One is that I've never really had the house thoroughly neat and clean, even when my late wife and I moved in. Soon after we moved in her health began to decline significantly, and house maintenance was not my top priority.
The second is that I have bad habits with respect to the cyclical housecleaning chores. If I do get one area under control it rapidly fills with clutter, and I don't take care of the dusting, cleanup of spills, and other constant attacks on the orderliness of the house.
Also, I can divide the solutions into a number of categories, all of which need attention, but different kinds of attention:
- Enormous tasks. Those include cleaning out the back room and basement, which contain twenty years of accumulated junk (from my previous house and this one)
- Big one day tasks. Mopping the floor, cleaning the carpets and other things which require rearrangement.
- Daunting but relatively small tasks. Cleaning the refrigerator and stove, sorting through and providing some method to my clothes.
- Short term cyclical tasks. Sweeping, counter wipe down, policing for clutter, dusting.
- Correction of bad habits. This includes stopping myself from throwing mail on the futon, washing dishes immediately after use, cleaning and or removing my shoes when I enter the house ... and others too numerous to mention.
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2 comments:
Larry, if someone hasn't already recommended it, you should check out Fly Lady at http://flylady.com. They take a cyclical approach to housecleaning, eventually you rotate through the whole house. Be warned that their primary target is the at-home mom or wife, if you sign up for their email reminders you'll get nudges to do the stuff during the day when I am (and I suspect you are as well) at work. Still it's a good process I think.
Hi hofo. I'll give it a look. If I like it I'll put the link on my blogroll, even if I don't use their system.
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