Narrowing My Focus

This is the front porch of our forum. Pull up a chair, and talk about whatever's on your mind.
littlemiss63
Posts: 2516
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:11 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by littlemiss63 »

LogicsHere wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 2:52 pm This past year I had decided to do something similar. I created a household chores list/schedule which I'm sure is small compared to those who have a house. I have cut down my laundry to 2 times a month, except in the winter which I will do 1 time a month (I have to go outside and walk to a laundry room). I mop my bathroom and kitchen floors 2x a month and I damp mop the rest of my hard wood floors once a month. I set dusting 1 room a day during the week, vacuum my rug once a week. My chores are broken down to bathroom, Monday, living room, Tuesday, Kitchen Wednesday, Bedroom Thursday, Friday is laundry and mopping alternate weeks. Saturday and Sunday is just make the bed and clean up the kitchen after meals. I thoroughly wash down my bookcase once a year, polish my wood furniture every 3 months. There is no one who visits me, my apartment is always presentable even if there was. I'm the only one who needs to be happy with it.
Logics, thank so much for some great tips on doing my schedule, this will really help. Like you said, we are really the only ones that need to be happy and as long as my house is presentable for anyone that drops by unexpected it doesn't have to have every drawer and cabinet in perfect shape. Honestly, I know that I am a pretty good housekeeper in comparison to other homes that I go into and lord don't even get me started on tenants. I cringe when I go into most of my rental houses they are so cluttered and look awful. I have one tenant that I want have to worry about replacing the carpet in her house for most of the time every room is covered with clothes on the floor. I couldn't live that way.I go into very few that there aren't dirty dishes stacked to where they almost fall out of the sink and they have a dishwasher, so no reason for that laziness.
rinty
Posts: 1919
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 3:54 am

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by rinty »

I'm one who needs a schedule to keep me accountable. DH is home as he is retired and he does stuff all the time, so I am ahead of those of you who don't have a partner.

I am not a pet person and it irritates me how much cleaning our elderly dog creates........not going to lie. So that's daily hoovering, mopping , wiping, washing dog towels etc etc.

So, from back to work in January I will work thru a weekly housework list as well as a School Stuff list and a Craft Club list, so I don't end up going " Agggghhh, I need something for 16 NON crafty craft clubbers by tomorrow ". Praying that those who have signed up for this session aren't complete novices, it does make it quite trying.I was thinking it would be like a Knit and Natter group instead its been eager NON sewing/never done any crafting at all folk....
randamax
Posts: 227
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:05 pm

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by randamax »

HappyDaze wrote: Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:59 am Mercy, with it being the end of a year and beginning of a new one, I am thinking and OVER-thinking so much. One things I am working on is acceptance of the fact that I can NOT do it all, achieve it all, manage it all, make it all perfect, etc.
I saw something kind of funny, but also quite telling, on facebook the other day:

(this is sung to the tune of 'If You're Happy And You Know it Clap Your Hands')

If you're happy and you know it, over-think
If you're happy and you know it, over-think
If you're happy and you know it, give your brain a chance to blow it
If you're happy and you know it, over-think

I think we all have a tendency to do this - a lot! Generally speaking, we are way too hard on ourselves. I'm totally with you on not worrying about achieving it all, managing it all, trying to make it all perfect, and being all things to all people. Those things are completely unrealistic and we are setting ourselves up for failure if these things are our end goal.

Instead, I choose to focus on those things that bring joy, love, peace, harmony, and beauty to my life. I guess you could say I've narrowed my focus so that these things are my primary goals.

What does that mean? To me it means that I choose to focus on the most important aspects of the different areas of life. For instance, having a tidy, well-organized home is important to me. To reach that goal, I focus on keeping cupboards and drawers organized, swiffering/sweeping/vacuuming the floors, keeping the kitchen and bathrooms clean and sanitized, maintaining laundry, and generally tidying up around the house. I don't do it all in one day - that would be overwhelming - instead, I accomplish one or two of those tasks each day. I know that if I keep up with things, they don't take that long to do. For things I don't want to do regularly, I treat myself to the luxury of having a cleaning service come in once a month to do the heavier cleaning - baseboards, scrubbing tile, cleaning blinds, etc. For things that are heavier duty or need to be done only occasionally, Kevin helps out. Should I be washing down walls, cleaning windows, scrubbing screens, waxing floors, etc? Maybe, but they just aren't all that important to me in the scheme of things, so I choose not to do - or WORRY about - them.

I try to apply that logic in most areas of my life and things pretty much have a way of working themselves out.
icfrugal1
Posts: 2952
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:54 am

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by icfrugal1 »

Thank you for all of these thoughts.

I'm still working on de-cluttering and doing things as I go. (not leaving dishes around, putting things where they belong right away.

IC
littlemiss63
Posts: 2516
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:11 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by littlemiss63 »

randamax wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:53 am I saw something kind of funny, but also quite telling, on facebook the other day:

(this is sung to the tune of 'If You're Happy And You Know it Clap Your Hands')

If you're happy and you know it, over-think
If you're happy and you know it, over-think
If you're happy and you know it, give your brain a chance to blow it
If you're happy and you know it, over-think

I think we all have a tendency to do this - a lot! Generally speaking, we are way too hard on ourselves. I'm totally with you on not worrying about achieving it all, managing it all, trying to make it all perfect, and being all things to all people. Those things are completely unrealistic and we are setting ourselves up for failure if these things are our end goal.

Instead, I choose to focus on those things that bring joy, love, peace, harmony, and beauty to my life. I guess you could say I've narrowed my focus so that these things are my primary goals.

What does that mean? To me it means that I choose to focus on the most important aspects of the different areas of life. For instance, having a tidy, well-organized home is important to me. To reach that goal, I focus on keeping cupboards and drawers organized, swiffering/sweeping/vacuuming the floors, keeping the kitchen and bathrooms clean and sanitized, maintaining laundry, and generally tidying up around the house. I don't do it all in one day - that would be overwhelming - instead, I accomplish one or two of those tasks each day. I know that if I keep up with things, they don't take that long to do. For things I don't want to do regularly, I treat myself to the luxury of having a cleaning service come in once a month to do the heavier cleaning - baseboards, scrubbing tile, cleaning blinds, etc. For things that are heavier duty or need to be done only occasionally, Kevin helps out. Should I be washing down walls, cleaning windows, scrubbing screens, waxing floors, etc? Maybe, but they just aren't all that important to me in the scheme of things, so I choose not to do - or WORRY about - them.

I try to apply that logic in most areas of my life and things pretty much have a way of working themselves out.
Randa, your attitude toward life is inspiring and wonderful. I loved the little song.
randamax
Posts: 227
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:05 pm

Re: Narrowing My Focus

Post by randamax »

littlemiss63 wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:26 pm Randa, your attitude toward life is inspiring and wonderful. I loved the little song.
Thank you for that! I really appreciate your kind words :)
Post Reply