Of course others are welcome to chime in too -- I know you will, INTJs 

I am a lot cleaner when I live alone. I use the same dishes over and over. I will use a plate or coffee cup and rinse it and leave it to dry and then use it again. With laundry, keep two of those mesh hampers, one for dark clothes and one for lights. Then when you take off your clothes, put them in the correct hamper. That way your laundry is already sorted. To keep your shower clean, clean it real well, then wax it with car wax. The wax will keep the shower cleaner longer. If you have a shower curtain that gets moldy, just wash it in the washing machine with a little bleach. A swifter sweeper is much easier to use than a broom. The swifter duster is good too. Clean mirrors and windows with wet newspapers. Then dry with dry newspapers. I wash my pillow cases a lot more frequently than I was my sheets. In Europe they use duvets instead of top sheets and comforter covers, and that makes it easier to make a bed. Also, it helps to always have a shredder plugged in and easily accessible. When you go through your mail, immediately shred the stuff you don't want.

Also, crank the stereo when you clean.  I read a book and it said it is hard for your brain to be both happy and unhappy at the same time.  So if you listen to music that makes you happy, while cleaning which makes you unhappy, your brain will probably choose to be happy.    I always iron for the next week while watching 60 minutes.  It takes my mind off ironing.   Another trick I will do to motivate myself is I will set a timer.   I'll say, I'm going to clean for 20 minutes.   Then I'll work like crazy for 20 minutes.  It is amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes.  But, it is easier to motivate myself if I time it for some reason. 

This is really stupid, I know it is, but...

I had a problem keeping my stuff in order, and so I thought, I'd give someone else part of the workload, and hired a cleaning woman to come by once a week. It has the same effect as inviting your friends over, but without the mess after. I actually clean the place up now so it won't be embarrassingly messy when she comes by.

I do that too neocron! You have to put stuff away and organize before she comes over. I really like having a cleaning lady to do the mopping, dusting, and bathroom cleaning. I can do the dishes and my own laundry. That's the prefect life for me.

 AnnaK, I'm just the opposite.  I tend to be even sloppier when I live alone!!  Mainly because when I live with roommates at least the shared rooms must be at least respectable or else I get the random notes left on the fridge or all my stuff thrown removed from the living room and tossed on the floor of my bedroom.  And now that I'm living back with my parents I just get daily lectures and all my stuff piled up at the bottom of the stairs.  It helps that no one in my family are neat-freaks, even my mother who tries hard to keep a decent house, so it's not like I'm totally out of my element.

@AnnaK Thanks! Those tips are great. Very concrete and useable. I especially like the tip about the music.

@Neocron That is true. I can't justify it though since it's just one of me and I actually don't make that much mess...I just can't get it together and do the minimum. It's sad.

@Lindzmarie85 OMG....this is freaky! I totally do the same thing where I just get this bug up my ass and decide to go medieval in the kitchen or something randomly. This happens more often than not in the middle of the night. My husband would wake up to find me pushing the couch across the living room because they were in a suboptimal configuration.

HAHA....I totally just realized I said *panty* instead of PANTRY!!!!! LMAO!!!! OOPS......

Totally goes along with my day --- explaining to a two-year-old the difference between underwear/panties, diapers, and butts.  He also claims that the dog's stuffed pig's tail is a penis....boys will be boys

I'm an INTJ but I am pretty low on the J sometimes, especially when it comes to cleaning. I normally am fine to keep things a little dirty but there is ALWAYS one sure-fire way to get me to start cleaning like a fiend. Everytime the show Hoarders is on and I see it, my brain switches on and says how I don't ever want to be like that and I end up cleaning like crazy during however long it is on. So, days when there is a marathon I go nuts and end up cleaning everywhere and things get rearranged and restructed, and I throw out or give away things that seem completely un-necessary.

There are also two things I don't like: unloading the dishwasher and folding. I guess somewhere in my mind these are associated with un-necessary and wasteful use of time and energy because the cleaning is already done. I could load the dishwasher 8 thousand times a day or do a ton of laundry daily, but ask me to unload the dishwasher or fold and I really don't like it.

LOL, PurpleGiraffe. My mom IS a hoarder and I do notice my tendency to do a whirlwind clean whenever I come back to her place. I'm in Taiwan so it's not on TV...but maybe I can look up some clips on Youtube for inspiration...or just go to Mom's.

@lindzmarie85 this is OT but I remember you mentioning being very passionate about the Wisconsin protests and I thought you might like a song I wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTOjcNgf9I

The best thing for me to get the house looking ok is to plan to have friends / family over. I seem to need a deadline to get stuff done.

Hoarding runs in my mother's family. My mother is a horrible housekeeper and cook, but hoarding is a disease, like compulsive gambling, and gets worse in times of stress. My mother didn't really start hoarding until my dad died and she had all kinds of problems. I don't think I inherited the hoarding though, when I'm stressed out, I just become a lazy vegetable,

BGG, thanks for the link - the song is great!!

But I'm actually in Ohio, not Wisconsin --- the state that's too pathetic to stand up for our own rights (the legislation here went through without the fanfare that happened in WI -- and the ironic part is WI is only $137M in debt, OH is $6B in debt!!!!!), hence why I felt compelled to go completely ape-sh*t on some of my fellow classmates...........

@AnnaK
Hoarding is terrible. It's the past eating up the present, the inanimate objects holding actual people hostage. It's very, very sad. I think I have some messy tendencies and certainly shop way too carelessly. But luckily, I am not a hoarder. It's an interesting phenomenon with both a biological basis (it's akin to OCD) and a psychological basis (people try to hold on to the past through holding on to their junk). Maybe that's why older folks tend to get worse and worse I guess.

@Nick
Yes. I think it's an ENFP thing...the need for deadline and structure despite our aversion to them. I wish somebody would make me do this stuff actually. Because then it would just be DONE and I won't have to agonize about it any more. If you think about all the mental energy having your environment be in a mess sucks up it's really depressing. I feel like I'm always paying off the interest but not the principle.

@lindz Thanks! Glad you liked the song. And good for you for going ape**** when the situation required!

Posted By lindzmarie85 on 24 Mar 2011 06:54 AM
BGG, thanks for the link - the song is great!!

But I'm actually in Ohio, not Wisconsin --- the state that's too pathetic to stand up for our own rights (the legislation here went through without the fanfare that happened in WI -- and the ironic part is WI is only $137M in debt, OH is $6B in debt!!!!!), hence why I felt compelled to go completely ape-sh*t on some of my fellow classmates...........

Grrr. What is being done to the middle class makes me so furious! Unable.....to......control.......fury..........ugh! *punches fist through wall*

 

Grrr. What is being done to the middle class makes me so furious! Unable.....to......control.......fury..........ugh! *punches fist through wall*

*calms down*

Thanks. I know this isn't the place but I didn't see anything about this in the politics forum. Why don't you start one and I'll jump in there.

*follows lindzmarie85 to the politics forum*

I'll head over there this evening.....I'm offline all day -- taking the kiddo I nanny to the zoo!!! WOOT WOOT!!

i'm cleaner when i am on my own, cos when i'm on my own i get the music pumping and then hey, why not clean at the same time?

whereas when i'm not alone i dont get the music going as often and therefore dont clean as often. i cant clean in silence.
actually i have music going most of my day really

Yes, music is necessary! I usually throw in some garish, fun lip stick too. Making lists helps me. It feels good to cross things off of it, and part of my problem is often having a hard time keeping track of what the next step is. I'll sit in the in the middle of a mess, feel overwhelmed, get distracted, start thinking about the world's problems, lay on the floor listening to my music and solving the world's problems, then remember I'm supposed to be cleaning and feel overwhelmed again. Sometimes it helps to talk out loud, "Ok, first I'm going to make my bed, then I'll have a place to fold my laundry, then I'll try to manage the piles of papers..." And, remember how good and peaceful it feels to have an ordered dwelling!

yeah definitely break it up into smaller bits, that helps sooo much

even when ironing i'll say "ok i'll do these two shirts" then when they are done "ok maybe 2 more" and by the end i've done everything. Otherwise i would just look at the pile, think "ugh not gonna do that" and wander off somewhere.

i've been on a cleaning binge lately, on the weekend i clean my entire room (cupboards and all, including all the laundry), yesterday i cleaned up my email (inbox was up to 1,200...oops) and this afternoon i will clean up my desk. It looks like a paper tornado hit it, and i have no idea how it happened. Every time i clean my desk i have people asking me if i am leaving or something :p