Common Sense Living

I was reminded today why I don’t clean other people’s houses anymore.

I went over to help Mary’s husband regain control of the house. It is almost 2 years since Mary died of a stroke at age 47. Living in the house is a man and 2 almost grown sons. They all work on cars. Does that give you a hint of what the house looks like?

Last time I was there I did the family room and the living room. Today’s mission was the kitchen – and it was a project I dreaded, let me tell you.

Now if it was my house that had somehow gotten this bad, I would tackle a little at a time – like I’ve taught you in Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak. One night maybe the upper cabinets after getting the dishes done. The next night, maybe the stove. The next night, the counters – cleaning under and behind everything. One night the wall above the stove. And eventually it would all be done without killing myself.

If I was still cleaning houses and it was a client, most of the time I would still use a similar strategy – doing a little extra on each trip. Or if they wanted it all done right now, they would pay dearly for a day of back breaking work.

We’re talking grease drips on the walls and cabinets, grimy hand prints, burned on stuff on the stove,  and how do you get tomato sauce inside where the water comes out of the fridge?  I spent 4 hours and didn’t finish it all.

All I heard was “I don’t have the time”

No one has the time once it gets like that. The whole secret is to not let it get like that.

Wipe up stuff before it dries up. And certainly wipe stuff off the stove before you turn the burner on again and burn the gunk on there practically permanently.

We’ll see if he takes my advice.

The living room and family room didn’t look terrible. They hadn’t been cleaned, but at least there wasn’t ‘stuff’ all over. Some improvement anyway…

The thing I find surprising is that when I’m there cleaning, the boys actually start picking up their stuff and doing their laundry. Maybe there’s hope for this household after all.

And he bought Boston Market for dinner. Not bad. It can be pretty hard having a healthy eater over for dinner

The animals are fed, brushed, petted, entertained, and walked. We did the 2 poop – opps, I mean 2 mile walk tonight. It was beautiful out.

And I got the August edition up at Rebel With a Fork this morning.

It’s been a full day. I’m off to clean myself and get some well deserved sleep.

I just hope he doesn’t ask me to ‘help’ with the bathroom…

I was wasting some time tonight visiting some of my favorite blogs. My form of relaxing I guess.

But there is one thing I have to do before I can go to bed.

Since most of you own Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak – I thought I’d have a little fun with you tonight.

What is my cardinal rule for keeping the house clean? The one thing I must do before I can go to bed, no matter how tired I am?

The first person to answer this correctly in the comments will win a lifetime subscription to RebelWithaFork.

(this contest is not open to relatives;))

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Oh-oh. The weather’s turning fast!

There’s a few things you’d better tend to fast!

Cleaning out the gutters

Washing the Windows – if you’re short on time, try the shortcut >>>

Winterizing gardens

Cleaning up leaves

Re-seeding the lawn

I like to get the carpets cleaned before closing up the house, but doesn’t look like that’s going to happen this year! If you own Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak – you got the carpet cleaning ebook with it.

And some of you are thinking about baking cookies! Oh my… I’ve already had a few requests for the potato chip cookie recipe >>>

I’m guessing we’d better get the piers out of the water unless we want to do it in snowsuits! I hope they’re going to do it before it gets too much colder

You know how Murphy’s Law works. Maybe if we get all this work done – it won’t get cold?

I’m not ready, are you?

Oh well, try not to work too hard this weekend!

Well, the week from hell is over. How did I do?

Not as well as I would have liked, but I did OK. In the end I worked about 50 hours. The weather was depressing for the most part, a friend died, and this was the week the cats and the dog decided to start shedding. And my daughter had an attitude. (don’t think your mood doesn’t reflect around you!)

The dusting and vacuuming are not done. Not terrible. The floors were the biggest casualty. They are terrible!

I didn’t get as much done on the new site as I would have liked. I’m learning new software, and I’ve run into an obstacle that I haven’t figured out yet. Frustrating, but not devasting. (OK fine, I was reduced to tears last night..)

This dog is a pain in my butt…

But where I’m the most disappointed in myself was diet. And it all came down to poor planning. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have the food in the house – I forgot to take something out of the freezer before I left, and the rest was downhill. Ate a lot of chinese food. At least there’s a little bit of vegetable – but not enough.

The saving grace was that I knew it was only temporary and I could get back on schedule in a few days. So I didn’t try to kill myself trying to be perfect. If this chaos was going to be permanent, I would have tweeked my routines to do a better job, but I knew I didn’t have to.

What got me through was mini goals. I would tackle things in 5 or 10 minute chunks. I mean, what’s it take to do laundry? You sort it and throw it in. You come back and hang stuff and throw the rest in the dryer. The worst part is putting it away, isn’t it? If you soak the dishes, washing them only takes a few minutes.

“Yeah Carole, and if you take something out of the freezer – dinner only takes a few minutes!” Yeah, yeah, I know….

Maybe I didn’t come out with the superwoman badge, but I did come out sane. Sometimes that’s the best we can do, isn’t it?

If your life feels like total chaos – remember these points -

Planning will get you through the chaos.

Don’t expect perfection

Little things do mean a lot. Tackle things in little chunks of time and set mini goals that you know you can accomplish.

You can do more than you think you can!

For a great system to manage house cleaning – from the ‘Clean Freak’ herself >>>

Learn the truth about how to stay naturally thin, healthy, and full of energy >>>

Watch the new site develop >>> (see Elise, I remembered to link it this time!)

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I really had every intention of not doing much today. The wind was blowing pretty hard, so it didn’t feel all that warm. Just get those plants in the ground and putter around. That was the plan.

But when I went downstairs, the new bookcases were patiently waiting for me. Real bookcases without a cardboard back! And I got ‘em for free. But they needed cleaning before getting them moved to their new home.

But when I went up stairs to get the Murphy’s, I figured I should do a quick swipe on the kitchen cabinets, since I had the bucket out anyway…

Then I cleaned the new bookcases.

Then moved the books out of the old white build ‘em yourself bookcases (with the cardboard back) that we’ve had since my daughter was little, and moved them out of the way.

Then moved the new bookcases into place and filled them. Well, not actually. They’re bigger than the old bookcases. So I went upstairs and got the Stephen King collection and brought it down. Now the bookcase upstairs is practically empty, but I can’t think anymore.

But then I noticed that the pub table hasn’t really been cleaned in a long time, and since I have the bucket out… and so it went.

So then I notice that the animals are finally starting to shed. The good news – that means winter is officially over. The bad news, spending an hour a day brushing them and vacuuming for the next few days.

My neighbor has been talking about having a garage sale, so I’ve been mentally marking stuff in my head. I have stuff that I’ve kept for notalgic reasons, but I think I’m ready to let go of more of it. Gotta call my sister.

So, that’s how I spend a day doing ‘nothing’.

It’s a sickness, wouldn’t you say?

Well, at least I didn’t go to the store, and I didn’t do much in the way of work. That counts for something, doesn’t it?

Boy, the weather better get warm soon …