Laura's Reading

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ailbhe-leamy:

We’ve done the enzyme outdoor neutralising smell spray but there’s still a faint whiff. We can’t afford a new sofa. Would an in-room air freshener jar help, or just smear allergens on top of pee?

Team Cat Pee, what say ye?

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theshadowsonmywall:

thanks to exam season, my room has gotten pretty messy.

taking a break from revision, and considering the fact that i’m moving out in two weeks and need to start packing, i decided to do something about it

since i’m in student accommodation, i don’t have access to a hoover and therefore the floor is still pretty unpleasant. but not bad for 30-45 minutes work.

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detectivebuttcop:

i cleaned my room and washed my sheets today.

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lulasaurus:

…9 months later.

In August last year I wrote this ask. You can tell when summer in Seattle happens based on the time of year I’m compelled to do this. Well, needless to say I didn’t do it then. I was too cowed by the grossness. But today I was inspired. Turns out all it took was a magic eraser, a warm bucket of water and a rag.

Read More

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ancelyne:

Drain volcano time!

Ate my lunch and washed up the dishes.  While I was washing I noticed a bit of a smell coming from the sink, so while my dishes were drying I got out the baking soda and vinegar to have fun with science.  

I did actually push the baking soda down in a little bit with my fingers in the regular drain and dropped it all down through the rubber flaps on the garbage disposal side, but that was after I took the pictures.

Then comes the foamy explosion of science and cleaning.  One of the pieces of lemon peel that I keep in my vinegar to make it smell a little less like vinegar (Thanks to whichever member of Team UfYH I got that tip from!) fell into the drain, but I just sent it down the garbage disposal and ground it up since it could only help with the smell.

Then since there was baking soda and vinegar residue, I scrubbed the sink itself a bit while I listened to my science explosions bubble on down the pipes.  

Yay!  Sometimes cleaning is fun!

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toppriorities:

Above: at 12pm [in the hot sun] Below: at 6pm [my son and I chalked up the cement]

My mom has a tendency to throw anything on the porch. Luckily, I like cleaning.

I had difficulty draining the punching bag’s base, but wiping shoes, trash can, and kid toys and throwing stuff away was easier. I left some flat planks and white marble tiles on the left side of the porch in the grass because I don’t know if she still needs that for renovating the bathroom.

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• Wash the dishes in your sink
• Get your outfit for tomorrow together, including accessories
• Set up coffee/tea/breakfast
• Make your lunch
• Put your keys somewhere obvious
• Wash your face and brush your teeth
• Charge your electronics
• Pour a little cleaner in the toilet bowl (if you don’t have pets or children or sleepwalking adults)
• Set your alarm
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour

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Excuses are boring.

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eabha70:

Before

Blackened, crusty, greasy and gross.

I will sometimes clean out the thingies under the burners, but the rings around the burners rarely get any attention.

After

I started with baking soda, which took some of the black stuff off, but then I had to use Easy Off to really get anywhere. It is not perfect, but it looks a million times better.

Even more baking soda and a toothbrush didn’t get the baked on grease along the rim of each burner, but I’m satisfied with the outcome.

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fenchurch-dent:

it’s the little things that make me happy

like now I know I need to go buy green flip flops

I gasped a little. It’s lovely.

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so-many-ships:

Floor in front of desk unfuckery part 2

Pic 1 & 2: disgusting felt pad, miraculously clean felt pad!

Pic 3: omg you guysssss!! I found so much good stuff!! Groceries and cash even! For a single parent who can barely afford the month-to-month, this is like winning a little mini-lottery all to myself. :) It’s like a reward for cleaning!

Pic 4: chair and drawers moved back, achievement unlocked.

Pic 5: bed full of stuff, and bin I’d like to get it all into… Eep!

Pic 6: well, I got it into the bin, the carrying bag, and a few extra project bags that need to find homes yet. At least this stuff is now all in the room that will be the craft room soon, and less disorganized than it was… (Rome wasn’t built in a day. I know, I say that a lot. I need to right now, lol.)

Pic 7: that corner’s in a lot better shape now and the pile in front of the cupboard from a previous unfuckery is STILL CLEAN! :0

Bonus pics 8 & 9: before and afters of the candle area on my dresser. It’s nice to have that cleaned up again too, it really helps that area of the room. And candle-light is super relaxing and helps my anxiety a ton! :)

So, while I’m still really in the weeds right now, I’m making a little bit of progress at a time, every once in awhile. But by doing that, I’ve been able to keep up with each new level of cleanliness as it emerges, and keep the progress moving forward even if it’s in such little jumps. But they’re big jumps too, at the same time.

Okay now I’m not even making sense, lol. But yes, wins and progress and such.

It’s going to be okay. :)

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beingspartan:

Today’s UnFucking: nightstand drawer

After shoveling up the bedside avalanche, I realized it was time to do something about the top of the nightstand.  I wanted to keep things I use a lot on top of the nightstand for easy access, but I find it just becomes another dumping zone, it’s a bitch to dust, and half the shit ends up on the floor anyway when the cat jumps up there.

So today’s question: how hard would it be for me to open the drawer to get a pencil or hair band or hand lotion? I decided, probably not very.  But the drawer has become a catch-all for random “little things” I pull out of my pockets or purse.  Time to free the drawer.

Essential Tools:

• small cardboard jewelry boxes

• my trusty labeler

How to:

1: Pull out the whole drawer. (for drawers that don’t come out, I pull it all out indiscriminately into a box) Take everything off top of dresser.  Add everything from top of nightstand into the mix (so I can REALLY figure out what I ACTUALLY need up top.)

1.5: Have mini anxiety attack over what to do with all this shit. Also feel like an old junkie, looking at all the migraine meds in the drawer.

2: Start making little piles of categories. Here were mine:

• meds

• spare glasses/reading glasses

• random electronics components (earbud covers, old iphone dock, remote control, etc.)

• pens/pencils/highlighters

• cat stuff (her nail clippers, old collar, laser pointer)

• personal care (lip balm, lotion, nail file, hair bands, etc.)

• shit that goes elsewhere

Happy me!  I actually only had a few things in the “elsewhere” pile, so I put them away immediately (since I know what “I’ll do it later” means to me.)  Spare glasses went in the dresser drawer with the other glasses/sunglasses and things (like swimsuits) I only occasionally wear. All but one pencil and highlighter went into the office where they belong, as did the electronics stuff (since I don’t use them in the bedroom.)  Tossed the “just a little left” lip balms and lotions (reminding myself how grossly old they are.) The Beastable’s old collar went into the “nostalgia” box.

3. But the meds…oh the meds… First of all, I used to travel a lot for work, so I’d put a few of this and a few of that into an empty pill bottle for my suitcase.  I’d do the same for my purse. Result: lots of bottles of god-knows-what in my nightstand drawer.  Meds are expensive and I don’t have insurance, so I don’t like to throw away anything. But can I tell you the expiration dates on any of those unlabeled bottles?  No. So I bit the bullet and tossed them all. 

And then: Why don’t pharmacies have different sized bottles?  Why must tiny sized or small quantity meds be in such big ugly bottles?  This is why one of the things I will not part with are small containers and bottles.  They’re useful and I’ve learned to keep them all in one gallon sized bin so they don’t add to the clutter.  So I’m once again going the “travel-size-refill” method.  I put tiny pills in small bottles and pills from large containers into smaller bottles AND LABELED THEM ALL with the name and expiration date.  When I run out, I’ll just refill from the “toiletries” bin (kept in the storage closet.) But now my drawer will not be overflowing and I’ll know where my meds are and that they will actually work.

4. Now for the other thing I’ve hoarded and am glad to have done so: little jewelry boxes.  They’re awesome for organizing drawers and keeping little things separated. So I grabbed my box o’ boxes and founds ones to fit the categories of items to go back in the drawer. I ended up with:

• meds

• personal care (with a tiny box inside the box for hair bands and bobby pins)

• writing instruments

• cat stuff

• one  box in the back for important small random stuff (like mystery keys or a button from “something”)

5. Now the only things on top of my nightstand are the lamp, my UFML (UnFuck My Life) notebook, and a tray to keep the things I positively use every night before bed and every morning upon waking: hand creme, earplugs, meds, a tiny nail file, and space for my glasses so The Beastable doesn’t knock them to the ground in the middle of the night.

Now then…let’s see how long it lasts. ;)

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That was rhetorical. Of course it is.

OH MY GOD THE PILES OF MAIL. You have ‘em. I have ‘em. They’re OUT OF CONTROL. We’re dealing with them, folks. We’re dealing with them. Those of you with paper shredders, fire ‘em up. No shredder? Get a box or shopping bag at the ready. Sort, file, shred, toss, DEAL WITH YOUR MAIL. This is a big job for many of us, so let’s work in 20/10s (make sure your shredder doesn’t overheat, OK?).

NOW, BONUS CHALLENGE: to help make sure those piles don’t get out of control again, let’s get your name and address on these anti-junk mail lists:

OptOutPreScreen (for credit card offers)

DMAchoice (for other junk mail)

(both of these are links from the FTC website. I have used them both, but have no official endorsement or knowledge blah blah blah.)

Don’t forget, any bills you sign up to pay online and no longer receive by mail will help keep the paper coming into your house way down.

BONUS BONUS CHALLENGE:

For those of you who don’t have a paper shredder, or those of you who do but have an unmanageable amount of paper to deal with, Google “community shred [your state/town/area]” and you can often find collection spots and dates where you can bring your boxes of stuff and they shred it, free, right in front of you. There’s probably one coming up soonish. Mark your calendar.

OK, this one was TERRIBLE. I’m sorry. I hate it, too. But did you make some progress?

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Excuses are boring.

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• Wash the dishes in your sink
• Get your outfit for tomorrow together, including accessories
• Set up coffee/tea/breakfast
• Make your lunch
• Put your keys somewhere obvious
• Wash your face and brush your teeth
• Charge your electronics
• Pour a little cleaner in the toilet bowl (if you don’t have pets or children or sleepwalking adults)
• Set your alarm
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour

http://unfuckyourhabitat.tumblr.com/post/50868767707