Chapter 3 – Maintenance
By
the time summer was over I had worked through the entryway, kitchen, both
bathrooms and part of the living room. I
knew that these major projects would have to be put on hold while I returned to
full-time teaching. A wise friend
suggested I focus on maintaining the progress I had made and push forward on
breaks. I realized that in the kitchen
especially, maintenance was a huge issue for me. Most weeks I ignored the dishes until both
sides of the sink were full or until something I needed was dirty. I picked up an important tip from Nony the
Slob’s blog – wash the dishes every day.
This seemingly obvious concept had never been a reality for me. I decided to try it out. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it
was so much easier and took so much less time to wash one day’s worth of dishes
than it had to do a week’s worth. I also
discovered that all my glasses did not fit on the shelf at one time! I even discovered the joy of a clean sink and
sparkling counters.
Another
problem area was the living room. It was
littered with toys, tools, clothes, and anything else we happened to drop
there. I worked together with the family
to establish a daily ‘quick clean’ time right after dinner. Each of my girls gets a laundry basket and
fills it with any of her belongings that have migrated to the living room. My husband and I gather our stuff. Actually most of the time I gather his stuff
and put it in his ‘man cave’ for him to deal with. This has not been a smooth road for any of
us. The girls would often argue over
whose stuff belonged to who and who had to return jointly-owned items like art
supplies. Also, there was the problem of
items on the floor that no one claimed ownership to. This one I could usually resolve by offering
to put the item in the giveaway bag. Someone
usually claimed it. Still the ‘quick
clean’ has never become popular. As with
many things in my life, this is a journey of progress rather than perfection.
One
accomplishment I am proud of is teaching my children to clean the
bathroom. First we did it together and I
led them through each step. Then I
turned them loose to try it alone.
Arguments about who would do what ensued. I tried an experiment. I wrote all the various jobs on separate
slips of paper – clear off and wipe the counter, scrub the bathtub, etc. Then I called the girls together planning to
have them draw for jobs. Surprisingly,
they grabbed the papers and split them up themselves without complaint. Then off they went to make the bathroom
sparkle. I am amazed at how well this strategy
worked.
For
most of the summer we kept the main living areas of the house clean and
usable. It was a great
accomplishment. We also passed the fifty
bag mark for removing stuff from the house.
Then
school started. Suddenly we were all
busy and tired at night. I came home and
collapsed on the couch. It was enough to
fix dinner, oversee homework and piano practice, and prepare for the next day. I had no desire and seemingly no energy to
clean. The dishes piled up. The clutter crept back into the living
room. I would vow to get back on track,
but it didn’t happen. I felt stuck.
One
day I was listening to an audio book about procrastination and habits. It discussed rewards and gave the example of
parents letting their kids play outside after school before doing their
homework. Of course, this works for some families, but for some kids this is
giving them their reward first and removing any willingness to go back and do
their necessary work. I suddenly
realized this is exactly what I was doing for myself. I came home and sank into my comfortable
couch and disappeared into the internet.
My selfish psyche had no reason to leave this nest and go clean. I tried setting a time limit, but this did
not work for me either. I just didn’t
want to get up once I settled in for the night.
The only solution I could come up with was not to sit down when I got
home. Anything I wanted to get done had
to be done before I sat down. It sounds
crazy but it worked. I started coming
home and throwing in some laundry or reloading the dishwasher while I was
making supper. Then after supper I could
relax guilt-free. Also, I created a
reward while I was working. I enjoy
listening to audio books and you tube videos, so I started playing these while
I was working. It made my chores so much
more enjoyable. I guess my mind just got
bored when doing menial tasks. Having
something to think about during the process helped immensely.
My
cleaning routine is far from perfect, but it is also far better than it was in
the past.
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