Is My New Chore List Working

Short anser, yes, it is.

It’s all fine and dandy to say “here’s a cleaning schedule” or “here’s how I plan to tackle”. I did post the intention in October, and now I am backing it up with how it’s actually been going.

Here’s a link to the original post to be able to see the full explanation of the chores list.

I use the following to make sure things are getting done every day/week. Having a list of monthly chores helps me make sure the less-frequently needed tasks get done.
I treat these like checklists and move things around if I need to.

I am doing chores more regularly.
I used to be so overwhelmed by what needed to be done; now that I’ve done so much I’m less overwhelmed, and having a list helps me narrow done tasks and not be so intimidated. Having a routine has also helped immensely; I’m a creature of habit and I’m much more motivated now that it’s cyclical rather than randomly trying to make time for and do tasks.

I recommend this, tailored to your house, because it’s definitely been working for me.

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Have a question? Want a link to any of these spreadsheets? Have a recommendation to further improve this process? How do you keep your home clean?

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Quarterly Check In

I’ve been binging TV, like I’m sure most of us are. I ran once, it went pretty well. I miss going out and socializing. I feel like this would happen regardless of COVID since two of my few friends here moved out of state. I’ve been working remotely.

We moved to a new apartment, it’s cute. There’s some decorative/exposed wooden beams and the floor is sealed concrete (dark brown). The animals are all happy. We reconfigured the guinea pig cage so instead of a 5×5 with a separator in the middle they each have their own 3×3. Max (sun conure) is really enjoying the balcony. The complex has a parking garage, a pool, and a gym; we haven’t been to the pool or the gym, yet.

One of the shows I watched was Ugly Betty and she had such a passion for writing and knew what her goal was and she got there so fast and it was because she “followed her bliss” and I just feel like I don’t know what I want to be. I like my job, my goals are so far away (time wise) and I wonder if I am out of place. Watching that and the Bold Type and these shows with twenty something year olds doing exactly what they wanted to and reaching goals so early in life, it’s beautiful and hopeful and unrealistic and depressing. I know that at 29 it’s okay to still be working up the ladder, no one is CEO at thirty unless (okay, maybe someone but that’s not normal). I know I’m okay, I just wonder if there’s more right now.

Betty also starts a blog, gets an award for her blog, has super fans, and while we don’t know what she blogs about she seems to be really passionate about whatever it is she’s covering. I feel like I write what I’m feeling, not fueling feelings by writing; not chasing a passion and writing about whatever that is.

I feel like I’m doing everything right, and I’m happy, I just also feel like something is missing. I love my fiance, I love my pets, I love my home. I have a job that I like with coworkers that I mostly like. I don’t have a passion, though. Should I? Do most people? How many is “most”? What are they passionate about? How do you find your passion?

I know, I’m sure, that a large potion of the tiny hole that I feel is due to just being locked up due to COVID. I definitely need to run more, and write more, and drink more water.

Anywho, that’s my check in, hope everything in your life is going well.

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Five Tips for Moving into a Larger Space

We moved from a two bedroom, one bathroom, one living room, small kitchen, one floor apartment into a two master bedroom, 2 story with a finished basement, sitting room and living room, medium kitchen, 3.5 bathroom townhouse and it was actually a little intimidating.

Having your space filled and then having to fill plenty of space can be a lot of pressure and a lot of money.

Here’s some tips on managing your stress and keeping costs down.

1) Don’t feel like you need to fill it all at once.
Pick the room that matters most to you, focus on that.

2) Thrift shop.
You would be surprised at the treasures you’ll find to fill your home at thrift stores and on online sales like Facebook Marketplace, Offer Up and other app-based no-middle-man sales.

3) Deals over perfection.
You can always upgrade later. Get what you like, make sure it feels like it can be home, just don’t limit yourself too much.

4) Visually aesthetic storage.
The more space you have, the more “things” you’ll feel like you need, and you’ll actually need. With all of our rooms, we accumulated a lot of throw blankets and towels to be able to host guests. Also, with a dining room table I’ve gotten a few vases for flowers.

5) Try to remain minimal.
It can be tempting to over-accumulate; thinking you have more space than you actually do. Be sure to start with your “needs” and keep your “wants” in check.

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In My Home Reveal : Organization

I get organized pretty well. It’s a cycle and I have had more and more success in staying organized at home by using the following:

Lists – I used Microsoft Excel’s “one month calendar” template and made lists for each day for Cameron. He needs a list, his determination and ask, and I made a recurring list with “Laundry: fold what’s in the dryer, switch the laundry over, and start a new load” two days in a row every five-ish days (much more frequently right now since we’re behind), “clean the litter box” every four to five days, and “tidy bedroom” or “tidy first floor” or “tidy desk” (his desk, not mine to organize my way or to decide what’s important) or “tidy basement” every few days as well. Nothing major, nothing that should take more than five to fifteen minutes per task with a maximum of four tasks; they’re the things I need help with or are his domain that I don’t like having to nag about. I do my fair share and it simply isn’t enough to cover the amount of chaos that we both create. I also know in a perfect world we would be less like tornados and that this is not the perfect world and it may never be our reality.
Lists are also for me. I like to pretend I can just get a million things done in a day even though I know I can’t so lists help me prioritize what needs to come first. I can make the list of fifteen things and if I only get the first five things done I’m kicking myself for not being faster or for taking that break and the next day I’ll know, and notice, that the most important five things, the most impactful five things, have been done.

Command Strips/Hooks Small – I use these to hang my necklaces in a four foot wall space between my dresser and the perpendicular wall. They hold a few and I have my longer ones hanging in my top row and my shorter necklaces in my bottom row.

Command Strips/Hooks Medium – This helps me stay organized in many ways. I have four hooks by the front door for (left to right) guest keys and borrowed keys, my keys and wallet, Cameron’s VW, the red car. I also have one of these to the right of my necklaces on the wall with a “magic hanger” that I use to lay out my clothes the night before.

Large Sterilite Drawers – You can find other brands at Target, Walmart, and many other deal stocking stores. I use these for under-bed storage that I don’t need to lid (without the frame) and well as general storage around the house including notebooks, wires, and other office supplies under my desk and to keep pet toys and food in. They’re also great when it comes to moving because the drawers can be moved individually and then slid back into their frame.

Small Sterilite Drawers – I use these on my dresser to hold and organize my earrings, bracelets, watches, and rings. I keep my septum rings and cartilage rings in the top drawer, small silver studs in the second, small gold studs in the third, neutral in the fourth, and repeat for larger earrings (with 2 drawers for gold because I have a lot of gold-colored larger earrings). You can combine smaller towers by removing the lid-top to make a taller tower.

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – I know, you think this is trite and you’ve seen all the memes and shows making fun of the process; “None of these kitchen utensils bring me joy, toss them all”. Reading it gives me a different perspective on the things I own and makes me want to reevaluate my closet and other things that I own. If her method of feeling the love isn’t for you, there are a dozen “Should I keep It Chart“(s) out there to help you go through your clothes. I encourage you to go through your closet as well as the rest of your house and clean out what you don’t need and want. The less you have, the easier it is to manage. The more you love and appreciate the things you have, the more likely you are to treat those items with respect.

Garbage Bags & Cardboard Boxes – When the urge to clean hits be ready to embrace it! Sometimes the purge bug hits and I just grab a bag and start throwing things away. Sometimes it’s just trash that’s been strewn about the house, sometimes it’s random things I know we don’t need, and few months I go through my closet. After a shopping trip, Cameron tends to go through his closet on his own and it helps to know we’ve got bags available for whatever he’s like to donate or toss. We also use any oversize shopping bags and larger box deliveries from Amazon to collect our recyclables in.

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Mid-Mid-Life Semi-Crisis? Blog-Block?Depression? All of the Above? …

Finding something to blog about without feeling like I’m posting garbage is not easy. I am sorry that I have skipped posts for a while and am planning ahead more on my posts. This does not, however, excuse the neglect I have affected toward you, and I am sorry.

Life has been rough, I have had trouble sleeping and I’ve been burning the candle at both ends between work, job searching too hard, and not keeping up with home activities.

I have been depressed, unmotivated, and completely shut-down in many aspects of my life including blog posts. I think the hard part was that it was almost like I slowly moved toward this dark side and never really realized I was there until I took some inventory on myself. I realized that I haven’t been working out but once a week, I haven’t been doing chores around the house almost at all, I’ve been leaving bits of myself strewn about- a shoe here, a coat there, a bit a my soul here, a smile forgotten there….

This all means nothing except that I was neglecting you and I was neglecting me. I had three job interviews in a week, two in the same morning, shaking up my anxiety and then going to work late, worrying about if my lie about an appointment would hold up, and just staying abreast of my work instead of getting ahead like I usually do and feeling stressed about that.

We had a third leak in our apartment, it’s been less than a year, and this time our HVAC had to be replaced. The new one is as loud as my coworker’s paper shredder and it either keeps me from sleeping or wakes me up; we’ve started making it super cold before we sleep and turning the thermostat up so it won’t turn on. Also, right outside of our bedroom window are three fans that feed the AC/heat for the building. They are generally mildly unpleasant and I can usually have our Echo play sounds to help muffle but for the past couple weeks there has something wrong with one of them on and off, or maybe it just works harder for heat, but I couldn’t effectively drown it out and it has both kept me from sleeping and woke me up. One night it was so bad that we slept on the floor of our guest room (because I have fallen out of the twin bed in the past) and have now given up and moved our queen bed and frame into the guest room.

More complaints include all of the elements of the stove burning when used- not the drip pans, the actual elements- which affects my cooking as well as the kitchen being too small for two chefs and sometimes making cooking together more inconvenient than fun. This may not seem terrible, but it does put a small damper on something that brings happiness and bonding to our relationship as well as acting as a deterrent for me to experiment in the kitchen.

I am excited to announce that this apartment and all its horrors will be over in about a week as we are signed, with dotted I’s and crossed T’s, on a townhouse we’ll be renting starting next week that has a larger kitchen with a better layout, a large space that fits a dining room and a sitting room, a basement that we’ll be using as a computer room and living room, two master bedrooms with on-suites, a garage, a full bathroom in the basement, and a half-bath for good measure.

Further, seeing that some of the issues impacting me were caused by the outdated structure and constricting layout of the home, I can see the hope in change and it has spread to the other shortcomings I have created or let exist. I am working on better identifying the changes I want to make and mapping out plans to make a positive impact on myself- inner and outer. Of my mind, body, soul. Of my home and how I keep it. Of my work; current and future. Of my blog, and my book, and my writing practice in general. Of my knowledge of various things via NPR, PodCasts, and reading. Of reading for leisure and other self-indulgent activities. Of my relationship and my efforts to be a better partner.

Life can get crazy, for anyone. It’s not always easy to reign it back in but I know I am blessed, lucky, hardworking enough (a mix of all three, probably) to be in a good place to take control again. I’m not sure if this is a resolution, a realization, or just me being ready to dust myself off and try again.

“-I’m here, and I’m gonna give it my best shot.” – Hansel, Zoolander, Owen Wilson

 

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