Maybe Not?
The problem with having all my laundry done -- apparently -- is that it's given me new confidence in my homemaking skills.
Not good.
I mean, managing to call a service so that my laundry is done and delivered door-to-door should NOT make me think that I am a domestic goddess. And yet.
It is 3:15 on Sunday and I am writing this from the eye of the storm.
Around 1 p.m. I decided that I would use this plans-free Sunday afternoon to, oh, I dunno, rearrange my entire apartment.
I am not entirely sure why, but I just started. And now, 2 hours later, everything is in a weird new place and I'm pretty sure I don't like it but I'm not the kind of person who will just go ahead and put everything back since I've set off on this path and am determined to finish it.
So yeah. I mean, I finally figured out (part of No Joy In '06) that the main reason* my apartment is messy as often as it is is becuase it is messy at its core. Meaning if all my closets and cabinets are full and disorganized, I have nowhere to put anything I use.
Perhaps not a brilliant deduction, but a correct one nonetheless. Thus, I am reorganizing my closets and cabinets.
Um. How this translates into me moving everything I own into a new place, I'm not exactly sure. But I suspect it has to do with procrastination...
We shall see.
*aside from my not cleaning it, I mean
Not good.
I mean, managing to call a service so that my laundry is done and delivered door-to-door should NOT make me think that I am a domestic goddess. And yet.
It is 3:15 on Sunday and I am writing this from the eye of the storm.
Around 1 p.m. I decided that I would use this plans-free Sunday afternoon to, oh, I dunno, rearrange my entire apartment.
I am not entirely sure why, but I just started. And now, 2 hours later, everything is in a weird new place and I'm pretty sure I don't like it but I'm not the kind of person who will just go ahead and put everything back since I've set off on this path and am determined to finish it.
So yeah. I mean, I finally figured out (part of No Joy In '06) that the main reason* my apartment is messy as often as it is is becuase it is messy at its core. Meaning if all my closets and cabinets are full and disorganized, I have nowhere to put anything I use.
Perhaps not a brilliant deduction, but a correct one nonetheless. Thus, I am reorganizing my closets and cabinets.
Um. How this translates into me moving everything I own into a new place, I'm not exactly sure. But I suspect it has to do with procrastination...
We shall see.
*aside from my not cleaning it, I mean
I recommend a GREAT book - Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.
ReplyDeleteI'm not her, don't know her, and get nothing for telling you this. : ) Other than I LOVED it, and am disorganized (although I think I'm organized, I just work really extra hard at it...), and I cannot tell you how easy this was and how much it helped.
And she talked about exactly what happened for you today. You rearranged the whole place...but really, fundamentally nothing has changed. Story of my (dis/organizing) life.
Hope it at least seems cheery for the newness for awhile.
Sweetie, has anyone ever introduced you to Flylady? You might be overwhelmed by all the emails at first, but you'll learn to just delete most of them. Delete, delete, delete! I used to be, well, pretty much like you. Except maybe I don't fall down as much as you do.
ReplyDeleteYeah.
Anyway, Flylady.net. And if you have heard of it and it didn't work for you, oh well. It was just a suggestion.
Is this really what you want your blog to be - photos of cats, entires about laundry and closets? Are you just giving your brain a rest or what?
ReplyDeleteHello, d.a.--
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing about blogging is that you can write about anything you want to, and people can either read and enjoy it, or move along.
If you think THIS entry is too mundane and neurotic to read, I suggest you also avoid my blog. As coincidence would have it, I also blogged yesterday about bringing order to the chaos of my home.
Rock on, K!!
DA,
ReplyDeleteum, have you ever read my blog? it pretty much IS about cats and laundry and closets. plus sometimes drinking and knitting. you know.
ahh.. yes. cleaning.... My parents came to visit me this weekend and so I had some major cleaning to do... my solution: Put odds and ends into those little decorative wicker basket things and stick them under my bed.
ReplyDeleteSo my solution (albeit, it's not the BEST one): If you can't see the mess, it's organized and clean. :)
Hi Kristy,
ReplyDeleteWe just moved into our house in December and while I was pretty good at not moving any junk, we still have some black holes of disorganization, ie, the office closet, the guest room closet, a couple of drawers in the kitchen, THE ENTIRE BASEMENT, etc. In the winter doldrums I felt overwhelmed by it. But a couple of weeks ago, I started tackling one place at a time. I organized the laundy room. A week or two later, I cleared all the mystery shit from the office closet, put up some shelves (not hard) and now its a supplies closet. (!) When I come across something that I don't know what to do with or can't throw away, I put it in the basement. Once I get through all these little places, the basement will be the grand daddy of decluttering missions, but I am conquering the mess, place by place!
Anyway, the point of all that rambling was start small. It is easier to feel successful that way.
See? Other people found help through the FlyLady as well.
ReplyDeleteI so need a life.
d.a.-
ReplyDeleteI bet if you offer to pay Kristy the equivalent of her Bob-earned salary, she'd be willing to write this blog just the way you want her to.
Whinger is very funny.
ReplyDeleteHas K been resistant to the joys of Flylady? Flylady is so not just for midwestern moms. I've even got my retired dad FLYing. Of course, he was born in SF and therefore probably more prone to housework than most reitred males.
K HAS been resistant to the FlyLady, but only based on the fact that the website is practically unusable.
ReplyDeleteThe UI at that site is a real issue.
it may not make your apartment any cleaner, sure, but by the end you get to stand back and see so many accomplishments! chairs! in new places! tables moved! so much physically DONE! it's satisfying :-)
ReplyDeleteDude, reorganizing is definitely a good thing - Wilman and I really need to do that. We have no place to easily put all our crap; therefore, we never put it away. My pile of goodies for the Salvation Army is growing by the day...if only I'd get off my arse it drop it off, I'd see results here.
ReplyDeleteKids, kids (Serre and Full O' Shxx)-
ReplyDeleteK recently wrote of wanting to be more honest here and once wrote of book aspirations. She also wrote of Stephanie Klein's blog as an example (of a good blog). SO given that, I was prodding her a bit for more substantive blog entries, IN MY OPINION.
She responded herself, so why do YOU need to comment too? Look forward to your rant filled response.
Agreed, the website is issue-laden, but the emails! When they come on time, they make me totally happy. I even love the testimonials I'm such a nerd. I can understand not liking the website though. Especially many of the young women I've talked to do who do Flylady or tried to try it abandoned it because of the horrible website. I hardly ever look at it unless I need some extra added motivation though. The emails and my control journal seem to be sufficient for me most of the time.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I finally figured out (part of No Joy In '06) that the main reason* my apartment is messy as often as it is is becuase it is messy at its core.
ReplyDeleteIt is far more accurate, I think, to conclude that YOU are messy at YOUR core, and your apartment is a clear reflection of that. But I'm guessing that you already know that.
becky,
ReplyDeleteif you mean to suggest that i am just not a very tidy person, you would be correct.
the fact remains, i am much more likely to put things away when there are places to actually put said things.
(beyond that, i will ignore any more potentially insidious connotation your comment may have.)
from Moonstruck: Ronny Cammareri: Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and *die*. The storybooks are *bullshit*. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and *get* in my bed! (hi Kristy!)
ReplyDeleteThe flylady system with all the email spam throughout the day, although well-intentioned, is set up for stay at home women.
ReplyDeleteI work at home full time but I'm WORKING. I don't have time to get up from my desk at 9:55 and do the dust my kitchen boogie or 27 toss or whatever email they send out...
There are ways to modify the "zone" cleaning but other than that it really isn't set up for a working gal.
Hmmm, perhaps some feng shui guidance? My very weird ex-boss has a handy GONGGggggggg guy who can come over and help you cleanse the aura so you can find the true source of the messiness and restore the apartment's natural balance. And then hang some crystals here and there and put other assorted strange items in different quadrants.
ReplyDeleteThen again, perhaps not.
*shrug* I work full-time out of the house and Flylady works fine for me, even with all the emails. But I can understand where it might not work for everyone. I know that all the emails annoy some people, but they just keep me focused and give me a nice break during the day. I did have to modify when I do some stuff (like, I get up a little early and do the zone cleaning before I go to work and do the home blessing hour on Saturdays instead of Mondays), but I didn't have to change the morning or evening routines at all. To each her own though.
ReplyDelete