Cleaning & Organizing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Hate cleaning...any suggestions on how to start?
Just married, we moved into his condo and we received a lot of stuff for our wedding.....that won't fit in the condo. The place is so cluttered, and I'm not sure where to begin. I have no problem with doing laundry and dishes...but I've never been really good at any type of heavy cleaning. I can see this is bothering DH......he works all day and I'm at home (I'm a ft graduate student). Anybody have any ideas on how to get started? Dusting on Monday? Laundry on Tuesday? Help!
Re: Hate cleaning...any suggestions on how to start?
I also hated cleaning so I made it more fun...my sister and I both hated it so we called each other on Saturdays (I lived out of state) and we talked and cleaned at the same time (love having a coordless phone). The best part was saying "hold on - cleaning the toilet and need to flush!". We use to have a set time to call each other. It made it go by so much faster.
Otherwise - good music helps! Put on your favorite music loud and go to it!
For bathrooms, I use to just keep cleaning supplies under the sink so I could quickly clean the sink, counter and mirror just on a bathroom visit (it only takes a few minutes). Once a week I would just get in the shower a few minutes early and clean the shower while I was in there - it's just faster!
Other than that...can't help. Now I work full time and have a little one so I pay someone to do the major cleaning.
As to cut the clutter, set a new goal each day and keep them small.
For instance, today I am going to clean off the kitchen table and keep it clean all next week.
As for laundry if you get a handle on how many loads you'll have each week, then you can go for 2 approaches, do it all one day or regularly tackle a small amount. In our house we find it best to do 1 load a day ( and only 1 load, if I get ambitious and start a second I rarely fold it)
1. iPod music!
2. If you don't have music, watch or have TV playing a show you like in the background.
3. I really imagine how clean everything will be!
congrats on getting married! We are moving this week, so I know exactly how you feel with the boxes everywhere....
I usually put something on TV that I've seen a hundred times (I like musicals, it's fun to whistle while you work LOL) and tell myself (like FLY lady) that it'll only be 15 minutes ("you can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes!"). By that time, I'm in the groove, and just keep going.
I usually first bring stuff to the rooms in which they belong, THEN hit each room individually (in this case, it will be boxing). It helps to look over your progress as you go! Set a deadline for yourself and tell yourself you can do it. Oh, and pick a nice reward for when it's all done
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I heard you say that your main concern is clutter. that is what you need to get a grip on.
WHere can you find places to stash those things? How about the top shelf in the bedroom closet. Clean out your closet of old clothes, shoes, and coats. Pile it to the ceiling, or on the floor using the space between the floor and bottom of your clothes. Can you put a shelf in the closet? It's amazing how much that can hold. Can some things go under the bed? If you put your sheets and blankets between your matress and box, you'll have more room in the linen closet. And someone said you really only need one to wear and one to spare for each bed. Can you install shelves over the washer/dryer? Can you combine some dresser drawers to empty one. For things that you know you are not going to use for a while, put them into a bigger box, cover it with a decorator cloth, and use it for an end table, in the LR or BR. Spare blankets can also be stored under the seat of the couch. Start thinking out-of-the-box and finding weird places to put those things.
I think that once the clutter is gone, you will find that keeping your house clean is not really the problem you think it is.
I'd focus on decluttering before I would focus too much on worrying about cleaning. And that is FlyLady's premise, too. You can't clean much with clutter.
Good Luck ! (*going to declutter*)