Apartment Therapy January Cure 2023 - In progress! - Jan 2-27

posted December 26, 2022 9:02 AM | |

Fri January 27 at 8:00 PM

oh wow it's come around again! the work I've done for the previous 'cures' has made such a difference to my little flat. this time I have some very specific, multi-step things to get done, including a few things I need to book tradies for and one thing I might need a little help from my friends with. hopefully this will be the impetus I need. thank you for organising again mochapickle!
posted by happyfrog at 11:47 PM on December 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Yay! I am really looking forward to this round! I ended up getting much more accomplished than I anticipated last time. Thank you, mochapickle!
posted by danabanana at 2:03 PM on December 27, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’m in again!
posted by purenitrous at 5:53 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm in!
posted by jointhedance at 8:02 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

I’m in. My house really needs some decluttering. This is my best opportunity to do something. Thanks mochapickle.
posted by SunPower at 5:05 AM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Hello everyone! Welcome and welcome back -- so glad you're here!

So today's task is to clean out a drawer, any drawer, in your home. Which I think was our first task last year and it's a good one.

I really like the timer suggestion. I tend to wander off in the middle of doing things but a timer really keeps me on track.
posted by mochapickle at 8:17 AM on January 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

hello....I did it, I cleaned out my utensil drawer and reorganized it a bit so now everything fits!
posted by toastyk at 9:48 AM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don't know if I am in (I said that last year & bailed somewhere around "clean your garbage can"). But I emptied my sewing basket that sits by the chair & cleaned/decluttered it.
posted by mersen at 10:33 AM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

I did 2 drawers in my bathroom in 2 separate sessions (with a cuddle break with my dog) and now all the little things are in the right place and easily accessible. Yay!

Yay to everyone who has finished today's task and yay to those still thinking about it or doing something else!
posted by danabanana at 11:51 AM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I am interested, thank you for sharing! I uncluttered some junk in bedroom storage. Then I was inspired to tidy up the garage, which had an accumulating pile of garden tools and miscellaneous objects that needed to be put back in place. I’m going to count garage as part of my “living space” because it contains my home gym and has recently become my spillover woodworking space when the shed is alive with my spouse’s projects :)
posted by graticule at 12:20 PM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

I have been organizing my home in bits and pieces and this inspired me to get at that one drawer that has been bugging me! I will follow along and either be loosely inspired or precisely inspired, we'll see what the month brings. Thanks for posting.
posted by Emmy Rae at 12:32 PM on January 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Knowing me, I'll probably spend more time choosing which drawer than actually cleaning that drawer.

(My to-do list frequently gets held up because browsing for a podcast to play during chores eats more time than the chores themselves would have taken. Ditto for fun stuff, too...more time looking for something to stream than the airtime of the damn movie or show.)

Thanks for posting! Good luck, everyone!
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 1:58 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Oooh, this is great! I just did my nightstand drawer...which led me to do the other two drawers. And when I was cleaning out the "important things" drawer, I found a printout of tickets to one of our favorite podcasts' live shows that we were supposed to attend on November 6, 2020 (I had bought the tickets in February 2020...womp womp). It's not so bittersweet as we were finally able to attend the second rescheduling of it this summer (thank you more readily available KN95s and vaccines). But it definitely showed how overdue I was for something like this!
posted by TheFantasticNumberFour at 2:04 PM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

Thank you for posting the task. What is the timer suggestion?

(I clicked through the link on the Apartment Therapy website and it broke my back button (Firefox). Not going to register with a website that does that. What is this, 1997?)
posted by jointhedance at 2:07 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

jointhedance, it's a suggested 15-minute timer. Good luck!
posted by danabanana at 3:18 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I cleaned up central table drawer and found some of my favorite stationary. Then, I went to clean up my nightstand drawer and found the medication I thought , I had lost it few months ago ( you can imagine how cluttered it must have been to lose sight of the medication).

This first day task made it very clear that my house needs some serious decluttering :((
posted by SunPower at 3:40 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Success! I cleaned out the top drawer of the bathroom storage, tossed out some old products, decanted the qtips into a cute and small container, neatly refolded the hand towels in the drawer below that, and then my fifteen minutes was up. For a victory lap I freshened up the medicine cabinet, which has no medicine in it nor much of anything else, but it's nice to have it done. Also, I found a nice sheet mask I'd forgotten about and it expires next month, so I'm going to have a little mini spa night tonight as reward.

I like this whole process because you find so many things you can use. I had a big declutter before moving house five years ago and found seven (SEVEN!) rolls of scotch tape. Happy to report that I am now finally on the last roll.

I'll continue to add direct links to each day's task in the main event description (see THE JANUARY LIST above) so folks won't have to navigate through the AT site. Delighted by all of the progress so far -- it's fun to be working on this with all of you!
posted by mochapickle at 5:23 PM on January 2, 2023 [6 favorites]

This is going to be a fight but I'm going to do it. I have a junk drawer that's aching to be cleaned out.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 6:26 PM on January 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Oh wow, I did day one coincidentally before reading this post, so I think that automatically makes me in, right? The Mrs. and I tackled our very disorganized bathroom drawers, which is more terrifying than it sounds.
posted by ikahime at 7:10 PM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

I still need to do day one but the day two thing is already done! We are lucky enough to have a concierge service that finds us service providers for things from plumbing and appliance repair to big things like fence and roof repairs covered by insurance (which they're helping us with). So when we picked up this service, we made the to-do list and it's incorporated into our regular to-do lists (or at least mine) already!
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:37 AM on January 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I had a drawer I needed to clean out, so this was perfect, and once I had put everything from the drawer into a bag, I realized it was essentially all trash, or things I hadn't needed or used for years, and promptly threw it all out. Felt extremely freeing.
posted by gingerbeer at 11:29 AM on January 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I’m not sure I’m officially gonna take part, but I used the inspiration to clear out a drawer in my boyfriend’s kitchen and it was very satisfying!!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:22 PM on January 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'm in! If there's a "clean your garbage can day," I might finally break down and get one of those fancy automatic ones.

I did two small kitchen drawers that have been bugging me, and threw out so much trash that I was able to use one of the drawers for measuring cups/spoons and cookie cutters. Then I was on a roll and cleaned up my coffee area.

The to-do list was to-made before the Aged Parent departed for warmer climes for a couple months (I was ahead for once!), and this is just the perfect time to declutter and feel more ownership of my space.
posted by mmmbacon at 3:24 PM on January 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

If there's a "clean your garbage can day," I might finally break down and get one of those fancy automatic ones.

It's funny you mention this. The guest curator kindly provided a sample to-do list with today's writeup. The first item on the list? "Clean all the trash cans." This seems VERY specific to Apartment Therapy. So for science, just moments ago I went and wiped down the (generally quite clean) kitchen trash can just to see if I would feel any different about my trash can or my life in general. And the answer is no. It's fine. I'm fine. I have no idea why this is at the top of a list. I really like AT but sometimes they are so weird.

I do love a good to do list, though. My house is 120 years old and there is always plenty to do. I have a cup of tea in hand and I'm going from room to room. The pullcord snapped on the blind to the western window and I'm trying to see if that's something I can fix by myself...
posted by mochapickle at 5:14 PM on January 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have so many Master House To-Do Lists that I started over in pencil at the back of my planner and included "consolidate lists". I am hoping that the combination of taking notes throughout the month and old lists will get me to organize it all and transfer some tasks to my calendar app, which I have been using more for to-do items. So I'm looking forward to finally getting a system that works!

I wanted to do a task today too, so I did another drawer and I feel very good about it!
posted by danabanana at 6:11 PM on January 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

I use lists a lot but I find myself completely bouncing off today's task. Like I make a really long and very detailed to do list and then I integrate that one into another one? oh my god. anyway I tidied two desk drawers and contacted an electrician for a quote, hooray
posted by happyfrog at 10:31 PM on January 3, 2023 [6 favorites]

I completed a (mental) list instead of making a new one. Finally put up the smoke detector and some pictures that had been lying around for a while. Yay!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 5:16 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

My outbox (and another outbox. And an outbag.) were in the general mishmash of my closet under the stairs so I tackled that project. Whew. I found four brooms in there and two mops. I also tackled the bizarre emotional task of going through some stuff my dad tried to give to my mother that she refused to take after their divorce. I had been dreaded it and it turned out not to be a big deal. I donated the Left Behind dvds (my mom outgrew that phase fortunately) and stuck the family photos in the family photo bin. Sorted and I didn't spiral! There is so much emotional gunk that can get attached to this junk.

Looks like I just sold a book so I'm on my way to mail that and I'll drop off this load so my outbox will be ready for more donations. Happy decluttering today if you do any!
posted by mmmbacon at 10:17 AM on January 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

Hey, I'm coming to this late - is that ok? Looks interesting though! Probably won't catch all the way up today.
posted by inexorably_forward at 2:07 PM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

It's totally okay! Welcome!

We really just started and the first few days seem to focus more on planning, etc. And as we go through, sometimes we might get a little free-form with folks shuffling the order of the tasks or opting to focus more on certain rooms or areas that feel more important.
posted by mochapickle at 4:14 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

I already have an outbox, but no time to send things out today (and now, with free time, it’s too devilishly windy for me to drive in the dark — our trash bins got knocked over and drivers were dodging items left and right on the road earlier). I did add to the outbox with items from a box I’ve needed to declutter for a long time. It was items from our old shit drawer that didn’t fit anywhere when we moved houses. Maybe by the end of January that box will be empty!
posted by graticule at 8:19 PM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

We have an out...table? It's in our basement laundry area and where we put things to donate. We are both pretty good at not being attached to stuff, so Day 3 wasn't super useful to me--but still a good reminder! Our problem is getting busy and getting "clutter blind" to stuff that isn't right out in the open, and/or seeing BIG tasks and getting overwhelmed. So I am looking forward to more prompts of the "find one drawer and go for it!" variety.
posted by TheFantasticNumberFour at 5:14 AM on January 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

A bit late to the party, but I'm going to give this a go!
posted by cnidaria at 8:10 AM on January 5, 2023 [4 favorites]

We have an out…room in the basement. I tried cleaning up that room but was unsuccessful. Maybe I will try to revisit again. I cleaned another drawer today and felt good. So far so good.
posted by SunPower at 5:39 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Same here, cnidaria! Happy to see everyone's progress.
posted by dearadeline at 6:48 PM on January 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

oh shit, three days behind....
be right back!
posted by calgirl at 9:31 PM on January 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Hello everyone!

My medical appointment yesterday for a vascular issue ended up being an all-day thing with surgery and fentanyl and grippy socks! Am home and in good spirits but a bit groggy. Today will not be the day the floors get cleaned. They'd been swept as of three days ago, but they could still use a good mopping. And anything that's expired in my home will only be slightly more expired when I get to them next week.

So today I'm sitting in bed next to a snoring dog and cleaning out the mail drawer instead. I just found a whole unused book of stamps! I'm enjoying some pumpkin bread my aunt had sent from Tennessee. Wish I could share with all of you.

Hope everyone had a great week!
posted by mochapickle at 3:19 PM on January 6, 2023 [4 favorites]

Oh what a day, mochapickle. Good to hear that you're taking it easy. That stamp book thing is so exciting. Like finding money in a forgotten pocket.

I also will not be addressing the floors today, but I'm happy to report that I started the to-do list and organized the tea drawers.
posted by dearadeline at 3:30 PM on January 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

I hope you're feeling OK mochapickle, that sounds like a rough day.

Well, I vacuumed and mopped the kitchen floor and same for the bathroom floor plus 15-min of tile scrubbing. I vacuum them all the time but it's been... let's say, a while... since I mopped them, and it was on my mind. It's a beautiful warm day here and it was thirsty work. Today's soundtrack was Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking. I'll be honest, it's every day's soundtrack for me at the moment, I've been spiralling into the 1970s English folk revival the last few months. Anyway I'm going to call it right now: A Sailor's Life is the number #1 mopping and scrubbing song off that album. When things kick off at the 6 and a half minute mark? Ach!
posted by happyfrog at 11:40 PM on January 6, 2023 [5 favorites]

mochapickle, I hope you are well on your way to recovery from your surgery! Yay for finding stamps!

I did the bathroom floors and a self-care thing in tandem yesterday. I washed the bath mats and took everything out of the room and swept the floors. Then I massaged a hand masque into my sad cuticles and dry hands and bundled them into the flimsy plastic gloves that came with the kit covered with fabric garden gloves that generated nice warmth. I then scrubbed the tiles and the toilet, and by then the mats were dry so I put them down and rinsed my hands. I gave myself a manicure and painted my nails purple, and then took a shower in my remarkably refreshing bathroom! The whole thing was great and I am so happy with the bathroom and my hands!

I am looking forward to more floor work and will be spending the next few days decluttering the bedroom so vacuuming in there will be easier.
posted by danabanana at 9:50 AM on January 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

Mochapickle, hope you are feeling better today.

Last two days have been busy and was very tired.So, haven’t had the energy to mop the floors. Just got rid of the expired foods from fridge and the pantry.
posted by SunPower at 3:23 PM on January 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

I hope you're feeling better, mochapickle!

This evening, I finally had a chance to get into the tasks. I did days 1-4 (or as much of each as I felt like doing) and left the floors for tomorrow. It felt good to get started!
posted by ourobouros at 8:07 PM on January 8, 2023 [5 favorites]

Thanks mochapickle for keeping this up and I hope you recovered nicely.

I am doing things in spurts. I cleaned and mopped the dining and kitchen area. Set up an outbox. Have to collect all the things that go in the outbox. I sort of started purging expired stuff from the kitchen but I probably need to do the bathrooms too.
posted by toastyk at 8:43 AM on January 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

I am so far behind BUT in the meantime we have had our washing machine's drain line repaired and the drywall for the plumbing fixes that required replaced, plus bonus power-washing of our kitchen drain line today. The house cure for January for us is apparently largely made up of plumbing repairs.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:03 AM on January 11, 2023 [5 favorites]

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! Sending good energy right back to you all.

Just getting back into it this week. For my project, I really do want to repair the blinds so I can use them again. I took one whole blind off in December because the house was so dark, and now the winter sun has started tilting into the house in the afternoon at this extreme angle and now it's like living in a crystal prism from 2-3 in the afternoon, it's dazzling, too dazzling, and my bamboo plant is starting to turn yellow from too much light.

I have an alternate project in mind if I don't/can't find the right cord to do this, but something must be done.

Living room is in good shape, but I could certainly dust and polish the wood furniture.
posted by mochapickle at 9:07 AM on January 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

I am very very far behind (as in, I have done nothing), but hooray for all of you! Woohoooo!
posted by inexorably_forward at 8:06 PM on January 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

> Task 11: Find and frame some art

Hmm. I have some art that lack frames, and some frames that lack art, and never the twain shall meet...They used to be on the walls, all nice and presentable, but are survivors of the Great Art Crash a.k.a. Command Strip Disaster that claimed their partners. So I will have to figure out a way to secure them to the walls that is compatible with both the collection's durability and the terms of the apartment lease...
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 2:22 AM on January 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

>>>They used to be on the walls, all nice and presentable, but are survivors of the Great Art Crash a.k.a. Command Strip Disaster that claimed their partners. >>>>

Sockin'inthefreeworld, it's funny that you mentioned. The same thing happened to me last week. In the middle of the night, my husband heard a loud noise and went to see some of my artwork on the floor( thank god it was not a glass frame). The next day, I took out all the artwork off the walls. Now, I need to figure out how to hang them back. It would be great if anybody knows any magic solution to this problem....

Indeed, I was able to complete cleaning my kitchen and the living room. Brought some flowers from Trader Joe's yesterday. It's been a while I had brought flowers. Felt so good after a longgggg time.
posted by SunPower at 7:31 AM on January 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

Only seeing this halfway through the month, but I'll join in for a bit, pick some tasks at random. I started Task 4 by purging old spices from my cabinet last night.
posted by egregious theorem at 6:44 PM on January 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

Me too, gentlyepigrams, re: plumbers! But my plumber has stopped responding, and I've been vaguely wondering what to do about that the last few days. After my walk this evening, I remembered that I had already contacted 3 plumbers for quotes, and realised now was the time to email the second plumber on the list. My progress, it's slow progress, sure, but it's progress.
posted by happyfrog at 3:47 AM on January 19, 2023 [4 favorites]

I think what I like most about the January Cure is that you always find a few small changes that make your life a little bit better for the rest of the year. Last year, my project was to repair the couch cushions that Annie had chewed up when she was a puppy (she found the corners irresistible) and I had spent a few minutes a day for nearly a decade carefully arranging them so the raggedy bits wouldn't show. It took a few hours with a sewing machine last February to fix them for good. It's been really nice.

This year, the scope of impact is a little smaller but still good: I've lowered the adjustable shelves in my kitchen cabinets so I can actually reach my salad bowls and cookware. I've moved a smoke alarm from one wall to the opposite one so it's not literally the first thing you see when you enter the house. I ordered a new lamp for the living room to replace the wobbly mismatched one I'd never really liked.

My energy and focus are pretty scattered lately and everything feels incremental, so I was heartened by the Task 12 writeup this week re: working on your project, which I think has been the best of all of the posts so far. Any progress is good progress. It's been helpful for me to hear someone else say it and mean it. My January cure will probably spill into March and beyond. That's okay.

Friday was bedroom day but I'm behind. I'm still working on the kitchen, but will launder everything this afternoon.

ALSO! This week I discovered there's this stuff called iron-on veneer edgebanding and I am so excited to try it as an alternative to framing. I have a couple of large canvases with raw edges and this might be just the thing for them.

And speaking of art, a relative who passed away recently left me this amazing wood mirror, one of a kind. I've always had this empty wall by the front door and it's exactly the right spot for it, like it was meant for it. I'm so happy to have it, it's something we both loved.
posted by mochapickle at 9:29 AM on January 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Folks. The electrician just left. The foyer light is working and the ceiling fan + light combo has been installed in the living room ceiling. I almost don't know what to do with myself, I haven't had working lights in those rooms since... *hides*... August 2021.

I had to busy myself while they were here and I remembered I'd spent ages last week finding tax receipts so I prepared and submitted all the paperwork for my taxes to my accountant, and in the middle of that, the second plumber called and they're coming Wednesday afternoon to cap the gas line and remove the gas heater.

I also tidied up the balcony last week because some friends came to stay on the weekend, and it looks so much better. I've been living as frugally as I can the last few months, but yesterday, possibly thinking about the AT behest to 'buy yourself flowers', I lashed out at a local nursery and bought 2 red and 1 yellow celosia plumosa in pots. They're out there now with their gorgeous feathery fire plumes livening up the tiny little balcony. I'm determined to keep them alive and water them assiduously. Apparently they like the heat, which hopefully means we're off to a good start. In other good plant news, the monstera deliciosa that was barely clinging on after zealous overwatering from an old housemate has just sprung a gorgeous huge soft leaf with big swiss cheese holes.

Anyway there's more left to do but I've been feeling pretty rotten lately so I wanted to share my little victories with you all and wish you all the best with your small and large household accomplishments.
posted by happyfrog at 8:34 PM on January 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

This last couple of weeks we've fixed the drainage from our washing machine which ultimately involved reinstalling all the drainpipes under the house from the washing machine to the street; worked with a contractor and the insurance company about fixing our fence (may need to be replaced) and our roof (will need to be replaced); replaced a busted toilet and gotten the new toilet installed; installed a new second head in the double-head shower; fixed an HVAC problem and the HVAC guy found, while rooting around in our attic, an EX-MOUSE (ew); and booked a contractor to fix the hatch to the area under the house (house is pier-and-beam foundation) after I bruised the bottom of my foot on it one time too many. I feel like I didn't do the Apartment Therapy January Cure but I did a whole lot of needful house stuff.

Also super grateful for the financial situation and the house insurance that's letting us do all that.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:51 PM on January 22, 2023 [5 favorites]

1. The floors barely got cleaned in time for the new year. Was forced to use our previously unused carpet cleaner when our kid vomited on the floor last week. Great news though - it works beautifully and I figured out how to empty it out and everything. I even got out some very old gross toothpaste stains. We will do the whole upstairs at some point.
2. Crossing some stuff off our to-do list with the handyman we just hired. he's already patched some drywall, and is going to re-do some stuff that was badly done by the prior homeowner.
3. I ordered a gorgeous print from a friend, and when that arrives, I will be taking that and another print to go get framed. The print that we already had was framed, but the frame broke in our move, and it's just been in the cardboard box this whole time.
4. I would like to get one of the closets cleaned out. Maybe later this week.
posted by toastyk at 8:29 AM on January 23, 2023 [4 favorites]

Glad everyone is Doing Stuff. I'm not working through the Apartment Therapy list but am working with a virtual declutterer coach to get my two Rooms of Doom sorted. I spent two hours on one of them today and brought A Lot of stuff, mostly books, some bedding and a couple of small items of furniture, downstairs to go mostly to Oxfam and some to the dump. I'm a bit burnt out by it now though and had planned to do four hours rather than two, so feeling rather overwhelmed. It's very tiring and has that element of going through one's failures where one is - Why have I got this? Oh I was planning to do $Project with it and never did. Virtual Declutterer Coach (VDC) is very perky and enthusiastic and I am not, so I think the next session where I am likely to want to say it didn't go as planned or I didn't get everything I wanted to done may be tricky. Also, she says I need to think of a thing everyday for which I am grateful, and identify my part in it. Which makes me pre-emptively grumpy. I know, I know, I'm grateful for a house and heating and all the rest, but it's hard to express that meaningfully when one feels stuck with so much Stuff (quite a bit of which is other people's crap with which I have ended up in that spinster eldest daughter way). Anyway - onwards and upwards; TBC on Friday probably.
posted by paduasoy at 4:40 PM on January 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

paduasoy, two hours is great progress! Decluttering totally engages different parts of your brain than straight-on cleaning because the nature of decluttering means you are making literally thousands of microdecisions in a single hour. Do I like this item? Have I used it? Will I use it? Should I use it? Did I spend an amount of money or effort on it that I feel weirdly guilty about giving it away? Did it belong to someone and I feel responsible for it now? How does this fit into my life? And then you move on to the next item, with the same questions and probably new questions, too.

Two hours of that is more than enough for just about anyone! You should be proud.

There's a nonprofit near me that takes donations of craft items and they've been a lifesaver for me. Last year I gave them a whole box of sewing stuff and it was just the best feeling. Like, it felt good to have that space back in my closet, but it felt EXTRA good to... like, not feel obligated to do those projects, not have to make those things I didn't feel like making anymore, not sink any more of myself into them. It was like someone had given me those hours of my life back so I could spend them on something else. And now someone else can use those sewing things for a project they're really excited about and I can make space for what my life actually looks like now.

Congrats to everyone on all your progress so far -- a few more (official) days to go!
posted by mochapickle at 12:27 AM on January 25, 2023 [7 favorites]

Whelp, I got way too busy / exhausted and missed this, alas. I did give a moving blanket that the movers forgot and a few other things away on the neighborhood free group, though, so I guess that's progress?
posted by cnidaria at 10:40 AM on January 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

I certainly didn’t get through all the tasks, but the cure did help me get in the mode of more regular housekeeping. And in viewing any small effort as a nice act of self-care. Together my partner and I did tackle a decent chunk of the two projects on the list that I wanted to get done sooner rather than later, and the weekend tasks that involved a treat (flowers!) were a lovely reward for the work.

The last write-up where the Apartment Therapy guy said that most clients simply wanted to have a more kempt home for guests to visit easily…really rang true to me. So I am also trying to view housekeeping as a way for me to feel more friendly and open to invite anyone into my life at the spur of the moment. That makes both big and small tasks seems less onerous. Perhaps because, again, there is a treat at the end.

Thank you mochapickle for getting this together on mefi!
posted by graticule at 10:54 AM on January 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Hi everyone! Thanks for doing the January Cure with me this month.

I didn't complete every task but I'm still really happy with the progress. And now I'm at a point where a 10-15 minute reset of the house every night means I wake up to a house that's ready for the day ahead. It feels really good. There's still plenty to do, but I have a good list and a year to work on it.

I've been so grateful for the excellent company in this thread and it's been a real joy to read about your progress! It's always so much more fun with all of you.
posted by mochapickle at 9:10 AM on January 31, 2023 [4 favorites]

Noooo my apartment's not ready! I suspect I will be sneakily working on January Cure: Procrastinator's Edition (Feb. 2023).

If anyone would like a motivation hack: My friend really recommends taking before-and-after pics, just to remind yourself of the progress you've made. I do a combo of this and the walk-into-the-room-over-and-over method.

Thank you for putting this together, mochapickle, and congrats to everyone and their sparkling spaces!
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 1:17 AM on February 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

Would there be any interest in an ongoing decluttering thread?
posted by paduasoy at 7:27 AM on February 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

paduasoy, honestly I'd be interested. I'm currently working on it myself and it is sloooow-going.
posted by toastyk at 10:55 AM on February 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

New decluttering thread.
posted by paduasoy at 12:08 PM on February 15, 2023 [1 favorite]