Friday, June 03, 2005
How to Clean a Room
Cleansing or Pointless?
1. Firstly, I like to survey the scene, looking for any potential problem spots that could cause a room-clean ETA blow out, just like Peter Batchelor and his railway thing.
2. Where to start? A question I, and many others have probably asked themselves when confronted with a messy room. I think the desk is a good start, as a clean desk is one of the things that really motivates you to do a top-class job. I use the clean desk as a tool to picture what the rest of the room could potentially look like. This usually works.
3. I usually move in a clockwise motion around the room, interchanging with the floor as I progress, but that system is quite flexible which for all you non-linear people will be pleasing.
4. I do take my time. Most things get either put away as I get to them, or I gently toss them onto my bed, and these objects I'll turn my attention to later on.
5. Richard Wielga, my housemate, likes to do an up and through cleaning motion, almost like a Lleyton Hewitt fist pump, or low to hi uppercut. He starts with his floor then moves up to the surrounding higher spots, such as a desk or bed. An effective technique, although I don't really use it myself, preferring the familarity of the clockwise technique.
6. Sometimes you are confronted with the uncomfortable situation of having to make the hard choice whether to throw something out or not. As long as it's really something you won't need at some later date, just do it, it's very cathartic.
7. One highlight for me is once I have a tidy room, I move all easily transportable objects out of the room and pull out vacuum cleaner. Ours is quite high-powered, although one drawback is it's lack of hard floor component, with the soft brush surface to avoid scratching a wooden floor. I just have take my time and hover the hard plastic nozzle slightly off the floor, and let the high-powered motor do the rest.
8. It's a really nice feeling looking over a clean room. It looks bigger, smells fresher and really makes you want to spend more time in there, reading and making up crap ballady songs on an old acoustic guitar.
I cleaned my room about 5-6 days ago now, and the feedback from friends and housemates has been really positive. I have actually inspired a couple too, although they were lacking my thoroughness. I think this is made up for by the fact that I do this perhaps once a year, so I can't really talk.
A quick legal thought, and please don't think less of me, but I'm curious. If I went to the toilet and someone swooped in with a small net and snatched one of my "things" and ran off with it, does this constitute theft? Just a thought...
1. Firstly, I like to survey the scene, looking for any potential problem spots that could cause a room-clean ETA blow out, just like Peter Batchelor and his railway thing.
2. Where to start? A question I, and many others have probably asked themselves when confronted with a messy room. I think the desk is a good start, as a clean desk is one of the things that really motivates you to do a top-class job. I use the clean desk as a tool to picture what the rest of the room could potentially look like. This usually works.
3. I usually move in a clockwise motion around the room, interchanging with the floor as I progress, but that system is quite flexible which for all you non-linear people will be pleasing.
4. I do take my time. Most things get either put away as I get to them, or I gently toss them onto my bed, and these objects I'll turn my attention to later on.
5. Richard Wielga, my housemate, likes to do an up and through cleaning motion, almost like a Lleyton Hewitt fist pump, or low to hi uppercut. He starts with his floor then moves up to the surrounding higher spots, such as a desk or bed. An effective technique, although I don't really use it myself, preferring the familarity of the clockwise technique.
6. Sometimes you are confronted with the uncomfortable situation of having to make the hard choice whether to throw something out or not. As long as it's really something you won't need at some later date, just do it, it's very cathartic.
7. One highlight for me is once I have a tidy room, I move all easily transportable objects out of the room and pull out vacuum cleaner. Ours is quite high-powered, although one drawback is it's lack of hard floor component, with the soft brush surface to avoid scratching a wooden floor. I just have take my time and hover the hard plastic nozzle slightly off the floor, and let the high-powered motor do the rest.
8. It's a really nice feeling looking over a clean room. It looks bigger, smells fresher and really makes you want to spend more time in there, reading and making up crap ballady songs on an old acoustic guitar.
I cleaned my room about 5-6 days ago now, and the feedback from friends and housemates has been really positive. I have actually inspired a couple too, although they were lacking my thoroughness. I think this is made up for by the fact that I do this perhaps once a year, so I can't really talk.
A quick legal thought, and please don't think less of me, but I'm curious. If I went to the toilet and someone swooped in with a small net and snatched one of my "things" and ran off with it, does this constitute theft? Just a thought...
