How do I get motivated?

[JulieSherris]

Rockchick & Claripup - you're both sort of there.......

Go on, Claripup - clean your sink tonight - I know it's a gutting job when you're not in the mood... I'm not in the mood either, but I'm still going to do mine..... go on... you know you want to really.....

[Annpan]

Done! with a toothbrush in all the crooks and nannies too - all shiney and nice I swear their were things on the draining bard that have been there for a month

[invisiblepiper]

Naw - goin to bed1
Did that for 30 years - sinks a mess - who cares?
I vaguely remember the last lines of an American poem - for you Annpan

So dust lie still
And cobwebs asleep
I'm rockin' my baby
Cos babies don't keep.

[JulieSherris]

So - Ann.... tell me, when you did your sink, did you wash up too?
And then, of course, you had to put that away, to tidy the sink & draining board, right?
Did you put other things away?
Did you 'just' do this bit extra & that bit extra?

Once you did your sink, did you wipe other tops down as well?
When you get up in the morning & it's clean & sparkly, you'll want to keep it that way through the day.... it's a psychological thing...

And yep, it's such a stupid little ritual, but I tell you, the psychology of it works - ok, not for everyone, but when your heads messed up & you insist on doing yourself down, you do this for a few days & after a week, you'll see a difference - you'll find yourself doing other little things without even thinking of it.

And when the day comes that the whole kitchen's sparkling back at you, you'll make yourself a cuppa & stand & look at the place all clean & tidy, & you'll smile.....

And all this advice coming from a woman who is SUCH a house slut!!
Remember I posted a few weeks ago about writing a note in the dust for Andy to find? He still hasn't & it's still there

So at some point during wednesday, take some time.... remember that you're a mum - and a wife - and the house will still be there with all it's little chores every day - no matter how old you are, the dust will gather, cups & plates will pile up... but it's no great shakes, because you CAN cope with them - because you have before..... a messed up draining board is easy to fix - a messed up head is a little harder to do - now, will you stop beating yourself up about housework & chores?

Put yourself & your family first - the rest will fall into place, but it'll seem like a humungous effort if you let it bog you down - and next time you feel down about - go clean the sink!!

xxxx xxxx

[JulieSherris]

PS: A friend once bought me a plaque for the kitchen..... she knows me VERY well..... it reads...

A tidy house is a sign of a wasted life.......

[Annpan]

So - Ann.... tell me, when you did your sink, did you wash up too?

No I didn't do the dishes, we have a dishwasher that takes care of the daily things but there is still a uge pile of 'misc' that can't go in the dishwasher stacked up beside the sink.
Oh, and I don't have hot running water but I keep a pump flask by the sink (topped up with excess kettle water through-out the day), it had ran out and I would feel too guilty boiling a kettle of water.
Plus I was knackered and it would have taken ages.

And then, of course, you had to put that away, to tidy the sink & draining board, right?

Well... no because there wasn't any

Did you put other things away?

I did empty and fill the dishwasher which I had no intention of doing and it is usually OH that does it, unless I am feeling remarkably generous.

Did you 'just' do this bit extra & that bit extra?

Well.... I wiped down the front of the washing machine

Once you did your sink, did you wipe other tops down as well?

No because they were still covered in moutains of mess.


But yes, I get the point and it worked for me this morning too. I have already done extra bits that I wouldn't have usually done so effortlessly.


After we had finished the renovation of our old flat used to get cleaned from top to bottom every Friday, nothing ever got that messy because it had been in its rightful spot on Friday and there is only so much mess you can make in a week - and I think I miss that. Most of the stuff in this house doesn't have a place to go and because (for almost 2 years now) we have been waiting on the impending building work getting done so we have made no effort to invest time putting up shelves or sorting out cupboards, everything just gets dumped. Also being on this green mission makes me reluctant to throw stuff out (cause it might be useful) I realise now that this stuff has to go before any building work starts but I have given myself a hard job to do.
Having a toddler and no hot running water does make every task that little bit more difficult - even if it because I can't have a nice long soak in the bath afterwards.

Thanks for the help, I shall persevere and see how I get on for the rest of the week.

[invisiblepiper]

My keyring reads 'boring women have immaculate homes' had it for years - offends the socks off my Mum!

[becks77]

What a brilliant idea, so cleaned me sink last night .....shiney, beautiful, slept like a log, got up ready for the day........some so and so had filled the sink and made it all a messy again in the night!(OH stays up way past my bed time..presume it was him or burglars!)
You're right Julie it does work and then some b***er goes and fills it all up again....am I missing the point?!!!!

[JulieSherris]

Becks, you're not missing the point, but it sounds like your OK might be!! And I hope you had a moan at hom about not clearing up behind him.....

It's a bit of a lesson in psychology really - like I said, a friend of mine introduced me to this sort of idea years & years ago - I was 22 with 2 babies under 2 & to be honest I wasn't coping at all.
I was great with the kids and a great cook, but housework? Wow... it had me beat!

Years later, I found a website that uses this type of 'control' - and it's all about baby steps, which us Ishers should be well used to by now
So... you start in the kitchen & clean the sink - make it really nice & shiny, that in turn spurs you on to tackle other areas, because you realise just grubby other bits are in comparison...
In much the same way, in the bedroom, you make the bed - striaghten the covers, tuck this bit in, that bit - tidy that chair off.... clean the mirror..... see what I mean?

Now look, I'm the first person to find something to do other than housework - just ask Andy - he's a neat freak as a result of his upbringing & we're opposite ends of the spectrum, but I understand that certain jobs can only be left for so long
My biggest problem is that I usually have so many jobs piling up & added to my list, that I don't know where on earth to start - so I don't start at all..... and by using this method, it sort of takes the scariness out of the task!
I also don't believe that you should let things like this get you down - if you've not done the job that day or that week, well, it will still be there when you make your mind up that it can't be put off any longer - and no harm done - it's YOUR home, YOUR rules - and no-one elses business!

If you have a few spare minutes (haha) have a look here.... http://www.flylady.net/
it's a touch obsessive, but there's also quite a lot of good tips - but if it's a sunny day where you are - grab a coffee & head out to the garden housework will always wait for you....

[Annpan]

Oh that website was just what I needed

LO is watching a DVD AGAIN!!! (she does have good taste in films though... it's the incredibles this morning) so according to fly lady it is master bedroom day.

[JulieSherris]

Just don't bite off more then you can chew, Ann!

Yep, the website is actually a great motivator - so we've come full circle - you asked for motivation & I hope I've given it to you.... ok, it was a round about way of doing it - but I also hope that you felt the virtual hugs that were being sent your way too.

And guess what I've been thinking about doing later?
1) Either getting on top of the bleeding trees that STILL need clearing from garden... or ...
2) Getting a pot of paint out & tackling one of the very many paint jobs that severely need doing inside!

Mind, either one of those 2 jobs also mean that yet again I get out of doing the ironing that's been piling up for the last 4 weeks

[Green Aura]

And when you plan your new kitchen do it carefully - you're right, everything works like a charm if it has a place to go back to.

Took me 10 years to plan mine - hope you're a bit quicker!

[rockchick]

Didn't do the sink last night but did clean the fridge this morning

We have guests this weekend. I find that a pretty good motivator, so long as they come at least once a month I find that helps a lot!

[Claripup]

Well I didn't do mine... really couldn't face the washing up after a day of feeding baby birds... but I can't use that as an excuse today cause they died in the night (no idea why, they were all fine and snuggled up together at midnight!)

Besides I can't leave the washing up much longer we are nearly out of mugs and completely out of glasses (which is no mean feat as we have stacks!!) so washing up will be done tonight (after the gardening) and kitchen sink will be sparkly and clean before bed... well maybe not sparkly, it is a very old brown sink...

Hopefully it'll motivate me as much as it has everyone else... maybe one day we'll have a completely clean and tidy house too!! *faint*

[Annpan]

Sorry to hear about your birds I read somewhere that a group of 4 baby great-tits eat 300 worms a day, we had some nesting in our garden til Cat killed 1 of the 3 parents, we considered feeding them but after reading that we decided to just leave them be, the other 2 parents never returned and they stopped tweeting after a day