#aslobcomesclean

This is my kitchen after breakfast. It doesn’t look like this because of breakfast, this is just my kitchen.

I can’t think or create here.

I’m only using the Nony’s visibility rule to get this counter usable.

Here I go! Remembering the Visibility Rule, I started in the the main bathroom. Making it visibly more appealing.

This was more than a 5-minute pickup. I didn’t even set a timer. I just worked until the job was done.

Not bad, since this is the final product. 

It looked something like this: 

It is easy to keep it from looking like this, but not always easy to keep it from getting cluttered. 

I am trying. Not a daily basis. But I am trying to keep these spaces clear of clutter. 

The bathroom feels better! I can think in this bathroom.

Lately, I have felt like I’m struggling to get the simple things done. Just doing my daily tasks seems to be a chore. I have even put my daily tasks in my reminders, but then I just ignore those beeps and pop ups. 

Every time I get a space or counter decluttered, it seems that something explodes and things are just as bad if not worse than before. 

This morning I was looking at a video about decluttering. The blogger/podcaster/videographer said she was just clearing the visible areas. She calls this the “visibility rule.” 

This reminds me to not try to do everything, but as I begin, just do what is visible to others. 

Thanks for the reminder. 

My dishwashing routine is to run the dishwasher daily. BUT, I have not run the dishwasher in 3 days! Yes, 3 days of not washing dishes looks like this:

Nony’s dishes math did not catch me this time!! It was a slow weekend for cooking at home…next time I may not be as lucky. 

Not every time I miss a few days of dish washing will it look like this. I guess I’m lucky this time. I will not have to play catchup. I just have to run the dishwasher tonight & life goes on!

I must be more vigilant at keeping up with my dishes routine. 

I have a room that I call my office. In it is a desk with leather chair, printer, filing cabinets, a laminator, office supplies and supplies related to some freelance work I did. It also has a bunk bed. When we moved into this house, this was my daughter’s bedroom. She was turning 4 and it is the smallest room in the house. The walls were yellow and when talking about moving into this house I told her that it had a yellow bedroom. Her response was, “For me?!” Hence, her bedroom.

After a few years, we realized that this room was not right for her. 1. She had more stuff than the room could hold. 2. There is only one air vent in the far corner of the room. Thus, making air circulation difficult. 

So, we (me & my parents) switched rooms. We moved my daughter into the largest bedroom & the guest room into the smallest bedroom. At the same time, I bought my daughter a bunk bed. It is very sturdy and heavy. Not easy to move and it takes up lots of space.

My daughter is now in college in another state. Slowly, I have moved things out of her bedroom. This includes the bunk beds. By myself, I moved them into the office/guest room. This means there is no bed in her old bedroom. When she comes home, she has to stay in the smaller office and sleep on the bunk beds. 

As I am slowly cleaning out these 2 rooms, I am envisioning what I want this space to look like. Clunky, bulky bunk beds are nowhere in my vision.

I heard a podcaster say that you must identify the room. It can’t be a “slash” room. Slash as in office/guest room/everything room. When the room has no real identity, it attracts everything.

That being said, I have no idea what I will name this room. As I move furniture around and decide what I will keep and what has to leave, the purpose of each room changes. I’m hoping that as the rooms become more usable, the real purpose will be revealed to me.

Is this the best way to solve this problem? Absolutely, not. Is this way better that doing nothing? Absolutely. I am striving for better, because better is progress.

Ok. I’ve been changing my messy into a message for a few months, now. During this time I have taken a few trips. 

How do I keep the momentum going when I’m not a home to work on those daily routines I’m trying to establish? Hhhmmmm….Good question....

1st 2 habits: do the dishes and sweep kitchen. I'm in a hotel room, there are no kitchen duties! ✔️✔️

3rd habit: bathroom clutter. I can do that. I can make sure my clothes are strewn all over the bathroom floor & I can also pickup after my roommates, if necessary. ✔️

4th habit: 5-minute pickup. Although it shouldn't take 5 minutes, I can make sure that my belongings are contained. This also makes it easier to repack my suitcase to leave for the next adventure. ✔️

Is this the best I can do? Being that I am away from home. Probably. Just trying to keep it simple. Simple is easy to see progress and progress means better.

Nony’s 3rd daily habit: declutter the bathroom. 

This is one that I do struggle with, only because I try to keep the main bathroom clean. But the master bathroom.....not so much. 

When I started on the main bathroom, my daughter had some of every kind of hair product, face product, cds, etc on the counter. I trashed what I could. I even text & sent pictures of things I wasn’t sure if she would need when she came home. 

After tackling the countertop, I moved to the floor. I took up the rugs and washed them. I removed all towel and washed them, too. While the rugs were gone, I mopped, actually scrubbed the bathroom floor. Once the rugs were dry, I put them back on the floor and WOW! The bathroom is so much better when everything looks and feels clean!

I am challenging myself this week to get the master bathroom as presentable as the main bathroom. 

Is it perfect? Absolutely NOT! Is it better? ABSOLUTELY! Better is progress.

Getting dressed may seem to be a minor habit, but it does help in the long run. In the meantime, Nony’s next habit is to sweep the kitchen floor. We are still doing the dishes nightly. And it feels more natural each day. 

So, while I’m in the kitchen loading the dishwasher, I grab a broom and sweep the floor. Oh, wait...I have a laundry basket or two in the middle of my kitchen floor. I have to move it out the way before I can sweep. So, I move the basket. Sweep. Then, I move it back.

What? Really? Yep! It literally takes me a couple of days to clean out the basket enough that I can put it on top of the washing machine. Is this the perfect place? Probably not. I have learned that I want better, not perfect. 

At least with the laundry basket off the floor, I can sweep! This is progress! Progress equals better!