House In Order, day 1

[cjsmith]

- Signed a big pile of financial papers Rob put in front of me. Yes, they were a good thing; yes, it counts toward the challenge.
- IMMEDIATELY FILED the one piece that should stay with me. In the CORRECT folder, which is even LABELED (my bugaboo).
- Discussed interior decorating improvements with Rob in preparation for his meeting with a decorator type person tomorrow. (I can't be there because she only works during work hours. I am amazed she gets enough business to stay afloat, if her entire clientele is people without day jobs.)
- Folded one load of laundry and put another in the dryer.

That was well over a half hour. It just happened that there was a lot to do tonight. The decorator and the paper signing both needed to be tonight, plus I was out of socks. Still to do tonight: litterbox.

I am starting to suspect that what this will REALLY teach me is how much time I already spend doing this stuff.

Comments

[moriamerri.livejournal.com]

I hope this doesn't sound mean (it is not meant meanly) but I wondered when I read about the plan whether 1/2 hour was more than maintenance cleaning. And there are follow-up thoughts here like if it turns out she can accomplish a lot in 1/2 hour a day then WHAT'S MY PROBLEM? Or, can I somehow learn to clean with a magic wand -- or something --

I have a LOT of difficulty distinguishing maintenance cleaning from "improvement" cleaning. I think this is complicated actually -- and can change over time (sort of like fitness -- if you get fitter you have to swim faster for the same level of workout. If the house's level of "clean" is pretty sloppy then a lot of things count as "improvement" that would be "maintenance" if I raised the bar a bit.) Maybe that is all just TOO complicated to even care about?

Anyway, I have trouble telling if I am "making progress" or "treading water". :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

When I originally wrote it, I figured the 1/2 hour per day would include maintenance cleaning and have lots of time to spare. Now I'm realizing that's quite possibly the dumbest thing I've thought all week. (And I've thought up some whoppers this week.)

I had been letting things slide for a few days, so I have the sense of playing catch-up right at the moment. As this goes on I guess we'll see.

My sense of the blurry line between maintenance and improvement agrees with yours. I suppose it's a sharp-ish line at any given instant.

[moriamerri.livejournal.com]

Now I'm realizing that's quite possibly the dumbest thing I've thought all week. (And I've thought up some whoppers this week.)

Not long ago I set aside 2 days for 2 big projects (I day each, of course). The first project was a bookshelf project. After the first day my estimate for this project was THREE WEEKS -- not the whole time for 3 weeks, but in calendar time 3 weeks. Boy did I ever feel SILLY. There were huge sub-projects I had totally ignored/minimized, to put it mildly. Discouraging. I am just now getting to the "day 2" project hahahahahaha

On the bright side, a 1/2 hour a day sounds a lot more doable than, oh, say 2 hours a day. And a daily pattern can sometimes be easier to get into a pattern with.

BTW, did you get the email I sent a couple of weeks ago about moxa? It is okay if you are not interested -- also okay if you are interested.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, a 1/2 hour a day sounds a lot more doable than, oh, say 2 hours a day.

*nod* I chose the 1/2 hour a day because the commitment was to a minimum time working on this stuff. I needed an amount of time I could still do on even my busiest days. I think I honestly didn't realize how much time I routinely spend on "maintenance crap" (as I think of it) on my non-busiest days.

I did get the mail, thanks - and yes, I think I am interested. Initially I thought "gosh, this seems like a lot of trouble" yet my mind kept going back to it. Clearly I will be disappointed in myself if I pass up this opportunity! Thank you for offering.