I suspect if all the computers were neatly socked (forgive me) away in a cabinet, they wouldn’t count as “clutter” for ScareyFaerie.
Ginger, this is my chore chart. It doesn’t have everything on it, just the necessary routines. For some reason I wrote the Monday laundry on there and not the rest of the laundry. And the Zone chart–I’m still working on that one. Also, we run the dishwasher every night when we go to bed; it is very noisy and I hate it, so that’s how I avoid hearing it.
Weekly Cleaning Chores
Monday:
Change sheets and towels.
Laundry: sheets, towels, whites.
Toss old magazines and junk mail.
Tuesday:
Mop.
Take out all trash.
Do paperwork/bills.
Wednesday:
Kitchen! Clean counters, fridge, stove, and sink.
Check grocery list.
Thursday:
Clean bathrooms.
Grocery shop.
Friday:
Clean dining room.
Clean off counter and put stuff away.
Clean out car.
Saturday:
Tidy everything!
Dust in all rooms.
Vacuum all rooms.
Take out recycling.
Spend 15 minutes a day in the zone. It is not much.
Zone 1: First few days of the month until the next Sunday: Entrance/front porch/dining room
Zone 2: First full week of the month:
Kitchen/ back porch/laundry room/pantry
Zone 3: Second full week of the month:
Main bathroom/extra bedroom/ kid’s rooms/ craft room
Zone 4: Third full week of the month:
Master bedroom/bath/closet
Zone 5: Last few days of the month from Monday until the 1st:
Living room/den/TV room
Today I have done…nothing. But there’s six hours left, yes? So I’ll triage…hmmm…okay, the entertainment cabinet. Videos, CD, actual vinyl albums!, two game systems no one ever plays, who knows what all. I think I’ll take the gleanings from there to work and leave them in the lunch room with a “Take me, I’m yours!” sign.
BTW, read a really good bit of advice today:
Break your ‘just for a moment’ habit. As in, don’t drop the clothes you take off onto the bedroom chair ‘just for a moment’, don’t put the incoming mail on your dining room table ‘just for a moment’, don’t leave your empty coffee cup in the living room ‘just for a moment.’
Everything in your house has a designated home (or it should, lotsa mine doesn’t, yet) and you know where it is. So what if you have to walk an extra 10 feet to get to it? Are you saying you can’t afford to burn a few extra calories, hmm?
All right Zsofia, it’s time to report back; how much laundry did you accomplish?
I am quite proud of myself, because today I actually managed to take a bunch of stuff to the Goodwill truck! I have had some stuff packed up for quite some time, but the truck is only there Tuesday-Thursday, and I always remembered about it on a weekend, or when I was rushing around. Today I had to go drop off some things at my mom’s, and realized that I had a perfect opportunity to do this job too. So it’s done: two giant bags of clothing, one Diaper Genie, one portable bassinet, and some very nice baby toys are GONE! Yay!
I also folded all the laundry, cleaned the glass lamp above the table, vacuumed the car, and cleared off the counter. After all, there wasn’t much else to do today.
SBS, I totally have that habit. I’ll have to work on that.
Oh, and ScaryFaerie, you might want to ask your guy how he feels about that idea; is he the type to freak out over you throwing stuff out? I’m thinking you might succeed in making him really mad–if it’s not just laziness (which it could be). Also, just curious, does he *really *have 19 consoles? Are there duplicates, or do they go back to Intellivision, or what, 'cause that’s a huge number!! My brother used to collect old consoles, and even he didn’t have that many.
Well, the day isn’t over yet. 
I folded three huge basketsfull and put two of them away. Stalled out on number 3, but I finished my book so now I’mna go put that one away too and do at least one more basket.
The amount of clothing still on top of the dryer is pretty mind-boggling. I’m down to layers of clothes I haven’t fit into in a year, including the winter stuff I’ve been missing. I’ve already gone through a bunch of summer tank tops. And I wonder why I never have any clothes to wear!
Ha! Got to the bottom of it. Left towels in there to deal with another day, but I’ve folded everything in the laundry room and put up most of it. Before I can put up the rest some shifting must occur - I’m putting my gym clothes (ha!) in the underbed storage I found full of clothes that don’t fit me anymore, which are going to cosignment and the attic so I can have more dresser space. Why do I have this many pajama pants?
Of course, I only went back at it because I was wasting time on the Dope and dangermom, er, reminded me not to. 
Is there a “blames it on others” hoarder?
I have tons of pictures (sadly, 1300km away) I’d like to triage, scan into the 'puter those I want to keep and then put the physical copies in albums, throw away the rest. But every time I throw anything away, Mom gets upset! I should shot her. Or myself 
I can triage books because most of my books are in English, therefore she’ll never want them. But if I throw away a cardigan that wasn’t in tatters I have to justify it. smack self And I’ve hated cardigans since I was at the Nuns! The only reason I have any is because Mom gives them to me. And it’s a present, so I can’t bring myself to wrap them right back up and take them to Caritas. With her in tow. Which I should.
I know, I’m a doormat hoarder.
There’s only one of me…
I love that show! It’s a cautionary tale to me; not so much the dirt (eww) but the clutter. I’m one who doesn’t see the stuff around me unless I make it a point to make myself look. That show gives me a reason to make myself look.
I do but you should make your own. Write down a list of all the things that need to be done in a week and then do up a chart. I use Excel but the Flylady folks have a book they keep their chore schedules in.
You’ll be the one to know the best day for you to do groceries and therefore the best day to clean the fridge, do menus, etc. You might want to make one day errand day - a day when you usually have to go someplace anyway. Another day can be desk work and that’s when you’ll write letters, do bills, etc.
Just be sure to balance it out so no one day is too laden with chores.
The other concept is ‘Zones’ where you do more thorough cleaning and you cycle all your room through Zones. While you might do a bathroom tidy every week, you choose one week of the month where you’ll spend an extra bit of time each day cleaning the corners, wiping the cobwebs off, etc. That’s straight out of Flylady, who’ll give you extra daily assignments plus tell you which zone you’re in this week. Or you could just draw up your own zone schedule. Flyady’s rotates so it’s not always the same week for the same room but you could do otherwise.
Yes, he really does! In no particular order:
Atari Jaguar
Atari 2600
ZX Spectrum
Sinclair ZX81
Commodore 64
Dreamcast
XBox
Wii
Megadrive
GameBoy
GameBoy Advance
PlayStation
PS2
PSP
Gamecube
Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo 64
Super Nintendo
Hi!
I know ‘Motivated Moms’ is a soppy sounding name but their lists are great, print out one a week and tick as you go. They include household tasks as well as things like clean out car, delete unused files from computer, go through one box of junk in the cellar, etc. See this thread, post 36 for more details. Works for me!
I’ve been hoarding old letters, concert programmes, restaurant receipts… the paper shredder is my new best friend :eek:
By the way, it’s true, a shiny sink is truly satisfying! Who’d’ve thunk it
My schedule is, loosely:
Monday- laundry
Tuesday- grocery shop, clean kitchen
Wednesday-baking
Thursday-vacuum and mop, clean bathroom
Friday-heavy tidying, more laundry
It doesn’t always work out, but it’s nice to have a sort of set schedule.
Oh, absolutely! Closely related to the “borderline poor person whose mother and grandmother each bring 36 rolls of toilet paper, new teatowels and a case of post-it notes every time they visit.”
I love them, I really do. And I appreciate all they do for me. But I can afford post-it notes, really I can.
My list certainly wasn’t complete or conclusive. Or authoritative. I just made it up as I went along based on some of my friends, watching Clean Sweep and myself!
As far as the list thing goes, I made a SHE box and, uh, haven’t opened it in a few weeks. But I did go through and make one. And the one week I actually planned the menu on Wednesday and went shopping on Thursday and only only only Thursday was a very nice week. I’mna try to do it again this week.
Last night I gave the kitchen an almost thorough cleaning. I say almost because I didn’t do the floor or wipe down the cabinets. Maybe I’ll do those tonight. My biggest problem during the week is going to the gym to take care of my “body clutter”, which cuts down on time for working on “home clutter”. But I really am doing better at keeping things done. Thanks, Fellow Former Slobs!
Today is kitchen day, and I have so far cleaned old food out of the fridge and washed one of the shelves (I’m doing one shelf a week; less intimidating!). Now I’m going to go shower, since I haven’t had a chance yet, and will do the rest when I get out.
It’s raining! Yay! We haven’t had a drop of rain since Christmas, so this is great. I hope we get more. I have all the windows open to let in the nice rain smell.
QD, that show is a great warning to me as well. This is what happens when you don’t clean or pick up! This could be me! And they’re often warnings to different groups–yesterday I watched one on YouTube where the family was very environmentally-minded, but had gone horribly wrong. She wanted to recycle, so she never threw anything away or got rid of anything. She didn’t want to use harsh chemicals, but never looked into green cleaning, and so just never cleaned. They were therefore living in an environmental hazard zone that had turned into its very own landfill. Not the green ideal!
Wow, Scary Faerie, I’m impressed. That’s very nearly every console ever made! You could institute something like what parents do to control toy clutter; put most of them away and rotate them out, so that you always have something fresh without buying more. (Hey, that was a whim, but it might work…)
I slacked on the shining part last week (still did the dishes and cleaned out the gunk trap, but didn’t dry the sink and shine it with Windex), and you’re so right! I just shined it again, and it does feel so much better.
I’ve maintained well this week, making the bed, loading the dishwasher, straightening the living room, and freshening the bathroom before leaving for work each morning. I also paid bills and have been keeping the checkbook balanced regularly - go me!
Well, I am rather pleased with myself. I got inspired in the kitchen, and did a good job on the stove (my most hated chore, though I need to reprogram myself about that, now that we have this great flat-topped stove that is easier to clean). The microwave has bothered me for some time, because it was grimy on the front and regular cleaning didn’t help–so today I used undiluted Simple Green on it and it looks much better. I used a Kim and Aggie trick I just learned for the inside; I had always microwaved a cup of water and then wiped it out with a sponge, but it’s better to microwave a wet cloth and then use that to wipe it out!
And, my greatest accomplishment was something I have to confess about first. I’ve always been scared of cleaning under sinks! I just hate the dank cave under the sink. So naturally ours was pretty grotty. And, I cleaned it, and it wasn’t so bad, and now it looks great! Yay me!
I just cleaned the counters in the usual way, but next week I should put bleach on them to get the grout, which will never come very clean. We’re starting to talk about actually replacing it–the sink needs replacing (it’s porcelain and has several large chips) and it’s tiled in, so maybe we should just get Corian or something when we do that instead of getting it retiled. I hate to think about the expense, but it wouldn’t be a full remodel or anything. Anyway for the moment we’re hanging on to the old setup; it will last another year or so.
Oh, and if you folks can stand yet another mention of How clean is your house: I really like the little tips they give on cleaning, like lemon juice for the shower door and baby oil on your soap holder so it’s easy to clean. But sometimes I am baffled by the British terminology. Has anyone got any idea what biological washing powder is? Sugar soap? I’m clueless.