Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Just Do It
Lately I've been thinking about some things that might eventually help me become a more productive person. My brother and I often refer to ourselves as procrastinators, but this is a little different. Looking around my house, I see a lot of unfinished stuff. We've got laundry piled up all the time, there's always a stack of paper on the desk (even though I clean it up every weekend), there's cat fur everywhere, and the sink is always full (see that big box under the counter? oh, you put dishes in there and it cleans them?). Don't even get me started on the litter box.
I've been trying to figure out why I can't get these things taken care of - why I always feel so far behind. And I've come up with this (and actually just came up with something else while typing this which I'll go into later): When I get something done, I feel like it's done. Really done. Like, I don't need to worry about that for awhile. Although this works for things like doing your taxes, this is not how I can continue to look at my everyday routine. Yea, I just did seven loads of laundry. But there's going to be more in a few days. The clothes we're wearing right now? Dirty. Need washing soon. So instead of going to the laundry area and looking at another ten loads a week later, I can beat the laundry. OK, I'm getting dumb, but you know what I mean. I'm in that area of the house everyday - that is, the basement - I should check on it often. Not taking up extra time, but just as I'm walking by. Oohh, almost a full load ready. Check back in the morning. Yea, that's a full load. Put it in. Done. Dry it. Done. Fold it now, not tomorrow. Done. So then no more huge laundry projects, just a part of my everyday routine. All right, more for me than for you, let's look at the computer desk situation. How did I let all that pile up? I go through the mail every day. What is all this stuff? How did it get here? A stack of tax forms. Well, they can go in the file labelled "tax" as they come in. They don't need to be on the desk. Recipes I printed from the computer (who knew that personal finance bloggers do so much cooking? well I suppose it makes sense - they're saving so much money). Shouldn't be in here - print them and take them to the recipe box immediately. What I've been doing is starting things and not finishing them. Not by procrastinating, but by not following through on very simple things.
I am constantly stressed out. I used to blame it on having a newborn. But now, it's a matter of just thinking things through. It seems that a lot of the work that I'm stressing about is work that I have created for myself. And I'm the one that hates inefficiency so much. And I've been so inefficient all this time!
Starting today, I'm going to make an honest effort to change this behavior. I won't kid myself into thinking that it will be easy, or that I'll be able to do it all the time, but if I can retrain my brain, I might actually get something done around here.
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I sympathize with the laundry situation. My washer and dryer are now in my kitchen (stackable) - this is the first time my laundry has been in the main living area. In the past the laundry was always in a basement somewhere - out of sight and out of mind. But since I rent out my basement the laundry had to go somewhere and the kitchen was the cheapest and most practical spot to put it.
A side-effect of this is my laundry no longer piles up. I have a nice two bag sorter (purchased on clearance - now they only sell the three bag one) which keeps whites and colors seperate. The colors tend to pile up faster than the whites, but all get washed frequently using the small, medium, or large setting on the washer as appropriate. Seeing the laundry bags fill in the bedroom and knowing that cleaning them just requires steps to the kitchen makes this chore an easy one to keep on top of.
After living this way I doubt I will ever go back to a basement laundry situation. Any future home I purchase will have to have the laundry on the main living level (preferably near the bedrooms). It makes a huge difference to us procrastinaters (sp?).
A side-effect of this is my laundry no longer piles up. I have a nice two bag sorter (purchased on clearance - now they only sell the three bag one) which keeps whites and colors seperate. The colors tend to pile up faster than the whites, but all get washed frequently using the small, medium, or large setting on the washer as appropriate. Seeing the laundry bags fill in the bedroom and knowing that cleaning them just requires steps to the kitchen makes this chore an easy one to keep on top of.
After living this way I doubt I will ever go back to a basement laundry situation. Any future home I purchase will have to have the laundry on the main living level (preferably near the bedrooms). It makes a huge difference to us procrastinaters (sp?).
# posted by 
: 6:23 PM
: 6:23 PM
Check out flylady.net. The emails can be overwhelming and it is easy to ignore them, but her whole idea of routines is something to strive for.
# posted by : 2:01 PM
: 2:01 PM
I did try flylady.net for a few weeks, but couldn't handle a few things. I avoid my kitchen sink at all costs, so the idea of shining it every day was creeping it out. And as I'm still sleeping when the baby sleeps, it was inconvenient to be taking shoes off and on all day (getting dressed to the shoes). I'm also trying to spend less time at the computer (which is not yet working) and knew that I'd be checking my email all the time for the latest word from her. But I'm trying to keep a lot of her ideas in mind and still check the website. I definitely agree with the concept of getting a little done at a time, as the day allows.
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