Cleaning..

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Yes. I'm always wondered why it is that with certain things like organizing things into a pattern i'm very organized.. But with pretty much every practical thing in life, i'm a slob. I just can't think of what i should do with most things, so they end up staying where they are(on the floor or whatever). It's funny.. Since i like things being symmetrical and organizing particular objects, people assume that that means i'm really organized and must be the kind of person who has some kind of system for where everything in my house go. But, that couldn't be further from the truth. With so many things, it's like aspects of my personality directly contradict themselves. That's why i think i get confused over questions of personality tests. Because, depending on what exactly they mean, it could be either one extreme or the other. Putting something into a visually pleasing pattern is much different from applying organization skills to something practical.

I know! I'm really fixated on things being clean, but I have a clutter problem.

I've been trying to address my problems with cleaning and tidying... well, I'm a bit better... but it's turned into an obsession. OOps

I'm rather bi-polar when it comes to organization. Sometimes I am very laid back and let the clutter accumulate, putting off cleaning "until I have enough time to do it right." Then it's like a switch will flip and I am hyper-organized. I'll begin with a cleaning campaign scheduled down to the amount of time each phase will take. After a couple of days the house is tidy and sanitized to a degree that stuns my cats and confuses my husband (or vice versa). For a few weeks I will obsess about any deviation from the order, then gradually slip back into sanity and disorder. A few weeks after that, the cycle will begin again. The only good part about this is that I rarely go long enough for serious clutter to build up. I have been this way since I was a child.

Specifically cleaning (i.e. making things clean) is one of my few talents, having spent many years employed doing so. But tidying (i.e. moving things so they are not 'out of place') is something I very difficult at times. Motivation is difficult but can be overcome if I schedule it since I don't like breaking any schedule I create. The best approach is determine what parts of your house/room have to be tidy and which specific areas don't (cupboards, under bed, behind things). Try your absolute best to tidy those that need to be and take anything you can't find places for and shove it in the areas that do not have to be tidy.

I've always had some clutter, and I tend to procrastinate. ( Why do it today if I can put if off till tommorrow?) For example, I'm sitting here at this moment in a damp shirt because I decided to do all the dishes. It's only been almost a week.

This sounds so much like me and I've also been this way since childhood.

Except my cleaning fits never last more than a few hours. And instead of time schedules I assign myself specific parts of a room or a desk or a bookshelf that I'm going to focus on. Entire spaces are never completed at one time. After the mood passes, I lapse back into my usual housework oblivion where housework doesn't even occur to me and it's the last thing I'd want to do.

I am like this as well. It's very frustrating. I also have two kids and I cannot keep track of all that they bring in either.

A long time ago,Flylady helped me quite a bit (before I had the second child). I am trying to get back in the pattern with her, but it is taking awhile. I think she should be highly recommended to people on the spectrum. She talks about 'baby steps' and not immediately changing over night to. There are lists for all kinds of cleaning, you spend a week at a time in each room.

My mom does the flylady thing! lol

I made a notebook for FLY Lady, and then I promptly mislaid it! Epic Fail.

Morbid Miss, that sounds like me too! I find I can usually do a thing well once, or the first time I do it (with things like recipes) but then if I try it again, it is much much harder.

My kids are getting old enough that they will do most anything for extra money, so I am getting them to help more with the clutter.

LOL

With cooking I only have to read the recipe once and I can usually make it again until I'm bored and do not make it for a while. But I LOVE to cook, and I HATE to clean.

I used to have huge problems with that - my house was either a complete mess or spotless - once in a blue moon. It took me years to come up with a system that worked for me.

First I established a place for every object in the house. I got a bit compulsive about it and I'd rather be the only one that makes changes (my husband doesn't care one way or the other, so that's fine). This took a while, but also had the advantage that I stopped looking for my keys or whatever for hours, just because I couldn't remember where I left them.

Strict routines took care of the rest - I do the same things in the same order and the same way, so it became mechanical - I don't have to think about it and it takes less time. I wash the pots and pans while cooking and the dishes right after I eat - otherwise they will probably just rot. I love to cook and a dirty kitchen turns me off.

If I can systemize it, I can be very good at cleaning. If I can't, then I'm terrible.

Same here - if for any reason I skip a "session" or have to change my routine it can be very hard to get back to it - that's why I hate moving.

By breaking it into tiny steps. For instance, if I have a room that's been neglected for a while -- the bedroom, say -- I break it up into segments and work on one segment at a time. I pick up all the dirty clothes first and put them in the hamper -- nothing else, just dirty clothes. Then I pick up the trash and put it in the trash can. Then I pick up any dishes and put them in the kitchen sink. I don't stop to wash them, that's another job for another time. Then, I start at the top of the room -- literally -- and use a broom to sweep the dust and cobwebs off of the walls. Then I'll do a book sweep of the room and put the books either in the office or on the shelf they belong on if they belong in that room. Then the table tops, lamps and various knick-knacks get dusted. Then the rugs are shaken out off the porch, then the floor gets dusted. Once I'm done, the room is clean from top to bottom. I usually work in 15 - 20 minute increments and give myself equal time to pursue an interest in between.

For rooms that have already had the top-to-bottom treatment, I have a schedule. On Mondays and Thursdays, I clear table tops and dust. On Saturday, Tuesday and Friday, I do book sweeps. On Saturday morning, I wash the week's laundry, dry and fold it and put it away. I clean the kitchen as I dirty it and wash each meal's dishes as soon as I'm finished eating. Litter boxes are taken care of about every other day. On Sundays, all the rugs get shaken out and all of the floors are swept every other day, the walls get the top-to-bottom treatment about once every other week. Over a week or two, an awful lot of work gets done, a little at a time. The house is always tidy, but not obsessively clean. It looks lived in.

Now, this is only possible because I live alone. With kids or other people in the house, all bets are off! Especially if you have an adult or two in the house who refuse to use the cleaning schedule. I tried to live with a couple of adults who only wanted to clean things "when they saw that they needed it." What it turned into was, nothing got cleaned ever except by me and if I did clean a room, it got trashed the same day. Very frustrating. Anytime I find myself thinking it would be nice to have someone living with me again, I remind myself of this.

Yes, my husband and I view the world very differently. He's actually better at clutter, I'm better at cleaning, but he shuts down if there's too much clutter. Frankly, I don't really *see* the clutter. The kids are in and out, he's in and out, and I'm filling in the hole I'm trying to dig myself out of.

I do find it helps to do dishes while I'm cooking, but then throw in the three other people and it's interesting!