I am currently attacking my dining room. It became the dumping ground earlier this week when the carpets in all the bedrooms and the lounge room were being cleaned. And when I say dumping ground, I mean dumping ground. Here's a couple of pics
I don't watch a lot of TV these days. I'd rather spend my nights on the computer. But I do love my House. So tonight, during the ads, I gave myself "permission to potter". The focus was the dining room, and the list I had of things I wanted to get done today, but I would allow myself to potter and see where I got to. Just during the ads mind.
After an hour of "pottering" during the ads (about 20 minutes in roughly 3 minute increments) this is what the dining room now looks like:
As you can see, definitely still a work in progress. A pile of rubbish at the front there to take to the tip tomorrow, and a fair bit of work to do, but 100 times better than what it was just an hour earlier. I also managed to cross another 3 things off my list in that time as well.
Sometimes though, it's important to realise what can be achieved in a short period of time, and that "going slow" and giving ourselves "permission to potter" can achieve a lot more than you think.
Hey well done Kin! I'll bet you feel a lot better for it being done too.
November 1, 2007 at 6:18 AM
wow, what a difference. I often get up and do things in the ads when watching tv ~ it's amazing what you can get done in those 3min. increments!!
November 1, 2007 at 7:48 AM
Thanks girls, it still looks awful, but is definitely a big improvement. I'm trying to get it finished this morning so the poor pest control man can do his thing.
November 1, 2007 at 7:54 AM
Thanks for popping by my blog. The more the merrier!
This reminds me of the Flylady hint about never leaving a room without picking up something that belongs in a different room (in the direction you're going) and taking it with you and putting it away.
I've been trying to do this over the last month. My house still has disaster areas, but it looks a whole lot better than if those things were still sitting in their wrong spots. Of course, now I've decided to write my head off for the next month... watch the dust bunnies grow....
November 1, 2007 at 9:29 AM
Hi Frogdancer, welcome. I must admit to reading your blog for a while, since before you went to Thailand. Just the commenting part I get stuck on.
I love that technique (which works really well when pottering too) and I've been doing that with the dining table (as you can see that's the current location of the laptop) and everytime I get up I take something and put it away before going on to do what I was going to do.
AND I'm nearly done! Just got the table to clear.
November 1, 2007 at 9:38 AM
Way to go.... I've been struggling to even "potter" lately. But, I have been chipping away at the ironing with great success. I think you must be a speed ironer to get all that ironing done in 30 minutes. Maybe I'm just slow. Yeah, that's probably it. LOL.
I am employing my pottering techniques this month - bit of writing, bit of housework. Hopefully that way I don't drown in either. :-)
November 1, 2007 at 10:01 AM
I also find that pottering accomplishes much more than a full on "get it done" frenzy.
November 1, 2007 at 4:08 PM
That is very true River. I've been pottering away at that room all day. The floor is completely clear (and swept even) and the table is slowly reducing the junk status. I envisage that soon I will be able to see the surface ;-)
November 1, 2007 at 9:55 PM