Update

[Louise Lotz]

This has been a very busy week, so I have not had a lot of time to do this. I have kept up the 5 minute tasks, and now I am starting the 20 minute tasks for the spring cleaning challenge. I am also doing a diet challenge - somewhere else - and won't share about this here, but just so that you know there is something more I am doing for myself in another setting.

Part of the diet challenge is signing up for a new activity, so I am starting my activity tomorrow if I can. I need to go and book it today, so I will do that after lunch. That will be Pilates or one of those activities. Probably not Pilates but something a little more active than that.

As I need cardio activities. But once I have enough Cardio I could add in Pilates. The gym I go to has the option that you can do as many classes as you like free. I am also thinking of joining a club like Ramblers - or even starting my own solo walking. I know that's a bit anti-social but there are times when I just want to be on my own. I had a book of local walks and I still want to get around to doing them all. If only I could find this book again - not sure what has happened to it, but I can probably try to find it in the library.

About the tidying so far. I think I have identified that my biggest challenge at the moment is to declutter. So I am wondering how to adapt my efforts to reflect this more fully. It is a mixture of decluttering and filing papers. The general cleaning is very good as well, as it keeps me focussed.

I now also need to add in gardening. There are several problems at the moment in the garden. The most pressing is to gather some of the leaves. But there is also some maintenance I need to do, and painting around the garage door before the winter sets in. I need to pick the rest of the apples on the tree, and do a final hedge trim before the winter sets in. During the winter I want to mend the shed roof and the back gate and cut back the jungle so that the new growth in the spring is from a more cut-back base. I also want to plan more carefully for the spring, and next spring I want some hanging baskets, to grow more veggies and maybe to start a herb garden and sort out the shed roof.

During the winter I also need to clear the attic, as I am having it insulated in March.

Regarding the housework, I am also thinking of drawing up a schedule of tasks for the other family members and the lodgers. I can set people to do specific jobs, like taking out the rubbish and I can also set some clear boundaries around what jobs I do and what jobs I don't do.

I also need to spend some time sorting out accounts and admin. The task lists can all be part of that.

I do feel I have achieved a lot this week, and it has gone clockwise in the kitchen with deep-cleaning and anti-clockwise with superficial cleaning. That means I am now coming on to the vegetable rack - which needs some clearing out. This is not all that serious as I did it a couple of weeks ago. I have now also cleared all the bags that came out of the car. This is good news as the car is now lovely and tidy.

I want to make sure I clean out the car at least once a week, as I don't want the major junk piling up in it again. I am trying to work out what to do with a tent that came down from the attic and I think it is just going to have to go back up there until March.

With the attic clearance I think I will concentrate on things I can get rid of permanently.

I have also agreed with my therapist to set up some house

[Jan Ferrante]

Hi Louise, I just started a fitness challenge too! I do Fit Yummy Mummy. It's online and at home but there is a huge forum where we keep our journals and get lots of info/interaction.

You are really taking great strides and I fully agree that the decluttering has to come first, otherwise you just end up moving things around and not really making any difference (been there, done that!)

It is an ongoing process but it also makes the most dramatic difference at first and a lot more peace of mind!

Great idea to get others organized to help. My daughters have regular chores here and it makes a world of difference.

I tell them that they only have to do 15 minutes a day each (sometimes they do more but that is the minimum) and it is amazing what a difference it makes - and how much more inclined they are to keep everyone else on track in keeping it clean - including me!

I do pay them an allowance in 15 minute increments - so if they don't do it they don't get paid. It gives them incentive and if they need money they do more, which is great with me!

I like to set deadlines, such as 15 minutes per day for such and such a thing because then I go as fast as I can since it's such a short amount of time and on the days when I don't want to it's not such a looming thing - the key is to do it consistently - 15 minutes one day isn't going to do much good.

I try to make it the same time slot as well if I can, although that always doesn't happen of course - but it does help me to fit it in if I find it not done near the end of the day. Some days it may not get done, in some cases I will do 1/2 hour to catch up, or even have what I call a push or BOOST day when I put aside an afternoon or entire day for it - I find weekends good for this.

I need to gather and throw some leaves on my garden today for winter. That is one area that I haven't done as I had wished this year but the weather did factor into it - it was a such a crappy spring but next year I am going to stick to my guns even if I have to grow indoors!

Actually I would like to try some of that over the winter.

Thanks for checking in Louise, I always like to hear how you are doing, I can tell that you are really
getting somewhere. It isn't possible to do it all at once (unfortunately!) but even a little bit at a time can
make such a difference.

Kudos to you!!