Boggled
Does any else ever get this?
I make a list, I am a list maker, I love lists. Grocery lists, chore lists, project lists, lists of things I need to get, need to do, want to do, etc. Where was I? Oh, I make a list in my head of all the things that need to get done. But the list is so long, I don't know where to start, so I take care of the easy stuff, the stuff that absolutely has to get done. But I end up so daunted by the rest of the list that I have trouble getting to it, I find ways to avoid it instead. I saturate myself in the daily stuff, and never get to the big stuff.
So this is my list, it's jumbled and scattered because I'm jumbled and scattered, some are things I want to do, some are things I should do, and some are things I HAVE to do.
Clean the house (basic cleaning)
Go through each room in depth and scrub, and clear out, clean out the closets, the drawers, the little corners where crap gets stashed because you don't know what else to do with it.
Recaulk the bathroom.
Paint the walls, in some rooms.
Fix my computer.
Take out the trash (every tuesday).
Wash the dishes (every day)
Do laundry (once or twice a week)
Finish my book
Work on crochet projects
Look for a job
Get Mina to school every day, and her homework done on time
Make dinner every night
Plan her birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
Do yardwork
Get the back porch cleared off, including a run to the dump
Clean the catbox (every other day)
Feed and water the cats
Keep the fish tank clean, and occasionally remember to feed the fish.
Do the grocery shopping, make a meal plan for the month
Budget my roughly $30 -$60 a week in child support to cover for extra stuff like a new coat and shoes for Mina.
Play WoW (I have several lists for my wow toons too, what stuff they need to get, how much it'll cost them, etc.)
Blog
Keep in touch with all my friends and family
Watch Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives with Bonnie
Check the mail, and groan at the number of overdue bills I have coming in.
And, there are always new, unexpected things being added to the list. Like returning Aaron's mom's van to her, and finding a dentist and making an appointment for each of us.
It's very overwhelming. I get overwhelmed and I avoid doing things, then get depressed that I didn't get anything done, and am still overwhelmed because it's all still there waiting for me to get to it.
Does this happen to you? Am I just a freak?
I make a list, I am a list maker, I love lists. Grocery lists, chore lists, project lists, lists of things I need to get, need to do, want to do, etc. Where was I? Oh, I make a list in my head of all the things that need to get done. But the list is so long, I don't know where to start, so I take care of the easy stuff, the stuff that absolutely has to get done. But I end up so daunted by the rest of the list that I have trouble getting to it, I find ways to avoid it instead. I saturate myself in the daily stuff, and never get to the big stuff.
So this is my list, it's jumbled and scattered because I'm jumbled and scattered, some are things I want to do, some are things I should do, and some are things I HAVE to do.
Clean the house (basic cleaning)
Go through each room in depth and scrub, and clear out, clean out the closets, the drawers, the little corners where crap gets stashed because you don't know what else to do with it.
Recaulk the bathroom.
Paint the walls, in some rooms.
Fix my computer.
Take out the trash (every tuesday).
Wash the dishes (every day)
Do laundry (once or twice a week)
Finish my book
Work on crochet projects
Look for a job
Get Mina to school every day, and her homework done on time
Make dinner every night
Plan her birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
Do yardwork
Get the back porch cleared off, including a run to the dump
Clean the catbox (every other day)
Feed and water the cats
Keep the fish tank clean, and occasionally remember to feed the fish.
Do the grocery shopping, make a meal plan for the month
Budget my roughly $30 -$60 a week in child support to cover for extra stuff like a new coat and shoes for Mina.
Play WoW (I have several lists for my wow toons too, what stuff they need to get, how much it'll cost them, etc.)
Blog
Keep in touch with all my friends and family
Watch Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives with Bonnie
Check the mail, and groan at the number of overdue bills I have coming in.
And, there are always new, unexpected things being added to the list. Like returning Aaron's mom's van to her, and finding a dentist and making an appointment for each of us.
It's very overwhelming. I get overwhelmed and I avoid doing things, then get depressed that I didn't get anything done, and am still overwhelmed because it's all still there waiting for me to get to it.
Does this happen to you? Am I just a freak?
posted by AnywhereEden | 9:54 AM
8 Comments:
I'm a list maker too. Ya have to be. With working, being a mother, trying to be a good wife, and keep the house clean, groceries in the cabinet, food on the table, doctor appointments,...etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Oh, squeeze in some fun time also. Weeew, I'm worn out now. BTW, this does happen to me too. Maybe were both freaks.
actually, the problem with the bathroom lies not so much in it being dirty, cuz I do wash it fairly regularly, but in the hard water, which has built up for god knows how many years and is now literally a hard brown mineral layer in places.
I do clean the bathroom, really. :)
whoops, meant to put that comment under the one for the magic eraser...
you are not a freak. I do this too. and it stresses the heck out of me. I try to set realistic goals, though, to help me feel a sense of accomplishment and combat the overwhelmed feeling.
what drives me nuts is that my partner and I have different standards, too. so things on my to-do around the house list aren't seen as either necessary, crucial, or important. therefore I don't get much help or support in some areas.
For instance, I don't think it's a bad thing to aspire to give the fridge a good scrub-down cleaning, or as you said, go through each room in-depth to de-crap it. and to a point, I DO think it's necessary!
sorry. venting. we seem to be at odds about clutter issues.
hope you're able to feel better about your list and get things done one by one and not feel stressed or overwhelmed :o)
trust me, that's what I'll always be doing!
p.s. hard-water is the bane of my existence!!
For the bathroom hard water build-up, I rely on the absolute most toxic shit ever invented: The Works. It really works -- but open a window and wear rubber gloves. If you can't find The Works, Kaboom rates a close second. Lime-Away comes in third. If you have rusty water, you might need to clean more frequently with a combination of products.
As for that feeling of being overwhelmed by it all, any of us who have kids and a house to run feel it -- even if we're not employed outside the home.
If you're in the weeds, remember that time spent doing un-fun things earns you time doing fun things. Fun things do not belong on the same list as the un-fun things. Remember you only have twenty-four hours in a day:
8 hours are set aside for sleep, whether you think you need all 8 hours or not.
10 hours are set aside for the "un-fun," for getting ready for, going to, doing, and returning from work (if you don't work away from home but need to find a job, you divide your ten hours evenly between housework and looking for a job); this is fair to the bread winner if you're not currently earning bread.
6 hours are for "fun," and a good portion of those six hours would ideally be spent connecting with your kids and significant other (including sex), with the rest being used for selfish fun, such as blogging or gaming, enjoying hobbies like needlework or reading, or simply watching must-see TV.
The most important thing is to get adequate sleep. The next most important is to keep the household running smoothly. Fun is very important, but it's also the area where most people "pig out," and as enjoyable as it is in the moment, we always PAY for it ten times over.
If you can adhere to 8-10-6 on a daily basis you'll be fine.
Oh -- this goes for EVERY person under one roof. Fair is fair, and if everyone pitches in, every day of the week, nobody should feel overwhelmed :-)
I have those lists, and some things, the whoppers, nag at me, pull at me, scream at me, and still I let them go un crossed off.
Those damned murals that I've been working on, or I should say, going to work on, have been on my list for a year and a half. Damn them.
Now though, I think I'll finally get to them. I am going to try and alter them more to suit me, and then propose them to the board. I have to be proud of what I do or I'll get so flim flam sick of 'em.
Hang in there chicky, sometimes we look at our lists and think, oh fuck it, I think I'll play wow, or blog, or read, or whatever, but we always eventually come back energized to do what we must do. Hell, two weeks ago on a Thursday I got all nesty. I cleaned out every basket in my house and every hiding hole for crap. I was relentless, I was on a mission, I was obsessed, and I couldn't stop myself.
You'll get the important stuff done, and you'll get it done in the time it's supposed to be done too.
I try to tell myself often, that we are all right where we are supposed to be on our journy in life, and that helps me for some reason. Of course I'm a freak. Heh, heh.
xx, Lori
Does this happen to you? Am I just a freak?
EVERY DAY! ... and i dont know how to deal with it either
so you like Greys Anatomy too? its my fave :)
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