This week has been a little crazy, I worked 3 days then I got my vaccine and lost a day and a half to the recovery process, and my dishwasher started leaking so now I need to replace it. It is on weeks like this that I realize just how valuable my time, both mental and physical, is and I notice all the time I waste. I am learning to be mindful of the ways that I am wasting needed energy and time keeping my house clean.
Growing up in a hoarding home I was not taught things like throwing out the garbage when you create it, or picking up after yourself as you go. Instead I was taught to let things pile up for the week and then spend all weekend cleaning the house from top to bottom. Hours and hours of cleaning, moving things from one place to another only to repeat the process the following weekend. It was like walking on a track, you could walk endlessly and never go anywhere. That is why my top 10 list may seem like common sense to some, but it is eye opening for me.
- STOP PUTTING LEFTOVERS IN THE FRIDGE
This may sound controversial but it really shouldn’t be. If you are not one hundred percent certain that you are going to use the leftovers you put in the fridge, don’t put them there. I know that I am not one to use leftovers for one reason or another, sometimes I forget what I have in there or I decide I want something else all together, yet I have always put them in the fridge. Then I end up with a bunch of leftovers that pile up until I am forced to deal with them at a later date. So instead of creating another task, throw them in the garbage at the end of the meal and just be done with it. I know it seems wasteful but it really isn’t unless you are one that routinely uses those leftovers,
The other night I had a half serving each of veggies and pasta left after my husband and I ate dinner. I gave the veggies to the dog, she loves veggies, and instead of putting the pasta in the fridge I put it straight in the trash. It felt foreign and wasteful at first but I reminded myself that I am saving myself the hassle of throwing it out after it molds in the bottom corner of the refrigerator. That is a task I will not have to perform and another step in the right direction in keeping my kitchen clean.
2) THROW GARBAGE AWAY WHEN YOU CREATE IT
While this one seems like a no brainer, I am guilty of leaving something on the coffee table instead of just throwing it away. It can be an empty soda bottle or the packaging from my nail strips, it doesn’t really matter. I think, oh I will throw that away later, even when I am going into the kitchen where the garbage can is waiting to be filled. (This is likely a left over reaction from growing up in a hoarding home, maybe I need to address that with my counselor.)
If needed you could even add a garbage can to the living room, you could tuck it behind the end table so it is accessible without being in the way. Imagine the simplicity of not having to clean up behind yourself all the time. Teach the kids this as well, since we all know how much time we spend cleaning up after them.
3) SET A WATERING SCHEDULE FOR THE PLANTS
I have probably 40 plants (what is the number of plants you can have before it is considered an obsession), each in a different state of health because I did not have a care schedule. I would water them every day for a week and then not think about them again for a week because I am horrible at gauging time. A day can seem like a week and vise versa. So to keep my plants happy and healthy and to keep from repeating the task of watering unnecessarily I set a reminder on my phone to water every 3rd day. This has worked well and I have not lost a plant in quite a while.
I also try to keep the watering can full and ready so that I can just water when the timer reminds me. It is also better for the plants if you let the chlorine dissipate from the water for a couple of days.
4) STOP PUTTING OFF NEEDED REPAIRS
Doing simple repairs as you come across them will prevent you from forgetting them or scheduling a full day of repairing all things that need it. I consider a simple repair to be one that I can complete in under 5 minutes time. Tightening a hinge or drawer pull, putting the button back on your favorite shirt, etc. If you are able to fix them right away it will prevent the problem from getting worse and you won’t need a to do list that seems to grow and grow. Imagine all of the mental energy you can save when you aren’t thinking about the drawer pull that needs fixed.
For the things that need more than a simple repair, set a reminder in your phone for the first day you will have free or call a repair technician to take care of it. Don’t let them hang out unfinished for months at a time.
5) PUT THE LAUNDRY AWAY AS SOON AS IT IS FINSHED
I will admit that this one is one of the hardest for me to adjust too. I am usually doing laundry while I am painting or writing my blogs and I am not fully focused on the laundry, so I throw it on the bed and tell myself I will put it away before I go to sleep. This usually ends with me throwing it in a laundry basket in front of the closet where it ends up getting wrinkled. Then I have to put it back in the dryer to de-wrinkle and then it ends up back in the basket and the cycle repeats until I have worn it and have to do laundry again. This week I have made a concerted effort to put it away as soon as it was finished and succeeded to get two loads put away out of three. I consider that a win.
If you have littles that are old enough, teach them to put their own clothes away. I know it is hard but let them decide where to put everything and let them be responsible. I think that if I would have been taught to do this for myself before I was a teenager I wouldn’t struggle with it so much today.
6) GET 2 STAIR BASKETS
Get two baskets that fits your steps, either one of those that are made to go on the steps or one that is the correct size so it doesn’t fall off the step, and put one on the top step and one on the bottom step. If you only have one and it is always on the opposite floor it isn’t doing you any good. When you come across something that needs to go to the other floor put it in the basket right away. When you use the stairs check the basket as you go and either take it up or down as needed, just make sure that you end up with one on each floor.
I have an “upside down” townhouse, the bedrooms are on the main floor and the living space is upstairs, and when I do the grocery shopping I have items on the wrong floor. I often forgot to grab the items that need to be downstairs, like the shampoo that I would remember after I had gotten in the shower. This way I don’t have to run up and down the stairs a hundred times it prevents clutter on the kitchen counter.
7) IF YOU GET IT OUT PUT IT AWAY
This kind of goes along with taking care of the garbage right away. If you get something out to use it put it away when you are finished. Leaving it out because you “might not be done” with it runs counter to simple housekeeping. If you drag the sewing kit out to fix the button on your shirt and you put your shirt away but leave the sewing kit out you have caused yourself more work later. It takes a few seconds to put something back where you got it, where it will take you more time when you are doing your regular housecleaning later.
I am particularly bad at this. Often I will take something out to use it and then be “over it” by the time I am done and not do the simple clean up. I am working on it but changing fifty years of conditioning is hard. Maybe they can put “It only took ?? years but she finally did it” on my tombstone.
8) SPRAY THE SHOWER WITH A DAILY CLEANER
This is kind of a simple one that just takes a little work to remember. I use a name brand daily cleaner that I keep in the shower and give the tub a quick spray before I get out. It keeps the shower fairly clean so that on cleaning day it doesn’t take as much time. I do wish I could find a natural cleaner though since I am trying to eliminate some of the harsher chemicals from my home.
Training my husband in the use of the daily cleaner is proving to be a much harder task. As soon as the kiddos are old enough they should be doing it as well.
9) HAVE A CLEANING SCHEDULE
Your schedule can either be static every week or like mine it can vary depending on the days that I work and the changes in my business schedule. Having a schedule, even a simple one, helps keep the house tidy between full cleans and helps keep you focused so that you are not repeating the same task several days in a row while missing something else.
This is one of those that has taken me a long time to adjust to, some days I am just too tired to do the task that is scheduled. When I have the too tired days I try to do a task that is scheduled for another day that is maybe a little easier or doesn’t take as much energy. As long as I am able to complete all the tasks every week my home stays picked up and I feel a little more accomplished.
10) GET A MAID SERVICE
Did I really just say that? Yes I did. No, I am not saying not to do any of the things on the list and just let someone else deal with it. I made the decision to have a maid service come in once a month to do the dusting, mopping, deep cleaning of the bathroom, etc. I am still responsible for keeping my home picked up and clutter free, I am still responsible for keeping the dishes done and the laundry washed, I just don’t have to obsess about the other stuff. Having the maid service has helped me to focus on keeping up with my house in simple easy steps. If hiring a maid service feels too “fancy” for you remember, you are hiring people which means a paycheck for someone else. (I needed my counselor to remind me of this)
Before the maid service my house would become an horrible mess because of my obsessive cleaning behaviors. I wouldn’t clean until I had two days where I could focus on the house, which isn’t very often when you work and have an art business to run. See, when I start cleaning I cannot stop until I have touched everything in my home, dusted even the tops of the cupboards, polished every item on my shelves, and rearranged the whole house. Even this sentence cannot describe how obsessed I become when cleaning the house. I couldn’t tell myself that I was just going to wipe down the bathtub and leave it at that, instead I would spend 4 hours scrubbing my 6′ x 12′ bathroom. That is not healthy or simple.
CONCLUSION
While some of you have just read this blog and wondered why you wasted your time on something you already knew, there are many like myself who have not been taught how to do these simple things. Simple tasks that can save us time and energy while keeping our homes tidy and clean.
If you are like me and have not quite mastered the art of simple housekeeping yet, which of these steps will be the hardest but most rewarding? Comment below and let me know.
Living Simple in the of Age Consumerism 