A Slob Comes Clean

halfamo

Just been and looked at her webpage and it is quite interesting. I might have a listen to her podcasts while doing a bit of tidying for maximum oomph. At present because the blokies are home working part of the time and for my son that is almost all telephone calls, the hoover hardly makes an appearance but I am determined to be tidier.

Greenglockenspiel

Hi all, I also recently discovered ASCC and have been listening to her podcasts. My OH definitely has the slob vision she talks about - this morning he didn’t even notice he left the wardrobe door open! For us the dishes have always been an issue and actually the integrated dishwasher is one of the things that attracted us to this house 😳

I don’t think a single washing day would work for us because we got rid of the tumble dryer as it was too expensive to run so I tend to do a load every day when I notice the washing has built up until all of it has been done. Has anyone tried those heated airers and found them cost effective?

I also liked her routines and how that way you know when it was that you last cleaned something. I have a very busy life and not the best memory so it was easily escaping me. I’ve written down a schedule around my commitments so I’m hoping that will help.

Our dining table seems to be constantly covered in clutter so that will be my next target!

purpleivy

Scuppered again. Having got a good start on the laundry on Sunday, couldn't complete and husband forgot to bring daughter's stuff for me to do and I was in quarantine and not at hers till Monday. It wasn't quite dry enough the next morning. Today my cleaner made her occasional appearance so needed to be tidy. I moved ALL the laundry into my workroom and had a mammoth folding session. I still feel it was better, as I didn't spend the whole week washing, drying and folding!  

I'm gonna work on the visible stuff. Have been working on cupboards etc for some time, so have a few spaces. WOuld like the stuff on the kitchen counters to be 'away'.   Also the basket of carrier bags in the hall. I have worked out that they can go in the front room downstairs that we don't really use, on the shelf next to the door.   But it's full!  So will pull some stuff off there that needs relocation/donation/trashing and move on from there. Remember, it's a container!

ETA..... shopping bags sorted and now on the shelf, which I cleared and cleaned!  Result!  Still a couple of things in the hall to deal with but it's better 

Nelski

and another container is the bin  I'm being scuppered too because the bins get full ...never realised I had so much useless stuff. Anyway I will have to stick to being a tortoise not a hare and at least one bin is emptied tomorrow

On a positive sticking to my routines now...one day washing, one day bathrooms and every night loading the dishwasher. No where near enough to run every night but twice a week seems to work for me. I do love having fairly clear surfaces. I also love the question "where would I look for this" I had rolls of sellotape in 5 different drawers, masses of pens in EVERY drawer, post it pads wherever I turned .....I could go on. I haven't even started upstairs yet and there lives an office which of course will have tons of stationary in  

Not wearing me down yet though I will do this however long it takes  

PollyWollyDoodle

@Greenglockenspiel, I have a heated airer and I think it's fabulous.  I don't have room for a tumble drier even if I wanted one, and I have always felt they are too expensive to run and wasteful.  The heated airer does take up space, but I have a spare bedroom so I fold it away when not in use, and it costs pennies to run - I have never added up the cost, but I certainly didn't see my bills go up significantly.  I'm sure you can find out the costings somewhere online.  It will dry a double bedding set, or a load of underwear/t-shirts in a day - as I'm single I don't have huge amounts, for a family it would be worth getting the larger size.  It's much more effective if you cover it with a spare sheet or duvet cover, too.  I wouldn't be without it, saves having washing all over the radiators and it means stuff isn't hanging around for too long. 

Apintplease

Funnily enough, I bought a tumble drier last year, first one ever, because I also thought they were too expensive to run

But mum is getting older, accidents happen, bedding needs to be done as soon as if you get my drift, plus Ive only two changes of work clothes and work 4 days and believe me - my clothes STINK after a days wear

I don't use it all the time though, just when needed and I still keep an airer in the hall and one in a spare bedroom, it is only used when in dire need, or when Im running out of time, forgot to get the work clothes done early enough to be dry the following day. My electric has increased by about £10 a quarter but I don't know how much of that is directly linked to the drier or how much is down to price hikes plus us being home so much of late due to the restrictions we live with

For me it is worth the trade, I no longer have huge piles of ironing sat around, a lot of stuff can be folded and put straight away

PollyWollyDoodle

I think if you have an elderly person or young children it’s different, sorry I didn’t mean to sound critical of those who do have a tumble drier, it’s just not for me. 

-taff

What an epiphany! I mean about containers containing things etc. When I said this to my friends, they said, I thought everyone knew that? Errrr...no, not me by the look of things. So far I've emptied the porch of things that don't belong [including a barbeque, yes, I know!] , the bottom of the stairs where things just accumulated for no good reason and am working my way through my fabric stash because if it's been in a box for five years, it's not likely I'm going to use it soon. I've already emptied enough space to free up one box so that's another box that can be filled with things that I do want to keep to use, not to just have. I have a proper bag filled with things for the charity shop so that's another thing gone. I'm really liking doing things this way, and although she is right, I'm not making things look any worse than they already did, I'm not yet making so much difference that it looks better. A testament to how much clutter I do actully have even if I didn't want to believe I did....

Greenglockenspiel

Thanks @PollyWollyDoodle I’ll definitely have a look around at them in that case.

@Apintplease yes, definitely worth it for some families like
yours. Our house actually came with all the appliances (was previously let out and the landlord selling couldn’t be bothered to get rid of them...) including a tumble dryer but we gave it to my grandmother who didn’t have one but wanted one.

We were having the same issue as you @Nelski with the bins filling up too fast and only being collected fortnightly. So we booked an appointment and dropped a full car load off at the tip today! A mountain of cardboard, an old roll of carpet, a broken small appliance and a couple of other bits and now the house looks immediately better!

Rosa_Damascena

PollyWollyDoodle said:

@Greenglockenspiel, I have a heated airer and I think it's fabulous.  I don't have room for a tumble drier even if I wanted one, and I have always felt they are too expensive to run and wasteful.  The heated airer does take up space, but I have a spare bedroom so I fold it away when not in use, and it costs pennies to run - I have never added up the cost

I don't find mine any good at all, its far too gentle and smalls can sit on it for hours and still not dry. However I am the proud owner of not just one, but two Dri-Buddies and I love them