NYG: Clean That Shit

You know you're getting older when "Create a better cleaning routine for apartment" ends up on your New Year's Resolution, but what can you do?

As a kid, my mom used to tell me that the reason I had so much trouble cleaning my room was because I was a perfectionist. That may sound strange to those of you who only associate that with neat-freaks, but I do think there's something to it. She would explain it this way: I didn't want to clean my room unless I knew I could make it perfect. Therefore, I would put it off all the time until it became this insurmountable task that I then avoided because it was way too big for me to tackle all in one go.

I found this to be pretty accurate. I love a clean room and usually, once I really get myself going, I can make everything fairly perfect. And once I get it clean, it usually stays clean for a while. At least a week or two. But then I get distracted with work, school, and writing. Before I know it, one day of skipping the dishes turns into a week of skipping dishes. One pair of clothes that I left on the bathroom floor morphs into my entire closet on my bathroom floor. The package I opened and set aside turns into a mountain of boxes from packages that I need to break down or get rid of.

So this year, I made "Create a better cleaning routine for apartment" a New Year's Resolution. Yes, this is one of the ones that actually made the list. I've learned over the past year that though I like to think I'm very free-spirited, routines are actually really good for me. They help me stay on top of things and really boost my productivity. This can most easily be seen in my writing schedule over the last few months. I started making writing an integral part of my morning and I found myself spending more and more time getting it done and making progress on the book I'm trying to write. While working a part-time retail job isn't exactly conducive to creating routines in my life, I try to schedule more of it now, because it gives me purpose and keeps me from aimlessly wasting time that could be spent working on something worthwhile.

I intend to apply this to cleaning by starting to set aside time for specific tasks. For instance, I will be picking a day (with a back up day in case I work) for laundry each week. I will work on getting myself to consistently do dishes every morning and scooping the cat litter every other day. I want to start setting aside time every other week in order to vacuum and sweep the entire apartment.

This will be difficult for me, but I think it'll be good. Plus, then I won't turn off the lights at night and have to worry about stepping on a pair of knitting needles on the way back to my bed in the dark.