Cleaning and organizing are my biggest downfalls. Well, cleaning is. I stay pretty organized in my chaos. I wasn’t always like this. I think working two jobs has caused me to become lax in household chores. I’m either at work or too tired from working to accomplish anything. I aim all my cleaning for Sundays since it is my only day off. But, who wants to spend their only day off cleaning? And, who wants to do laundry after folding clothes all night at a retail job. Okay, I’m full of excuses. I have to stop. But, seriously, how does a continuously moving ceiling fan get so dirty???
I have the added mess of a 180lb St. Bernard (that’s a lot of muddy feet and dog hair) and two cats. Cleaning needs to become more of a priority for me. I need to come up with a system that works and that I can stick to.
First, I need to start by making a routine that is specific to me. I can’t say Monday I will Vacuum, Tuesday I will dust, Wednesday, I will sweep/mop floors because I’m not home several nights a week and that will only frustrate me. I am not lugging out the vacuum cleaner at 8:45pm after working 14 hours.
I just had an epiphany! It is my mindset. Why shouldn’t I lug out the vacuum cleaner at 8:45? I don’t go to bed until 10. Instead of going home and sitting down, clean a little. Just for half an hour. Then read a book and wind down. Why am I wasting that precious time when I could get something small done. I have been repeatedly telling myself that I will do nothing when I get home and that is the habit I have learned. Time to break that bad habit.
Each night I will choose only a few things to do. I often will make a J.O.T. list of what to do and I believe it helps me keep on track. J.O.T stands for “just one thing”. You write down one thing to do like, dishes. You do the dishes, cross it off the list and add a new item like, clean the counter. Get that done, cross it off the list. Before you know it you have a whole page of things you’ve accomplished. I read about the J.O.T. list in a book about procrastination and have been using it ever since.
If you are looking for something more structured, The Passionate Penny Pincher has the neatest daily planner available that gives you a daily checklist to help keep things clean and organized. If only I needed another planner it would be at the top of my list. Check it out!
So take a look at what habits you might have that are interfering with your productivity. You may just find there are some bad ones hanging around. Let’s work on breaking them together. It starts with acknowledging the habit, and making a plan to counteract act it. Do you have any bad habits? Leave me a comment.
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