On ironing
I am not a fan of ironing. I have fought it for years. Back in September I declared that it was time to discipline myself in this area. I always waited until we needed something before ironing it. That did NOT make for a peaceful Sunday morning as we got ready for church!
So, in September I decided to iron everything in my husband's closet. The man is a clotheshorse compared to me. That's probably because he hasn't changed sizes in 20 years and he's careful with his clothes when he wears them. I have and I don't.
As I have taught myself to do, I broke the giant job down to manageable parts. I decided to iron three new items each day, four days a week. I also made it a point to iron whatever went through the laundry each week. It took a few weeks, but I felt a lovely accomplishment when I finished. I applied the same technique to my closet and then to my son's.
Now ironing isn't the huge chore it used to be. I average about 7 items a week and we can always pull things out of the closet and get dressed quickly. Ahhh, the peace!
I discovered that the Rowenta Steam Iron company has a free DVD. I just received it and viewed it. Once I got over the "I want a Rowenta steam iron!" feeling, I was able to concentrate on their tutorials and tips. Excellent dvd. I learned a couple of things, so the price was well worth it (being free and all).
If you're not sure how to properly iron clothing or if you'd like to check to see if you've missed something (or if you want to purchase a Rowenta Steam Iron!), you can order the free DVD by clicking on THIS link.
I thought this might be useful to someone. Free is always good.
2 comments:
Roxanne, I love the way you break down tasks so that they don't become overwhelming. I know I should do that too, but have a tendency to want to get the whole thing done at once--and then never do it again!!!
Tracy--you said you had, "a tendency to want to get the whole thing done at once--and then never do it again!!!"
You have described my personality exactly. There are two words that define the reasoning behind that thought pattern: Perfectionism and Denial LOL!
It took me a LOT of years to discover that a "once and for all" approach to housework, dieting, business management, child rearing, well, everything in life, is not realistic. All it does is create an unattainable goal that results in unfair feelings of failure when it doesn't happen.
I feel like I've discovered a secret. I know everyone else seems to know it, but it has finally become revelation to me:
Take that big task, break it down, and then call yourself successful as you complete each DAY'S task(s).
For each succes, give yourself a pat on the back and decide that whatever it is is now easier to MAINTAIN since you've conquered the hard part of it.
I WILL have to "spring clean" again. Meanwhile, I have daily tasks listed out for me so that the major parts of homekeeping are reasonably under control--or at least not approaching the "overwhelming" level again.
I think I'll share my maintenance housekeeping schedule soon. Perhaps others will share their ways of keeping on top of things, too.
I love seeing how others make their lives "work." We've gone 2-3 generations without this type of knowledge being passed down. It's time to rediscover the proper ways to handle these areas and SHARE them with each other!
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