Climbing Out of the Mess

There have been many people that have found us over the past couple of days thanks to a link from Small Notebook and from where I linked to Remodeling This Life. I admire Rachel and Emily so much. To find out they were also out of sorts was like getting a big group hug. I have been so deeply moved by all of the comments that have been left here and that I found through those links. I want to thank all of you for that.

If you have been out of sorts lately, and finding this series and reading the comments is not enough to let you know that you are not alone, head over to those articles. Read the comments. Follow all the links you find. Just make sure you have several hours available. It is a very comforting trip, but it will take some time out of your day.

I left a comment for Rachel that I thought I would also share with you. There are many sites where all of the women seem like super women. Reading back over many of the articles I have written with that in mind, I blush to see where someone could think that about me, too. I think it is easy to forget that the things the super women have chosen to share are the things each one has figured out. Most with the hope that it may help someone else. What you do not see are the many things not yet figured out. We are all works in progress with strengths and shortcomings just like everyone else. And we are all learning from each other.

On The Cleaning Routine

Many of you have read the about page. If you also read My Story, you may have figured out that it has been a lifetime of experiences and inclinations that got me to this point. And there is still so much to learn.

When I came up with my ordinary cleaning routine, it was through studying all of the movements I was making. At first I had checklists, routines and long sheets of tasks to follow. When I was working on several houses at once, for some reason I started with the lists again. Each list was different for each house. It eventually helped me to fine tune the simplicity of my routine and the way I work on different tasks within that routine. (I promise to share more soon.) But overall the lists were just too much.

And here is my big confession. A lot of what I do is because I am basically lazy when it comes to mundane tasks. I want it done because it is important to me, but I want to spend as little time doing them as possible. Plus I do have ADD. I get distracted very easily. I naturally do much better when things take little time, when things are laid out step by step, and by doing projects that have a natural sequence instead of multitasking/switchtasking.

Now that I have my calendar set up the way I do, I have the four daily tasks (five if I include the mail which I now realize I should have), plus two other activities. Doing seven small tasks broken up through my day is manageable. Even when I did work full time outside the home.

When I worked the other additional houses on the weekends it also seemed to work and replaced the many different sheets. I would do everything in one day that I did in my house throughout the week. I took care of the 4 main tasks then had 5 steps then 1 room to focus on. It was still a manageable list. (And may help those of you sticking to a once a week plan.)

I realize thanks to Rachel that a big part of why my routine may work so well for me is that I do not see all of the things still left to do. (I guess those long checklists can be very overwhelming in many ways.) I can simply focus on the few things and be pleased with what I have accomplished.

That does not make it THE right way. It is just one way. A place to start if you do not know where to start. If you do it differently I will not be at all upset if you let us know in the comments. I hope you do let us know. That is how we all keep learning. We are all always looking for shortcuts and new things to try.

New Readers

Once before I had a sudden influx of new people to the site all at once. I wrote out an article to welcome the new readers. So that you know what to expect, you may want to read it, too. I am still building the site as a reference. I am still fairly new so still adding many basic articles. The majority are all still pretty long.

In the next several days, I will be changing gears pretty sharply and finishing out the kitchen series. As with many things, it took so much more time to write out the series than to actually do. I kept getting distracted and writing about other things I was thinking more about as time went by. The rest of the series has been in my draft folder for way to long. There are several other things I want to write about that goes more with the Climbing Out of the Mess series and the Fresh Start articles I had planned for January and a million other things that I think about. But before I do, for peace of mind I first need to finish what I have started.

It will take some time for me to get all of the long basic articles down for each room or concept. Whenever the article does not fit what you are doing, just ignore it. It will be there if/when you do need it. If you are not ready for it yet, do not even try to keep up. Just keep working on the task you have at hand, then check in when you do feel ready for something more. You can then find something specific that you need or pick any article to skim it for shortcuts.

And if you want to know a little more about me, I did sort of do one meme that tells seven more random things about me even though I chose not to tag anyone else. (And it also reminds me just how long part of the kitchen series has been in the draft folder. Oops.)