Already 2011 is not off to the best start ... domestically speaking, but I have an excuse, I swear!
I did not clean a single thing today (we weren't home yesterday) but I did buy the steal of the year: a floor model of a Samsung over-the-range convection oven/microwave for $395! We first stumbled across this at one HHGregg for $475, then went to another location with an outlet found that the first place had the wrong price but instead of going back we bought the floor model. http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/microwaves/SMK9175ST/XAA.
I'm very excited, although this domestic procrastinator does not do the cooking, my husband will get great use out of this. And I'll have some extra counterspace to try to keep clean.
I did at least spend 15 minutes putting laundry away. It was more than 15 minutes to be fair. Too bad I have to spend another 15 or more minutes on that tonight because it's now Monday.
Another grande accomplishment for today - I finished the Christmas cards. I had about 15 that I didn't have addresses. I was afraid to send them without updating my spreadsheet, which would have been faster. I figure I had to update my spreadsheet in order to have the next time. Why is everything so friggin' difficult?
Monday, January 3, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
An a-typical day out of the office
About an hour has past since my first post. I'm not going to spell out everything I did because that is boring to everyone but me (and maybe my husband but even that is a stretch). I have thus far not finished the office but I have figured out that everything I tackled is stuff that has been in procrastination piles since June. Which makes sense because that is when I started back at work. I think I organized it a little brought it upstairs to be further organized (filed, used, etc.) and that is where it has sat ever since.
Most of it was unused coupons - now expired and bills. I'm not worried about the unused coupons because I found a long forgotten Target gift card that is worth much more in gold than 10 cents off anything, especially since we have long since learned that Target brand anything baby related seems to be less than name brand purchased with even the highest denomination off anything name brand.
No worries about the bills either. I actually have a fool-proof procrastinator's plan for bill-paying: overpaying. I know, it's crazy but that is what we have always done with our household bills. We have our own "budgeting" system with the utility companies. We pay more than the low monthly bills so that we have a zero balance when it's time for the expensive months. We're never late on our bills because we have a monthly auto-pay set up from http://www.ingdirect.com/ - a high interest checking (and savings) account. This is why I put in the giveaway pile two of my many financial guru books. They all say you should set up autopay, including autosave, and find a high-yield online banking. Done. I'm feeling pretty good about myself just because I'm writing this. No one is even reading this but I feel validated. And I haven't even finished the damn office but at least it's dusted and vacuumed, right?
Okay it's now almost 2 p.m. The office is still not finished because I got sidetracked. Maybe I should call myself the Domestic Sidetracker. I kept going through the bedroom to the MBath and I really needed to clean it. I tackle the actual shower a lot but not the floors, not the toilet, etc. It's now at least disinfected.
Here is the reason I procrastinate because when I clean I find other things I have procrastinated. For example last fall while I was preggers, we painted the entire inside of the house. I panicked about being eight months pregnant when our third anniversary of buying our home (also my 30th birthday) would occur. We had in our first 2.5 years painted our dining room together and my mom and I had painted our guest and half bath. I actually love to paint at other people's houses. It's relaxing and invigorating for me. I love to see something take on a new shape in 24 hours - I'm addicted to HGTV for that reason. However, my husband and I don't agree on colors easily, and we don't like to have our already disorderly house in shambles. So we procrastinated.
So when we painted while I was pregnant we used Dutchboy Refresh because I wanted low fumes and VOCs since I was pregnant and it was in our price range. Other brands were seriously cost-prohibitive. I actually wanted to do it for the environment but could never fully articulate the reason it is better for the environment for my hubby so I used preggers as a reason. Anyway. I love how it all turned out and I highly recommend using it everywhere but your bathroom. A year later, the paint tint still literally drips down the walls absolutely every time we shower. So when I cleaned the bathroom I had to be reminded that I never went back to Sears Hardware to complain, nor did I send a picture to Dutchboy. Something my parents would have done asap and encourage us to do asap as they were helping us get the house painted in two weekends. It was also a reminder that I need to repaint the bathroom with tougher paint, and I need to repaint all my white trim everywhere in my house. Something I thought I would do while I was on maternity leave.
Okay, I also folded a little bit of wrinkled laundry in an attempt not to procrastinated, and I remembered something else that keeps happening because I can't keep up with laundry. I keep mixing baby stuff with regular clothes and the damn velcro ruins my work clothes. I need to write this down so that I can remember it already and save my clothes.
Oh and I was also reminded by cleaning the bathroom that I never replaced the toilet seats when we moved in, which is why I never cleaned off the tapes remains very well from the "this house has been winterized" signs because I thought I would just buy new toilet seats. We also didn't replace the broken toilet paper holder. So there's that too.
It's 3 p.m. I have not accomplished as much as I thought I could today. I have pitched, I have sorted, I have reduced, I have disinfected. But unfortunately, I have much more to do.
Now I have to shower and get ready for a party before I pick up my darling baby from daycare. A lot of people say they can't get anything done because they have kids. It's because of my little tot that I have got to get my act together. He's crawling like crazy and pulling himself up on things, so I need his environment to be safe. But I need to get my act together now and procrastinate no more because I want to spend quality time with him and stop feeling like I'm using quality time with the baby as an excuse to not get work done around the house.
I know I'm not unique. But at least if I'm writing this, then I might at least have to answer to myself.
Most of it was unused coupons - now expired and bills. I'm not worried about the unused coupons because I found a long forgotten Target gift card that is worth much more in gold than 10 cents off anything, especially since we have long since learned that Target brand anything baby related seems to be less than name brand purchased with even the highest denomination off anything name brand.
No worries about the bills either. I actually have a fool-proof procrastinator's plan for bill-paying: overpaying. I know, it's crazy but that is what we have always done with our household bills. We have our own "budgeting" system with the utility companies. We pay more than the low monthly bills so that we have a zero balance when it's time for the expensive months. We're never late on our bills because we have a monthly auto-pay set up from http://www.ingdirect.com/ - a high interest checking (and savings) account. This is why I put in the giveaway pile two of my many financial guru books. They all say you should set up autopay, including autosave, and find a high-yield online banking. Done. I'm feeling pretty good about myself just because I'm writing this. No one is even reading this but I feel validated. And I haven't even finished the damn office but at least it's dusted and vacuumed, right?
Okay it's now almost 2 p.m. The office is still not finished because I got sidetracked. Maybe I should call myself the Domestic Sidetracker. I kept going through the bedroom to the MBath and I really needed to clean it. I tackle the actual shower a lot but not the floors, not the toilet, etc. It's now at least disinfected.
Here is the reason I procrastinate because when I clean I find other things I have procrastinated. For example last fall while I was preggers, we painted the entire inside of the house. I panicked about being eight months pregnant when our third anniversary of buying our home (also my 30th birthday) would occur. We had in our first 2.5 years painted our dining room together and my mom and I had painted our guest and half bath. I actually love to paint at other people's houses. It's relaxing and invigorating for me. I love to see something take on a new shape in 24 hours - I'm addicted to HGTV for that reason. However, my husband and I don't agree on colors easily, and we don't like to have our already disorderly house in shambles. So we procrastinated.
So when we painted while I was pregnant we used Dutchboy Refresh because I wanted low fumes and VOCs since I was pregnant and it was in our price range. Other brands were seriously cost-prohibitive. I actually wanted to do it for the environment but could never fully articulate the reason it is better for the environment for my hubby so I used preggers as a reason. Anyway. I love how it all turned out and I highly recommend using it everywhere but your bathroom. A year later, the paint tint still literally drips down the walls absolutely every time we shower. So when I cleaned the bathroom I had to be reminded that I never went back to Sears Hardware to complain, nor did I send a picture to Dutchboy. Something my parents would have done asap and encourage us to do asap as they were helping us get the house painted in two weekends. It was also a reminder that I need to repaint the bathroom with tougher paint, and I need to repaint all my white trim everywhere in my house. Something I thought I would do while I was on maternity leave.
Okay, I also folded a little bit of wrinkled laundry in an attempt not to procrastinated, and I remembered something else that keeps happening because I can't keep up with laundry. I keep mixing baby stuff with regular clothes and the damn velcro ruins my work clothes. I need to write this down so that I can remember it already and save my clothes.
Oh and I was also reminded by cleaning the bathroom that I never replaced the toilet seats when we moved in, which is why I never cleaned off the tapes remains very well from the "this house has been winterized" signs because I thought I would just buy new toilet seats. We also didn't replace the broken toilet paper holder. So there's that too.
It's 3 p.m. I have not accomplished as much as I thought I could today. I have pitched, I have sorted, I have reduced, I have disinfected. But unfortunately, I have much more to do.
Now I have to shower and get ready for a party before I pick up my darling baby from daycare. A lot of people say they can't get anything done because they have kids. It's because of my little tot that I have got to get my act together. He's crawling like crazy and pulling himself up on things, so I need his environment to be safe. But I need to get my act together now and procrastinate no more because I want to spend quality time with him and stop feeling like I'm using quality time with the baby as an excuse to not get work done around the house.
I know I'm not unique. But at least if I'm writing this, then I might at least have to answer to myself.
A typical day not at the office
So, it's the day before New Year's Eve. My house is not in the best shape but not in the worst shape either. Our master bedroom is out of control. Additionally, my dad asked me for some help with a project that will force me to live up to his organizational standards and my best friend from high school is traveling a great distance.
I took my almost nine month old to daycare so that I could get some stuff done in this blessed day away from the office. I have so far had coffee at Panera while quickly scanning the January issue of O; hit up GFS for some items for New Year's Eve and for my homemade baby food project that did not exist; hit up Staples for some office supplies to get organized for my dad's project but decided I probably could reuse what I already have before investing in anything new ... I'm now home to clean up my "office" and master bedroom. The typical part of this day is that it's 11:30 a.m., and I haven't accomplished a single thing on my ever-expanding, ever-delayed list of things to do.
As I cleaned the top shelf of my bookshelf, I remembered that my big sis started a blog, http://www.domesticdeadline.blogspot.com/, and I wanted to do something (can't remember what). A quick call to DD and I ended up starting this blog, http://www.domesticprocrastinator.blogspot.com/, before tacking the second shelf. It's 11:30 on the dot and this is thus far my big accomplishment of the morning.
Now I'm off to tackle the O and the MB (with M bath, but I ain't touching the M closet today!). Wish me luck.
I took my almost nine month old to daycare so that I could get some stuff done in this blessed day away from the office. I have so far had coffee at Panera while quickly scanning the January issue of O; hit up GFS for some items for New Year's Eve and for my homemade baby food project that did not exist; hit up Staples for some office supplies to get organized for my dad's project but decided I probably could reuse what I already have before investing in anything new ... I'm now home to clean up my "office" and master bedroom. The typical part of this day is that it's 11:30 a.m., and I haven't accomplished a single thing on my ever-expanding, ever-delayed list of things to do.
As I cleaned the top shelf of my bookshelf, I remembered that my big sis started a blog, http://www.domesticdeadline.blogspot.com/, and I wanted to do something (can't remember what). A quick call to DD and I ended up starting this blog, http://www.domesticprocrastinator.blogspot.com/, before tacking the second shelf. It's 11:30 on the dot and this is thus far my big accomplishment of the morning.
Now I'm off to tackle the O and the MB (with M bath, but I ain't touching the M closet today!). Wish me luck.
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