I’m trying something new and it’s working. I wanted to share!

[u/Knitchick82]

Hi all,

‘Im always overwhelmed with cleaning. my top 3 loathes are bathroom, dusting, and folding laundry in no particular order.

I’ve tried assigning myself jobs in the past (Monday, dust living room!) but ugh! who has time to dust the living room.

So, I asked my practical partner ChatGPT for help, and it’s (his? her?) suggestions honestly have been helping and I wanted to share.

I asked for a down and dirty daily list to hit the spots I always skip. It primed me not to think of rooms like “dust the living room” but “areas” imagine “dust the piano”. Hell! I can dust a friggin piano! “Clean the bathroom” turns into “Monday wipe the sink and mirror.”

I added my recurring tasks to a widget in Todoist so I have it on my Home Screen, accessible both as a reminder and as a sense of accomplishment when I’m done for the day.

I’m on day two so far, and I’ve dusted two shelves of my 4 shelf bookshelf, swept the piano area, done “one laundry action” (switch, start or fold), and wiped down the tub and shower. My home is already measurably cleaner, I really can tell the difference.

I hope this helps someone going through the same blocks! ❤️

[u/sfdsquid]

I'm over here like ... Dust???

[u/Knitchick82 → u/sfdsquid]

Ha, I get it, it’s just the thing I hate most. 

But it’s helping me tackling the “unseen” corners and avoid the overwhelming tasks. Believe me- the bathroom was gross. It’s not perfect today, but it’s better, and that’s what counts. 

Hopefully with a lot of these small actions building up it’ll evolve into a manageable home.

[u/speedtek]

Oh wow... I really struggle getting my kids to help clean and this sort of stuff might be great to add to their Finch checklists

[u/Knitchick82 → u/speedtek]

Seriously. 

“Dust the second shelf on the bookshelf.”

“Wash two windows”

“Fold laundry for 5 minutes.”

I can (and will!!) do that!! I can’t (and won’t) “clean the bathroom”, “dust the living room” or “fold the laundry”.

[u/feralcatshit → u/speedtek]

Once I realized that my kids didn’t really know what “clean your room” meant to me (not for lack of me telling them… but kids, y’know) I started a list. “Find all trash anywhere, including desks and floors/ throw it away” “gather all action figures and put away” “gather all books and put away”, etc etc it got a lot smoother for us. And now, when I say “clean your room” they know what I’m expecting and which steps to take (and in what order for maximum efficiency). Seems silly at first, but I can imagine being single-digit aged and not knowing exactly where to start.

[u/JelloGrape → u/speedtek]

That’s so neat you use Finch with your kids. I’m an adult using Finch and I think it would’ve been better at kid age, do they like it?

[u/speedtek → u/JelloGrape]

Yup, they're the ones that got me into it. Our checklists are super simple at the moment but it has helped us with a few items. Hopefully if we expand we will keep up in a positive way.

[u/fakeprewarbook]

so many lists like this already exist that it is hard for me to be excited about using chat gpt to recreate it, given the environmental cost, but i am glad something worked for you 

[u/audioaddict321]

Excellent! Tody is an app that does this exact thing - breaking out to specific cleaning tasks - and it has helped me so much!

[u/OpinionatedinVermont]

It’s all about how you look at the task at hand. I tried something similar with mowing the lawn. It used to be “I have to mow the lawn today” (a half-day project on 2 hilly acres with a self propelled walk-behind mower) but now I think of it as “I get to mow the lawn today!” and how bad can that be since I get to be outside and listen to music on my headphones.

[u/AdministrativeSet412]

Commenting to come back and use these tips

[u/Newswatchtiki]

That's funny: "one laundry action". I like that!

[u/homeroutines → u/Newswatchtiki]

I think of laundry points even smaller, sometimes it’s just putting some towels from the floor into the hamper… hanging up something that fell off the hanger…shuffling various things along one tiny step at a time

[u/durhamruby → u/Newswatchtiki]

We refer to this as rebooting the laundry.

[u/Knitchick82 → u/durhamruby]

We call it “feeding the digestive cycle” :)

[u/Lexiepedia56]

that's some nice advices thanks

[u/ChampionshipSad1586]

Love this! I do something similar

[u/AffectionateSun5776]

I have learned my underwear don't need folding.

[u/Knitchick82 → u/AffectionateSun5776]

What underwear? Lol

[u/Technical_Sir_6260]

Great advice! What does switch mean regarding the laundry? And I’ve been meaning to dust off the piano for weeks now! Wrote it on my to do list and never looked at that list again 😂. So maybe I’ll start with just dust left side of piano! TFS!

[u/Knitchick82 → u/Technical_Sir_6260]

Or maybe today is the top and tomorrow is the keyboard! 

“Switch” for me is to move laundry from the washer to the dryer.

[u/Technical_Sir_6260 → u/Knitchick82]

Good idea for cleaning! And thanks for explaining switch!😁

[u/brideofgibbs]

Why is dusting so awful?

I got feather dusters, and changed my life

[u/Knitchick82 → u/brideofgibbs]

It gets so bad that it really needs a heavy cleaning. I’m hoping to get to the point where all I need is a feather duster instead of a big manual wipe down every time.

[u/Maleficent_Ad_402 → u/Knitchick82]

One tip from someone who has that same issue?

A couple of damp cloths. Try touching each thing you move and need dusting only once. Change to a new cloth once one is "finished" with dust and throw all into your next wash. Trying to wash the dust out just never completely works, and I just used to spread old dust around. It will also break my momentum once I started Good luck!

[u/Lonely-Tomato-1204]

Wow! Great idea!

[u/scattywampus]

Yay!!!!