Messy State of Mind

I am horrified to know that today, a cable man will be coming through my messy apartment to set up Vios cable.  Granted, I would probably be even more horrified if I had been the one to make the appointment request - but I wasn't.  The people I rent from decided to switch cable providers - so if I want cable - I have to let the guy through.

But seriously - I am horrified by the state of my apartment today.  It's really messy.  It's hard to believe that at various points this year I had the apartment pretty shiny.  Not that I can't get it back to the shiny state again.  I mean - that is definitely a goal of mine (even though right now it seems like a pretty lofty one at that).

I find what works best for me is setting my timer for 5-10 minutes (10 minutes max, otherwise I get bored and wander off and do dumb stuff like just watch tv).  During that time, I sit in an area and I start sorting through things: Recycling, Trash, Bathroom, Kitchen, Laundry, etc.  Sometimes I set a specific theme - like pick up all the recycling.  What I find is that I can really focus on the task for that amount of time and when the timer goes off, I'm indignant that it interrupted my focus so I continue on.  After a couple of timer rounds, I'm usually done with what I set out to do.  If I haven't finished, I'm usually at the frustration point with that corner.  Instead of throwing up my hands and giving up - I'll just shift to another part of the apartment.

While this works, I haven't really been doing that lately, and it shows.  If I keep up with this - I would have a much neater apartment.

So yesterday I made an attempt to get things cleaned out a bit.  The cable guy won't notice what I've done, but I do.  It's a start.  One thing I did tackle (which probably wasn't necessary for the cable guy - but I felt necessary for me) was I cleaned off my cookbook shelf.  I was beginning to just stuff any old items in it and it was a disaster area.  Meanwhile, I wasn't getting my cookbooks or my cooking magazines back in them.  Part of the cleaning it out was throwing away the cooking magazines that used to be Chris'.  When he died, his mom was just going to throw them out - but I think I was so desperate for something to hang onto - I took them, saying that I would cook out of them all the time.  I haven't opened them since then.  So they all got thrown in the garbage. 

So I am setting a goal for me this week - to play this game (because it really does feel like a game) for 30 minutes a day each day this week.  If I go over the 30 minutes - Bully for me.  If I don't get my 30 minutes - shame on me.  I'll let you know how it goes.