You Need Clean Dishes To Cook, Right?

I've never been a huge fan of spending a lot of time cleaning.
As a kid, I remember my room getting super messy and my mom forcing me to spend a whole day to work on it...only to end up finding awesome things I had lost and then get distracted with them.
And now, as an adult, I'm the same way. Distractions and a lack of energy, combined with not wanting to put the effort forth.

My aversion to cleaning is oh so strong. 
Clean dishes? That needs to be done every day!
We have two dogs, so vacuuming always seems pointless.
Laundry, at least, is easy enough to do, other than the folding and putting away part, so most of the clean clothes just stay in the dryer until I need to do another load of laundry.
Scrubbing the tub? Oh let's not even talk about that one. Taking a shower with soap washes the bottom of the tub, right (I know the answer is no, but I'm hopeful!).

It boils down to the simple fact that, really, I just don't want to do these things.
At the same time, my environment being out of order and totally chaotic doesn't suit any form of productivity. It's easier to stay in a state of messiness when you're surrounded by mess. And it's easier to put things off when, while looking around you, you see plenty of other things that you have put off.

I posted this on Instagram yesterday, for the October Photo Challenge I'm participating in (#fflovephotoaday). The prompt for the day was "Planning Space", and right now my planning space is our coffee table.
Oh, I have a desk, except it's too cluttered to do anything there, and we don't have a kitchen table to use instead - and if we did have a kitchen table, I'm sure it would be covered in stuff, too.

All the mess makes me not want to do anything. Which, well, leads me to not do anything - a body in motion stays in motion, and the opposite is also true.
And so in order to get my mojo back, I need to clean the house.
And also need to keep it clean!

I've tried cleaning checklists in the past, but it is always far easier to say "I'll to it tomorrow." And yet, each time tomorrow shows up, I do the same thing!
So instead, I'm going to try combining a weekly schedule, and a cleaning checklist. It'll be in my face more than once, so double pressure to get it done - and hopefully that helps.

I had previously found and used this checklist via I Am That Lady and am looking forward to using it again. The first time around it worked decently well for me - especially since there are plenty of these areas that I don't have to clean (as we don't have them), so it makes it seem like I've already made progress! It covers everything one would think to do, as well as those things I'm fond of "forgetting" to do (like re-situate the pantry and cupboards and empty the bathroom garbage before it gets heaping full).

I also found a whole set of home management printables over at Money Saving Mom that I'm looking at using as well.
The one I'm most fond of in this set is organized like a regular weekly page, with daily tasks for parts of the day on the left, and then weekly tasks on the right.
Though, really, that wasn't quite what I wanted, as my daily list would be rather small, and I wanted more space for my weekly tasks. So, I rearranged the sheet so the weekly tasks (only Monday through Friday) are on the left, and then the daily tasks have a whole half side of the page.

My overall plan is to focusing on one room a day, Monday through Friday, and then doing little things throughout the week to help the process. And of course, the daily tasks like doing dishes, taking out the garbage, and clearing any clutter that cropped up during the day (which I'm fabulous at creating).

It's not going to be fun, but it has to be done.

I want my desk back! And my coffee table. And I want to be able to cook in my kitchen without having to do anything first (besides walk into the kitchen), or to be able to find that one Batman shirt I need to wear today (in the closer where it should be, by the way, and not in the dryer, or waiting to get washed, or in a pile somewhere), or just be able to sit on the couch and relax without so much extra stuff around.

What do your cleaning schedules look like? And, of course, if you have any suggestions on how to keep motivated, please share them in the comments section!

~ Havok

If you liked this post, check out these other posts!

Declutter the Hoard

My Workspace

Daily Scheduling