About a month ago, I started working on clearing certain spaces in my house. I’m usually pretty good at keeping a neat desk at work, so I decided to transfer that to my home. I started with the bathroom counter. I’ve been able to successfully keep it mostly clear for a few weeks now (except when I’m drying my hand-washed hand-knitted socks.) Now, I’m going to work on my area of the living room, which often becomes a mountain of books I’m reading for school. I’m going to completely clear it over the next week and work on keeping it completely clear whenever I am not actually working.

I’m also working on getting stuff out of my house. I have a lot of things to take to Goodwill and the library sale. I should document them in pictures while I am getting them out of the house.

If you have tried to post a comment here and have gotten an error, don’t worry– your comment has gone into the moderation queue. I just approved a bunch, so you should see your comment soon. I need to update the software, but I can only do so much at once. Thanks for your patience!

First, try to dig out of the pile of dirty laundry. The easiest, and fastest way to do it is to take the whole pile to the laundromat. You can whip out all that laundry in just a few hours, and you can take some time for yourself to read a magazine or something. At this time of year, you can use that time to address greeting cards and write letters.

While you’re at the laundromat, make sure you fold everything. Bring hangers with you to hang the closet clothes. When you get home, momentum will make it easy to get the stuff put away in dressers and closets.

Now that the laundry is caught up, you can look at ways to cut it down. I couldn’t believe it when I saw a magazine article recommend to buy more socks and undies to cut down on laundry. The more clothes you have, the more it piles up! It’s tempting to keep putting off the laundry because you still have enough clean clothes to scrape by.

One way to cut down on laundry time is to cut down on clothes. One of my friends who recently pared down her family’s clothes found that she has gone from doing five loads of laundry a week to three! Start by giving away the clothes that don’t fit. They tend to sneak into the laundry room when they’re tried on and rejected. (If you want to keep some clothes because you plan to diet into them, put them in a box and mark a date on them. If they don’t fit on that date, give them away.) Then, give away the clothes that you and your kids just don’t like. You know, the clothes that tell you it’s laundry day because you’re forced to wear them. Get those out. If you’re like me, you probably still have a ton of clothes left. This is the point to be ruthless.

Put together 7 or 8 outfits for yourself and each of your kids. You may need to put together 7 work/ school/ church outfits and 4-5 play outfits. Allow some extra t-shirts, shorts, sweaters, and sweaters. (maybe 4 per person?) Then, give away the rest. (Or, if you have the room, box them up to rotate your wardrobe every few months.) The point is to keep your and your kids’ wardrobes small.

Whether or not you reduce your wardrobe, another way to take control of laundry is to come up with a system for doing it. Only you know what is acceptable for your lifestyle and family.

Try to keep at least two laundry baskets in a central location to collect dirty clothes. Train your family to put lights in one basket and darks in the other. This cuts down on your sorting time immensely.

Some people like to do all of their laundry once a week. They’ll devote an entire Saturday to this. I did this when I was single, and it worked really well, since it was only two loads, lights and darks. With a large family, or with a small baby, this might take the entire day. Of course, you can do other things at the same time, but you still have 6 or 7 loads of laundry to fold on one day.

Other people like to make it part of their morning routine to start a load of laundry in the washer. (Do this after everyone has showered.) If you don’t like to leave appliances running while you’re gone for the day, then set the washer up before you go to work so that all you have to do when you get home is start it. If you start your laundry first thing in the morning, then you can throw it in the dryer as soon as you get home (or, if you stay home during the day, throw it in the dryer at your leisure.)

Always fold the laundry the same day you wash and dry it. This prevents wrinkles and it prevents clean clothes pile-up on the living room couch. (I don’t even fold my laundry on the living room couch. I fold it on the dryer, so it doesn’t even leave the laundry room unfolded.)

Now that your dressers and closets are unclogged, putting clothes away will be easy. You can even get your children, over about the age of four, to put their own clothes away.

When you’re buying new clothes, make sure you really need them. Also, make life easier for yourself by buying distinctive socks and underwear for each person. Son number 1 could have tall tube socks with all gray bottoms, while son number two can have short tube socks with gray heels and toes. Your husband can wear plain white tube socks while you wear peds or anklets. Always buy the same type, though, so you don’t have to fuss with matching socks. Same with underwear. Make sure each person’s underwear is distinctive, especially if you have two kids that are the same size.

Keep a garbage bag by your washer and dryer so you can instantly throw away ruined and stained clothes. There’s no reason for those things to end up back in circulation, even as rags (I use cloth diapers as my rags.) Keep a donation box near the dryer so after you wash something that doesn’t fit any more, you can fold it and put it right into the donation box. When the box is full, take it to a donation place.

Make sure you store out of season clothes in a separate place from the current clothes. If not, your kids will be throwing clean out of season clothes into the clothes basket instead of neatly refolding them and putting them away.

You can win over your laundry. Just implement one or two of these tips at a time. If it’s too frightening to give away that many clothes, commit to giving away one or two items a week. Or commit to giving away one item when you bring a new one in. It can be done!

Have you mapped out every moment of your day? I did this
when I was in the Air Force, and it really showed where my time actually went. I took a planner page and wrote down what I did every 15 minutes. You could do this on a plain sheet of paper, it doesn’t have to be very fancy- just write down what you do every 15 minutes. You may see times you can multitask. Put this sheet in your notebook. You may like to refer to it later to see how far you’ve come.

Some household chores eat up more time than others. The one you dread the most could be the biggest time-sucker. I don’t mind cleaning the kitchen, because it rarely takes me more than half an hour (I have a dishwasher), yet I always dread cleaning the master bedroom or catching up on laundry.

Laundry timesavers:

• If you spend an hour every day doing laundry, could you take it to the laundromat instead and do it all at once (and write or read or do something else for yourself while you’re waiting.)?

• Another way to ease up on laundry is to start a load in the morning, throw it in the washer when you get home from work, and it’ll be ready to fold when you put the kids to bed.

• Keep hangers by the dryer and put clothes for the closet directly on the hangers, instead of in the basket. Hang as many things as you can.

• Always buy the exact same kind of socks for your
  kids (different kind for each) then you don’t have to match- you just throw their socks into their drawer and let them pick them out. Depends on how organized you are, though- some people couldn’t handle that– too messy.

• One thing I have found is that clothes sneak into my current laundry that have no business being there. Out-of-season clothes, clothes that don’t fit anyone, clothes that are torn or stained, that no one wears, yet that seem to show up every week in the laundry room. Crack down on these rogue clothes by:

  • Ruthlessly paring down your clothes (and the kids’ and spouse’s) to clothes that fit.

  • Only put away clothes that fit and are in wearable condition. Since we iron our clothes right before wearing them, we do think it’s okay to put away wrinkled clothes.

  • Store out of season clothes in closed boxes. Not on the floor of the laundry room.

  • Keep a large trash bin or trash bag by the washer and dryer. If a piece of clothing is completely ruined, throw it right away. Don’t let it get back into circulation.

  • Keep a large plastic bin with a cover in the laundry room. When you capture clothing that don’t fit or that no one likes any more, fold them neatly and put them in the bin. When the bin is full, take it to Salvation Army. Don’t bother to save it for a yard sale unless you KNOW you will follow through. Only you know what kind of follow-through you have.

With proper time management, you can have time for cleaning, play with kids, and your exercise. Dh and I figured out a way to fit in my evening run- we all go to the park and he plays with our son while I run or walk
around the park. When our older son gets back from vacation, he’ll play with Nick while John and I run/walk

together.

Is there anything you can cut back on? Do you vacuum every day when you could get away with vacuuming every other day? Do you have and use a dishwasher? Do you wash dishes as you make dinner? If you don’t have a dishwasher, try running a sinkful of hot soapy water as you begin dinner, then while cooking, wash everything you’re done with. You can do the same thing at breakfast time- start a sinkful of hot soapy water when everyone starts eating, then it’ll be simple to wipe and rinse. (Air drying is healthier than towel drying, so let the dishes drip dry while you’re at work.)

Try preplanning your meals. I try to cook a month’s worth of meals over a weekend and then freeze them– that way there’s always something relatively healthy in the freezer (if we remember to defrost!) That eases up on dirty dishes, as well, since all the prep is done and cleaned up on that one weekend. It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but when you’re done, you don’t have to worry about meals or major grocery shopping until the next month.

How early is bedtime for your kids? Do they go to bed right on time? Or is there foot-dragging? (that could waste time for yourself.) Remember, especially if you’re a working parent who doesn’t want to “waste” quality time by cleaning, it’s good for them to see you do chores. I know people whose parents did all the household chores after they went to bed, and as adults, they were clueless about what needed to be done. (I never saw my Dad clean. I know he must have, but I don’t remember ever seeing it.) Your kids might even pitch in and help out, like with putting away their own folded clothes and putting their own toys in the toy box. Both of my kids, 4 & 11, can get their own dirty clothes to the laundry room and both of them can make their own bed neat enough to suit me. Please, if you’re a perfectionist, do lower the standards to your kids’ abilities. You probably can’t bounce a quarter off their bed, but if the sheets and comforter are neat, that’s good enough. My kids would prefer a comforter with a duvet cover that is washed weekly over the traditional sheets and comforter set up. Consider that if it would make things easier for you.

If you’re a night person, like me, maybe you can do some of the morning tasks the night before, like setting up the coffee pot and cereal bowls for breakfast, helping your kids pick their outfits, packing their daycare bags– you might even be able to get away with washing your hair at night and styling it the next morning. If your morning routine is very smooth, you may be able to sleep in a little, and use the extra time at night for yourself and time with your spouse. Sometimes, things that take you 20 minutes in the morning will only take 5 minutes at night, if you’re a night person. If you’re a morning person, you can still do tasks the night before, but then use that free time in the morning when you’re fresher.

Can you walk and get some exercise during lunch at work? You could pack a sandwich and some fruit and use your lunch time for a walk and quick lunch. Exercising at lunch time can free up your evening if that’s when you try to get in a workout. It can also refresh you during a stressful day.

Do you watch any TV? TV is a huge timewaster, even when
it’s just background noise. If you have the TV on in the
morning, try getting ready without it, just to see if it
makes things faster. If you have TV on in the evening, try turning it off unless the show is a favorite. It’s so easy to lose time in front of the TV (or computer).

Don’t be afraid to putter at your chores in the evenings, even if you’re a working parent. Sometimes your kids won’t mind just playing by themselves, too. They probably would appreciate the chance to just chill after a structured day care day. Sometimes working parents feel like they have to be entertaining every moment they spend with their kids, but the kids just like being with you, even if it’s just a trip to the store or the laundromat, even if you’re all hanging out reading or coloring or watching TV.

Speaking of stores, do whatever you can to avoid that after-work run to the store. Always make sure you buy enough milk to last between shopping trips, and always make sure you have something in a can or box or in the freezer that you can put together to avoid the after-work trip to the store. The military requires that families overseas have at least three days’ worth of food in the house in case of emergencies, so that’s a good habit to adapt for your family. Milk freezes really well, just pour a little out (drink it!) and then freeze it, but remember it takes 2 days to thaw. If you always have one in the fridge, one in the freezer, and one thawing, you’ll be fine. Keep a box of spaghetti and a jar of spaghetti sauce handy always. Spaghetti and sauce is a fine meal for one of those hectic days. Before you run to the store after work for anything, ask yourself if there is any way you can do without until the weekend. On the same token, avoid going to the store on paydays, and on Fridays and Saturdays before holiday weekends. Go to the least crowded store in your area. When we go to the WalMart SuperCenter, it’s a stressful hour and a half, at least, but if we go to the tiny Hy-Vee, it’s less than 45 minutes. Needless to say, making lists makes things go MUCH faster.

All of these are just suggestions, and maybe none of them are useful to you, but I hope they help. I came up with most of them while my husband was in the military, so I often found myself a “single parent” for weeks at a time. I refined them when we both had time-consuming jobs. Any little bit helps.

Of course, remember that everyone who lives in the house must pitch in. If one spouse works longer hours than the other, be flexible about what they have to do, but do try to negotiate so that everything is not on you. Even stay at home parents deserve a break on some chores. My dh cooks dinner on the nights we’re not reheating frozen dinners, and he usually handles the laundry. He also coordinates and supervises the bathing of the kids.

If you do nothing else, I suggest you write down what you do every 15 minutes of the day, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. (Not from memory, but while you’re doing it.) Write down every phone call, every potty break, everything, for a full, typical day. It’s very eye-opening.

 I target one room per day of the week, and I break that down to a manageable hour or so. For instance: 

• Monday: Kitchen & Dining Room

• Tuesday: Bathrooms

• Wednesday: Rec Room

• Thursday: Bedrooms

• Friday: Living Room

• Saturday: Once a Month Cooking/ Kitchen again

• Sunday: REST 

This gives me focus. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the big jobs in my house, I can be overwhelmed by the big job in one small room.

The Right Tools

Cleaning is so much easier when you have the right tools (and if you have decluttered first… but don’t sweat it if you haven’t.) Here are some of the tools I have tried and like, and since I am a bit lazy, these get the job done with a minimum of effort:

• A good vacuum cleaner: I use a Panasonic canister vacuum. It’s quiet and sturdy and really does the job. It doesn’t have a beater brush, but with as much hair as three pets and one long-haired human put out, a beater brush would burn up pretty quickly. A good vacuum cleaner is very important: it should be quiet, comfortable, and easy to use. I consider mine the backbone of my cleaning supplies.

• A broom: I prefer plastic bristles. The wood ones lose bristles. I use my vacuum on hard floors, so the broom isn’t used as often.

• A good cloth mop. I use a Libman head with a Libman handle, but it doesn’t have a wringer on it. It’s fine, because my mop bucket has a wringer. The cloth head can be thrown in the washer, I’ve heard. I don’t like yarn mops or sponge mops.

• A mop bucket. I use a rectangular mop bucket with a wringer-strainer attachment across the top. If you don’t have a wringer on your mop, this is a great accessory, so you don’t have to wring the mop out with your hands.

• Cloths: I use flat cloth diapers. I don’t use t-shirt rags or anything like that. A couple packages will fit you out for a while. (I also try to have at least 7 dishcloths and about 10 towels so I can change them out every day and have extras.)

• Feather duster: I just use a cheap one from a discount store

• Cleaners: I’ve gone through periods where I have had a LOT of cleaners around, but I have pared down my list to just a few items.:

  • General cleaner: I use lemon-scented Pine-sol diluted in a spray bottle for messes. I also use the same product for cleaning floors.

  • Glass Cleaner: I use windex or diluted vinegar in a spray bottle

  • Wood cleaner: Lemon oil or Murphy’s oil soap

  • Febreze: I use this mostly in the living room. I prefer to steam clean the carpet when it’s dirty over using Febreze, but Febreze does come in handy for some of those mysterious little smells.

  • Scouring powder: I don’t use this often because I try to hit trouble spots with the lemon-scented cleaner and a toothbrush before stuff gets too stuck on

• Swiffer: this is expensive, but can be useful. I haven’t tried the Swiffer wet, but some of my messie friends swear by it.

• Dishpan: I use these to collect things that don’t belong in the area I’m cleaning. I have to discipline myself to put all these things in their proper places when I am done cleaning. (This can also be used to hold the cleaning supplies in a cabinet.)

• Plastic bags: I use the bags that come from grocery or discount stores to collect trash. I either hang them off a chair or knob in the room, or hang the bag off my wrist.

Jenne’s Helpful Homecare hints for reluctant Homecarers 

(I made a few of these myself, but most of them came from my online messie friends or were distilled from the many books I read on the subject.

• Think of cleaning as home-care, not “housework.” Think about how nice the phrase “homecare” sounds.  Be mindful while you clean, and figure out a way to make it pleasant for you.

• Make a list of 5 things you can do in the morning to make your day go smoother, and 5 things you can do at night to make the next day go smoother. Even if you don’t do anything else all day, these 10 things will make a big difference. 

• My messie friends also Mt. Vernonize: You can find an explanation for that on the Messies Anonymous homepage. The gist is, you start at the door of whatever room you’re in, and work around it clockwise (or counter clock-wise,) cleaning as you go. It gets more advanced, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten with it. It’s a great way to start when you feel overwhelmed. Try grabbing a plastic bag and starting right at your computer, throw away trash, working methodically around your room until the bag is full. When you’re cleaning, work methodically around the room, and work from the top down. (Vacuum or sweep and mop last.)

• Many messies realize that we’ll never be Cleanies, but we do set minimum standards for the day: I feel best when my dishes are washed and put away, the vacuuming is done, and the laundry is put away.  (Maybe this is why these three chores are the ones I put off the most.)  Everyone has her own threshold, though. 

• Ease into cleaning by developing a habit of the month. This could be something as small as making your bed every morning or as large as cleaning the kitchen thoroughly every night. Set yourself up for success, though. Pick a habit that you know you can do every day for a month, but that you don’t already do. You’ll find that the little daily habits make a BIG difference! (Of course, on the new month, you need to ADD a new habit, NOT replace it!) (Claire’s idea, but JenJen reminds us of it each month.)

• Puff’s 5 POP.  That stands for 5 pieces of paper.  When you sit at your desk and you have a couple of minutes, pick up five pieces of paper and do something with them. File them or toss them. Only plan to do five at a time.  Five’s not overwhelming at all, is it?  (Maybe that’s why it’s the Messie Magic Number.)

• Another tip from my Messie friends: 15/15: Set your timer for 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes, clean as much as you can. When the timer goes off, reset it for another 15 minutes and reward yourself. Go on-line and chat with your friends, read, crochet, do something fun and rewarding. Keep cycling through those 15 minute bursts. You can use the working time for any chore you tend to put off. 

• Play music and have fun! I have a cleaning CD–a CD I really like, but only play when I’m cleaning. Whenever I hear the music, it inspires me. My favorite cleaning CDs are Curtis Stigers and Steely Dan. One messie friend wears a walkman and listens to books on tape. 

• If you’re getting pressure from others who live with you, a quick tip is to clear off as many horizontal surfaces as you can. That helps things look less cluttered. You can also rearrange pictures and knick-knacks. You could clean all day, but that other person might not notice unless something is different. 

• Don’t forget: you are not alone. Develop a Messie Support System with other messies in your town. You can also check out online forums, including the one here at My Messy House. Other sites also have messie forums… in fact, Claudia has one on her website, I have one on my website, so shop around and see which one you like best. On-line forums are like “real life” groups.  You’ll fit into some better than you will into others.  If one doesn’t work for you, keep looking! 

• Spend some time with Cleanie friends.  Not only will you pick up some great tips, especially if you admit you’re a slob and ask for specific hints, but you may also find that while you envy your Cleanie friend her home, she may envy the time you “get” to spend rubber-stamping, or sewing, or drawing, or writing,or going to college classes.  She may help you to become neater while you may help her to learn there’s more to life than a clean home.  (Stay away from the ones who “have it all together,” at least at the start, because they may make you feel worse.)

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A sacred space should include a place to sit or lie down comfortably, a table (even a folding TV dinner table will do), and good light.

You can set up a sacred space with things you already have around. Don’t be afraid to move stuff around to suit yourself. Try to use what you already have before going to the store to buy new stuff.

Some people already have a place in their home that they gravitate to whenever they have a free moment. If this is true of you, then you should take an hour or so this week to make that special place even nicer. If it’s your bed, then clear off your night stand and think carefully about what you put back. Let only beautiful things stay in your sacred space.

Do you have a special collection that you don’t see very often because it’s not where you like to spend your free time? Well, move it! Move your special collection to your sacred place. Have some fun arranging it.

If you like candles, gather candles from other areas of your house and collect them in your sacred space. If you have a mirror tray, that would be a beautiful place to put them.

Hang a favorite picture or favorite picture collection on the wall of your sacred space. Get some pretty new pillows or recover old pillows to make your space cozy. Crochet a lap blanket or sew the edges of a blanket-sized piece of fleece. (Of course, you can always buy a blanket someone else has made.) Pick a color that makes you happy. If it’s too garish for company, then you can just tuck it away when company is coming.

Put a plant in your sacred space. Asparagus fern and spider plants do well in low light. An african violet will even bloom under artificial light if you leave the light on long enough. If your sacred space is near a window, even better. You can have a ficus (fig tree) or rubber plant in your sacred space.

Keep a basket on hand with things you can do while you’re relaxing. You can include a book, manicure supplies, letter-writing supplies, even some candy (if you don’t have pets or small children who’ll get into it.

Keep another basket on hand, maybe on the floor, with small crafts you like to do and would do if you had more time. You can throw in some quilt squares to piece, a counted cross-stich project, yarn and a crochet hook, or beads and thread… the possibilities are endless. Guys, don’t think I’m not talking to you. Crocheting can be very relaxing. Even professional football players and tough bikers have been known to crochet. To help with decluttering, do your projects with a recipient in mind and give it to that recipient when it’s done. How many finished products do you really need to have around? You can even make projects to give to nursing homes, hospices, neonatal intensive care… there are a lot of organizations that look for handmade crafts to give to people who need the boost.

When a new magazine comes in from a subscription, slip it into your basket so you have it on hand when you have time for it. (Be sure to clean out old magazines at least once a month.)

If you get baskets with lids, they can stay there and look pretty even when company is coming. A picnic basket might be a nice option. Try not to stack more than two baskets because that’s an invitation for clutter and frustration.

Make sure your sacred space has plenty of light. If yours is a reading chair and ottoman, position a floor lamp behind you so it lights up your projects. Get the nicest lamp you can afford. I want one with a crystal beaded shade. (Right now, I don’t even have my reading chair and ottoman, but I’ll get it eventually.)

Once you have arranged your sacred space, be diligent about keeping it neat and clean. Keep it comfortable. Tidy your project baskets at least once a day. Keep your plant healthy. Keep your sacred space inviting. If you allow clutter and dirt to build up, you won’t feel refreshed after spending time there.

Enjoy!

The one thing I think most acknowledged messies wish cleanies understood is that we don’t choose to be like this, just like many cleanies don’t choose to be cleanies… they just are. That’s not an excuse… I don’t think messies should just sit back and say, “Well, I don’t have to work on this… I was born this way.” But we do need the support of our cleanie friends, roommates, and family. Cleanies need to understand that “just clean it” doesn’t help us a bit. We need step-by-step instructions, move-by-move encouragement, and regular support.

The one thing I think most cleanies wish messies understood is that a messy house is very distressing… and that it doesn’t take as long to clean as it often takes to put off cleaning. Cleanies have a hard time understanding WHY we put off the 15 minute project, or why it is so hard for us to do 15 minutes of cleaning every day. To many cleanies, cleaning is as natural as breathing. I’m not saying they enjoy cleaning… many cleanies probably hate it more than messies do.

The ideal way for cleanies and messies to get along is to play to each others’ strengths.

Cleanie-Messie roommates… This is a tough combination. I once had a cleanie roommate who really didn’t like my messie habits- especially my book collection. She couldn’t understand why I liked to keep the books I read, while I couldn’t understand why she didn’t keep the books she read. The good thing, though, was that I watched her cleanie habits and was able to adopt some of them. If you are a cleanie with a messie roommate, it’s going to be hard… but there are a few things you can do to encourage good habits.

Try to set some ground rules when the two of you first move in together. If it’s too late for that, then set some rules now about where your messie roommate is “allowed” to be messie. You could agree that her room can be messie if the door stays closed and if she doesn’t leave food in there. You could agree that she can only use your dishes and plates if she washes them immediately afterward, and if she doesn’t, you can wash them and then lock them away from her.

When you’re taking your laundry to the laundromat, invite your roommate to come with you. Keep her there until her laundry is neatly folded, then when you get back to the place, encourage her to put her clothes away right away. (Of course this could work for guys, too!)

When you’re cleaning, encourage your roommate to clean as well.

Consider getting your roommate one of the good messie or organizing books, like Get Organized by Stephanie Winston or The New Messies Manual by Sandra Felton. (See the links to those books at http://www.mymessyhouse.com/messiebook.shtml. Depending on your relationship, you can either give the book directly to your roommate (especially if she has expressed interest in becoming a cleaner person) or you can leave the book lying around in a prominent place in a shared area.

If you’re the messie one of the roommates, then you have certain responsibilities. When your roommate is cleaning, you should jump up and clean something, too. When you borrow or use anything that belongs to your roommate, clean it immediately and return it in the same condition you borrowed it. Better yet, don’t borrow anything. Help maintain the public areas. Make your bed every day and don’t keep food in your bedroom. Keep your door closed.

Of course, there might come a time when you realize that the two of you just can’t live together. If you two can’t come to an agreement about managing your differing lifestyles, one of you needs to find another place to live. And both of you need to be more careful about how you choose roommates next time. (A hint, try to see how your potential roommate keeps her car, if she has one.)

This illustrates why it’s not a good idea to move in with a best friend or a workmate. It could ruin your relationship to have these kinds of problems come up.

By the way, if you’re a college-aged messie filling out one of those roommate selection forms, DO NOT put down that you are neat. That is an extremely unfair thing to do to the defenseless cleanie you get matched up with. Cleanies cannot tolerate the level of squalor that messies can (though we need to work on being less tolerant of messes.)

Some of my messie friends have come up with a new way of cleaning and decluttering their homes. They envision how they want their room to look and then remove everything that doesn’t fit that vision. That is the short version.

In a way, it is that simple, and in a way it is a lot more complicated. We messies aren’t always able to just start doing that… there are often too many layers of stuff in the way. It also can be hard to visualize exactly what we want… many of us have lived in clutter and dust and mess for so long that we can’t “see” how our rooms should look.

If you’re a recovered or recovering messie, you might be able to jump right in to the decorating. Look around and try to “see” your ideal room in your mind’s eye. Choose a segment of your room and remove everything that doesn’t fit into the picture in your mind. Put the objects in a laundry basket, rubbermaid bin, or box. If there’s trash, throw it away. Do this for about 15 minutes to an hour. Work around the room in one direction. At the end of your session, put away anything in the basket that actually has a home (such as toys and books.) Do the hour-long session about once or twice a week (any more, and it will start cutting into your other cleaning time.) You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can whip a room into shape.

You can also take ten minutes a day to do a quick once-over in your room. Just spend 10 minutes removing the items that are out of place and putting them back into their place. This would be a good thing to add to your morning or evening lists, depending on when you have the most energy. You could split your ten minutes among several rooms, or you could alternate rooms, spending ten minutes in a different room each day. You could even have it on your list twice a day.

If you are just beginning to work on your messiness, I think it is still a good idea to visualize how you want the room to look. It might be harder with stuff on every surface and all over the floor, but it also gives you something to aim for. As you work, keep that picture in mind to motivate you.

How do you visualize a room? There are several ways you can get an idea of what rooms you like. You can go to those “gallery” style furniture stores and look around their mini-rooms. Note the features that make you feel good. Do you like the rooms that have a modern, stark feel, or do you like the cozy rooms with a lot of knick-knacks?

Visit real estate open houses. You can see some rooms and homes that you really like and that inspire you. Note what you like about them… or just make a list of what features the rooms you like all have in common.

Think about the rooms you have liked the best… think about houses you lived in as a child, houses you have visited, your friends’ houses. Visualize the ones you have felt most comfortable and happy in, and write down the features you like the best.

Read home decorating magazines. Every so often, I’ll cut out the pictures of the rooms I like and paste them into a sketchbook. From the sketchbook, I can see exactly what I like in a room. Try this… read a home decorating magazine with a pair of scissors and a pot of paste nearby. Cut out pictures you like and paste them into the book. Immediately throw away the magazine you’ve cut the pictures from so you don’t have that litter around. Do this once or twice a month while you’re trying to visualize what you want. Then do it about once or twice a year to make sure your house still looks exactly how you want. Invite your kids to join you. They might find it fun, and you might get good ideas for decorating their rooms.

When you compare the features of the different rooms, you’ll see things they have in common. I noted that I like light-colored carpets, windows with light or no window coverings, bookcases filled with books, lots of green plants, and brass and gold accents. I like wood and I like uncluttered horizontal spaces. You can’t do much about carpet color if you’re renting or if you can’t afford to recarpet, but you can take down window treatments you don’t like. You can add or rearrange plants and books. You can move things from one room to another to get the look you like. You can even get a cheap area rug, in the color you like, to put over the carpet you don’t like (don’t forget to vacuum underneath at least once, maybe twice a month!)

Once you have a list of what you like in a room, do what you can to inch the room closer to your ideal room.

I think it’s important to know what you want your rooms to look like. I didn’t think about it much when we moved in here because we thought we would only be here for a year. A year and a half later, and no move in sight, I’m realizing it’s a lot more important than I thought to have an idea. Luckily, the room has good light and a nice carpet, so I have a good start.

How would you finish that adage? If you would say “today,” well, then scroll on down, because you probably don’t have a problem with procrastination. However, if you answered “the next day,” “next week,” or even “never,” this topic is for you.

Many messies procrastinate. Some procrastination is fairly harmless, but some procrastination can get you into serious trouble. Some procrastination can lead to health hazards in your home or financial problems for yourself or your family. That type of procrastination needs to be addressed immediately, before it leads to further problems.

Why do we procrastinate? Sometimes, we procrastinate because the chore is distasteful or overwhelming. We just don’t want to scrub the base of the toilet, or clean the moldy food out of the fridge. Sometimes, we procrastinate because we don’t have the resources to do the chore right away. (Sometimes, failing to make sure you have the tools to do the job is a subtle form of procrastination.) Sometimes we procrastinate on such things as paying the bills because we don’t have the money. Sometimes we procrastinate because we think we don’t have time. And sometimes, we procrastinate just because it’s our habit.

How many times have you noticed that something in your home was out of place and told yourself, “I don’t have time to pick that up right now. I’ll get it later.” By the time “later,” rolls around, that one thing has multiplied by 20 and now the job is overwhelming!

If you’re procrastinating because you don’t think you have time, remember that in many cases, the chore is easier to do right away. Dishes are usually easier to get clean when they’re washed before the food dries on. It’s easier to keep the bathroom clean when you wipe it down every day, rather than putting off the cleaning for days on end. It’s easier to keep up on laundry when you wash, dry, and put away one to three loads at a time, rather than waiting until every piece of clothing in the house is dirty. That goes for paying bills. Putting off paying just one credit card bill a month can turn a manageable list of monthly expenses into a scary, unmanageable one. Putting off calling a creditor to arrange a different payment plan can lead to the account going to a collection agency, which won’t be nearly as nice about arranging for payment.

What should you do about procrastination? Organization helps. Putting all of your bills in the same place helps you keep track of which bills have been paid. Lists help. When you run out of cleaning tools and supplies, add them to the grocery list so you don’t forget them. If your problem is procrastinating on bill payment (for no good reason) set up automated payments from your bank account every month. You don’t have to think about it anymore.

Don’t overthink a project. Even washing a sinkful of dishes seems more and more overwhelming the more you think about it. You could spend two hours dreading the project, when the project itself only takes 15 minutes. If you’re really dreading a project, set a timer and work on it for just 15 minutes. Chances are, you’ll either be done by the time the timer goes off, or you’ll be motivated to finish.

Work on developing good habits. One goal to shoot for is to make sure the kitchen is clean every night before you go to bed. You can allow yourself to procrastinate up until bedtime, but once bedtime rolls around, you have to get the kitchen clean. You might find that you’re most motivated to clean up right after dinner, when you haven’t relaxed for the night. It sure is hard to get up after you’ve been relaxing on the couch for two or three hours.

Sometimes, you simply have to procrastinate. You might find that you have to procrastinate on certain projects or chores because of a change in your schedule, because of a new baby, because of a death in the family, or because of an illness. You have to judge for yourself whether your procrastination is justified. If it’s not hurting anyone, creating a health hazard, or putting your bills in the hands of collectors, you can probably get away with some procrastination.

Overcoming procrastination is not simple or easy. If it were, no one would procrastinate. But you can take some simple steps that will keep your procrastination from hurting yourself or someone else.

It’s not going to happen. As long as people live in the home, messes will happen. Messes even happen in the homes of cleanies… especially cleanies with children.

The goal of getting a home clean “for once and for all” is an impossible goal. We messies get frustrated and then decide we’re not going to clean at all if we can’t get it clean permanently. We put off things like getting pretty sheets for our bed and pretty towels for our bathroom because we don’t see a point… if our home won’t stay clean, we feel like we don’t deserve nice things for our home.

If you’re starting with a messy house, it is exhausting to clean the whole house and then to try to maintain it. You might be able to spend a weekend and make your house close to spotless, but it’ll take a week or two before you have the energy to clean again.

It’s emotionally healthier for us to decide to clean and maintain small areas of our house. Instead of setting an impossible goal of cleaning the whole house at once and then keeping it clean, set a goal to clean one small area and keep that area clean. Popular areas are the kitchen sink, the bathroom, and the dining room table. Choose one, and take 15 minutes to an hour to clean it. It depends on how messy the area is. If you are a Super Messie, it might take a couple of hour-long sessions to get a certain area clean. Don’t let that get you down. Keep looking out for the long term. You’re working on it… it’s okay to take a few days or even a week to get an area clean.

Once your small area is clean, add it to your daily list so you can keep it clean. Do a once-over every morning and evening to keep it clean. After you’ve successfully kept that area clean for a week or so, add another area. Keep at it until you reach a point where one more thing would be too much. It’s kind of like getting in shape. You exercise a little more each week until it gets to be too much, then you back off and maintain for a while. After a few weeks or a month, try adding a new area.

Take it slow and don’t worry about getting it clean “for once and for all.” You can do it… a little at a time.

Think of your appliances as your servants and put them to work every morning. Whether you work or not, there’s no reason not to let the efficiency of your servants work for you. Get a load of laundry in the washer, start the dishwasher, get dinner going in the crock-pot– if you have a bread machine, why not dust that off and use it to make fresh bread? Put your freezer to work, too, with Once a Month Cooking. This will help give you more time in the day.

Make your bed every day. You’ll be surprised how quickly that brightens and neatens a room!

When you’re cleaning, open all the curtains and shades and get as much sunlight in the house as you can. You’ll be able to see more dirt that way. (If you’re just a beginner, you might want to wait until the bigger piles are taken care of, or this technique might overwhelm you!)

Take your time. Take it one bite at a time. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Better to do a little every day than to do a lot at once and then NOTHING.

After you clean the oven, put tin foil down to catch the spills. When it gets cruddy, lift it off, wipe down the oven, and replace with fresh tin foil. (Stores now sell oven liners of aluminum… they’re about 50 cents each, but they save you the effort of figuring out what size to cut the foil.)

Wash the drip pans on the top of your stove regularly. This can help keep crud from building up and really makes your stove top look great. You can throw them in the dishwasher with the dinner dishes, or you can wash them by hand with your pots and pans.

Use a toothbrush to clean around the faucet and other tight spots

Mix your favorite cleaner with water in an old spray bottle to use for bathroom and kitchen clean ups! This is less expensive and works just as well as specialty cleaners.

Wipe down your microwave every day after you do dishes. This makes it much easier to clean, though it’s easy to forget. Make it a habit.

Wipe the top of your stove every day when you do the dishes.

Empty spaces look cleaner and are easier to clean. Put as many appliances as you can away in cabinets. This keeps the counters looking cleaner.

As for dishes… how many do you really use? If you’re a family of four who never entertains, why keep dishes for eight or more in your kitchen, taking up prime space? Maybe there’s another place, reasonably close to the kitchen, where you can keep extra place settings. Look at your mixing bowls and pots and pans. If you don’t use all of them, get rid of them. If they’re in good shape, donate them to the local battered spouses organization or the thrift shop. If they’re nasty, just toss them.

My number one homecare hint is this: DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT ADDING TO THE LANDFILL, at least not right now. There’s no reason to use your house as a landfill in order to avoid filling the real landfill up. I know how you feel. Believe me, I feel guilty for throwing anything away! The best way to deal with this is recycle what you can (clothes, dishes, paper, compost, etc,) throw away what you can’t recycle, and try to cut down on bringing anything new in, if you can’t decide its ultimate fate. This takes a long time to get used to, but if you don’t want to live in clutter, this is essential!