Not me of course.
I started my new non-negotiable task of picking up the floors in each bathroom every morning. I know that this is only a teeeeeny tiiiiny part of what needs to be done daily to keep bathrooms ship-shape, but I have to start somewhere. I am doing my best to build habits that will become “no big deal” so that when I add a new non-negotiable, I won’t get overwhelmed.
A friend once said something in a casual conversation that has reverberated in my head for years now. She is a neat freak, but was cleaning her house for a party. She casually mentioned that “You know, if your floors are clean, everyone thinks your house is clean.” I laughed like of course I knew that. But I didn’t. I think of that all the time. That is my reasoning behind this new daily task. It’s really a “duh” task. Something I should be doing every day anyway. But it’s because I don’t do these “duh” tasks daily that my house stays in chaos.
It really makes a big difference. Previously, I have frantically, and in fits of frustration, thrown stray clothes in the hamper. I have picked up the damp towels and stray toy. But now my focus is the floor being totally clear of stuff that doesn’t belong there. Somehow that’s different. It means that instead of stopping at the big stuff, I reached behind the potty and picked up the stray wad of t.p. Gross. I’m not going to ask how it got there. Normally, I would see that and totally stress about how disgusting my little boys’ bathroom is and how I need to completely scrub it down from top to bottom. And sometimes I would. But most of the time I wouldn’t because I didn’t have time to scrub it down on that particular day.
Today I just picked it up. And it looks so much better in there. Duh.
I did also wipe down the counter, sink and toilet. I’m going to try to do those things daily as well but they are not yet on the non-negotiable list, so I won’t beat myself up if I don’t.
Other things I’ve done today:
Made bed.
Cleaned and swept kitchen.
Ran a load of laundry.
Totally cleaned dining room (See my Tackle it Tuesday post coming up)
Cleaned one kid’s room.
Cleaned playroom.
This is a big cleaning week because we have family coming over for a birthday get-together on Saturday. Good motivation for me.
