Housework

I live in 450 square feet. Sometimes I wish my apartment was a little bit bigger. A separate bedroom would be nice. And I'd like to be able to entertain more than one or two people at a time. On the other hand, it's just me, and I really don't need more space. I'd just fill it with more stuff.

Of course, not making the bed in the morning means the apartment looks messy when I get home at night. And has anyone noticed that dust seems to accumulate more quickly these days? We seem to have the same problem at our office.

On the other hand, an advantage to living in a small apartment is that I can pretty much give it a thorough cleaning in about three hours or less. But do I really want to spend three hours on Saturday cleaning?

A couple of weeks ago I started trying some things I remembered from The Fly Lady, which Mom had done for a while. I started by shining both sinks before retiring for the night. After a few days of that I started setting the timer for 15 minutes every weeknight evening I was home. During those 15 minutes I dust. In five days I pretty much have the entire apartment dusted. The Fly Lady says set it for 10, but I remember reading someplace else that 15 minutes was a manageable amount of time. You can do anything for 15 minutes.

Once a week I tackle a "big" job. Washing either the kitchen floor or the bathroom floor. Cleaning the kitchen appliances. Sweeping up the crud that comes down the chimney into the fireplace. You get the picture.

There are still some things I haven't tackled. My desk is cluttered. I've been better about it, but I still tend to pile stuff on it until the pile starts to fall over. The file drawers need purging again, as do the bookshelves. Or at least the bookshelves need to be reorganized. Maybe I'll try The Fly Lady's Hot Spot approach.

In any case, it feels better coming home in the evenings. And I don't have to go into a cleaning frenzy when company is coming. Or worry about what kind of shape the apartment is in when someone drops by unexpected.

Now, if I could just figure out where to store the bicycle when I'm not using it.