Get things done with me

I love the idea of a weekly or monthly reset, but they don't work when everything feels chaotic all the time. 

Due to some chronic health issues, I've not been keeping up on a lot around my home for months. Thus, piles have grown here and there. Dustbunnies have also grown here and there. No surface is clear or clean.

My home is stressing me out right now. This is not how I want to live.

I've started some new meds recently, and while there are some unpleasant side effects, overall, I do feel about 80% of normal. My energy is improving, as are my strength and overall stamina. So, today seemed like a good day to get lots of little things done. 

If you've been feeling stuck and need a body double, then feel free to work alongside the tasks I list in this post! 

My first step to any project that could be overwhelming is to text one of my dearest friends with my thoughts ("I don't want to do this. I hate this. Why is everything so messy all the time?"). Then, I text her with a *tiny* step I plan to take.

Today, my first tiny step was to clear the very small surface of a table next to my reading chair. I sent my friend this before picture:

It's not a terrible, huge, overwhelming mess. Instead, it's small with only a few items and a defined space. I can handle that -- and I did:

1. I put the two pieces of mail in a bin with other mail that needs sorted -- I also put the envelope of one item into my recycling bin.
2. The remote went into its designated spot.
3. The pot holder went back to the kitchen.
4. The jams went to a spot where I keep special snacks.
5. The nail clippers went back to my bedroom.
6. The book eventually went to a different spot next to my reading chair.

Then, I cleaned the glass, both top and bottom surfaces. I'm pretty sure I'll be moving this little table to my work at home space to hold my printer. In fact, as I write this, I'm going to move it now, but here is the after (other than the book not being moved yet):

Take photos of small areas so you have visual proof of your efforts. When everything is a mess, it can help to reset your brain so you that you realize you have actually made progress, even if your eye can't see it when looking around the room. You'll have proof on your phone or camera. I also send my before and after photos to my friend as accountability -- I send the before when I start a task and the after when I finish. She sends me similar photos as she works on her own tasks.

With the small table moved to my work space, let's move on with our next little tasks.

Often, once I've cleaned up one tiny little space and felt the satisfaction of taking care of a task, I am motivated to move on to another small task. 

Next, I tackled this surface to the right of my reading chair. It tends to become a dumping ground:

Several items made their way to recycling. My tablet and a couple of small items that you can't see in the photo went to my bedroom. Several items went to my craft supplies area. Cookbooks went back on my cookbook shelf. And other small items got put away or thrown away.

The after:

At this point, I was feeling both better and overwhelmed at the same time, but having put away cookbooks, I tackled this very small pile of recipes, cooking magazines, and a binder in which I keep recipes. I also put the flip flops in my bedroom -- sometimes when doing these tiny tidies, I won't put things necessary fully away if they belong in other rooms. Instead, if that other room also needs tidied, I'll just put the item in that room to take care of it when I get to tidying that space.

After:

I wish I had taken a photo of my little reading corner before all of this tidying. It was quite crowded feeling because of these three small messes. Now that those messes are cleared and the little table is moved, I'm much happier with this small corner of my apartment! It's not perfect, but it's definitely more comfortable and welcoming now.

I ended up sitting down and just did nothing for more than ten minutes at this point. I didn't scroll social media, didn't read, didn't watch TV. I just sat. 

When I felt like I needed to get on with things but also felt like I had zero energy or will power to keep cleaning and tidying, I texted my friend a list of five tiny things I would do immediately:

And then, I did them:

This helped to get me back up and going. Right after doing these items, I texted that I was going to clean up some bits of pet fur that have gathered in clumps due to our robot vacuum malfunctioning yesterday. I cleaned those up and then took care of some items on my dining table which started out looking like this:

The dining table is probably the most frustrating area of our apartment, to a degree that I've considered getting rid of it. We use it for actual dining maybe two or three times a year at present. I'm not sure though -- what do you think?

To get started on the table I did the following:

• Put the box and packing material in my sales and inventory nook (I sell on Poshmark, Mercari, Etsy, and a few other places)
• Put away the fabric cat carrier (you can see the edge of it behind the box)
• Put a curtain panel in my room to hang up later
• Put some canvas shopping bags away 

The table is still pretty messy, but I've made a significant dent that makes the rest feel doable. 

In between all of these small tasks, my friend and I have been texting about the tasks we're both doing, plans for the weekend, and so on. My adult kiddo's partner also came home from an outing and we had a nice chat and worked on putting away some clean dishes togther. 

Before I work on the dining table further, I'm going to continue with putting away clean dishes and then reloading the dishwasher.

✅Put away dry clean dishes

✅Unloaded dishwasher

✅Reloaded dishwasher

✅Hand washed half of by hand dishes (my kiddo and their partner will do the rest)

✅Cleaned the entire counter on the sink side of my kitchen

✅Hung a basket on the wall for clean dish towels

Later, I will clean the other side of the kitchen, but right now, I'm going to reward myself with a little break and to spend some time with the book I'm currently reading: The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore. I just finished reading a couple of pretty emotionally heavy books (you can read my review of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult on my reading blog HERE), so I'm reading this as a mental palate cleanser. It's chick-lit and reads a lot like a Hallmark movie crossed with the TV show "The Gilmore Girls." So far, it's pretty cute! 

After reading for a bit, I took my dog out to go potty, fed her, and then worked on the kitchen a bit more. I didn't take pictures this time, but I reorganized a cupboard where most of our canned and other non-perishable foods are stored and then I made myself some vegan mac-n-cheese for a snack. 

I did some more reading and haven't done much else this afternoon other than texting with the friend I mentioned above. I am planning to work a bit more on my dining table some more in a moment though...

The table after my initial pass:

I put several items from the dining table into recycling and the trash, and then I removed many other items and put them in their respective homes or the rooms they belong in. I then removed the extension from the table, cleaned the top, and just overall tidied the few items that will remain on the table for now:

Removing the extension shortens the table by about a foot and a half. Hopefully that will reduce the amount of clutter that builds up time and again. It also gives us more floor space to move about and more area for our dog and cat to play and roam.

I have been at this for about six hours and am ready for a longer break. In fact, at this point, I am going to call it good for the day, unless a get a second wind later this evening. At the moment, it is 6:45pm and I'm ready to be done for a while.

I hope you were able to get a lot done by working alongside reading this post. I hope you read a little, took care of a little task here and there, read a bit more, took care of another task, and so on. Leave a comment and let me know what you accomplished!