Housework Hell to Housework Happy

Welcome to everyone who has found me through the "Living the Creed Contest" over at "Making Love in the Kitchen". It's lovely to have you here. You've helped me to feel much less elusive. I hope you'll stop by again. 


It's now week three of this goofy little housework project I've set for myself. I suppose I should have a nifty title for this undertaking. "From Housework Hell to Housework Happy"? Hmmm. It has possibilities. Even after two weeks things are feeling a less hellish, but when I look around there's still quite a bit to do before happy is achieved. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle, hovering around "to". That's a good place to be, but "To" doesn't quite sum up what's happening. It's a bit too minimal for me anyway. I'll ponder this while I chip away at this week's chores. 


So the goals for this week were:

• Make the bed daily
• Wash breakfast dishes daily
• Wipe down the tub and tiles after each shower
• Clear the drain board each night

(When I see my goals listed like that they look so childish. Maybe I should call this project "Fortymumble Going on Five"!)


Once again, with Hubby's help, all goals were accomplished. Hooray! The morning chores are getting done, but I haven't quite developed a routine yet. As such, I'm avoiding giving myself anything new to do in the mornings. Instead, the goals for this week are:

• Continue with the tasks listed above.
• Wash any after-dinner dishes before bed. (For example, last night there were two beer glasses, a paring knife, a grapefruit knife and a mason jar hanging out sink-side at bedtime.)
• Check the menu plan for the next day and make sure any frozen ingredients get transferred to the fridge to thaw.

(That last one comes from my "Shop Your Freezer" project.  I came up with this goal when Friday's chili didn't get made until Saturday. Can you guess why? Don't know why I didn't think of defrosting my ingredients before it was too late. Sometimes the light bulb in my head is slow to go off. It must be a compact fluorescent bulb. "Dim Bulb Does Housework"?)


Post a comment below if you have a thought about what I should call my humble housework project. Oh! "The Humble Housework Project!" Maybe that's it. Unless you have a better idea, of course!

Small, Dancing Steps

Last week I set some modest goals for myself housework-wise. Today I'm proud to report that those tasks were completed every day last week. Woo hoo! Insert modest victory dance here...


My goals were to make my bed and wash my breakfast dishes, so they weren't all that difficult to accomplish. I had Hubby's help too. He leaves so early for work that trying to accomplish anything but the basics would require him to get up before he went to bed. He chipped in on his days off though, which made things easier for me. It makes me all warm and fuzzy to know that he's still got my back after all these years.


Overall I feel a little less overwhelmed by all the house-related stuff I've let slide over the years. Having accomplished something small each day, I feel a little less anxious about enjoying my leisure time. Could it be I'm a little more content?


I'm also finding it easier to take on other small tasks. Last week I started cleaning out the file cabinet, and I went through both our freezers and updated my inventory lists. (I keep a dry-erase board on each freezer. Each time I add or remove something I update the list. Or at least I try to. Obviously I hadn't been as diligent as I thought, as both lists needed updating. There were some forgotten, well-aged, almost unidentifiable things in the deepest, darkest recesses of both freezers.) 


I'm starting to see things I had stopped noticing. A few random, overused clothing items went into the trash. Other long-unworn items went into the donation box. I rediscovered a jacket my aunt gave me. It had been hiding in the coat closet downstairs. I had forgotten all about it. I've worn it twice now and have had compliments each time. Compliments increase my contentment, more confirmation that my wee project is working. 


On Saturday Hubby was waiting for me to get ready so we could head out to run errands. As I brushed my teeth I remembered an old, elastic headband in the drawer beside me. I don't know why I kept it. It had lost its sproing long ago and was of no use whatsoever. I figured I'd take a second and trash it before I forgot about it. A half an hour later, I had not only disposed of the offending headband, I had emptied the entire drawer, sorted all the stuff, tossed much of it (Because really, unless I'm going to take up lock-picking, do I need 37 bent hairpins?) and selected several items to donate. (In spite of my vow to wear more colour, I can't imagine ever wearing neon-orange scrunchies again.)


When Hubby came to see what I was doing I was vacuuming a wig's-worth of stray hair from the drawer before I put the remaining stuff back. Hubby calls this phenomenon "falling down the rabbit hole". I need to be aware of this tendency. Hubby may be patient when I wander into wonderland and lose track of time, but somehow I doubt my employer will be. 


With that in mind, I'm keeping this week's goals simple. I'm going to continue to make my bed and wash the breakfast dishes. In addition, I'm going to wipe down the tub and tiles after I shower. I already do this most mornings. I'm hoping stating it here will help me to do it more often.  I'm also going to clear the drain board before going to bed each night. Doing the breakfast dishes will be easier if I don't have to put away the dishes from the night before first. Please note that this doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to dry the dishes. I'm just going to put them away when they've air-dried. Don't want to overtax myself with all these goals. 

Today is the Day

The title of this post is inspired by the marvellous Meghan Telpner. She has recently shared her creed with her readers, and is challenging us to share how we are "Living the Creed". I don't know if I'll share this with her readers, but I'm comfortable sharing it with mine. Sort of. 


This post is very rough. I realize there are things won't be clear to anyone but me, and I'm sure there are mistakes. I'm a bit pressed for time, so I'm going to post anyway. I feel the need to get this out now.  Today is the day...


Once upon a time, back in the olden days when Brambles still existed, I wrote about duck eggs. I fretted about my inability to decide what to do with the eggs. Rose-Anne, from Life, Love and Food commented with excellent advice. In her comment she also mentioned a book. I immediately hopped over to my library's website and put my name on the wait-list for the book. (I'm a nerdy book-girl that way.) If it prompted such solid, useful advice, I wanted to read it too.   


It took months, but eventually I received a copy of Gretchen Ruben's "The Happiness Project". I read the book with great excitement. There was so much I could apply to my life. The first chapter alone confirmed things I already knew, but wasn't necessarily practising.  I was drawn to the connections between exercise, organization, procrastination and happiness. If I could work on those things, I too could amplify my happiness. I was stoked.


Coincidentally, or possibly conveniently, the book arrived just prior to Hubby going out of town for a week. I was sure this was the perfect opportunity to get my stuff organized. I had visions of surprising him with all I accomplished in his absence. (Note that I had no intention of organizing his stuff. That route leads to madness, and divorce court. I'm always shocked when friends tell me that they cleaned out their Hubby's closet. That just seems wrong.) 


I made a list of all the things I was going to do.  High on my list of priorities was dealing with all the recipes I had clipped, printed and copied. I had a binder where I had been storing them, but it was full to bursting. There were several months worth of collected recipes in a messy stack on my kitchen counter. 


I chose to start with this project as it was something I could do while I watched chick-flicks, and it allowed me to make a trip to the stationery store. I *heart* shopping for stationery. (All part of the nerdy book-girl thing.)  I came home with binders and binder dividers and plastic page protectors. I was so going to organize the heck out of my recipes. 


The recipes did get organized, in spite of the fact that I had completely underestimated how many I had. It required a second trip to the stationery store for further supplies in spite of my culling old recipes as I went. My one-evening project spread out though the week. With my on-call job, and my attempts to keep up with the few household chores I do regularly, this was the only project that was crossed off the list. I was completely discouraged. 


In spite of this, I still found the book intriguing. I ordered it from the library again and again, but I just couldn't motivate myself to act. Small attempts would be made, some with lasting results, but overall not much got accomplished. I found ways to excuse myself. Ms. Rubin lives in a New York City apartment. I'm assuming it's much smaller than my small-town house. She isn't likely to have yard work, and on and on and on. There was always some "good reason" why I couldn't make this work. 


But I know I can. In fact, I was able to keep up with the basics for several weeks late last year when there was a steady stream of painters and heat-pump installers and energy advisers through the house. It felt so good to get up and get things accomplished before workers started arriving. Somehow, I keep meaning to get back to that routine, and that feeling...


Today is the day that I do it. I'm starting small. This is a pathetic admission, but I rarely make my bed or wash the breakfast dishes. Silly, small things I know, but I feel better when they are done, yet most mornings I choose not to do them.  Today they are done. My goal is to do them every morning this week, then add something new next week. I think this is the only way I can manage without feeling overwhelmed and giving up.  My plan is to organize my household chores and routines then move on to larger projects. It's all a part of a bigger picture to create conditions that are inviting to contentment. 


I'll report back occasionally and let you know how it's going. I hope you put up with me as I muddle through this. It can't always be balls and pineapple p*nis pops, though one can dream...




* Yes, sadly, Brambles is gone. It closed well over a year ago, and I have yet to write about it here.  I'm still in denial.