Yup, that's right. S.L.O.B. 100% slob. It's in my nature and has always been there. It's officially becoming a real problem, though. DH and I are both tired of it, but with him being a neat freak at heart, it's bugging him even more. We're both lazy and our priorities include spending time together (ie. not cleaning), watching TV, going out with friends, traveling on weekends...basically anything but cleaning. We have grand intentions and will work really hard one weekend to get to the place we want the house to be at. The problem is, we won't finish. We'll leave one pile of things that need put away somewhere, a load of laundry in the dryer, a load of dishes in the dishwasher...something.
We have generated plans to deal with our clutter and bad habits in the past, but with things never getting all the way done, it's really difficult to implement those plans.
We just had a "Come to Jesus" talk about all of it. Of course, we discussed it for about 30 minutes before he had to leave to go to work. And of course I came away from the conversation feeling like it's all my fault. He really is neat at heart and will get motivated to clean much more often than I do. He also takes care of all of our outside work because of my allergies, so he feels like I don't do equal work inside while he's working outside. And I don't. I'll admit it. I'd rather do anything but clean and typically feel like there's something more important. And after our conversation I realized that the things I thought I did to even out the outside work just isn't enough. I go to the grocery (including meal planning) and take care of all of our money. But it isn't enough. I know that.
The point is, we need a plan of action. We're going to take some time off very soon so we can truly get EVERYTHING done and clean and start over. But once that's done, we need a real plan on keeping it that way. So help me, dear readers. Tell me what you do for all the areas of your house. I can tell you all the things we struggle with...it's going to be a long list.
The kitchen--keeping dishes done and getting the dishwasher emptied once they're washed
Dining room--where all our mail collects. We have a secretary desk that we planned on using for gathering some of the mail, but it eventually overflowed and I've got coupons and mail and all sorts of papers all over the dining room
Living room--dusting. How often? We do a *decent* job keeping the clutter in the living room in check. Most of the time.
Laundry--we currently divide laundry into light colors, dark colors, whites, and reds. It takes forever to get a full load of any of these. We do laundry every few weeks and end up doing 10 loads at a time. This can NOT happen once baby is here.
Bathrooms--I try to clean then whenever we're having company, but that's not nearly as often as I'm sure it should be. I guess that's just a matter of just doing it.
Yeah, we're slobs. And I'm now going to try to go do something about it. Problem is, I just don't know where to start--it's all very overwhelming. I guess the first thing I need to do is get off this computer! Hopefully next time I come back I have at least 10 comments with some tips--come, I have 35 subscribers via Google Reader and 7 followers...at least 10 of you have clean homes. I'm willing to bet that at least 40 of you have cleaner houses than ours. So please impart any knowledge you have. I'm begging!!!
We’re not going anywhere.
2 days ago
11 comments:
Here's what I do:
- I do laundry every weekend. If I don't have enough to make a full load, I'll just put it on the small setting. Then I make sure that by Sunday night, everything is washed, dried and put away. That way I don't worry about it during the week.
- I dust very infrequently :( Although, I don't have a lot I need to dust. So I'm no help there.
- I make sure when we get mail to go through it right away. Throw away junk, clip coupons and put those in my coupon holder. If there are bills I need to pay, I put them in my purse so they're with my checkbook.
- I try to cut coupons on Sunday night and just do it while watching tv (or I'll put them on the kitchen table and get them Monday night). Any dining coupons or bru or the like I get, I figure out if I'll need them and either toss or put in my purse.
- I've really tried to cut down on the amount of knick-knack type stuff I have. Then it doesn't look so unclean and cluttered and it doesn't need dusted :)
- I make sure every night before bed that dishes are in the dishwasher (and it's run if needed) and the countertops and kitchen table is wiped down.
HTH! Lots of luck!
I have the dusting issue too, I forget to do it until I see that it has built up. But, as soon as I see it, I make sure to dust. Usually during a tv ad.
When I make dinner at night I use that time to clean up the kitchen. I put the dishes away, wipe off the counters, and sweep the floor. I don't leave until its clean. The added bonus is that the 'make dinner dishes' don't need to get cleaned up.
I'm also bad at laundry. I'm interested to read tips for getting it put away, because we wash and leave it until R. puts it away.
Mail, R. just puts it on the table. I go thru about 3x's/week, toss the trash, and the rest goes into a file basket on the desk downstairs. I move it to the top of the stair to remind myself to take it down. I won't leave papers on the floor like I'd leave them on the table.
Don't be so hard on yourself. You do many things for your relationship and your house. They just aren't the things that are the daily drag stuff. Are you able to have a 'slob area'? I have a room in the house that I just throw things in, and it makes it a lot easier. We only go thru that 2-3x's/year.
I don't have much help because I'm not very good at it but I do laundry every weekend and make sure it's folded and put away as soon as the load is done.
You might want to look into the Fly lady site or book. I don't agree with everything she says but one of her principles is to set a timer for 15 minutes each night and concentrate on one area of the house so that you rotate through the house in a week. She also sets up a schedule so that you concetrat on one area of the house eaach week. Alot of what she says is kind of cheesey in my opinion but some of it does make sense. Now if only I could follow it myself! LOL Good luck!
Janet (jwindy)
I'm going to be eagerly watching this and stealing any tips because I could have written this post. DH is SO much neater than I am, and it freaks me out because I'm about to be a SAHM and responsible for all of the cleaning. Yikes! So I too need to figure something out soon. Good luck!
I tend to be lazy at heart and a bit of a slob, too; I have to force myself to do cleaning of any kind. But here's the "regime" I try to stick to:
I do my laundry every weekend. (My problem is folding it, which I HATE to do.)
When I cook dinner, I clean and do dishes and unload the dishwasher as I go.
I clean the bathroom and the floors and dust once a week -- on Friday nights, so it's out of the way and I don't have to worry about it on the weekends.
As far as the mail goes, I always stick the bills in my briefcase and bring them to work. I pay nearly everything online, and we have secure trash bins at work so I can dispose of the paper bills.
I hope this helps! Don't be so hard on yourself, though; you are definitely not alone in putting other priorities above cleaning! :o)
Okay I'm a neat freak, so here is what I do. Now take it for what it is. I don't have children but I do have LW living with me!
Laundry - I do it every Sat or Sun night. I have about 5 loads a week when I do it that way.
Dust - I dust once a month. I'll dust while we are watching TV or while he's away at a basketball game.
Dishes - I (we) do them after every meal. I have a dishwasher so those that can go in the dishwasher are placed in there after every meal. Those that require hand washing, are washed after every meal.
Mail - I read it as soon as I get home. I have two piles...one for his stuff, one for mine. We each have our own drawers in the desk, so I place it in the appropriate spot. Magazines go right in the magazine basket and coupons get put away in the coupon holder in the kitchen. I can't stand things laying around out of place!
Bathrooms - I HATE cleaning them. I clean all three every two weeks. Period. I try to clean them on Sunday night while I'm doing laundry.
I love organization and have thought about opening a business doing this for families! If you want free help sometime I'd love to help. HA That's how much I love it! I just spent this last weekened organizing my closets and all of my scraping and craft supplies!
And you are not a slob. You have different priorities. Nothing wrong with that!!!!
Once you have a plan and stick to it, cleaning will become a habit and it won't feel like a chore.
I used to think I was neat until I met my DH, and now my motivation is not driving him up the wall.
- We do a massive cleaning every Saturday morning. Dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, fridge, all the stuff that doesn't get hit daily.
- Dishes are done every night after dinner, kitchen is wiped down. Usually, DH does this while I pack lunches for the next day. In the morning, I will finish loading dishes, and start the dishwasher before I leave for work. Unload when I get home.
- Laundry is done once a week, typically on Sunday evening. We only separate to light and dark. I fold the clothes when they come out of the dryer, typically in front of the tv.
- Ironing is done on Monday night. Again, usually in front of the tv.
- Mail is read when I get home from work, coupons clipped, sorted into a pile for immediate action, or put into a basket to be filed. I'm bad about filing. DH does his a couple times a week. I might get to it once a month. Coupons go in an envelope that lives in my purse.
Hello fellow slob. Come to my house, you'll feel like you're a neatfreak compared to me!
Shouldn't we be getting a tummy shot soon????
The only reason I'm not a slob right now is because of moving!
((HUG))
We are slobs too, though definitely improving.
On laundry, maybe its horrible for the clothes or something but we have never had a problem with our method, which is not sorting, at all, unless we have a new bright color. We wash everything together on cold. If I think something else isn't getting as clean as it should (my whites look dingy), only then do I bother with a separate load to add bleach to. P.S. This also saves energy.
We don't dust, we don't keep up with the dishes, we declutter and vacuum usually only when people are coming (which granted, is once a week).
Yep.
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