Heather says:
Remember last week’s Put Your Crap Away? It’s about as close to a magic pill as a person can find.
If you work outside the home, it won’t be as intensive a process. Get ready to go a few minutes early. Then just before you leave, take a walk through the main living area. You see that magazine lying in the middle of the floor? You’re done with it. Put it in the recycling. That newspaper? Same idea. The throw
on the couch, the cereal bowl on the coffee table? Straighten and put away. If you don’t, tonight or tomorrow those items will attract friends. In the case of the paper clutter, it’s just easier to add to the pile. The cereal bowl invites friends of a different sort.
Is it perfect? No, but it won’t be as difficult to face in the evening. Go to work, have as good a day as possible.
Those of us who stay or work from home need to do the same thing, but it must be repeated after each meal. Why? Because the more chaos already in a room, the easier it is to be lazy. Suck it up and put it away. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the house is a wreck. Get into the habit of picking up after yourself throughout the day. If you have children, it takes more effort -but seriously, what doesn’t when there are mulitple children involved?- As soon as they are steady on their feet, it’s time for them to put their cups, bowls, and plates in or by the sink. It’s not cruel to expect a person to clean up after themselves. Yes, I know it’s a pain in your butt, it’s just another one of those less fun parenting moments.
It will get easier.
Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
You are so right Heather. If I don't pick up after myself ( and my one-year-old) as I go during the day, my work productivity goes straight down the tubes. Clutter makes me lazy. Clutter makes me feel like watching a sappy Lifetime afternoon movie during the baby's nap.
Funny, when I first started working on LCD from home I thought I would have a cleaner house with less effort since I'm here all the time. But I've noticed that for me it's the opposite. I'm here all the time and have more opportunities to make it a mess! I've got to stay on top of it!
if you want to keep your junk out of dumps, and actually give your old stuff to good use. clean up at the same time. I offer a website called http://www.freecycle.org
they offer several location based email lists covering just about all the cities you live in, if there isnt one there, start one, they offer the rules, club bylaws, whatever you need . including a place to host your mailing list suggestions.
the point is, you GIVE away things that are broken, unusable, don't want. dont' care about. quickly. without throwing it in the garbage just because it's "faster" doesnt mean it's good for the enviroment to chuck it.
Just be aware, pets and other things (like babies) are not allowed to be posted to be given away for obvious reasons.
Absolutely. I am a huge fan of using Freecycle. We're lucky that our dump has a swap shed. We take a lot of things that are useless to us, but could be salvaged for parts and leave them there. It's like freecycle without the waiting or potential weirdo interaction. 🙂
I am in loveeee with Freecycle. I think everyone ought to be hooked up with their local branch. A website designed to keep our landfill free of things that can be "rehomed" is sheer genious!________________________
What a wonderful post to come back to….(I know y'all have missed me!)
Clutter, clutter, clutter. My husband says to leave it and just clean once at the end of the day, but I refuse to even walk outside my front door unless it is all PUT AWAY. There is nothing worse than coming home to a messy house. Tough love in my house, these days. If you bring your junk out of your room and then forget to take it back….you may very well lose a weekend priviledge. Becca doesn't play.
(By the way…I've missed you guys. Life has been interfering with my surfing. Dang it)
Thank you for the reminder! I have just added even more people to my home so it's going to become even more important that we all pick up after ourselves!
It is always good to keep your home clean.Because a clean home always give something to you to cheer about.