New Kitchen, New Home

I’m excited by my new kitchen.  I love that everything has a place and that all of my kitchen things are in the kitchen.  While going downstairs to get the food processor wasn’t hard, it was an added step that made using it less likely.   I like that that the kitchen has a style and looks completed.  Granted there are still final touches, but it’s usable and benefiting my life.

I’m eager to have the rest of the house match.   There is so much work to do.  Some of it I can’t do because it involves construction skills that I don’t have.   It’s trying to motivate myself to do the little projects or take a bite out of a big project even though I might not see immediate results.

I want to remove the clutter and decorate and have rooms for specific purposes.   Cleaning and organizing are not my strong suit.   It may be that I will never love doing it.  It may be that I need to invest more time and energy into it until I can fully appreciate it’s value.

 

Pre-Vacation Stress

I am approaching the vacation.   While I am very excited for the trip, I’m finding that my stress level has increased.  I’m trying to get work related tasks done for both this week and next.  I am also trying to run errands, pack, and prepare for the trip.   I would also like to have the house be clean so that I don’t have to come home tired to a messy house. 

Along with all of these tasks,  I want to keep up with normal priorities: get sleep, play with kids, help kids with reading/learning, run, exercise, and relax. 

I was doing okay with everything until today then today I became overwhelmed.  Well I’m off to wind down and head to bed.  Maybe find something quick to wipe or tidy. 

Maybe all of this is made to make me appreciate the vacation even more!  One moment at a time.

Flossing

I learned something about my life through flossing.   I am flossing more.  Honestly, it’s not that flossing is my highest priority goal.  I want to do it more, but there are plenty of other goals that are more important to me.

The reason it is happening more is for a couple of reasons.

• I am tracking it using a habit tracking app.  Every night I’m clicking whether or not I flossed.  It acts as a reminder for me to do it and also shows me how consistently (or not)  I have been doing it.

 

• The other part is that it is something I can squeeze in right before bed because it is short and easy.  It almost takes more time to debate doing it than just to do it.

I’m hoping I can apply some of these ideas to some of my cleaning goals to make it more consistent.

Cleaning Emotions

I find that different emotions and energy levels have different affects on my cleaning.  I tend to clean the worst when I am sad or tired.  When I am sad, I tend to curl in and be lazy.

I clean the best when I am happy or angry.   Happy makes sense to me.  When I’m mad,  I also tend to get a decent amount of cleaning done.  I’m not sure exactly why.   I tend to just have excess energy and want to funnel it towards something.  I think it takes the bouncing thoughts and heat and makes it something simple.  It was dirty now it’s clean.   I don’t tend to get mad that often.  Maybe I should. 

Well off to get ready for bed.  It’s been a LONG weird day.

Slacking off

I have been slacking off on house work lately.   I can’t blame it on time, lack of support, or the kids.   I’ve been lazy.  There were opportunities when it wouldn’t have taken that much longer to quickly get something done before relaxing or when I could have done something while I was talking with my husband. 

Here’s to trying to get back on track.  I need to step up my game with exercise and cleaning.  There is always an excuse if I want to find it.  Happy cleaning!

Random Cleaning

I’ve had a bunch of family come to visit me this month.   It was nice in so many ways.  Cleaning wise it is nice because it’s motivation to clean, but there isn’t the pressure of normal house guests.  I know my family will love me regardless and will not be shocked no matter what the current state of my house is.

I decided to do some random cleaning.  Cleaning what inspired me—-not some magical order.  Usually I clean the kitchen and surfaces first or start with the biggest mess that is visible when I walk in the front door.  Today I did the tasks that seemed like fun or the  messes that were bugging me the most.  The only rule was that I TRIED to finish one task before going to the next.

Here it is:

• deep clean one section of kitchen counter
• sweep and scrub the floor
• process tomatoes and peppers
• cook Italian sausage
• scrubbed marks off the wall

Well I’m off to finish folding socks and drink my tea.

My Cleaning Style

So here is what I learned so far about my cleaning habits:

• I clean more on the weekends than weekdays
• I clean better when there is music on, but worse when tv is done
• I clean the most when there is a social motivator (People are coming!!!)
• I do best when I complete one type of tasks (all the windows, all the floors, etc)
• I enjoy cleaning more when I have the house to myself and a clear deadline

Quick Clean

I am learning how to appreciate and complete the “quick clean”.  How to make the house presentable (not spotless) in a short period of time.  I will embark on that in a little bit.  I try to start at my front door and scan for the biggest messes.  I clean those up and then scan again.

Usually these involve tidying the foyer and front room.  Followed by the kitchen counter and family room.  It helps me avoid tidying up a drawer and then getting mad when I run out of time to clean up some glaring mess.   The whole floor might not get swept, but the worst of it under the kitchen table would likely get done.

I still feel like I am on a roller coaster of messy/clean/messy/clean, but that’s an improvement from very messy/less messy/very messy/less messy.  It’s all relative.

Vacuuming & Goals for the Week.

I am beginning to appreciate vacuuming.  I like seeing the tiny crumbs and fluff disappear. I like the physical feel of pushing the vacuum and that it can be done fairly quickly.

The main reason that I value it is because it forces me to deal with the clutter on the floor.  It motivates me and sometimes the kids to pick up the toys.  Who knows how many of those little Squinkies live in the vacuum.

Goals for the weekend

• Get groceries
• Vacuum (picked up to be vacuumed)
• Go to gym
• Report for work 80% done
• Plan Tuesday (work)
• Quick clean bathroom
• Get outside

That should be enough, but achievable for 2 days.  There should still be some flexibility to tackle other projects or find some time to relax.

Kids and cleaning

It was fun to see my daughter excited for cleaning.  She was excited to have the “Big Kid” come over and play with her.  The babysitter likely wouldn’t  have cared if the house was clean or dirty or sparkling, but it was a good excuse to get the housework done.   There was a time element of getting it done before she came at 10:30.  

My daughter was so excited to vacuum. She picked up toys and put the chairs on the sofa and got everything ready.  It made cleaning go so much quicker and more fun.  I’ll have to go out more often.   I get an afternoon with adults and help cleaning.