Seriously. I just can’t do it. I’ve been in the doldrums (don’t want to get into that…) for the last few days and my apartment has gone straight to hell.
I need to do laundry. Kitchen is a disaster. Bathroom is yuck. Living room coffee table is piled with junk. HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP!
I get a little motivated…and then just can’t seem to do it.
help.
This is pretty unlike me and I know it’s cause I’ve been down. But I also know I’ll feel better when it’s clean. So please help me out. (I’ll do better with distraction, actually.) What small task should I start with first? Someone name a task (keep 'em small, folks - I’m bummed out here) and I’ll go do that one thing…and then come back and let you know I did it…and then I’ll try another.
Bedroom:
Make bed (new sheets), fold blankets, pick up clothes, clean off desk, put shoes in closet, vacuum
Living room:
dust, vacuum, put away books, general cleaning up stuff
Kitchen:
Put away dishes, wash some more, scrub counter tops, clean floor, clean sink, throw away some food in the fridge and take out massive amounts of trash.
Hm. I sort of feel better having written all that out. Christ, it sucks being blue. Thanks for the responses, it is helping to not feel so damn isolated today.
I’m a badass muthah in the kitchen. Leave it to me. I love a clean kitchen. Hmmmmmm, yes I do ! Gimme some U2 ( I just got a CD- 1980-1990, love it !) and some proper cleaning supplies and I am set to rock.
You, do the bathroom. Some things that a Doper just shouldn’t know about other Dopers
I just want to say… I feel for ya. My g/f and I had to clean our apartment because our managers were coming to due a safety inspection of all the apartments in our building.
Me and the SO are not great house keepers… (Nor had we actually, “unpacked!” all of our boxes or anything in the time we had been there.) So to say our place was a pit is an understatement. It was a genuine hellhole.
In 4 days (yes 4 days and thats pretty constant work) we had it SPOTLESS!
My best suggestion is to just get started on something, anything. If laundry or dishes are you least favorite don’t start there. (Although put laundry near the top because you can do a lot of other stuff while laundry is washing/drying) When you look at it (at least this is what happened to us) its so overwhelming you just feel helpless about the whole thing. But start doing something, and allow yourself to feel some accomplishment for getting the area clean… once you get that done… you’ll probably find that you actually desire to do more… before long you’re a (wo?)man on a mission.
Given this… start with something thats not necessarily the easiest… but can allow you to feel like you’ve done something. From your list, I’d say that bedroom stuff is usually good about that kind of thing. (So is the bathroom stuff) So I’d start there.
Keep in mind as well that it can look worse before it gets better… but usually if you have a plan thats just appearance
Thank you for the responses. I feel better already.
You hit the nail on the head, Screeme. It feels overwhelming. And that alone makes me get down. I think I’ll take your advice and start off with some bedroom and bathroom stuff.
Okay! My goal before posting next is to:
Make the bed with some clean sheets.
Shake the rugs in the bathroom and clean the tub.
Back after some baby steps.
Thank you again, guys. This is the first time I’ve ever posted about feeling crappy and needing some help and I’ve never really understood how people feel when they post about being down (or how much it means to have folks rally behind them) but I’m learning. Thank you again.
Do your bedroom next… That way, all of your dirty clothes/bedding can go right in with the wash to be sorted… nothing worse then thinking you’ve made some major laundry progress just to open the bedroom door and find 3 more loads…
besides, once you get all the laundry out, the bedroom is usually remarkable easy to finish cleaning…
(great for the desperately needed feeling of accomplishment)
Im just gonna hang out in here until I find the motivation to clean my own little pit of an apartment.
God, its awful. And I start on it… then I mess it up again. Rawr. Of course, Im at work today… so I dont really have to deal with it for another 7 1/2 hours or so. But god… I should really do something about it. Especially since I’m planning on moving soon.
Blah.
Here’s a quick job that may make you feel a little better:
Determine which room is bothering you the most. Get a trash bag, and turn on one of your favorite songs. Go around the room and pick up all the obvious trash-- old newspapers, magazines (if you haven’t read them within a week or so of getting them, you probably never will), outdated phone books, junk mail, et al, and toss it in your bag. Work your way around the room as fast as you can. When your song is done, stop. Grab a snack or a cigarette, and pat yourself on the back for getting rid of a bunch of surface clutter.
[sub]I lost my dial-up connection for a while and couldn’t post this earlier. Sounds like you’re making good progress. Hang in there.[/sub]
Cleaned the bathroom, including scrubbing the floor. Made two notes to self:
Clean the tub drain more often so it doesn’t look like a Tribble is hiding in there.
Stand closer to the toilet.
Did a another load of laundry
Next:
Fold laundry
Choose three days worth of work clothes, hang up and iron later.
Put away CDs - DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER. DO NOT LOSE 1/2 HOUR CHOOSING MUSIC TO LISTEN TO.
Sweep floors. Hardwood floors are nice. Having a dog is nice. Having dog hair dust bunnies three inches tall that blow all over the house when I open the front door isn’t cool.
I washed more dishes. I emptied the dishwasher. (Who even knew I owned this many dishes?) Stuck in a load of laundry, folded a load. Lessee…I cleaned the tub, mirror, and counter top in the bathroom…straightened up some books. Smoked. Opened the windows to get some fresh air in here.
I’m going to try to get some more done now. Thanks again, everyone. I seriously doubt I would have done all this if you guys hadn’t given me some nudges. Being accountable to someone else (to at least be honest about what I’ve done) was enough to get my ass in gear.
Gimme some U2 ( I just got a CD- 1980-1990, love it !) and some proper cleaning supplies and I am set to rock.