Comments on: Establishing routines

By: heather

heather — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:14:12 +0000

Having a daily routine has halped me TONS!!
I have five kids and run the washer almost every day. I start it up when I get my coffee in the morning.
I get the dishes moving along and the kitchen counters clear and wiped while the kids eat breakfast.
These two things and not allowing too many toys in the living room have gone a long way in being able to stay afloat!!

By: Keepin My Head Above Water

Keepin My Head Above Water — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:31:19 +0000

BWAHAHAHAHA! You’re very funny, do you do stand-up?

“See if there is anything that doesn’t belong in your car…” Once I’ve loaded both arms with children’s shoes, clothing, school projects, sippy cups, Goldfish bags, and occasionally even the child, what gets left behind gets left behind, dig?

I could pick nits with the rest of your delightful tips, but I’ve got work to do.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:48:26 +0000

I find if I leave my laundry in the washer for a few hours, it can get REALLY stinky. Just a warning in case anyone’s thinking about trying that tip

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:57:17 +0000

One of my routines could be called “Surface Cleaning”:
Every time I enter my apartment I pick up something that is wrongly placed, either trash or unchecked mail, or piled magazines or what not.

By: Rae

Rae — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 05:41:40 +0000

A great site that focuses on establishing routines and reducing clutter is http://www.flylady.net
Check it out.

By: Jacki Hollywood Brown

Jacki Hollywood Brown — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:10:36 +0000

Save energy by doing all your laundry on the same day (if possible). By not letting your dryer cool down between loads you can save energy!

By: Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer

Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:46:21 +0000

Good list! I confess that I have difficulty maintaining routines, though I always make the effort when it comes to cleanliness. I think eliminating clutter is a crucial part of keeping any home clean. Less stuff to move out of the way, less stuff to dust, fewer places for dust to hide. And even if you fall behind schedule a bit, if the place isn’t cluttered, it will still look appealing!

By: Raisin

Raisin — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:55:06 +0000

As posted above, I would also like to also say that you should not run a washer or dryer when you are not home. It is just a safety hazard.

Also, if you have a squeege in the shower, and if you have to wait a moment for the water to heat up, you can use that time and cold water to splash the shower with water and run a squeege over it. This keeps the mildew from growing much, and makes the ‘deep cleaning’ of the shower easier.

By: Daniel Fisher

Daniel Fisher — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:52:45 +0000

I’ve kind of implemented this schedule for myself, *and* I’ve turned it into a website:

http://askingforthirds.org/tasks/

(Until this post inspired me, I hadn’t made this publicly available, so if you don’t see something or think you see something you shouldn’t, let me know and I’ll try to fix it)

The page above is merely the “public face” for the page, there is a private URL that I use to actually maintain the data.

My motivation for making this site is similar to the motivation this post describes, with one addition: I’m a slob and can blissfully live in squalor. My wife on the other hand will live in squalor until she can’t take it any more and then explode into anger/disappointment that the house is worse than a pig sty.

So to hopefully avoid explosions, I made the web page above to make me aware of what parts of the house are due for a once-over cleaning.

After 2 months of using this, my wife’s happier and we’re not afraid to invite friends over for dinner/parties.

I’ve toyed with the idea of expanding this and making it into a commercial site, but I don’t know if there’s enough mass-appeal to make it worthwhile.

ps- This is my personal site. It’s not ready to take millions (maybe not even dozens) of connections a minute. If it’s down or this URL is no longer valid, I’ll try to put a helpful message up as to why.

By: Alice

Alice — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:01:36 +0000

I agree with Jenn on the laundry. When I lived by myself without my own washer/dryer, I got away with doing laundry every three weeks. Even next year, when I’m going to have my own washer/dryer (yay!) I’ll probably only do laundry every two weeks- at most! Running too many small loads wastes too much water and energy and I never have enough to wash after only one week. Plus, as I busy student, I never have that much time.

By: jenn

jenn — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:07:11 +0000

this is the first piece of advice i’ve read (since i started reading this blog two weeks ago) that contained something i immediately thought “yeah, right!” about. your advice about laundry? COMPLETELY unrealistic for anyone living in an apartment without a personal washer/dryer. i have to use a laundromat, and clearly that strategy wouldn’t work for me. also, twice a week for two people? how many clothes do you really go through? my husband and i do laundry every two weeks — each of us has a basket, and they don’t get full until that point. just my two cents, but i wanted to speak for the washer/dryer-less people out there.

By: Felis

Felis — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:57:30 +0000

For some people, it just isn’t that easy to know what needs to be done when. I like your site and info alot, but I think flylady.net is worth a mention if you feel that you’re hopelessly lost in your home. It’s all about establishing small routines and building on them til you get to the stage when everything is automatic. It’s a bit… ah… ‘cute’ but the messages are good and heartfelt. (and free!) And no, I’m not affiliated… just trying to find myself under my avalanche of a house!

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:31:02 +0000

Ok, a little warning about putting in laundry and then leaving. Make sure your machines are balanced and secure.

We once ran a load and left. The washing machine shook so much (off balance) that it knocked the dryer over, and then snapped the 3/4″ gas pipe that fed the dryer. When we came home, we got about 30 feet from the house before we could smell the gas.

Everyone was ok and the cats survived, but there was very nearly an explosion that, according to the gas people, would have completely destroyed our home as well as the closest 3.

There was a reason Mom always said not to run the laundry while you were out.

By: Spike

Spike — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:04:12 +0000

I don’t have a big routine for cleaning and de-cluttering my home. I’ve tried many times to implement deep routines for things but It’s never worked out. If I feel something needs doing, whether it be hoover the floor, dust the hallway, de-clutter under the bed etc I will book aside some time to do it as soon as poss. This approach works better for me, than, for example, booking aside every Tuesday for deep-cleaning.

Organize IT

By: Dr. Ragan, www.psychologyofclutter.com

Dr. Ragan, www.psychologyofclutter.com — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:51:35 +0000

This post is a perfect example of why I used you as my first Website Wednesday feature! I hope my readers visit you site and come to look forward to your posts as much as I do.