Evening Routines

The sheer amount of work* I’ve got on at the moment is leaving little head space for philosophical thinking, so I have been concentrating on practical changes on the housekeeping front (which is a good thing, as thinking about how to clean a floor won’t get it clean). I’ve made two leaps forward this week:

Firstly, I’ve started an evening routine for the kitchen. I find that if I do this at the end of the evening, before my relaxing cup of cocoa, it really is quite painless. It’s also quite simple - just doing the washing up, clearing and wiping the worktops (which I discovered again on Monday, buried under a pile of old newspapers, sewing projects and other miscellany),  wiping the stove, microwaving the washing up sponge (to disinfect it - not sure why I’m doing this, but it makes me feel efficient) and emptying the kitchen bin. It doesn’t take long at all and coming into a clean kitchen in the morning is great. I plan to extend the routine to cover the rest of the house (putting away, emptying bins, etc) gradually.

Secondly, I have had a brainstorm about cigarette smoke and smells in the house. If I’m honest, this is the most ’shameful’ thing about our house - and, yes, it is all my fault. If I was really good, I’d make myself go outside to smoke. But I’m not really good and, besides, there is nowhere to shelter from the rain out there. So, instead I have purchased a couple of ‘air washers’. They are little machines that you fill with water and they suck air in, wash it and puff it back out again. I bought two because, although they are not loud, they’re not silent either. One will live downstairs and be switched on at night and when there is no one in the house; the other is upstairs so it can do its stuff during the day (and also when there is no one in the house). They seem to be doing a good job already. My only concern is that the manufacturer makes a big deal about how they also humidify the air to replace moisture lost through central heating. Lack of moisture is not a problem we have here, so we’ll just have to see how that goes and if it causes any problems.

*This also leaves me with a dearth of words for blogging, so I apologise if I’m quieter than usual over the next few weeks. I’m banging out words all day in quite a frenzy (and all of them for publication, alas, so I can’t cut corners) and find that the last thing I want to do when I stop is write more words.  Or speak. Or use my brain for anything.

Developing a housekeeping plan

With Housekeeping Therapy, the things I need to address are:

1. Defining my philosophy
2. Getting on top of the current chaos
3. A system for keeping the chaos under control
4. A longer-term plan to keep said system running smoothly

I know that I want to get some help with the heavy cleaning in order to leave me more time for all the reading and writing I need would prefer to do to progress with my career. Hiring a cleaner really is a longer-term ambition, though, as our home is nowhere near the state in which I would be happy to ask someone to help keep in under control. But, I am putting a time-scale on achieving this goal and it looks like aiming for November 2008 would be reasonable. This gives plenty of time to develop light cleaning and tidying routines and to attack the bedroom in the AT Fall Cure.

Regarding my philosophy, this is slowly developing in my head, helped enormously by thoughts on the subject posted by other AT/WT/Ht-ers. I am also going to weigh in with a post on this topic, but don’t have time right now.

For developing a system, I think I may have found the help I need. I was in London over the weekend and found a book that looks perfect for me. It is called Houseworks and is by Cynthia Townley Ewer, the founder of organizedhome.com. I’ve only read the introduction, but looking at the table of contents and flicking through, it looks like a wonderful and practical resource for a housekeeping dunce like me.

That’s all for now - my lunch break is over and I’ve got to get back to the grindstone. (I’m currently churning out museum labels for what is possibly the most hideous collection of porcelain one is ever likely to encounter, a task which is amusing and nauseating in equal measure. Never before have I had to use the word ‘puce’ with such frequency.)

Housekeeping Therapy Questionnaire

Yup. Still in bed. Still procrastinating. (In my defence, it’s really cold outside the duvet). Here are my answers to the Housekeeping Therapy questionnaire that scb has prepared:

How would you describe your housekeeping style (3 words)?
1. Slovenly
2. Chaotic
3. Anxious

Who is your housekeeping Iconic Figure? Martha Stewart? Felix Unger? Oscar Madison?
The only person I recognised in that list is Martha Stewart, but have googled and found the other two are characters in The Odd Couple. It would probably be a mix of all three.

Why?
Martha Stewart has things looking nice (flowers, little homely touches, etc - her home probably smells like a fresh spring breeze, too), Felix Unger can probably find things at a moment’s notice and Oscar Madison represents my natural slobbish tendencies. Oh dear, this isn’t helping. I need a cleaner.

Who would you consider a role model when it comes to housekeeping? That differs from the question above in that I want you to think about someone you know, whose style you might want to emulate in some way.
I’ve been racking my brains and I just don’t know. I honestly never take any notice of the level of housekeeping when I go to visit people. Maybe I should - if they are quietly judging me (as I believe they do), I should probably return the favour.

Why?
See above.

All this leads up to — what do you want from the way you keep your home? What level of cleaniless/tidiness is important to you on a daily/weekly basis? What purpose (other than keeping the health inspector from pounding on the door) is this to achieve — for example, do you need to be company-ready at a moment’s notice?
OK. Now we’re talking. Being company-ready at a moment’s notice would be great. I am hugely embarrassed at the mess that greets people when they visit. On a daily level, I think I’d like things just to feel fresh and clean and organised. Fresh and clean are the keywords, in fact, as being in such an environment lifts my mood.

What, if anything, is standing in the way of that level of cleanliness/tidiness being achieved?
As I have mentioned before, I do actually like cleaning in moderation. What I don’t like is having to do a major tidy before getting down to it. My ideal would be to have a tidy home, in which the general cleaning is done by someone else (a cleaner!) and the finer details (windows, polishing knick-knacks, etc.) are done by me.

Are the obstacles:
1. Physical — is there something about the way some part of your home is arranged or organized that isn’t working for the function(s) that area needs to fulfill?
The only physical problem is that I still haven’t finished my DIY stuff for downstairs, so there are random piles of wood around and the tools are still easily at hand in the understairs cupboard (where the cleaning stuff should be) instead of in the shed. I’ve just got to get on with it and get it finished. I could also do with having a general clear out.

2. Psychological — is there something within yourself that’s keeping you from dealing with what’s necessary to keep your home the way you want to? Is there some form of motivation or reward that might help?
Does tiredness come under this heading? Housework is always bottom of my to-do list and I’m usually completely shattered at the end of each day. Going back to the ‘getting a cleaner’ idea, that would be a motivation to keep things from crisis level. I would be too embarrassed for anyone to come in and clean when the house was a tip, so I would be motivated to keep it tidy if I knew someone was coming each week to hoover and dust, etc.

Oh, and just to slip this big one in here, I also smoke in the house. That kind of does away with the ‘fresh and clean’ thing right away. For various reasons I don’t want to talk about here, I am not at the point where I want to (or could successfully) quit, but I can certainly do something about the impact it has on our home.

3. Equipment — is something not working for you, e.g. vacuum cleaner not up to par, or somesuch?
Nope. Everything is fine in that regard.

I didn’t think this questionnaire would actually help, but it has really clarified my thoughts. At first glance, getting a cleaner seems like a ridiculous idea as this house is tiny and I should be able to look after it myself. There are also the usual guilty thoughts of palming off one’s ‘dirty work’ on someone else. Also, we are not wealthy. On the other hand, maybe I just need to accept that I’m a chaotic person and that my energies will always be directed away from the drudgery of domesticity. Yes, I enjoy cleaning when I do it, but do I want to spend the time doing it? Probably not. I’m not a person with big reserves of physical energy, but I have a busy brain that spurs me on. This year, for example, on top of my usual chug-along work for museums, I have two books to research and write (one with a client, one on my own), other work for clients that I don’t know about yet, vegetables to grow, clothes to make, people to see, sleep to do… Maybe now is the time to accept that I can’t do it all.

On Housekeeping and Tat

It looks like our little “therapy” group is heading into new territory, with scb’s suggestion of Housekeeping Therapy. Hooray! I could really do with this. Friday mornings (i.e. right now) are designated as housework time on my ‘ideal week’ mind map. To show how enthusiastic I am about this I offer the following evidence:

1. I am still in bed, from where I have a great view of a lot of the housework that needs to be done.
2. I have been staring at said view for over an hour, with the occasional foray to the kitchen to make another cup of tea and to my study to pick up my laptop.
3. The view is just as bad in the kitchen and study.
4. My thoughts keep bouncing back to “Can I afford a cleaner?”

All in all, its not looking good. It has to be said that it has been easier to keep downstairs tidy since I did the major overhaul. It would, of course, be even easier if I finished off all the outstanding tasks (skirting boards, etc) and therefore got rid of all the wood stacked up down the stairs.

For me, the main problem is keeping things tidy. I quite enjoy cleaning and if all I had to do this morning was stuff like cleaning windows, scrubbing the bathroom, disinfecting the fridge, etc, I’d be quite happy. As it is, first I have to find the windows, bath, fridge, etc. I’m the main culprit here. J is reasonably tidy. But I’m here all week, as I work from home, drifting from room to room leaving small trails of mess is my wake. I found a missing plate (complete with toast crumbs) stacked up in a pile of books in my study the other day, where I had placed it out of the way while deep in some research and then absentmindedly stacked more books on top of it.

So… I think the first thing I need to do for Housekeeping Therapy is create some daily routines for tidying up after myself. I also need to get rid of some clutter. The house feels too ‘packed’ and I’m sure there’s a lot that can go.

For the clutter clearing, I have a witty acronym (and we do like a witty acronym, don’t we?) that I have used in the past. It is TATT* and stands for ‘throw away three things’. This is a daily task in which I, um, throw away three things. (In actual fact, I deal with three things, as they might be recycled, mended, given to charity, freecycled or whatever - but DWTT doesn’t trip of the tongue quite so easily.) I will create a little TATT tick chart for myself today and get started right away.

*Having said it was witty, I’m not sure it translates well outside British English. ‘Tat’ is rubbishy, worn stuff with no value, here. Is it a term also used in elsewhere?

Getting Creative

As proof that I am getting on with January’s outfit, I was going to post a picture of my knitting today, but once again the darned be-dazzling winter light has foiled my plans. Is it me or my camera? I suspect it’s me because, even though I have made friends with both the little flower and the light conditions setting, it appears to be completely random whether I take a decent photo or not. Or perhaps my little camera has noticed my anxious face peering at it every time it takes a picture and has developed a photographic insecurity complex all of its own. Who knows?

Anyway, instead I spent some time creating a colour palette of the bits and bobs I have been gathering for January’s outfit:

The darkest purple is the background colour of the fabric I am using for the dress. Despite my statement that I prefer plain fabrics, this actually has a pattern (in the gold and green). I’m waiting for some gold silk habotai lining fabric to arrive before I can make a start on that, though. The aubergine-y colour on the right is the colour of the yarn I am using to make a cardigan to go with the dress. And the lavender might end up being part of a bonus outfit, depending on how I get on.

In other creativity resolution news, I have ordered a compost bin for the allotment (which should arrive some time this month) and found a scrapbook (big, square with a black cover and black pages - perfect).