I didn’t add a new non-negotiable last week. Since I didn’t get back until Monday evening, it really never occurred to me, and things were so off schedule last week that it was a bit pointless anyway.
I’ve managed to not let the house become a total sty this week. Just a half-way sty. I’ve tried to be “aware” of the clutter and the need to clean up the kitchen, etc. However, this week has been a reminder that while that works for normal people, I’m not normal.
I’m not good at noticing the little things that need to be done before they turn into big things.
Hence the blog.
So I have to get back to being diligent about the daily tasks after a week of loosi–goosiness. (Yes, spellcheck, that is a word, thank you very much.)
I mentioned yesterday that I could feel the non-negotiables coming on regarding the master bedroom. The master is by no means perfect, since it was way past the get-it-perfectly-clean-in-only-ten-hours stage. But it looks tons better. It is now in the state where I won’t be inviting people into it to show it off, but I won’t pass out cold if they open the door. There are three laundry baskets of who-knows-what that were probably dining-room-table-emergency-clean-offs that have to be gone through. We’re having a party on Tuesday night, so my plan at this point is to put them in my closet just for the party. I know that isn’t ideal, but I don’t see myself having time to go through them before the party, since I will be deep cleaning the rest of the house for the next two days.
But I must say that it feels really good to know that the next two days can be devoted to deep cleaning, rather than one day of crazy-frantic-throw-everything-in-the-garage decluttering and one day of surface cleaning.
So, back to the non-negotiable. It’s a simple one, but one I don’t do. It’s really such a “duh.”
I’m going to hang up and/or put into the laundry my clothes/hubby’s clothes immediately (or at least daily) instead of laying them on something thinking that I’ll do it later.
I can’t tell you how many items of clothing I “found” when working on the master this weekend. Things that I just “didn’t have the time” to hang back up after deciding to wear something else. Then it happens again and again, and pretty soon they have fallen off of the pile, behind something, or under the bed, and may never be found again. I even found a few things that missed an entire season.
Sometimes I start to feel that I’m wearing the same few pieces over and over and over. I know that I have other clothes, but I just can’t seem to find them.
HELLO, THEY’RE IN THE PILE!!!!!
So there you have it. A very simple, do-able task, but it is an essential habit that I must develop to keep our bedroom from getting back to what seems to be its natural state.
Anonymous says
Your master bedroom sounds like mine and then add a showerstall in it.
Essa says
Wow. You sound *exactly* like me. I think you read my mind. 😉 In fact, my dad was supposed to be coming to visit today, but called yesterday morning to cancel because he has a cold. Is it bad that all I thought was *phew*, because now it gives me another week to think about getting the house ready for company?
Diane Morgan says
Oh that is so much like my house you described it exactly. I too have a masterbedroom that needs to be cleaned . I have a dresser that is piled high with clothes. Those are the once I wear over and over again. I cant find my favourites because they are clean downstairs on the laundry table piled high.
This week I am working on getting my dresser cleaned off and washed and put away. Also work on mount laundry too !
Anonymous says
Hi Nony, I stumbled on your blog thru the menu monday links and at the time I was just looking for some menu ideas and had not really paid attention to the title of your blog. For some reason I left the page up on my computer while I went about doing other things even some online shopping and when I started closing some windows as I had about 5 open, I read the title and thought, "That's me!" Thank you for sharing this and being this honest, I look forward to starting with your first post and reading them all! This has been a long time struggle for me and I desperately want to conquer it. I so want to be able to hear a knock at the door and be happy that we have company and not terrified of opening the door. Again, thank you and God bless! Kristie
Nony says
Thanks for the encouragement Kristie. I still have such a long way to go! But I can definitely say that each little change has made a huge difference.
Also, it's good to know that I'm not the only one. Thanks to all of you for commenting. Even though I am trying to be totally honest on this blog, sometimes I still hesitate because it feels like such a deep dark secret.
KellyJMF says
The piles of clothes ON the dresser helped me weed out my clothes. Because if it was still IN the dresser, clearly I never wore it. After I got rid of nearly everything still in the dresser, there was room to put away what was on top in piles threatening to fall over and smother small children and the cat.
Melissa says
LOL, this is definitely my bedroom, too. :-S
I still have a long way to go, but after I had the lightbulb about not piling my clothes to “take care of later”, what really helped me keep up with keeping them off the floor and out of piles is, one word: HOOKS.
I am lucky enough to have a walk-in closet for my clothes and I had recently installed half a dozen hooks to hang scarves and stuff on, but I found that when I am really in such a hurry that for some reason I think I just don’t have time to bother with actually putting it on a hanger, I just hang it on a hook really quick. Then my mess has a limit – once I’m out of hooks, it’s a forehead smack that I need to take a minute or two to hang things back up. Unlike piling stuff, which has no limit until next thing you know you can’t find anything and you’re avoiding the Pile of Doom so it doesn’t collapse on and smother you. And with hanging it on the hooks, at least everything is not on the floor or in a pile getting wrinkled or dirty in the meantime. 🙂 Works for me!
Heather says
I’m still soldiering through your blog from the beginning, Nony! I spent all day yesterday on my master bedroom. It seems I’ve been getting better at getting at least 1 load of laundry done a day (thanks to your journey and setting a daily reminder on my phone called “just one load”), but I am awful at getting them put away. My master had no less than 15 5ft stacks of folded laundry. I weeded out a ton of bags for goodwill and got every bit of it put away. I also dusted and vacuumed in there for the first time in quite a while and got most of the master bath done (all except the floor). Ah. It felt good. Now that it is ALL put away and ALL the laundry is done, hopefully my “just one load” can really be from start to finish (meaning PUT AWAY!!) and I can save myself from this monumental task every month or two.
Yeah. I’ve been known to go buy everyone new socks and underwear rather than do laundry sometimes. Isn’t that pathetic?!
Shanna says
I figured out to only allow a bed and 2 night stands with drawers that close in the bedroom. There is no other horizontal surface except the windowsill. If I ever start to put things on a windowsill I know I’m heading for hoarders.
This comment goes with your too much clothes post. I discovered only hanging clothes on hangers, even the children. We each have three bins for undies, socks and misc. and everthing else is hung up. Paint spattered project pants, pajamas pants, shirts- it’s all hung up. It is so much easier to see this way and a whole drawer isn’t messed up looking for stuff (especially with all girls who can’t stop changing their clothes. The floor is bare too and there is no big dresser surface begging for a pile to be born. I also got lots of over the door hooks so at least things were up not gathering dust and the floor stays clean. Also- more floor space without any dressers!
Fish says
I am not using my name but a nickname. I am on the same journey as you are. However, I am not blogging it. I have the same issues, weight, organization and unfortunately budget(not your issue but mine). I just started trying to get my house in order again a few months ago. But now the budget is under control (hubby is working with me on that one), I am not stalling to avoid it. So the house is coming under control. It looks company ready and can even handle me not being on top it for a day or two but I can not. But why I replied to this post is because our master was very much like yours. It took me many shows on the Apple TV to get all the clothing clutter cleared (most of it was washed many times because I did not put it away when it came out of the dryer). But now it is clean with the rest of the house it feels good. I like it. But you blog is a reminder of where I came from. By the way I also did Flylady and few other programs and it clicked the other day when I was talking with a friend, I have to do what works for me not someone else. Take bits and pieces from others and modify for me. I need to do this with diet and budget. Because other people do not think like me.