Wisdom comes from unexpected places...

Here is a blog with a doable idea. Basically, Rachel Anne urges fellow bloggers to do one small thing a day to keep up with the house cleaning. (She even posts a small thing every weekday so we don't have to think about it!)

I, like many, am a list maker. Things to do, things to clean, things to file away, things to make, things to write, things to think about, and on and on. The list is long, folks. But back to things to clean. Such as my apartment. The list gets long and arduous. I spend lots of time procrastinating. I'm good at that. But the list never really gets shorter because by the time I start to think about pecking away at the list I've lost the list in a pile of papers.

But the small things idea is brilliant. This week I've attempted to do one small thing each evening - such as tossing out old food in the fridge, de-cluttering the stairwell, wiping mirrors. Really it takes only a couple minutes when it comes right down to it. But the beauty of it is once I start cleaning I get into a groove and one small thing leads to another and suddenly the trash is emptied, the car is cleaned out, the cabinets are wiped down... you get the picture.I've made a lot of progress! The kitchen and bathroom are sparkling, the bed is fresh and made, the floors are vacuumed, the laundry is mostly finished, with one mishap. I took a fantastic spill on the ice outside and have a crushed laundry basket, two bruised knees and a sore shoulder to show for it. That was no fun.

But besides that, this cleaning thing isn't really so overwhelming. I just have to set my mind to it and do a little each day. I will not go so far to say that it is fun but it is nice to feel a sense of accomplishment. And I didn't have to pull a Fly Lady in the process, which is really nice.

I WILL say it has been less than a week. I am still home alone so I have a lot of time on my hands. Check back in a month, and ask me what the apartment looks like. THAT will be the real test. But I'll try to be optimistic - I really want to teach myself to keep an orderly house.