As I moved the washing basket and other items from the bed and back to the ironing board this evening (a reverse of this morning when my husband ironed his shirt) I thought about how the ironing board was clear a few weeks ago (13 Days In Decluttering Mode).
The problem is that ‘life happens’ after you clear stuff and items accumulate again. But why?
The ironing board is permanently up in the bedroom making it too easy to dump clean washing on it. It’s a clear surface after all and it’s a very easy target for piling (including pillows from the bed).
My husband irons his work shirt every morning, and everything has to be moved off the board. I suppose five of these shirts could be done at the weekend meaning that we could take down the ironing board during the week. However, we’ve said that before and it doesn’t work, and I certainly haven’t got the time.
We could take all the shirts to the dry cleaners to be ironed or find an ironing person (never tried that before).
All I know is that I’m not going to get very far with creating space around here if I keep repeating the same decluttering steps.
When I first started this blog I said that I was going to introduce mini systems or make improvements around the house. This has to go hand in hand with decluttering. I don’t think you can do one without the other.
So, as this one didn’t work, the habit needs to be changed. I’m quite liking the idea of getting someone else to do the shirts, even if it’s just for a couple of weeks.
We can then live without the ironing board and see if the clutter piles up in the same spot, as there’s stuff hiding under the board as well.
Until tomorrow…
Sandra
Sandra Madeira 
I started with a trial and it has worked for me. I do certain household chores on certain days and since I do them once a week it is quicker because I have not waited for it to build up. Monday-bills, food shopping and ironing, Tuesday-vacuum downstairs and steam floors, Wednesday-bathrooms , Thursday-vacuum upstairs and steam bathroom floors, Friday-dust, Saturday-Bake, Sunday-laundry. This doesn’t mean that I don’t do little things like clean the kitchen, make meals etc, but I know that on certain days I will give myself half an hour or an hour do do these weekly tasks. I don’t want to wait until I have a pile of ironing or iron as I go so I do it once a week, some weeks I don’t have any. This is great when you are working outside the home because your days off are not filled with chores and you can enjoy your time off.
That’s really good that you have a plan for every day and you are managing to stick to it. I’ve tried to do that a few times over the years, created timetables etc., but it never seems to stick. I think I just need to do what you say and commit to that half an hour to an hour a day to do weekly tasks, before I get too tired in the evenings. I might dig out some of my old timetables that I have created in the past. Thank you for sharing your tips, I really appreciate it.
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