The last several months -- really the last year and a half -- have been incredibly difficult. I've faced several health challenges, started a new job that's beyond stressful, and more.
As often happens when negatives pile upon negatives, life starts to feel out of control.
Today, I'm working towards getting things back in order and getting my life back on track. Join me as I reset my life. I'm not talking about setting and accomplishing life goals. Rather, I'm talking about things like making my house feel more comfortable, making it easier to get back into old habits and routines, and just improving my overall quality of life.
I thought about putting this on another of my blogs, but I have also been feeling a pull to resurrect Mom2MomEd. So, here we are...
Today is Sunday and I work this coming week from Monday through Friday. On Monday, I have a healthcare related test and on Friday, I have a doctor's appointment; however, I'm going to try to keep my focus on TODAY and the next five minutes and then the next five minutes and then the next five minutes. I've felt so overwhelmed recently that sometimes focusing on life in five minute increments is the best way for me to feel in control.
{Please note, this is not a reset for hoarder-level conditions in your home or for anyone with significant medical issues that prevent you from doing your own home and life care -- please seek out professional help if you fall into these categories.}
So, let's get started. Are you with me?
1. Trash and recycling
I'm starting my reset by going around my entire home -- excluding my adult kiddo's bedroom -- and picking up any and all trash and recycling. I've already set up a trash bag (hanging from my bedroom doorknob) and a bag for recycling (on the floor next to the trash bag). I'm starting in my bedroom and then will move on to the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room.
I'm embarrassed to admit how much trash and recycling we have just lying around. It's not disgusting and not like some of the homes you see on cleaning shows, but it's not great either.
So, stop reading here, grab a trash bag and recycling bag and join me in gathering your own trash and recycling. When you're done, come back and we'll continue onward.
Leave me a comment and let me know if you had more or less trash and recycling to pick up than what you expected.
I actually had a lot less which was a nice surprise!
2. Dishes
While I'm pretty good at not leaving dirty dishes around, I do have a tendency to leave a coffee mug or two on my desk and sometimes I'll find a random spoon or fork that didn't make it's way back to the sink. Occasionally, I'll find a plate on my side table in the living room. Usually these are dishes that don't have food particles on them that I told myself I'd take to the kitchen and then didn't...
Go around your home and collect any dishes and put them in the kitchen. No need to wash them right now...we'll do that later.
Leave a comment and let me know how many dishes you found and returned to your kitchen.
I was quite surprised to only find one spoon and one water bottle that needed to get to the kitchen. I do have a coffee mug and two water bottles on my desk right now, but I'm drinking from these today.
TIP: If you struggle to drink enough water, try this: I fill two water bottles and set them side by side on my desk to remind myself to drink more water. By filling two at a time and putting them together, I find I drink more water than if I just fill one with the intention of refilling it later. Often, I end up not refilling my water bottle and just skip drinking more water.
3. Shoes, bags, clothing
Next, we're going to pick up shoes, bags, and clothes that aren't where they belong; however, I'm not going to fully put them away yet. Instead, I'm going to set them in the areas where they belong.
We (myself, my kiddo, and my kiddo's partner) are guilty of shedding shoes, jackets, sweatshirts, and bags in random places and not putting them away. It's laziness and overwhelm that drive these behaviors at my house -- usually more overwhelm than anything. We are all finding our jobs incredibly stressful right now, and when we get home, we have been kind of shutting down and not really caring much about anything. So, let's go and collect shoes, bags, and random clothes and put them in the areas where they belong.
How did you do? Leave me a comment and let me know:
- Was it hard to put things just in the areas where they belong or did you find yourself wanting to fully put things away?
- Did you have more or less to pick up than expected?
I have to admit, I did a sweep for clothing a few days ago, so I didn't have as many clothes lying around as expected, but I found several pairs of socks in random places, some flip flops, and multiple tote bags here and there.
I tend to prefer to put things just in the area where they belong and then to do a more focused tidying session of those areas later, which we'll get to -- this is going to be a LONG post!
4. Clean out and organize your main bag/purse/wallet
This past week, I found myself using several different tote bags as I had to take packages to the post office after work one day, another day I was taking snacks to refill my work snack cupboard, and another day I was carrying some extra supplies to deal with an asthma flare. As a result, I've got three different totes to clean out and consolidate. My allergy and asthma kit has also gotten quite disorganized.
In the prior step, when gathering bags, I emptied everything from a couple of totes into one pile with my primary work bag. It's Sunday and I work tomorrow, so it's the perfect day to reset my work tote and allergy and asthma kit (which I carry everywhere).
When I reset my work tote and my kit, I always:
- Pull everything out.
- Sort out any trash and recycling (we already have bags set up for this from step 1!)
- Pull out anything that shouldn't be in my work tote or medical kit and set them in the areas where they belong
- Check my bag and kit for holes or damage
- Organize the things that do belong in the bag and kit and put them back in a tidy manner
- Set my bag by the front door so it's ready for me in the morning
How'd you do? Leave a comment and let me know!
I ended up consolidating contents from two totes, gathered and tidied my allergy and asthma medications, pulled out several random notebooks that don't need to go to work every day, made sure my work badge was easily accessible, and ended up with everything I need for the week fitting into the smaller of the totes. I also found a few bits of trash, some mail, and some snacks that I thought I'd misplaced the last time I refilled my work snack stash. In addition, I double checked the expiration dates on my epi-pens and other medications, and I checked to see if I needed to refill my pill cases. Thankfully, everything is fairly full and nothing expires for several more months.
TIP: If you carry epi-pens or other medications with expiration dates or refill dates, put a reminder on your calendar to refill or replace these items.
My epi-pen reminder is set for mid-May as they expire in June and it will take a few days for my doctor to authorize a refill request from the pharmacy. I want to be sure they are refilled before they expire.
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a break. One of the health conditions I'm dealing with has involved a lot of fatigue over the last few months, so it's tempting to lay down and not get up for the rest of the day. It's not even noon for me though, so I'll be setting an alarm for one hour. Withing that hour, I'll rest, eat something, drink some water, and do some reading.
5. Regroup and reassess
I have to admit that it was difficult to get back to my plan for the day after taking a break. It was so tempting to just stay in bed and read! As much as I wanted to do that, I am keeping my objective at the front my mind: to reclaim control of my home and my life and to stop feeling so overwhelmed every day.
After a break, I often find that I need to mentally regroup and to reassess my plan for the day. When I initially took my break, I wasn't sure what to tackle next. Because so much of my home feels so out of control, it's easy to get overwhelmed and give up.
Instead, we will be switching from broad tasks throughout the home to specific areas.
6. Select a defined area and sort, clean, and purge
Instead of cleaning up an entire room, I often will choose one room and break it down into smaller areas of focus. When I'm done with one small area, I'll move on to another until the room is done or until I feel to overwhelmed to continue in that room.
You can follow the same areas as I will be tackling, or come up with your own. When I choose an area, it could be quite small (even just one foot by one foot) or a defined space (like the top of your desk or the dining table). I will be taking care of the bedroom in the following sections (sizes are approximations):
- A 3' x 5' area on my bedroom floor that has a pile of clean laundry and some miscellaneous items: I folded and put away the clean clothes, a backpack and tote bag, and moved a small bundle of craft supplies to my desk.
- The floor under my desk: I put books back on the bookshelf, picked up a few bits of trash I missed earlier, and gathered more craft items and put them away.
- The floor around my bed: I picked up my asthma treatment nebulizer and moved it to the bathroom as I haven't needed it in more than a week, took a bag of craft items from a shopping outing last weekend and put it in my office, picked up random bits from the bedroom floor that belong in the bathroom.
- Around the bedroom door: I picked up a few random items that belong in the living room and my office and put them in those rooms, and I tidied the shoes that I keep behind the door.
- My bedroom desk: I have a desk in my bedroom as well as one in my office and both get cluttered regularly. Most of what is on my bedroom desk are things I use regularly, but they just need to be tidied up a bit so it's easier to find what and use items. I stacked up my journals and put them next to my laptop, put away some craft supplies, and gathered pens and pencils into their cup. This desk also doubles as my nightstand, so I tidied the things I regularly reach for at night.
If your bedroom still has areas that need tidying, keep going! Maybe you have a dresser top to clear off, a chair that regularly collects laundry, and so on. For me, the above areas pretty much take care of my entire bedroom, other than the closet which I'll save for another day (I'm mostly focusing on things that are visible when you walk into different areas). My kiddo and my kiddo's partner are still asleep (they work late hours), so I will save vacuuming my bedroom until they are awake.
7. Choose a chore you dread and gamify it in some way
I hate washing dishes and our kitchen is out of control. All three of us cook regularly and for a long time, we had a dishes rotation that worked well. In December and January, we all took turns being sick and several times were sick at the same time. As a result, the dishes piled up and we've fallen off of our rotations. We do wash dishes regularly, but it's been a while since we've had the sink, counters, and dishwasher totally cleared.
Since I hate doing the dishes so much, I often create little rules around doing them, such as:
- Every time I enter the kitchen, I have to wash 5 or 10 dishes or load 5 or 10 items into the dishwasher.
- Five pieces of silverware count as one dish.
- A container and it's matching lid count as one dish.
- Three cooking utensils count as one dish.
If I'm feeling good, I usually aim for 10 items. If I'm feeling low or unwell, I'll aim for five at a time. Let's see how I do right now...
I spent just about an hour in the kitchen -- longer than I thought I'd spend! I was able to:
- Unload clean dishes from the dishwasher
- Load 20 items into the dishwasher
- Fill a dirty pot with water and add several items that need to soak a bit
- Put away a few things that were sitting on the counter
- Empty and clean the coffee maker
- Make a pot of coffee for the household
- Make myself some lunch (and cleaned up afterwards)
How did this round of cleaning and tidying go for you?
I was quite fatigued after that round of cleaning in the kitchen, so I'm taking another one hour break while I eat my lunch and do some more reading.
8. Keep going on the chore you really dislike or hate
I will be heading back to my kitchen to keep working on dishes and to clean up the counters and stove top.
Because this feels like a never ending chore and we've been so lax on the kitchen lately, it feels like I made very little progress in my first round of doing dishes. This time, I will be tackling the counter in small sections, just one small square at a time so that I can see my progress as I work. I plan to start in one corner of the kitchen and work my way around on the visible surfaces.
There's not much more to say here, other than: keep going!
In this round of cleaning the kitchen, I:
- Finished cleaning all the counter surfaces except for right above the dishwasher
- Put away some non-perishable foods that have been on the counter for more than a week
- Took out the trash and replaced the bag
- Cleaned the soap and sponge caddy
- Loaded more into the dishwasher
- Stacked all non-dishwasher items in the sink
At this point, I'm also making a list of chores for my kiddo and my kiddo's partner, which includes:
- Clean the microwave (inside, outside, tray)
- Finish dishes in the sink
- Bring out and wash all dishes from their room
- Take out recycling
I've been working hard most of the day (It's just before 4pm) and working up more of a sweat than I anticipated. Unfortunately, all of the activity is triggering some of my chronic health problems. As a result, I'm taking another break before moving on to anything else. This break may be a bit longer than the previous ones.
Even with needing to take a longer break at this point, I feel like I've accomplished a lot and I can actually see a difference in my bedroom and the kitchen. When I'm feeling recovered, I'll start in on my bathroom.
My kiddo and my kiddo's partner are up now and about two hours have gone by. I did a lot of reading and catching up on some social media and texts, and I feel ready to conquer my next tasks:
9. Vacuum my bedroom
We are all pretty bad at emptying the vacuum, so I will do that first, and then I'll actually get to vacuuming. Because of the work I did earlier in the day, my bedroom floor is quite clear and this should be easy and quick. I'll also vacuum the hall while I'm at it.
It always surprises and delights me when I finish vacuuming -- the room seems just clean and ready for whatever may lay ahead. It's a refreshing feeling and fits in with my reset goal.
10. Start laundry
My kiddo and my kiddo's partner are now up and doing their personal chores, and they are getting started on the communal chores I assigned to them. While they get going on those, I'm going to start my laundry.
I have very few light colors or whites in my closet, so I don't sort my laundry by color or into lights and darks. Instead, I sort by heavy items and light, fast drying items. Often, I will hang dry the light, fast drying items to save money and so that they will last longer. During the summer months, I typically will hang or air dry everything.
We use a communal laundry room in our apartment building and every wash is $2 with every dryer use also at $2. For the dryer, you can add time in 7-minute increments (your first $2 gets you one hour) for 25-cents per 7-minutes. The dryers are powerful enough that if I wash two loads of laundry, I can usually dry them together in one dryer. Today, however, I have three loads: heavy items (jeans, sweatpants, sweatshirts), light/fast dry items (underpants, t-shirts, shorts, exercise clothes, socks), and linens (today, a bath towel, some new washcloths, and kitchen cloths). I plan to air dry the light, fast drying items and to combine my heavy items and linens in one dryer load.
11. Do some meal prep
While my laundry is washing, I started some meal prep for the week. It's getting later in the day and I'm not going to be doing a whole lot more, but I have a plan for the week!
While my laundry wash cycles are going, I prepped some bean and rice bowls for work lunches and/or dinners this week. If I hadn't cleaned so much in the kitchen earlier today, I would not have been able to do any meal prep at all. Having clear counters and a clean stove top made such a huge difference in my ability and my motivation when it came to meal prepping.
For the bean and rice bowls, I cooked two cups of rice in our rice cooker. While the rice was cooking, I mixed two cans of refried beans with taco seasoning, diced jalapenos, diced mixed peppers, and a small can of diced green chilies. Once the rice was done, I layered rice, then beans, then my favorite VioLife vegan cheese shreds into four containers. Each container has a larger section where I added the rice and beans and a smaller section into which I portioned halved flavor bomb cherry tomatoes and a few spoonfuls of Trader Joe's corn salsa. Into some much smaller snack sized containers, I portioned out a few kalamata olives and a few manzanilla olives.
11. Continue with laundry
After putting my prepped meals into the fridge and cleaning up, I went to check on the laundry. I picked up everything that was ready to be hung up to air dry on a rack in the living room, and I put my second heavy load in to wash with the first heavy load folded on top of that washer.
After taking care of laundry, I came back to the apartment and ate some of the leftovers from my meal prep for dinner tonight, drank more water, and did a bit more reading.
Once I'd finished eating, I hung up all of the air dry laundry, chatted with my kiddo and my kiddo's partner about chores and about life, and then I went back to the laundry room -- this time I took my two loads of heavy items and consolidated them into one dryer.
12. Make a plan for the week
Now that I've gotten such a good jump on things that we've all been lagging on, I feel like I can confidently make a plan to continue cleaning throughout the week so that by next weekend, we just need to work on maintaining and refining things.
Of course, I'll have to judge day-by-day if I have the energy reserves to follow this plan (my job is highly stressful and I often just want to go to bed when I get home), but for now the after work plan for the week is this:
- Monday: meal prep two tofu and veggie dishes; meal prep breakfast burritos; clean up the meal prep dishes
- Tuesday: clean the bathroom sink and counter thoroughly, wipe down shower shelves; meet with my tutoring student
- Wednesday: clean the shower surround; meet with my tutoring student
- Thursday: clean the tub; meet with my tutoring student
- Friday: likely will go straight to bed after a medical appointment that I already know is likely to be exhausting
So, how did you do? Do you feel like you were able to get things done alongside me? What is your plan for the rest of the week?
