#naclyoho

[copperbadge]

National Clean Your Home Month

Welcome to NATIONAL CLEAN YOUR HOME MONTH The Manifesto Our motto: “If you can’t do a great thing, do a something.” What is it? Sam creat

National Clean Your Home Month, aka NaClYoHo or "Salty Pirates" month, is soon to be upon us!

Each November, I "host" NaClYoHo, where participants work to make their living spaces more comfortable and pleasant. The full manifesto is at the link, but the basic premise is that each day in November you put on a podcast, tv show, playlist, or other media, and clean or organize some aspect of your home.

It's meant to be a low-stress way to both do a yearly cleaning and also participate in an intensive project like National Novel Writing Month without having to write a novel. I'll be posting about it again before November kicks off, but I thought I'd link to the manifesto well ahead of time, so people could brace themselves. :D

This year my big goals are to figure out how to keep my floors truly clean, replace at least one rug, and clear out the storage nook where I have a bunch of stuff that needs sorting through. I am also going to try to dedicate some time to researching those "bathroom refresh" companies that basically just put a shell over your existing shower/tub/walls and see if it's feasible for my bathroom, which desperately needs it.

[ahedderick]

Starting a new post for Naclyoho, because the old one got long. One week, more or less, working relentlessly on this room (including a bunch of Stuff not in these photos.

The wall was pretty yucky behind that hutch. Bless my little step ladder; I scrubbed it from top to bottom. This morning K and I moved her bureau and vanity into the room. After we got them set up (the vanity is behind me) she decided the Vibe was wrong, so we swapped the bureau and the desk. The furniture is clean (and polished). The wall is clean. The floor is clean. sheesh.

This mirrored shelf that my father made for me when I was a teen is also clean. We're not sure where to put it, but it's clean.

So His room becomes Her room, and now Her (former) room needs a bit of reorganization.

[coyotiic]

With November coming up its National clean your home month. I tried and failed to do it last year because of political ennui. This year I want to attempt it again, but with a caveat. I am counting finishing WIP craft projects as cleaning. I have too many and they are weighing on me.

Cleaning is about simplifying and making things easier for me. I do it to take care of myself. And having all of these projects makes it hard to just PUT THEM AWAY.

[growinggoblin]

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This stuff is so grounding. These tasks seem insurmountable, but are actually not all that time consuming usually. And honestly even if they are, doing them generally causes way less stress than procrastinating ages... (ouch)

[poisonschild]

Takeaways from NaClYoHo Month

I saw this on another tumblr post but not thinking of the house as clean or dirty but thinking of it in a cycle. The kitchen is ready to be cooked in, the kitchen is being cooked in, the kitchen is ready to be cleaned to be used again etc etc into eternity

Following cleaning up with taking a shower is like amphetamines for my motivation. My space is clean, I am clean, refreshed and ready.

Which leads to what part of your day does cleaning work best for you? The start of your day? The end of your day.

I'm not saying morning/evening because people have different lives that don't fit into a 9-5 workday mindset. And I think since I am now a student and self employed not having external structure means that planning to clean at a certain time of day only puts me in a rigid headspace that is stressful and makes it easier to Not clean. It's much easier in general to plan my day based on cycles and processes instead of the clock

Cleaning at the start of my day: works best when I am procrastinating something else I need to do in my day. Gets me up and going which gives me motivation to keep going once cleaning is done. And if I don't do the other thing at least my space feels good and I am less likely to beat myself up for not doing the other thing. Also great to then shower and feel like I can tackle anything.

Cleaning at the end of my day: works best when other things need to be prioritized or if cleaning feels like too much. If I don't get to the cleaning task I still did the other thing so it's okay! Really excellent when I have had a brain heavy day I can let my thoughts process in the background and I am less likely to ruminate because the cleaning keeps me grounded in my body and the present. Also then I can shower and go to bed with everything feeling complete

Adding mindfulness practices to cleaning! Really great way to be in the moment. If your thoughts wander you can gently bring yourself back to the task you are doing (even if it is multiple tasks) and it's easier to justify the time spend because you're being "productive"

The accountability/dopamine from posting weekly progress has been great for my motivation and also helping me to focus on what was accomplished vs the tasks still left to do

This is something I'm going to try to do in my bullet journal. The same style of bulleted kind of low pressure journaling that helps me focus on what did get done vs what still needs doing. My bujo has largely been for to-do lists and even checking things off is not as good as saying "I did blank"

I was feeling like I didn't do a lot this month and that some of my goals didn't get accomplished and the kitchen was a mess but then I looked at all that I had done and was like wow!! Life is constant projects! I need to stop and take a moment to appreciate the things I did do for myself/my family.

I will probably be doing NaClYoHoMo again!! I may even do it multiple times a year to help me reset my space and get housework done!!!

[gooddogbestfriend]

First day I was aware of NaClYoHo month so I'm starting now! :P unfucked this corner of my room to episode one of Murderbot.

[zooarchaeologyatdinner]

NaClYoHo Day 3!

Was hoping to do canning and cleaning. Instead I ended up going to the vet, checking on Uncle (and borrowing his 3-burner propane stove so canning will go faster when I get to it), and spending the entire afternoon jumping through medical system hoops.

But! I did get the armour/training gear pile sorted, thinned out the pieces we don't need and/or need to replace, washed one of the storage bags, and thinned the contents of the tea cupboard down to non-stale teas that we will actually use. Progress!!

I'm really starting to feel that my theme this year, much more than in years past, is flexibility. That's two out of three days so far where I've had to toss The Plan out the window and just do what I can.