Experiment #2: We Need Batches! (Day 9: General House Cleaning)

The Dirty Truth

Neither I nor my roommate are neat freaks, and we both seem to keep ourselves so busy that we use our busy-ness as an excuse not to clean on a regular basis. She has a giant stack of mail, I have a giant stack of dishes. We have no agreed-upon schedule for shared chores, so they get done "whenever" or not at all. There are times when I feel like a glorified maid and others when I just stop caring altogether. Our living conditions speak of laziness and selfish tendencies on both sides, but more importantly, they speak of inefficient methods and time management.

I am genuinely hoping that batching my housework will allow me to set a better example without sacrificing my sanity or overall quality of life. Each day this week, I will be focusing on a different cleaning task, and how to use batching to address it. Today, the focus is on general house cleaning.

Tools and Resources

There are a number of different websites dedicated to the topic of clutter, cleaning, and organization. Here are a few to get you started:

1. FlyLady.com offers a wide variety of tips, tricks, reminders, and products to tackle housework. They have a section entitled Beginner BabySteps to help the longtime "messy"/novice clean-freak develop new, positive cleaning habits. You can also sign up for a list serve that offers daily reminders and inspirational stories. IMHO, I find the list serve cloying and disruptive. Don't bother signing up unless you really need to be sweet-talked into cleaning, or you need nagging reminders to get yourself to work. I would offer a similar review of their podcast and tendency to advertise their own cleaning products. The most--and perhaps only--useful thing here is that regular cleaning tasks are already predetermined and batched for your convenience, and rotate on a regular schedule. Head straight for the Weekly Sneak Peek, do the work, and watch your house clean itself, but feel free to ignore the rest of the site. The results won't be immediately noticeable, but as long as you do the work, your house will get cleaner.
   
   
2. Unclutterer.com has an extensive archive of posts on dealing with clutter, and emphasizes minimalist living over "stuff." (Many thanks to Elizabeth for the site recommendation!) I like the fact that I can search by topic and find exactly what I needed to read.
   
   
3. LifeHack occasionally publishes posts relating to boosting productivity through decluttering.

My Plan
I'm going to choose one or two days a week to complete all of the cleaning tasks from FlyLady's "Weekly Sneak Peak" as a single batch. Given that the site only publishes each list on Monday, I'll probably schedule this cleaning day later in the week so I can plan in advance.

I'm going to use my other days for more frequent cleaning jobs, such as dishes, laundry, etc. I'll post about these regular tasks in future posts.