A progress report on my three resolutions for 2009:
Every day, I will clean for 15 minutes.
Ugh. Fail. More and more, this danged resolution seems like a death march. Even though it’s only 15 minutes, facing the next day of cleaning takes away any satisfaction culled from today, and that’s if I drag myself up and do the cleaning. If I don’t do it, I sink farther and farther into catching up, until it becomes clear that I just will not catch up.
I could blame this month on traveling and wrapping up volleyball, but that is not constructive. There will always be something, so how can I structure housekeeping so that I dread it less and do it more? I’m not sure which is better:
- 15-minute daily death march: I only have to clean for a little bit each day, but the thought of doing something every day is overwhelming.
- 2-hour weekly scrub: Everything gets clean all at once, which is satisfying, but if I miss it, everything stays grubby.
What else is there?
Every week, I will write and send my grandmother a note.
Hooray for small victories, right? Oy. I even sent a postcard from Dallas, even though I had nothing much to report other than rainy weather and going to lunch at Neiman Marcus. I like to think that the postcard had its own charm, though.
Every month, I will take at least a few hours just for myself.
For once, I actually did this. I went to Longwood by myself! And to Dallas! As I look ahead to the rest of the year, I know it’ll be even more important for me to take this time alone. Unfortunately, our Thanksgiving and Christmas plans are anything but relaxing, and I can’t let myself become overwhelmed.
2 comments
I try to do a combo of the daily and weekly. You know, the kitchen should be done daily, but I don’t beat myself up if we let dishes pile up one night. And then every weekend we try to get rid of general clutter, do some vacuuming, etc. I get on a kick once I start cleaning, so I find it more productive to just get started and keep going.
Okay, here’s the most boring comment ever. I used to do everything at once – clean the bathrooms, dust, vacuum, do the floors…until I realized that it took 2-3 hours and I was really crabby while doing it. So, here are some caveats: a) we have no children, b) I have a very flexible schedule, and c) I am really really anal about how clean my house is. And now – my routine. Dishes are done immediately – helped out by our wonderful d/w. The two bathrooms we use a lot are done midweek, once a week. Because I’m a sicko morning person, I get up at 5, exercise, and then immediately clean the BRs as soon as my husband is finished showering. I figure, I’m already kind of gross, so why not? Alternatively, I’ll do them after work one day if I don’t have a morning when I can get them done. The kitchen (e.g., spraying and wiping the counters; cleaning the stove; swiffering; mopping) is done on one weekend day, as is dusting. Usually I try to do those back to back. My husband vacuums (HATE vacuuming, hate it hate it hate it) and it usually winds up being every other week. Whew. I know, anal. The bathrooms are helped by the fact that we keep old washcloths in there and wipe up the sinks every night. That gets the water spots and other schmutz mostly cleaned up. Oh, and I swiffer the bathroom one time between cleanings, too. Total time? Hm. Maybe 3 hours for what I do weekly, but spread out over 2-3 days.
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