Also, I am going to have to change my name to vestitiblu, because I just discovered that I have enough blue clothing that it requires a separate load of laundry.

That is very much blue.

CDs? In this day and age? You never have to replace mp3s in their cases. Nor do you even have to dust their cases.

I know, I'm well behind the curve on this one. I only started with mp3s about a year ago, and I find them confusing. Partly because I don't have a good computer to play music on, so it seems pointless to have lots of songs that can only be played on crappy speakers. I assume there's some method of hooking the iPod up to the stereo, but I haven't worked my luddite self up to researching that yet.

Get thee to Radio Shack!

You and me both. I hate cleaning with a passion.

i have a stack of cds that have been stacked naked for over half a year.
i don't even want to talk about dusting.
Dust and i am in a constant war i will never win.
It's just holding the horde at bay at best.

I may hate Radio Shack almost as much as I hate cleaning!

OK, lunch break over, off to scrub the kitchen...

www.flylady.com. You'll thank me later.

If nothing else, just buy a timer and only work fifteen minutes at a time.

I keep meaning to check out flylady.

I'm actually pretty good at doing the small bursts of cleaning thing (especially while I work from home; it's nice to be able to procrastinate by being productive), except for those occasions when I am not (which basically correspond to school getting stressful), and then the accumulated mess starts to seem too big to deal with.

I like my college roommate's method of straightening, which she called "picky uppy, putty downy." You pick up something that's not where it's supposed to be, put it where it *is* supposed to be, and then you have to pick up something from that new area and put it where *it* is supposed to be... I guess it's kind of like the Roomba approach to picking things up, just keep bumping around randomly till it's done. It's calmingly ADD-enabling.

Do I smell a support group forming? Or is that just the aroma of mouldering veggies in my fridge?

I also hate cleaning, just because it's so boring... and I definitely have to use the ADD approach - 15 minutes four times a day results in a reasonably tidy place. But I think the worst is dishes. They breed like bunnies! How can two people who don't even eat that much start out with a clean kitchen and by the next day it looks like a hoarde of crackheads have been camping out in the kitchen for a month? How?

I make a rule for myself that I can't go into the kitchen without washing something - even if it's just one cup - and as long as I abide by that rule, it never gets very bad... but if I slack up at all, that's it. Death by dishes.

I do think I'll try the "picky uppy, putty downy" technique. It sounds silly enough to work for me. :)

taz, it's totally fun. Partly because you can make up little chants in your head, which generally consist of nothing but the words "Picky uppy! Putty downy! Picky up! Putty down!"

And it's also broken me of the habit of making big piles of things and leaving the piles there for another few weeks, which was my former method of "cleaning." It's easier to grab one or two random things at a time, without having to worry about organizing everything first.

Part of my current disinclination, though, is that I'm moving in a few weeks, so I feel like I should be doing a deeper cleaning / organizing / throwing-out job than I normally do. Which makes the barriers to entry a little higher.

Oh, yeah, me too. Same/same (except I'm still not back home yet). Let's try my dishes trick here. Besides the big jobs of packing/throwing away etc. (ow! ow! ow!), let's say we can't leave the house without taking something to the trash. Or, depending on your garbage pickup dealie, at least placing something in the big trashbag that you'll put at or outside your front door. You can't go buy a loaf of bread without throwing out that stack of magazines you haven't looked at in three years, or at least that cracked vase that you never use.

heh, this may not be a bad idea to do all the time, not just pre-move; maybe I'll make it a habit. :)

Good idea! I used to be better about that sort of thing, but I've been slacking. I will commit to doing it again, with the mental motivation of an angry taz coming after me if I don't!

yeah, I can be pretty scary! *shows teeth*

*cowers. Then takes out trash. Then cowers some more *

*smells the fear, grins evilly; goes back to playing bunny sudoku*

Flylady has step by step instructions for moving too!

(Look, I mostly glean from her, don't really work the program, but even her crumbs are good.)

I fear Flylady. It's all "Clean your sink!" I signed up for the e-mails, and then suddenly I was getting these messages 12,000 times a day. "Did you clean your sink yet? Are you wearing shoes?"

Then again, I have got cleaning issues. I start to neaten things up, put them away, and next thing I know I'm alphebetizing my books or CDs, or I'm sorting my photos. I get completely distracted by little tiny organizational things.

Meh!

To give the other side equal time, I have to say that having the sunlight reflecting off the clean white tiles of the kitchen counter was unexpectedly nice this morning. I think partly because the light's shifted after all the rain we got -- it feels more wintry now, with that really clear clean light -- but the clean kitchen helped, too.

You need to become more OCD - I would be mortified if I left a CD out of its case after removing it from the player. As much as I hate cleaning up, I hate things not being in their allotted place even more.

I believe I'm worse when it comes to technology. I ..(sigh) don't have an MP3 player. I am actually happy with CDs. Of course, I'm also happy at my aunt and uncle's farm that has no central heat (just wood stoves).

I also hate cleaning. I've discovered that I'm really good at it when I'm furious at something or someone. What I hate most is that the mister is much more anal about cleaning, and I can clean something and have him come behind me and mention that such-and-such needs cleaning. At which point I get furious because I just cleaned it!!! Then, because I'm furious, I clean more.
Hmm, maybe there's a method to his madness....