Category Archive

Cleaning

Keeping spaces nice and clean.

How I learned to stop lamenting my life without convenient washers

It’s been years since I’ve lived in a place with a dishwasher or laundry machines. Sometimes it’s frustrating to find many well-meaning cleaning and organization tips or checklists offered up online that assume I have these easily available for my personal use. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to better manage my washer-less life rather than just lament it. Here are some things that I’ve found work for me…

Taking back the dishes: Fixing my kitchen angst

The truth is that my flatmates and I are pretty good about evenly sharing work. The truth is, when I did the dishes it was usually totally my turn. The truth is, when I was angsting about dishes, probably my flatmates were angsting about their own hot-button chore items, like mowing the lawn, or having a clear dining room table. And, universal truth is, the only person I can change is me. So I took back the dishes. And I found my Dishes Zen.

Use contact paper to snazzy-up your boring fridge

Not too long ago, I saw a picture of a normally boring white fridge with some nice zippy chevron stripes. I was so jealous, and knew that I had to do something to my fridge. This is how a dollar store bag and some contact paper helped me transform my once-boring fridge.

3 things you can do to keep your house habitable when you’re busy

I recently managed to get a full time job after almost a year of working part-time, ad-hoc hours. I maybe worked two five hour shifts a week and had lots of time to myself. Therefore, for the past year, I was responsible for keeping the house nice, and enjoyed having nearly all day every day keeping the house clean and tidy. When I moved to full time work I realized that I would not be able to manage to keep the house as clean and tidy as I was able to when I was out of full time work. I found that these three things have helped keep the house habitable and the housework manageable.

5 ways to cope with hoarding

I didn’t expect hoarding to impact my life in such a big way. I grew up in a house that made constant donations to whatever organization would come by our front door — at least three garbage bags each month, minimum. Stuff came in, stuff went out. This was my normal. And then I met the man who would one day become my husband. And then I met his parents. And now hoarding is a very real and stressful part of my life. Here are some of the challenges of dealing with hoarders, and how we cope with them…

Let a robot vacuum help you out when you have a disability

Vacuuming isn’t hard. But when you have a chronic condition that causes fatigue issues like I do, sometimes it falls by the wayside. There are other more pressing cleaning concerns (dishes, kitty box, cleaning the bird cage) that seem to take priority, and once those are done, I’ve tapped all my reserves. We recently received a cast-off robot vacuum, and it’s changed my life.

Gamify your chores for great justice

You can game-ify your home, but did you know you can game-ify the way you CLEAN your home? Unlock your inner champion for real-life rewards. Make a giant real life game out of your day-to-day chores to motivate yourself and your spacemates (while having more fun)!

ADD and housework: A few tips from a first-class space cadet

I am an un-medicated adult with ADD. I have spent most of my time un-medicated, and thus rely on coping mechanisms. (Note: I TOTALLY support chemical assistance, I just haven’t had any.) Even though I have an “ADD can be a bonus, not a minus!” philosophy… right now, I’m on the subject of dealing with it as a drawback. I have a super-short attention span and I suck at getting work done on anyone else’s timetable. Or any timetable. OR… at all. So me and housework, planning, organizing, and housework have this love/forget relationship… But stuff has to get done somehow. Here’s what I have figured out…