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New years resolution. Get on top of the house keeping.

 

Does anyone have a good suggestion of a book that teaches the 'housekeepingly' inept how to keep house.

 

I was brought up amid piles of clutter, and whilst my house is nothing like that I struggle to keep it nice. Obviously I did not get taught this as I grew up, and I seem to rush from crisis to crisis in the housekeeping department.....clean kitchen as surfaces are getting cluttered....clean computer desk.....oh no, the the bathroom has gone to pot.......

 

What says the hive?

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Sidetracked Home Executives (S.H.E.). You can also do Flylady (who got her start with S.H.E.), but then you're attached to your computer.

 

The Messies Manual is another good book, with similar methodology. S.H.E. appealed to me more; I couldn't quite visualize the Messies method.

 

To get control of your papers, check out File--Don't Pile!, by Pat Dorff.

 

Things to remember:

 

Don't put it down; put it away.

 

Touch it once.

 

Do it now.

 

A place for everything and everything in its place.

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I know the actual CLEANING is only part of housekeeping, but Speed Cleaning will motivate you to keep surfaces clear and make the actual cleaning part fast, efficient and robot-like. Do his bidding: it works and you don't have to think about it.

 

You can get the book cheap on Amazon, or try the library.

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I know the actual CLEANING is only part of housekeeping, but Speed Cleaning will motivate you to keep surfaces clear and make the actual cleaning part fast, efficient and robot-like. Do his bidding: it works and you don't have to think about it.

 

You can get the book cheap on Amazon, or try the library.

 

Is that one of the Don Aslett books? (I probably have the name wrong!) I think I may have that book amid the clutter here... ;) I remember thinking it was good when I bought it, but then I lost it... somewhere...

 

Cat

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If you want a daily checklist of things to do to help keep on top of housework, check out

http://www.motivatedmoms.com Check out the various samples and see if that might help you. I like the checklists of things that I might otherwise forget to clean.

 

Don Asletts books are great on HOW to clean. I know HOW, I just don't get it done.

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Is that one of the Don Aslett books? (I probably have the name wrong!) I think I may have that book amid the clutter here... ;) I remember thinking it was good when I bought it, but then I lost it... somewhere...

 

Cat

 

Jeff Campbell. His Spring Cleaning (how to do windows, walls, etc efficiently) is good, too. I see he has a clutter book, also, but that isn't my issue, so I didn't get it. ( Tend to overdue and lollygag while cleaning. All supplies in a grip and a pocket apron, a set order in doing things, and setting a timer (for fun)---zooom. Off I went.)

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Sidetracked Home Executives (S.H.E.). You can also do Flylady (who got her start with S.H.E.), but then you're attached to your computer.

 

The Messies Manual is another good book, with similar methodology. S.H.E. appealed to me more; I couldn't quite visualize the Messies method.

 

To get control of your papers, check out File--Don't Pile!, by Pat Dorff.

 

Things to remember:

 

Don't put it down; put it away.

 

Touch it once.

 

Do it now.

 

A place for everything and everything in its place.

 

Sidetracked Home Executives was the first book I ever got on the subject of household routines and I've read dozens and dozens of similar books since then. I firmly maintain that no one has ever come up with anything better than S.H.E. I don't use the card system anymore, but I did set one up originally. Over a couple of years, I had been able to have a card for absolutely everything I would ever have to do in a house to maintain it -- from the daily sink scrub, to the biannual repainting one room, and all those seasonal jobs. Now, instead of cards, I have everything loaded into Outlook as Tasks, and then I synch that with my BlackBerry. If I knew how, I'd develop an app for it.

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I am so bad at this. I tried flylady and didn't keep it up. Then I read a blog one day that had a super simple schedule that even I could maintain (mostly). Maybe someone here knows where it came from. Here is my embarrassingly basic schedule, just in case anyone else could use it, too.

 

Monday- market (shopping-this one floats for me)

Tuesday- towels, tub, toilets (bathrooms)

Wednesday- wash

Thursday- dust (this helps me stay on top of clutter that sits on flat surfaces)

Friday- floor

 

Before this, I would always get done those "have-tos" like the kids' laundry because their drawers are empty, whites because we are out of clean underwear, meals, dishes, meals, dishes... This little schedule helps me get things done that are still important, but that don't demand my attention so loudly.

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I'm trying S.H.E. again this year. I know it would make DH happy if I did a better job in the house. But I HATE housekeeping. Really and truly.

 

 

I hate it, too, but I hate not being able to find stuff I need when I need it, finding really grody things where really grody things should most definitely not be, and being embarrassed to have people over even more than I hate housekeeping. If I didn't have a routine, and constant nagging reminders, I would probably procrastinate until it became an overwhelming mess.

 

I was overwhelmed at all the mess one farmer could make. I hadn't lived with another person in so long, and never in a house so big. It stunned me to find how dirty everything got and how much there was to do when you have a whole house and another mess maker. Once ds came along, I knew I had to get a handle on it or drown in it. I think you will like S.H.E. if you really make a committment to stick to it. It was just the kick in the posterior that I needed back when I first started on it.

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