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Archives for Cleaning
2008 new year’s resolution wrap up
At the start of 2008, I made a new year’s resolution to get my laundry situation under control. Laundry always has been the one chore that I hate more than all the others, and I was determined to find a way to clear my life of laundry stress.
I did a relatively decent job staying on top of my laundry situation until our dryer died and I had to declare laundry bankruptcy in May. Since the dryer situation was fixed, I have to admit that things have gone pretty well in the laundry realm.
From time to time, laundry will get folded and live on the couch for a day before making it into the dresser. However, washed, dried, and folded laundry is leaps and bounds ahead of the huge piles that used to form in the dirty clothes hamper.
The best change I made to keep laundry under control in our home was to decrease the size of our hampers. I got rid of the large hampers and replaced them with single load size hampers. When the hampers are filled, I know I have one load of laundry to wash. Psychologically, I know I can easily take on one load and so I do it without any procrastination. Most weeks, I do a load of laundry every Monday, and two loads on Thursday (I change the sheets on the bed and wash the bath towels as an extra load on Thursday). That’s it. Laundry no longer is a major stress in my life — a wonderful improvement from this point last year.
I’ve started to think about what organizing goal I’m going to add to my 2009 new year’s resolutions. As I did last year, I’ll announce my decision in January and my plan to achieve that goal.
What organizing resolutions are you considering for 2009? How did you fare with your organizing resolutions for 2008? I’m interested in reading what goals you plan to set in the comments!
Popularity: 4% [?]
Teaching your tikes to help with chores
My daughter is two and a half years old. And, thankfully, one of her favorite things to do is to wipe up a spill. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in her spilling things on purpose just to run into the kitchen and fetch a dish towel. My wife and I try to get her to help around the house as much as a two and a half year old can and she seems to enjoy just about everything we throw at her. This is a good start and hopefully she’ll take on more responsibilities as she grows.
She takes part in the nightly ritual of picking up all her toys that are left on the floor in the den before she goes to bed. The task only takes a couple of minutes and it leaves the room less cluttered than it was. She has become quite adept at this task and sometimes she even initiates it.
In an article in the Washington Post, the issue of teaching a young child the importance of pitching in around the home is examined. From the article:
Now that my daughter, at 20 months, is old enough to do things such as put her shirt in a hamper and wipe a spill — or at least some portion of it — I realize that this is my opportunity to strike. The second her masticated Cheerios hit the floor is a teachable moment, a chance to explain that half-chewed food lives in the trash and not under our feet. By showing her how to clean up after herself, child development experts tell me, I am instilling a sense of accomplishment and helping her master the subtle variation in skill required to scoop up squished cereal as opposed to squished peas.
The article covers different aspects of household chores and looks at the amount of time that we spend on chores in general. According to research, the amount of time that we spend on chores has decreased significantly over the last 20 years. The decrease in household chores is due to both parents working, children taking part in more activities, and outsourcing to cleaning services.
If household chores have decreased on average, then there are still many things that your child should learn to help out with around the home. A cleaning service isn’t in your home 24/7, so picking up after themselves is at the top of the list. The younger they are, the easier it is to instill this basic task into their routine.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Seeking advice for cleaning laptops and keyboards
Immediately after Apple released its new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers earlier this month, my e-mail account was inundated with questions about how to clean dirt and grime off white Apple laptops and keyboards. My assumption is that these readers want to upgrade to the new machines and sell their old laptops on eBay. Machines that look like new tend to grab higher prices on the bidding site.
I own a white MacBook, so I decided to try my hand at cleaning my laptop in an effort to help our readers. After making a few calls and asking for advice from my friends, I repeatedly heard that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was the cleaning tool for me to try.
Here is a picture of my laptop before I tried cleaning it. You’ll see that there are dark spots where my wrists rest while I type:
I then scrubbed the affected areas with the Magic Eraser:
And, it was successful at taking off a good portion of the dirt and grime:
However, I’m not going to say that it was a gleaming success. The side-by-side comparison shows that although it did get rid of a good portion of the yuck on the wrist rest, it wasn’t a perfect solution:
What have other people done to get dirt and grime off of white laptops and keyboards? I thought the Magic Eraser did an adequate job, but I’m hoping there is an even better product out there to help clean up the rest of the dirt. Let us know what you have found to clean laptops and keyboards in the comments.
Popularity: 11% [?]
The 5-, 10-, and 15-minute unclutterer
When it’s hard to carve out an hour or two (or more) to complete an unclutter mission, sometimes we forgo organizing at all.
That’s where the speed unclutterer comes in handy. When your boss is about to drop by your cube or friends have called to say they’re coming right over, uncluttering has to take on velocity. I have found that this works best when you close off all distractions, focus solely on the targeted area, set the timer for 5-, 10- or 15-minute increments and unclutter until the timer dings.
What you do in your 5-, 10- or 15-minute increments depends, of course, on the degree of disarray in the area you plan to unclutter and the system you use. Here are some ideas to get you started. Adjust them according to your situation.
The 5-minute Unclutterer
To know where to begin on a 5-minute uncluttering project, asking yourself questions will sharpen your focus. As I wrote on page 20 in The Naked Desk:
If you have limited time to organize, ask yourself, “What single action would make the greatest impact right now?” Or, “What can I do in five minutes that will make the biggest difference?” Scan the office and choose the area that is calling out for order the most. Then take action!
These questions will help you quickly home in on the area that if you unclutter it, will bring you the greatest relief, serenity or beauty. Overwhelmed? Put a bull’s eye on one corner of the table to get started, rather than trying to conquer the whole thing.
Zen Habits also has a great list of 5-minute uncluttering actions in the article 18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess.
I love Leo’s tip #6:
Pick up 5 things, and find places for them. These should be things that you actually use, but that you just seem to put anywhere, because they don’t have good places. If you don’t know exactly where things belong, you have to designate a good spot. Take a minute to think it through where would be a good spot? Then always put those things in those spots when you’re done using them. Do this for everything in your home, a few things at a time.
Make a mental note of the new spots for items so you can retrieve them when you need them.
The 10-minute Unclutterer
You can power through a small uncluttering task in 10 minutes or make progress on a larger project.
Admittedly, the morning dishes in our home sometimes get left unwashed as family members dash out the door for work and school. I set the timer daily for 10-minute dish washing blasts — instant sink and counter uncluttering. Other things you can knock out in 10 minutes include:
- File one inch of paper
- Organize a book shelf
- Start a load of laundry
From home to work, there are many 10-minute uncluttering opportunities. For example, you can reserve the last 10 minutes of the day to unclutter your desk to start fresh and clear the next day.
To fend off return-from-home clutter piles, make it a habit to use your first 10 minutes through the door to put things away, such as your umbrella in the umbrella holder, your jacket in the closet and your keys on the landing strip.
The 15-minute Unclutterer
With all that you can accomplish in five or 10 minutes, 15 minutes can make an even bigger dent in clutter. You won’t streamline a bedraggled garage, but you can clear out one box.
When you find yourself with an unexpected block of 15 minutes, you can use the time to clear out clutter from your home or office. For example, you’ve arrived 15 minutes early for a lunch appointment — unclutter your car. Additional ideas:
- Remove all broken or obsolete items from a junk drawer
- Clear out your purse or wallet
- Organize your monthly receipts
To unclutter and clean, check out About.com’s Sarah Aguirre article”15 Minute Cleanups.” The article provides cleaning checklists for six different rooms, from the kitchen to a kid’s room.
I put the Bedroom Cleanup checklist to the test one evening from 8:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. As I followed each of Aguierre’s steps (except I substituted vacuuming with dusting), the room took on an extra sparkle. (Earrings that had collected on my dresser got returned to their home. I also unpacked my husband’s suitcase from last week’s business trip.) It was fast and easy to run through someone else’s pre-made to-do list. I’m glad I did it and will try her suggestions for other rooms.
Some cluttering projects do take hours, days, or months to finish. But, starting with 5-, 10- or 15-minute uncluttering bursts can give you instant progress. These timed uncluttering sprints are also useful for daily maintenance.
What are you able to get done in 5-, 10- or 15-minute unclutter sprints? Let us know your regular routines in the comments.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Win a Dyson vacuum from Life and Style
Life and Style magazine dropped us a line to let us know that they’re giving away a Dyson Ball DC24 vacuum on their website this week. I’ve been curious about this model since it hit the market earlier this year. Instead of wheels, the DC24 moves on a giant ball. Supposedly, it makes maneuvering a breeze and allows you to easily sweep under furniture. I have hardwood floors and don’t have much use for a vacuum, so I hope that one of our Unclutterer readers wins this vacuum that has been retailing for $399.
Sign up for the drawing by clicking on the vacuum here, and be sure to come back to let us know if you win!
Popularity: 7% [?]
Survey your home for clutter accumulation areas
A quick walk around my house and it is pretty easy to figure out where the clutter accumulates. Problem areas include my desk, the kitchen counter, and a landing strip that borders our kitchen and dining area. The clutter seems to collect like dust and it seems to an unwinnable war.
Take a stroll around your home and identify your perpetually cluttered zones.
Once you figure out which areas of your home are the problem areas, the next step is to do something to remedy the accumulation process. First you have to identify what is in all that mess and where it belongs. Do some of the items belong in the trash? Do they simply not make it back where they officially live? Is some kind of storage solution needed?
Laying out everything that makes up a clutter problem area is a good way to determine where things need to go and whether or not you need to create a new storage solution. If most of the items are simply there for no other reason than they haven’t made it back to their proper places, then you probably should make a conscience effort to not let things form a pile. Either that, or evaluate if its home is really the best and most convenient place for that object.
My desk has been a problem area for quite some time. I accumulate items on my desk that have no business being there. I have become much better in the past year, but as I type this I can see a three hole punch that I never use sitting behind my display screen. It’s time for me to put the hole punch back where it belongs and ramp up my commitment to keeping my desk organized.
After you take care of the problem areas, keep a watch over them the next few weeks. See if you can identify how and when things accumulate and work on stopping those clutter-prone habits.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Auto detailing: The extreme clean
There is a man in my neighborhood who takes the wheels off his car once a month when he cleans his BMW. He washes his car every Saturday, but the wheels are his first-weekend-in-the-month activity. I thought this was the definition of extreme car care, but I was wrong.
I was thinking of Guy Who Takes the Wheels Off His Car the other day when I saw this thread on the Detailing World message boards. Featured on the page is Clark’s story of the four-day cleaning job he did on a Lamborghini Gallardo. Words cannot describe the sense of awe for this ne plus ultra.
Wow.
I don’t know what to say except that you MUST click on this link and see this self-proclaimed “polished bliss.” If I had a Lamborghini, I would ask Clark to detail it for me.
Images from the Detailing World website.
Popularity: 12% [?]
