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I need help in the cleaning department
I am the first to admit I am not a neatnick but I need help cleaning. My small apartment gets messy really fast, it almost feels like the apartment explodes during the time I'm at work. When wake up on my first day off I find clothes are strewn all over the apartment, dishes are stacked up on the coffee table and in the kitchen, and TV dinner trays, drink cans, and food wrappers are everywhere. I like to wait to do the laundry and dishes until the weekend when the electricity rates are lower. But when I actually do get around to cleaning up the rest of the apartment I get so overwhelmed I wind up stopping part of the way through swearing I'll finish it later which never really happens.
Does anyone have any tips to help me? I feel like I'm failing in one of my duties as a wife by not being able to keep a clean home for my husband. I'm good with every thing else but cleaning is definately not my forte.
Re: I need help in the cleaning department
My Planning Bio
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You said, "I like to wait to do the laundry and dishes until the weekend when the electricity rates are lower." I didn't know the electricity rates varied throughout the week.....
The electric company we have has lower rates after 9pm - 9am M-F and then all day Saturday and Sunday. I work evenings so I can't run the machines then, I have to wait for the weekend. If I do laundry during the week, it's only one load, and only if absolutely neccisarry. (ie: Hubby is out of work uniforms, or I'm out of underwear)
IMO, forget about the electricity rates, how much cheaper could it really be? Make sure to throw you clothes in a hamper/basket when you take them off. When you get off the couch, put your trash in the trash, and your dishes in the dishwasher. What your describing should take you less than 5 minutes per day to keep clean. The only time we have dirty dishes out is if they were dirtied after I started the dishwasher and before the cycle finished. As soon as I'm done with a plate, blow, glass, etc it goes in the dishwasher, it's no harder to put it in there than it is to put it in the sink. It's no harder to put your clothes in a basket than on the floor (if you generally take your clothes off on the side of your bed for example because you're getting into bed, there's no law that you can't have a basket right there.
Every night before bed (with the super rare occasion), I straighten up our entire main level (2-story). I make sure there are no dirty dishes out, make sure all of the toys are put away, fold up the blanket and put it away if I got it out, wipe down the counters, put dirty clothes in the hamper (usually the twins get undressed and put in PJ's downstairs and we have an extra hamper in our laundry room off our kitchen), make sure all of the diapers got thrown out, etc. I can't function well when the house is messy (well except for our upstairs, but that's our dirty little secret), I feel very jittery and anxious mentally, but if I don't get the place clean every night before bed then it gets out of hand and hard to keep up with. My cleaning is very all or nothing, DH actually got quite p!ssed at me last Sunday because we were running late for church but I refused to leave until I picked up from breakfast because if I leave a mess it gets out of hand 10X easier.
My advice is:
1. Spend 15 minutes at the end of the day picking up and straightening up.
2. Clean 1-2 rooms a day (depending on size).
3. Put a load of clothes in the washer before bed and then into the dryer. You should be able to get a load done before bed and after 9 pm.
I think you need to adopt new habits and/or change the ones you have. I suggest not making all the changes at once, unless you think you can handle it. Being a neat freak, and living with an ex... whose place looked exactly the way you described yours..
When I get undressed I put things back where they belong - hang up towels to dry, I put dirty clothes in the laudry basket, I fold things when they need to be done and put them away as soon as they are washed. We have a dishwasher, so things get put in there immediately. Prior to having a dishwasher, everything was washed the evening prior. Growing up, my mother cleaned the bathroom daily. Granted, it was not a massive cleaning - sink, toilet, counters, mirrors, but it was done daily and only took ten minutes.
Check out www.flylady.net!! She's on facebook too. She helps you get into a daily routine. It's super easy and in the course of a few months I'm finding that I have a cleaner home AND more time! Each week you focus on a different area of the house. This week it's the kitchen. Today's mission is to wipe down the cabinets.
But you should take a look at the Beginner BabySteps spot. One new thing each day.