07 February 2007
Clutter
Today's Oprah was about de-cluttering your home. I am proud to say that I did the majority of my de-cluttering in the summer of 2005.
In late 2003 I moved from an apartment to a house. My apartment was a huge mess, and I moved the mess to the house. I felt an obligation to my housemate to keep the shared spaces clean, but my two rooms were filled with junk. I was embarrassed to open the doors to them.
I'm not sure why, but in the summer of 2005 I got the cleaning bug. I guess I was just tired of the mess! Every day I would come home from work and start cleaning. I went through every box, every closet, every shelf, and every pile. I threw out bags and bags of garbage. On my days off I would clean almost continually. After less than two weeks, I was done. Exhausted, but done. I had a floor again -- and I vacuumed it!
That winter I moved back to an apartment. Moving was so much easier that time! I did some more de-cluttering as I packed, and got rid of even more.
This last fall I realized I was getting messy again. I looked around my apartment and saw piles of stuff on the floor and tables. I saw a dirty bathroom and a floor that needed to be vacuumed.
The very thought of cleaning up -- even though it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before the summer of 2005 clean-up -- overwhelmed me. I would tell myself that I would clean it up on one of my days off, but I could never bring myself to do it.
On October 11, I came up with a plan. I would clean one thing every day. Just one thing. It could be big; it could be small. I could wash the kitchen sink or re-arrange a bookshelf. It didn't matter what I did, as long as I cleaned something.
Guess what? It worked! I'm no long embarrassed when someone comes into my home. It's not spotless, but it's good. I think it's worked because I don't feel like the cleaning is a burden. I don't feel guilty for "only" cleaning my toilet one day. When I see something that needs to be cleaned or tidied, I don't feel guilty for not cleaning it right then, I just file it away as a project for the near future.
To sum up, yay me!
The Oprah show did re-inspire me, though. I'm going to go through my desk organizer right now! I have lots of pens and pencils that I never use. I tossed the ones that didn't work back in 2005, but I have lots that I never use -- why am I keeping them??
So, here's my de-cluttering method: Clean one thing every day.
In late 2003 I moved from an apartment to a house. My apartment was a huge mess, and I moved the mess to the house. I felt an obligation to my housemate to keep the shared spaces clean, but my two rooms were filled with junk. I was embarrassed to open the doors to them.
I'm not sure why, but in the summer of 2005 I got the cleaning bug. I guess I was just tired of the mess! Every day I would come home from work and start cleaning. I went through every box, every closet, every shelf, and every pile. I threw out bags and bags of garbage. On my days off I would clean almost continually. After less than two weeks, I was done. Exhausted, but done. I had a floor again -- and I vacuumed it!
That winter I moved back to an apartment. Moving was so much easier that time! I did some more de-cluttering as I packed, and got rid of even more.
This last fall I realized I was getting messy again. I looked around my apartment and saw piles of stuff on the floor and tables. I saw a dirty bathroom and a floor that needed to be vacuumed.
The very thought of cleaning up -- even though it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before the summer of 2005 clean-up -- overwhelmed me. I would tell myself that I would clean it up on one of my days off, but I could never bring myself to do it.
On October 11, I came up with a plan. I would clean one thing every day. Just one thing. It could be big; it could be small. I could wash the kitchen sink or re-arrange a bookshelf. It didn't matter what I did, as long as I cleaned something.
Guess what? It worked! I'm no long embarrassed when someone comes into my home. It's not spotless, but it's good. I think it's worked because I don't feel like the cleaning is a burden. I don't feel guilty for "only" cleaning my toilet one day. When I see something that needs to be cleaned or tidied, I don't feel guilty for not cleaning it right then, I just file it away as a project for the near future.
To sum up, yay me!
The Oprah show did re-inspire me, though. I'm going to go through my desk organizer right now! I have lots of pens and pencils that I never use. I tossed the ones that didn't work back in 2005, but I have lots that I never use -- why am I keeping them??
So, here's my de-cluttering method: Clean one thing every day.
Labels: random awesomeness
# posted by mamurd @ 5:07 PM 
