Clean That Mess

 Knighthood Assignment: Clean That Mess

I am planning on going on a vacation to Arizona and before I do that, I want to have my house clean so that when I return, I return to a clean house. Plus, it helps to assuage some of that fear that I am going to get a notice indicating that my landlord will arrive in 3 days in order to inspect the unit. I'll be real. In addition to having some issues with attention and distraction, I also experience bouts of depression that make it difficult to keep my house in order. It's not the worst its been, but its also not in the best shape. I have tried schedules, Pomodoro's, having people come over, pretty much anything to keep my house clean. It doesn't seem to work for me. So, I am hoping that this cleaning because 1. I am going on atrip and 2. It is a Knighthood assignment, will at least give me some motivation to get and keep my house clean. I plan to clean the whole house day by day I will keep a record of my activities.

Bathroom 3/13/2023

My bathroom is the easiest of my rooms to clean. It has been neglected for about two weeks. The reason for that is my depression and distraction. I feel that if I can gain momentum by cleaning this room, which is comparatively easy, I will be able to clean the other rooms as well. These are the things that need to be cleaned:

• ✅The bathtub
• ✅The Sink
• ✅The toilet
• The floor
• ✅The mirror

The main thing that I want to see if I can do is to ride the momentum. Well, as it turns out, I could not ride the momentum. I only had enough in the gas tank for 20 minutes. But in that 20 minutes I got most of the bathroom done. 

Bedroom 3/14/2023

So in addition to cleaning the floor in the bathroom today, I also want to work on cleaning the bedroom.

X Strip/Wash/Dry Bedding
X Clean the linen closet 
X Clean out the containers of things I don't use
X Put away the clothes
X Sweep/ mop the floor

OMG JUST DO ONE TASK 3/15/2023

That did NOT work. Yesterday I was so distracted and tired I wasn't able to do anything. So the plan today is to just do ONE of the tasks. One is better than none. That's my slogan for today. 

Sweep and mop the bathroom floor

Nope that didn't work 3/16/2023

Yesterday I forgot to book my return ride and so I ended up spending about 30 dollars to get home. Then I decided to read The Art of Senan  and that got me all up in my feels and a bit paranoid, but for the most part I just lack the motivation to do anything productive. I'm not going to set myself a task today. I know I have a lot of things to do, but this setting tasks is not working. Maybe I'll set a time. Like right when I get home I spend 20 minutes cleaning. Don't even take off my shoes. Obviously change my shirt otherwise I will ruin it, but other than that, just 20 minutes. We'll see how much we can get done in that time

And Here We Go...3/25/2023 

I didn't get as far ahead as I would have liked before my vacation. I did get the bathroom and kitchen cleaned, but because I was packing, the living room and bedroom were a wreck. HOWEVER, the change of environment that the vacation brought was beneficial. I attacked cleaning the bedroom with some gusto right after I got home. I put my dirty clothes in the laundry and did my linens. I put all my clothes away and made my bed. Good enough for today

This is Going Well...3/26/2023

I woke up with a plan. I am going to clean the rest of my bedroom Why? Because I want to use my linen closet for linens. Know what I have in there now? Not linens. Weights and books and crap. I do have some linens in there, but they're just kind of flung.  I learned how to roll my towels like a hotel. Its kind of cute and makes more space for more towels and they look nice. 

There was a set of plastic containers that I used for knick knacks and various things that otherwise didn't have a place. I removed a good amount of things I don't use and lowered the count to three. I never want to hear myself say I don't have lotion because I definitely have lotion and lots of other products. I removed them from my caddy and put them on the top of the closet where that shelf is.  I put the towels on the caddy. I don't like it. I removed many things to the dumpster. This is going well

Ok Wow...3/27/2023 

My only plan for the day is to finish cleaning up the bedroom. Sweep and mop the floor. Well, that was the plan, but now I am focused on removing the microwave and the crap that I have in the living room closet. It took some ingenuity, but I got it done. It makes me a bit irritated that I bought those big trash bags thinking I would need them. Additionally, I removed the boxes of junk in the living room room and called staples about recycling electronics. I think that I got rid of about 5 bags of trash and cardboard. Family guy was a good way to keep my ears busy. I didn't clean the bedroom yet, but I also changed the lightbulbs for my floor lamps. Everything took about 5 hours but I took some breaks in between.

So Far So Good 3/28/2023

I missed my bus. I made the mistake of putting my phone in a different part of the apartment and I didn't hear the vibrating alarm or calls, or text messages. I ended up spending some money on Uber and I just kind of took it in stride. Today I am getting a bookshelf. My bookshelf, like my TV stand is a Tube and Turn. It doesn't require any tools, just the ability to screw in the legs into the particle board. It has meant the removal of  my modular bookcase option, but looks very nice. Another 5 hours cleaning with breaks means that my books are all organized. I also played with the idea of moving my couch to the other wall, but my couch is too big to accommodate and gives me very little egress. I can't wait to get rid of it in favor of a love seat. Smaller furniture will mean that I can redecorate more often. I realize that I am riding a high of dopamine, but the more that I clean, the freer my (head)space feels. I have realized also how important it is to make my bed. Like the Navy Seal suggests, making your bed is one victory at the start of the day and at the end of the day, even if the day has been kind of crappy, you still go home to a nice clean bed. 

It is the 3rd Day Straight...3/30/2023

Thursday my focus was on going to target to spend some gift card money. Certainly I thought I would have some energy to complete even a small task, but I was wiped. I washed my dishes with this new Dawn Power Wash. I also cleaned the exhaust top/fan thingy, which was pretty dirty. I've been using that power wash to clean everything I could think of, but I am tired. I've made my cleaning shelf. Nothing is under the sink but the dish drainer and that is only going to be used during meal preps on Sundays. During the weekdays my plan is just to wash and dry the dishes. I've bought some dinnerware and silverware for company. I can't even believe I am entertaining the idea of that, but the dinnerware is also nice for me. 

Junk Removal Has Become Expensive...3/31/2023

There is a desk, a couch and a few laptops I had removed today. $125 and that's all gone. It has opened up my living room a lot. Might be time to look into a dining room set. Jeez. Who am I and what have I done with the real Rosalyn? I was able to clean a good deal of my living room. I can see the vision now even if its not  all the way clean. I believe also that I was able to clean my cabinets and pots/pans and tops as well. 

4/1/2023... I Have Been Exhausted...I Rested

I haven't done anything of consequence today except sleep and watch tv. I'm ok with taking a day off since I have been working on cleaning the house for 5-6 hours a day. This day was the day for a bunch of meetings and work on the path. I spoke with Miles today and we talked about the Jed'aii and their different "keshes" I found the 5 foot bookshelf and I have come away with my new plan for the next few years or so. I have also spoken with Alexandre and he has permitted me to complete this work as the thesis for my Master Rank at TOTJO. Full disclosure, the law for the Master Rank was recently changed, but I think the thesis will be more beneficial for me specifically. I believe that the total 50-51 volumes comprising I believe 71 works. It'll be a massive undertaking, but I'd like to do it. I wonder how I can manage to keep the momentum going. Anyway, that's not the purpose of this entry.

4/2/2023...Last Full Day of Cleaning I Think

Today I swept the floors and cleaned up my food cart. It's very white now. I have one more cabinet to clean and some knick knacks to put away. I also swept outside a bit. Sweeping is very hard for me, but seeing the way that the floors looked after it was done kept me motivated. I also cleaned up outside. There were some things I left outside and they were unusable by the time I got to them. I cleaned the glass door so well I thought it was open. I moped the kitchen as well. Quite a lot done. I was also planning to do laundry, but that didn't happen.

4/3/2023...Laundry and Sundry

I've got a few things to still clean up and then I will create a set and reset binder and implement my  plan. My plan is to create a binder to keep in the cleaning shelf that reminds me of how each room in my apartment should look. Each day I will strive to reset the rooms before leaving for the day and before going to bed for the night. On Saturday the plan would be to clean the apartment from top to bottom and complete the linens and laundry so that on Sunday I can truly have a day of rest. I will attach my set/reset binder here. 

Changes...4/4/2023

I got disheartening news yesterday and it threw me off my game, so the only thing that I did was clean behind my fridge. I think thats good enough. I do need to do laundry since I do not have clothing. I did begin to create my set/reset binder. I noticed that changes really hit me hard. I can't share the details of the changes for a while yet and I don't know whether they will be good or bad for me, but it did get me to wonder "what will I do when changes do come?" Am I going to let myself be depressed and wallow or will I reframe? This is where that set and reset binder is meant to come in handy.

It has been a while...4/16/2023

I am happy to report that my house is clean. A few days ago I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen and both took me about 4 hrs to do top to bottom. I still haven't swept the floors in my bed room and livingroom. They are quite difficult for me to do...or seem to be. I'm not quite done with this lesson, but I just want to update you all on the new habits I have been forming

Every day I make my bed

Every time I cook, I wash, dry and put away the dishes

Each time I uses an item I put it away. This can be something like a coffee pot or a binder

I put my clothes in the hamper right away

These seem like simple and obvious tasks and I am embarrassed to say that I needed to do this kind of work or work to establish these kinds of habits, but they are a fact of life. I made huge progress, though my learning is still not complete here. I am celebrating every victory