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Hey, does anyone have any hints for de-cluttering my life? I'm constantly picking up after my kids and the dog. My husband works long hours so he isn't here to help except on the weekends, when he's contributing to the mess more than helping me with it. Aside from a maid service, which we certainly can't afford, I'm wondering if there's anything like a new gadget or an organizational plan that can help me with the housework -- or with not *needing* to do so much housework! Anyone?
I couldn't help smiling when you asked about new gadgets because I just got one of those robotic vacuum cleaners, and it sounds like exactly what you need. It's called the Roomba, and it's cut down on my vacuuming almost entirely. When my husband got it for me for Christmas, I was resistant at first -- it looks like it's hard to program, and like it might break down or just not do a decent job on the carpets. Even at first, the dog was barking at it and my four year-old son was terrified of it; they soon got over it, though, and as strange as it may sound, it's almost like a pet now. It hasn't broken down at all, and now its computer has memorized the dimensions of all my rooms, so it vacuums quickly and efficiently. It could be a good time-saver for you, because you could just let it vacuum while you do all your other chores.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Let us know how things work out.
You should do a commercial for them! It sounds like it is working great but I think so many people view it as skeptically as you did. I'd invest but I just bought 2 new vaccuums (1 up, 1 down) when I bought my house last year. Rats!
Welcome to the Garden Melody. You're gonna love this place.
It is our haven when the sun gets too hot, when the weeds are the only thing growing, when the wind won't stop, when you want someone to talk to, but your house is in Chaos - come here... you'll find us sharing-
Sharing - pictures, growing tactics, recipes, help and giggles. Stop in as often as you can. We'll be here. Can you tell ?? I love this place.
~~ waving ~~Blooms
The pic is for you, I picture an acrobatic lizard as spinning across the arena with long ribbons waving from her hands. But then we have some pretty wildly colored lizards out here.
One of the best things you can do for yourself is to get the rest of your family involved in picking up after themselves. If they can mess it up, they can clean it up. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own little space, no matter what age they are.
From the time my son was old enough to play with toys from a toybox, he was old enough to put them back up when he was done. We also had a rule that personal items (socks, shoes, toys, schoolbooks, etc) were to be kept in his bedroom, not scattered about the house as he came in the door from school. When he became a teenager, he was responsible for doing his own laundry as well.
Not only did the rules save me, a single mother working overtime, a lot of time, but my son learned responsibility and independence. He left the nest when he was 18 and has been taking care of himself ever since.
In the last few years, I've begun getting rid of anything I don't "need"--books, nicnacs, craft items for projects I never got around to, useless furniture, etc. When you have less to vacuum and dust around, it saves a lot of time.
I also got rid of all of the carpet in the house except in the guest bedroom. I have a cat and a dog and hair everywhere. The carpet was never clean. Being a gardener, I'm constantly tracking in dirt. Linoleum and hardwood are much easier to clean, and they're actually CLEAN when you clean them. When you clean carpet, really all you're doing is knocking the dirt, dander, and dust mites under the carpet. Take out your carpet and you'll see it all, underneath. Eeeeewwwww! And sweeping is so much easier and faster than a vacuum. I love my carpetless floors. There's actually less dusting to do now that the dirty carpet is gone. And my allergies are all gone too!
We did the same almost a year ago. Got rid of all the carpets. All wood now. My kids take turns with the swiffer so it's done daily. It makes a huge difference,
Thought you all might like to read this... it is a newspaper article from Lakeland, FL. The author writes each week, but this was perfect for this forum... enjoy!
There is a Chinese proverb saying the longest journey begins with the first step. When the journey involves household repairs and the first step requires opening a drawer, you are in trouble.
Is there any reason to save the joysticks for an Apple IIE computer? Does anyone need a 1978 Lake Wales City Directory?
After the wife's mother died in Indiana several years ago, we cleaned out her house, and swore we would come home and reduce our own clutter.
The extra space would be needed for the furniture and boxes of family items we saved.
The determination lasted about as long as it took to rent a mini warehouse and unload the truck.
Then Hurricane Charley and his friends changed the priorities in 2004.
We got the roof replaced, replaced the ceiling in the family room and then took a deep breath, which was good for about a year.
The little cracks in the plaster in other rooms could wait.
The procrastination ended this week in one room. It ended with opening the lid of the antique roll top desk in the corner of the dining room.
People who move occasionally shed unwanted items.
We've lived in this house for almost three decades, which might explain the "Personal Benefit Statement" from The Ledger for 1988.
There are some natural laws that govern the accumulation of clutter.
Any flat surface amasses stuff.
That stuff tends to get crammed into out-of-sight places at the last minute as company arrives.
That might explain all the envelopes of photographs and negatives piled inside the roll top.
It does not explain the unused wedding album, the broken bulb for an antique projector, the numerous rolls of both black and white and color film or a strange assortment of other forgotten items.
It is the pictures that pose the greatest problem.
You can't simply throw out pictures from a family gathering in 1998, or whenever.
They must be preserved.
So they are added to the three drawers of photographs on one side of the roll top.
The problem is that the roll top is only a small part of the problem in this one room.
The China cabinet contains the drawer in which we store warranty and instruction manuals.
The Spanish and French instruction manuals for a cell phone we discarded a few years back seem unnecessary, as does the "one-year limited warranty" for a lawn mower purchased in 1976.
We have the instructions for a space heater discarded when central air and heat was installed in 1992, instructions for a hot air popcorn popper (fate unknown), and instructions for "your new electric typewriter."
The garbage bags bulge.
The collection of antique cameras has been boxed and shelves removed, but there's still more.
Among other things, the hutch contains receipts and financial information. I don't even know what's in the antique wooden icebox or the old sewing machine cabinet.
But the first step has been taken. The dining room is now a wreck.
Once we get everything sorted and pitched, the plastering and paint will be the easy part.
Of course, then we get to dig out the China cabinet and table we brought back from Indiana several years ago.
They are in the back of the warehouse, surrounded by the boxes of papers and photographs removed from the late mother-inlaw's home, which still need to be sorted.
The dining room is just the start. Nothing is simple.
