Monday, January 9, 2012

Squee! (Finally, I'm Getting a Bathroom Update...)

It's almost two months since I posted last. The holidays have come and gone, and my house is maintaining, and even improving in some areas. So I thought I'd start off the new year with a slight change in direction, seeing as how I'd like to continue and improve this blog, and even keep it going once my house is completely tidy.

And I do now believe that day will come!

I guess that's the biggest change in me since I started this project. I actually believe it can happen, and that once it does happen, I can keep it up.

The biggest change has been due to FLYLady.net, and if you haven't checked it out yet, wander on over and take a look. I haven't incorporated everything she suggests, but there are some key compnonents that do indeed work for me.

1) Housework done imperfectly still blesses you and your family, and you can do anything in 15-minute chunks. Instead of worrying about having to clean my whole office all at once, I can decide (and often do decide) to do just a little bit today, and leave the rest for tomorrow. As long as I don't make a bigger mess in the meantime, I'm still making forward motion. And knowing that I don't have to get things perfect the first time I do them has allowed me to play around with furniture arrangements and storage options until I get things right.

2) Shine your sink every day. Okay, so I don't use Windex on my sink, and I never will. I don't even manage to do it every day. But I manage to have my sink empty (as in, all the dishes done), and clean (as in washed out and wiped down) for part of each day almost every day of each week. And as FLYLady says, as goes the kitchen, so goes the rest of the house. Because the dishes are done and the sink is clean, I noticed the clutter on the counters. I found a home for all of those appliances I don't use every single day, and got rid of some stuff. Then I saw the grime on the counters, and that went. Then the counters were clean, and the stove started looking really grungy, so I started on that, 15 minutes at a time. I noticed the grime on the cupboard doors for the first time...

All because the sink is clean.

3) I get dressed right down to lace-up shoes every day and I make my bed every day. If I make my bed, keeping my bedroom clutter-free is a breeze, actually. And being fully dressed right down to shoes makes me feel so much better about myself, and so much more energetic, that instead of playing video games and zoning out, I'll occasionally choose to do some work! Go me!

That's it. Three simple things that I should have known a long time ago, and my life is slowly coming into focus.

One of the things that I did once I started with FLYLady was go talk to the office administrator at my housing co-op. Because I realized that there was no way any daily swish-and-swipe program was going to work on my toilet or bathroom floor. Those two fixtures are, after all, about 30 or 35 years old, and if I hadn't been in the unit for so long (16 years as of last month) they would have been replaced.

So I put in a work order to have the toilet replaced and a new vinyl floor put down, and today I was told that the toilet and flooring had indeed been purchased, so now I'm only waiting on our maintenance man to get to it! Stan the Man is indeed very prompt and efficient, so my bathroom reno should be complete by this time next week!

WoOt! Pics to follow...

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