Making Upkeep of the House a little Easier
By this time of year many people a lamenting the jobs on the “to do list” for the summer that did not get done and trying to decide if that means the best course of action is to try to squeeze them in in the early fall or to move them once again to next spring. The list of things most people want to get done around the home is endless and ever evolving. There is seldom time to enjoy the results of one task before moving on to the next and the season is always gone before you get to the end of the list.
There are some steps you can take to try to make whittling the list down faster a little bit easier. Making things go faster and get done sooner involves both getting the motivation to do them and get them started as well as actually speeding the process in getting them completed. For most, the motivation to get started is the bigger half of the battle but that also is why completing them sooner is of such great importance. If you are able to get a job done while there is still time left on a weekend and motivation it is easy to make it a very productive weekend and scratch of a number of chores.
Prioritize and Group Jobs
While some jobs are easy to prioritize because of the nature of them (for example planting the garden in spring has a definitive time table) some are a matter of preference. Making sure you and your spouse agree on the order ensures cooperation. The best way to do this is to turn the project list into a genuine written list and put them in order together.
Look for jobs that go well with each other and plan on doing them at the same time. As an example, if painting the living room and ceiling is a project plan to shampoo the carpet the same weekend. You will already be moving all the furniture and it makes short work of any tiny drop missed by the drop cloth.
Get Supplies Ahead of Time
Nothing slows down the start to your weekend more than getting up on Saturday morning motivated to start then having the start turn into a 3 or 4 hour trip to different home supply stores to get the paint, brushes, and other need items. By the time you get back and get everything out it is lunchtime or past and the only thing that went faster than the time is your motivation. By planning and scheduling your projects, you can purchase items ahead of time (like when they are on sale) and when you get up to start your project you can go straight to the work.
In addition to the supplies for actually doing the job, consider the tools you have to work with. Having quality hand tools such as cordless drills with extra batteries saves hours over a hand screw driver for even simple tasks such as removing screws from wall shelves so you can paint. Swift Trading has examples of quality tools to speed along home jobs. The right tools will not only make the job easier and faster, it will improve the quality of the results.
