So you cleared off your dining room table! Or possibly your bedroom floor, or that kitchen counter that seems to breed random crap. It’s nice, right? Gives you a sense of accomplishment to look at? And then, even though you try to stop it, that obnoxious little voice tells you to enjoy this moment, because it’s just going to be covered in crap again in a day or two. I know you know that voice.
Here’s the thing: the accumulating crap doesn’t happen on its own. It’s a passive phenomenon, in a way, but only in that you’re the one being passive. A cleaned area is not going to remain that way by itself. And that’s where the reset comes in.
Here’s how it works:
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- Figure out your most problematic surface.
- 20/10 it into submission until it’s clean and cleared of everything that shouldn’t be there.
- Then take two to five minutes every day and reset it back to that perfect state.
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Those messes don’t generally happen overnight. And they usually only get worse the longer you leave them. So by taking just a few minutes every day to reset the surface back to clear, you never give it the chance to accumulate the multiplying crap. And by sacrificing a handful of minutes (do it while the coffee’s brewing, or during a commercial break) each day, you can pretty much guarantee you won’t have to face a mountain of crap on that surface again.
And admit it, there’s something so satisfying about seeing your worst surface completely clear. You should be able to feel that satisfaction every damn day.
[This post originally appeared on UfYH. Images are author’s own.]
3 replies on “Unf*&% Your Habitat: It’s Clean — Now What? The Importance of the Reset”
I’ve been maintaining my apartment and keeping my bed made (most days). It’s amazing how different I feel about coming home and spending time here. I give UfYH a lot of credit for that! You’ve changed the way I think about cleaning. No longer is it a giant overwhelming bog of eternal stench. Now it’s bite-size chunks and I find that even deep cleaning isn’t the chore it once was. Thanks UfYH!
I got into a cleaning/organizing kick over the weekend, and I really want to maintain the clean areas!! This is very timely, and a good reminder that I’m the one that allows things to accumulate. Junk mail doesn’t stack itself up on my writing desk–I put it there. :S
I always cut myself a deal: after cleaning up only x percentage of the surface can be a mess again. That way there is less mess and easy to clean when the time comes.