I focus more on prevention than cure.
So I'll share what I know with you about mould prevention and removal.
Annoyingly the first thing I learnt is that number onerous prevention is cleanliness and lack of dust. A wise friend informed me, and of course it makes sense when you think about it, that mould will form on any dirt or dust ANY! Which is a real bugger if you are like me and not the perfect housekeeper! But I'll come back to this because there is something eke I nee to say about mould prevention - you might think it obvious, but of you do, perhaps you're not quite on the same page of the cleaning journey as me!
So the second thing I have to say about mould prevention is this: do not leave things in areas where they might go mouldy. This list includes wet towels in the laundry basket, sponges in a damp area like in the sink, or in my case, ANYTHING on the back verandah of the house, where mould will spring fromm nowhere and invade anything in its path! It might mean don't leave bath toys in a container on the bathroom floor or even don't leave you dirty clothes in the bathroom. You know if there's a spot in your house prone to moulding up.
Go now and fix these problem areas!!! Save and rescue your items from mould!!! If its too late however, and the demon black gunk has set it, then here are the mould removing strategies that I know of, I'm sure there are more on google. Rather than go through the types of items, I'm going to list my knowledge of mould fighting super stuff - all of which require the use of gloves when applying, in no particular order (but with numbers because I like them):
1. Clove Oil.
Obtained: from the local health food store, or chemist. I have no idea why these people stock it! Uses: I've put it in soaks to remove mould with varying success, also between 2 and several drops in the wash to prevent or remove stains, I wash in hot water, but this could be wrong! Anyway here are 3 more mould and clove tip links. ABC North Queensland have this article. A Sydney blogger suggests clove oil to clean hard surfaces and gives more information of the properties of clove oil here. The Australian Whirlpool forums have some terrific answers about mould and clove oil here.
2. Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar
Obtained: from the grocery store.
Uses: I have used them in the following way to keep a shower clean and also to clean off a significant outdoor verandah area. It lasted about 18 months to 2 years. Step 1, wipe away excess mould. Step 2: make a paste with warm water and bicarb, scrub mouldy area. Step 3: using hot water and vinegar wash down area. This seemed to work a treat to clean it right up.
The sites above also encourage use of bicarb / vinegar with clove oil, which makes sense.
You can also make a scrubbing paste with bicarb to scrub clothes or textiles that have gone mouldy. It may bleach the area though.
3. Bleach
Obtain: a good quality straightforward bleach without added chemicals from whereever you can.
Uses: I give my husband the job of scrubbing fabric with a weakened bleach solution to remove stubborn spores after washing or soaking in oil of cloves.
Also bleach is not as effective in my experience as the good old bicarb and vinegar trick in the shower.
These three items are pretty much all that stand between you and a mess of mould, so thats why I focus more on prevention than cure.
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