Speriment

[radegund]

It turns out, right, that living in squalor is really not where I want to be.

But all our housekeeping mechanisms broke down in the onslaught of 2009 (the construction of the south wing) and the early part of 2010 (my vitamin B12 deficiency), and they're only just beginning to come back.

I still feel at sea. So I'm going to take a leaf out of ailbhe's

Comments

[rmc28]

How under control it feels depends entirely on how energetic Tony & I are: if we are tired or stressed or ill then it starts going downhill. Once a week the cleaner comes to clean the bathrooms & kitchen and run the vacuum cleaner around: this prods us to at least clear the floors and surfaces to allow this, and it keeps a basic level of hygiene going

[biascut]

Realising you don't want to live in squalor is a HUGE first step, I think - when you realise that you're tidying and cleaning because you want to live in a house which is tidy and clean, rather than because there is some external authority which will Disapprove of you if you don't. It doesn't make it entirely fun and games, but it helps a lot

[sorenr]

Personally I can honestly say that my flat looks like a tip. It looked all right when Denis arrived a week before the wedding, but then that week was spent being focused on the wedding, him, going away for a few days etc., and the flat started looking a bit ratty. Then came the wedding with a gazillion bottles of wine left over and quite a few presents (in spite of the gift list saying only "contributions to honeymoon"), so npw my flat looks like a cluttered wine storage because I've been down with a lurgy since before Denis left the country and I've just not had the energy.

Quite frankly, if I - a single person with a tiny flat - can feel this overwhelmed, I wonder how it might be for people with proper houses and kids... I am in awe of you guys!

[hfnuala]

We're still at the struggling out from being underwhelmed stage. Things that help

[merryhouse]

For a while I would start methodically in One Room! and work until that one was done; the idea being that all the stuff removed from that room would get carted around and eventually end up in the right place.

Eventually I realised that this was never going to work, and divided up tasks onto separate days (Tuesday sweep dining room and wash either porch or dining-room floor, Wednesday either clean inside windows or wipe out one kitchen cupboard, and so forth). Then if it didn't get done, well it waited till next time and I didn't worry too much.

I don't think I have everything on the list, but I haven't entirely stuck to it recently anyway. I still clean the bathroom and hoover upstairs on Fridays (usually). I don't have to spend the first twenty minutes after getting back from school on deciding what I ought to do, I can just get on and do it.