Thursday, June 18, 2009

Cleaning with OCD and ADD

So I've decided that I have OCD and ADD. If you know me personally, I know that you're laughing right now. I know that the ADD is simple to see, but you might not agree with the OCD diagnosis. It's real and true though, my friend. All of the warning signs are there. Just watch me next time you see me. You'll be amazed.
I'm a real riot to be around sometimes. I can get so into and nit picky about something that's totally unrelated to the conversation at hand... But I'm paying total and complete attention to you... Somewhere. But really I am. ;-)
The FlyLady suggests that when you're cleaning to set a timer for 15 minutes. When the timer sounds, stop cleaning the room you're cleaning and go to the next room. This works so that you don't get bored with the current task at hand, and I guess it helps for the OCD person b/c then they try to hurry up and clean the next 15 minute task so that they can get back to the first one that they didn't finish.
This 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there doesn't work for me though. I get too frustrated with leaving too many projects undone. Once the time goes off I say to myself, "Okay, I can work on this for just another five minutes. Surely, five minutes won't hurt..."
The FlyLady does not work for me...
ALTHOUGH, she does say that when you have company coming over that you should be most concerned with cleaning (the mounds of laundry that are sitting on your furniture) that which is in the main line of vision of the front door: the foyer, under your couches that face the door, tables you see from the door, ect. It's true that first impressions last, and when your guest walks in, and sees how "clean" your house is they're less likely to notice the dirty sock that you missed under the chair.
So, I know HOW to clean (quickly AND thoroughly). I have my inspiration to clean.
My friend is my inspiration. She has two kids, a full time job, a husband with a full time (plus) job, she's active in her communities, and always has a clean house.
I walked in the other day, and she said something or another about the house being messy. I was there for 30-45 minutes, and I never did find the mess of which she spoke!
Anyway, we were there one night, and before we left I walked into the kitchen to get the kids coats. I saw that she had laid out on her table the breakfast bowls, cups and spoons for the next day. This really inspired me (that she was so "domestic"), and I would love to get my over crowded, over cluttered, super messy house clean.
So again, I know the know how. I have the inspiration... Now, if I could only find the motivation.... *sigh*

1 comment:

Meet the Smiths said...

Thanks for the blog comments. Stickers is what is helping Dakota now. I get those teacher stickers..the big book of them when they go on sale after school gets out for $2.50...it has over 1000 stickers. Dakota will sit and take all the stickers off one at a time. It keeps him still...and it lasts for about 30 minutes. I cut one sheet into 3 sections and he gets a section at a time. Hope this helps you with the wiggle worm.
Thanks for the cleaning post...I need a little motivation as well.