Complete the Cycle

        Sometimes something makes sense in our heads and we think we know it but we really don't get it at all! Like this, "Complete the cycle" concept. I first heard it explained to me in a YouTube video by Clutterbug. She said she read it in a Peter Walsh book about cleaning and organizing. It makes sense logically. I mean why would you do a task 90% and then decide not to finish it?

I'm not talking about procrastination in the sense that you just put doing something off altogether. But in a sense, doing something 90% feels like procrastination. Let me explain. If I have a To Do list for that day that says:

1. Wash the dishes

2. Do a load of laundry

3. Clean off Office Desk

I want to feel like at the end of the day I can mark these off that list. I want to see a empty sink and clear counter in the kitchen. I want a clutter free, organized, and functional desk. So let's look at each of these examples and talk about completing the cycle. 

When I wash the dishes I always have a ton, even if I was them every day. I wash them and I rinse them and I put them out on a towel to dry. Now some items have tiny places I can't get to and HAVE to air dry. However, most can be towel dried. I just don't unless I have another sink load to wash. I procrastinate putting up the dishes! Why!? I mean I already did 90% of the task. Then at the end of the night, I am all like, "Uh, there are dishes everywhere." Then my husband lays dirty dishes on the towel with clean ones and I get mad. Why don't I just dry and put away the dishes? 

When I do laundry I will wash clothes and the dyer isn't done. So I leave them in the washer and they start to smell. Then my husband gets mad. Plus, I have to rewash them a few times to get the smell out. Or I dry clothes a thousand times because I didn't get them out right after and they are wrinkled. Or I dry them but I am busy. So I throw them on top of the dresser. Then we have to dig to find clothes and they are wrinkled. Why don't I do one load of laundry at a time all the way to put up? Well one reason is because I did the cycle without having time to deal with it, like at night before bed. Another reason is because I feel so behind that I think I have to do it this way.  I also don't put clothes away partly out of laziness and procrastination. Sometimes I don't finish the laundry because I think it is a big job. I feel like it will take FOREVER!

When I go to clean off my desk I leave tons of stuff because it has no home. I leave it for later because I need to do something relating to it. I leave stuff because I am working on a project. I leave stuff because I have no way to organize it. I also have so many devices that I don't have a functional space to write. So even when I get rid of the trash and shred things, it still is a cluttered mess.

So at the end of the day I look at my To Do list and I don't really feel like I got any of it done. My house feels cluttered. I am depressed and overwhelmed. So now I have made a commitment to actually COMPLETE THE CYCLE. For the last few weeks I have been washing all the dishes all the way to putting them up. If I HAVE to let things air dry I got back to see that they are and put them away before bed. I found that it doesn't take as long to do this as I had convinced myself it would require. I feel SOOO much better have the counter and sink empty. Sometimes I wash the dishes twice a day to keep up with them. It's manageable though because the loads are small. It's worth it to feel this good about me and my space. I was worried about not getting as much laundry done because I can't do both at the same time due to our bad water pressure. But I haven't had that issue. Plus, I have been completing the cycle with laundry as well.

When I started forcing myself to do this, I thought that I wouldn't get enough laundry done to keep us dressed. But with no more digging out wrinkled clothes and stinky clothes everyone is much happier. We have enough clothes to dress. We also don't have piles on the dresser that fall into the floor. I don't go to bed in a messy room. I do a whole cycle. That means that I was them, dry them, hang or fold them, iron them if needed, and put then away. I never have a load in the washing machine and in the dryer at the same time. I only wash things together if they can be dried together. If something is a super small load, like my microfiber towels, that I could wash with other stuff but have to dry alone, I wash them in the tub or sink. Then I dry them in the dryer.

When I put something on my To Do list like, clean off my desk, I always ask myself what all has to be done and break it up into smaller tasks. One day I may get all the trash and another I might set up a file above the desk on the wall. This way i know that I can complete the cycle or do the whole task. All the small tasks lead up to the big one of a clean and functional desk. 

If you've read all this, you are probably thinking, "That makes sense." Or maybe you are thinking, "That is so simple and logical." Or, "I know that, I do that." But do you know it? Are you really doing it? I thought I knew it too until I decided to find a way to save time in my day. Another way I have heard people say this is that if you do it right the first time, you don't have to keep doing it over and over. I guess that is sort of what I was doing with my laundry. So save yourself the headache and do it right the first time. Finish or complete the cycle.

Starting A New Purge

  

    A few years ago I decided to do a big purge at the house. I tried to get organized. I wanted to keep a regular cleaning schedule. But then my son was born. He is three now and that makes it easier to take care of him and the house. So now I am once again undertaking the task of purging, organizing, and cleaning our home.

    Before I jump into this new task, I think we should talk about what I did in the last attempt. There were things I did well and things that didn’t go as well...Last time I started with the add on porch. It was so full of stuff that there was barely a winding path between my front door and the door into the main house. My husband would let no one visit our home. We were ashamed and tired. Seeing all the clutter made us tired. The idea of starting was overwhelming. Where should I start? I knew my husband had an even harder time than me letting go of things. If I accidentally got rid of something would he kill me and make me stop? What was I going to do about all the projects and half done crafts I had piled in there? So I started watching cleaning and organizing channels on YouTube. I started reading books on it. Eventually, I wrapped my brain around two ideas. One was that all that stuff may seem useful but if it is buried then I can’t use it. Second was that everything I own is more to take care of in some way. Things on shelves have to be dusted. Projects put more on my To Do list. The more clothes I keep the more I have to store in the off season or wash in season. Then I started explaining the things I was learning to my husband. It took awhile. At first I was only purging my things. But I would tell him about it and how good I felt. He would see the space I was making and he liked it.Slowly he got on board and purged some stuff. He didn’t like me making all the trips to donate things. He really hated going to the dump with a few things. But slowly we purged the whole house. Then I spent a while arranging rooms. My husband hates when I decide to move furniture or change where stuff goes in a room. His personality wants to be in charge of those decisions. Plus if something is out of sight it is out of mind for him. I thought he was just being a butt about not wanting me to organize stuff. A few arguments and YouTube videos later I realized he needs to see things to remember to use them.

    One of the YouTube channels that helped me understand how to organize the house was Clutterbug. I will be writing a separate blog about her way of explaining organizing styles to me. But here are some key things I learned about me and my husband. I like things slightly visual and pretty. He likes things VERY visual. I can handle containers with lids and he will not use a lid on anything.I like things perfectly organized into specific little ways. He likes things organized but needs them in big macro type systems where he can chuck things into bins. Once I understood this I just thought about what I was organizing. If it was an area we both used often, I organized it VERY visual with baskets he could see the contents of and where he could easily put things back. Things that could be seen because they are private like underwear I labeled with my Dymo labeler. But I found that his eyes glassed over it. This year I am going to try bigger labels with a stock photo of boxers. If it was a space only I used I would do more detailed systems. Since only I cook I put pot and things where and how I wanted. But I put silverware low and visual. I wish my cabinet with plates and cups was lower and had a glass door. But they are all really high or really low. I put all my projects into cube organizing with big labels so I can see what I have to do and get it to work on easily. Plus cube organizing uses vertical space and gives me more floor space.. I turned the porch into another gaming space, a YouTube studio, and an Etsy shop.

    So why am I back to a hoarder mess 3 years later? Simple. Kids have lots of stuff. My husband got into guns. I bought lots of stuff for my Etsy and YouTube. I never cleaned or purged in those 3 years. Since my son has been born I haven’t been cleaning or organizing anything. Laundry and dishes have been out of control. So now it is time to purge and get back in control of my home and my time. I will be taking you guys along on this journey. So buckle up.We got a long and truthfully probably hard ride ahead.But the end result will be SO worth it!