OS Motivation

zarazara

www.flylady.com helps with this. i'm likeyou its the day to day stuff i find difficult. the web site deals with this and breaks it all don into easy do-able steps.

juliejim

Come and join us on the flylady thread and give it a go. Pigpen posts the day's jobs the night before and you do as little or as much as you want or make up your own lists. It's different to the flylady website and very supportive.

Jue

foreversomeday

Every time I read this board I feel all inspired to try out all the little hints and tips and things, and then I sit around and think about it all day and waste the entire day on the internet doing nothing!

I'm getting really frustrated with myself, especially when we end up having takeaway again because I can't be bothered to cook or I have forgotten to take something out of the freezer and it's too late, or we have half the ingredients for something and no fresh veg! I suppose it doesn't help that I'm stuck at home not able to drive and with no money to go to the local shop for bits. It's also depressing looking around the house when it's such a mess, but we don't seem to have enough storage space for everything.

I'm having a baby in 2 months and keep thinking it will be okay when he comes because I'll be looking after him and not just doing it for myself so I will be more inclined to do so, but deep down I have this horrible feeling I'm going to be as useless as I am now and I might as well just start looking for work so that at least I'm doing something helpful, but I don't want to do that. I want to be a stay at home mum who looks after the baby and keeps the house clean in miraculous ways with a lemon and vinegar and cooks a lovely meal every night. And OH earns more money than I could at the moment anyway.

I do think that I might just be lazy, but other people must be the same as me and because they have to, they change. But it's getting ridiculous - I have to force myself to have a shower or to make something to eat, I tried keeping snacks out of the house but I just didn't eat anything. I know I have to change but I don't know how.

I have thought of:
Making myself a timetable and including "me" time so I don't feel like I am overwhelmed. (Based on the fact I concentrated better at work or college, where there was a structure to the day.)
Putting on some motivating music.
Just doing 15 minute bits of cleaning. (It's getting myself to start them that's the problem!)
Thinking of 2 or 3 small jobs to get done each day and do them before OH gets home.

I'm going to go for a walk now to try and clear my head and will have a look at this thread when I come back, any and all suggestions welcome!

TeaTree6

If you don't mind me saying it sounds like you may be a little bit depressed or low if you prefer. I would have a chat with somebody that you are close to so that you try and feel a bit better before your little one arrives. If you aren't feeling low then it might just be that you are tired, being pregnant does that to you and you might just need a few extra nutrients to get you kick started! Hope this helps a bit anyway and good luck with the little one!

Kemiera19

Billy Connelly says write a list and then cross things off and I must admit that it works with me (although still live at home so not quite as daunting as your situation). If my room looks like a bomb has exploded I write out my list, usually starting with "Get off bum" - hopefully that's an instant cross off! Then carry on with for example:
Pick up Clothes
Sort laundry colours
Tidy away shoes etc
As you cross each thing off it motivates you to do the next - if you look at the Flylady thread, you'll see that the Flyladies always cross off things they have done.

Also set yourself a deadline e.g "by 3pm I will have..." or even "today I will..."

HTH

Lunar_Eclipse

foreversomeday wrote: »

Every time I read this board I feel all inspired to try out all the little hints and tips and things, and then I sit around and think about it all day and waste the entire day on the internet doing nothing!

Hello! :j

Some of this is definitely your hormones! But that aside, I have come to the conclusion that I am lazy too (re: household chores), despite having loads of energy and time for friends & sport.

I have two girls aged 6 and 8, who have far too many toys/possessions; one of whom is also messy. So I can completely relate to your feeling of 'overwhelmitis' at cleaning and tidying a house. Plus it is so boring. There are always a ton of much more enjoyable ways to spend my precious time.

So in case this offers you any help, this is what I started a few months ago:

1) Meal planning. I hate cooking, yet cannot do ready meals for nutrition/justification/money reasons. I sit down once a week with a couple of cookbooks, plan the weekly main meals (quite enjoyable 1/2 hour IMO), write a shopping list to these meals, shop and cook loosely to the plan. This saves loads of mental thinking about food time (result: lose weight) and a LOT of money!

2) I adopted your chunk based housework. So one day/week I do bathrooms, another dust & hoover upstairs etc. I spend about 30 mins/day doing this, which flies by and generally keeps the house looking okay for drop in visitors. Sadly the kitchen needs to be done daily and takes considerably longer!

I also have lots of fun components to my week. I joined a walking group and then gym earlier in the year and have recently started weekly tennis lessons. Additionally I meet at least one friend socially/week. Obviously these are things I enjoy, you can tailor yours to your own taste.

Oh, but if it makes you feel any better, I have also wasted an entire day on here (OS board none the less! ) before - whilst 'planning' for my school holiday batch cooking. I ended up with 30 family meals in the freezer before school broke up yesterday! :beer: I treated myself to a spare 30 minutes on here yesterday when I'd finished!

Relax and enjoy yourself! You have the ultimate luxury of time on your hands.

LameWolf

I think you'll be fine when the baby arrives. I'm dreadful for getting myself motivated, but so much better whenever we have Molly Dog to stay, because she's relying on me for everything, and I can't let her down. You'll be the same with the baby - you'll have this little life that you have to look after, and you'll find yourself doing stuff you can't be bothered with now.

I agree a list is a good idea. I keep an ongoing list of jobs in my PDA - even weekly drudgery like "put rubbish out" - because if I didn't, I'd forget to do it.

shm0o

You sound like you are on the slippery slope to a breakdown and I would suggest that you take some action soon before you find yourself in a really dark place and can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Although my circumstances were different from yours I recognise the thoughts and feelings you are having.
There are no easy answers but here are some things which really helped me -
-get some counselling, OK, it's not cheap but you are worth it!
-try reading something inspirational such as Chicken soup for the soul
-try meditation, if you have an ipod and subscribe to itunes then there are some free podcasts you can download. If you don't have an ipod you can find CDs in places like Borders
-write things down, it's very simple, costs nothing and really helps to clear your mind
-make time for yourself to do the things you love.
-go with the flow, if you don't want to do the chores then don't - wait until you feel like it, it's not the end of the world
-most importantly - be gentle with yourself, try treating yourself as you would your best friend if they were feeling the way you do just now.
You have nothing to lose by trying some or all of the above, you never know until you give it a go.
Good luck, I hope things improve for you and that I helped a little bit. Remember that you are the most important person in your life.

newlywed

LameWolf wrote: »

I agree a list is a good idea. I keep an ongoing list of jobs in my PDA - even weekly drudgery like "put rubbish out" - because if I didn't, I'd forget to do it.

Me too!!! Including weekly - dust the bedroom, change the bedding, top up gas and electric keys.

I find once I tick off one thing on the list, I start looking at the next thing (usually picking the easiest things first).

I even put on little things like - make some hummous, try Artisan bread, or other recipes I want to try, even out of curiosity. Then when OH is trying to watch TV and I'm annoyed at him I pick all the things that involve being noisy - food processor, blender, hoover

bexbex

stick some loud music on full blast and see what you can get done before each song if finshed..
Saying that though I have so much to do today and I'm sat here looking on the internet!! I was even so bored I looked up the members of Take That on friends reunited for a laugh (didn't find them but found funny spoofs )