Housework Helpers

Thanksgiving 2007, I was relaxing in a hotel room, coffee in one hand clicker in the other. Then ~ the phone rang. It was Larry telling me that our basement had flooded, Servepro was coming (at holiday rates) and they had to pull out the wall to wall carpeting.
My heart sank. This was the second flood in 2 years. I had spent most of the summer reclaiming our life from the 1st one. My "studio" was just the way I wanted it, our books were all organized by topic, the pictures had been moved and rehung, the bathroom had been bleached and rebleached and was finally clean. NOW we had to do it all over again.
If you have ever had a flood, you know that to cope, you grab, pile, throw in bins and haul upstairs. When you are done your house and life are in a jumble.

Since Thanksgiving we have walked around piles, ignored ruined keepsakes and stepped over the mess to get to the washer. We have worked on reclaiming our space in small spurts but it seemed like we would take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Emotions were holding us back. We weren't happy about having to do this for the second time which made us drag our feet.
I knew something had to change, I didn't want to start another school year in the same jumbled mind set or environment. I decided to take a leap of faith and take an online course course by Brook Noel called Make Today Matter. (see link on right) I knew about the course long before I signed up ~ because you have to pay for it!!

Now keep in mind I have tried MANY organizing systems, some have even worked for a while, I have rows of notebooks with information on how to "live better" but nothing has ever worked for me. "The Disorganized Mind" is the latest book I read. It explains that people with ADD lack an internal understanding of time and space that most people have. YEP - they sure do!!

I have been a FLYBABY but I wanted to whine and having someone yell at me didn't work. I tried to organize From The Inside Out but the system was so complicated that I threw it down the stairs. I tried the "Day Timer System", even listened to all the tapes, but the lines are small, the pages are boring and who wants to cross reference. I can't tell you how many times someone has said to me "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS..." and what I have learned to say is "I am so happy that works for YOU!" I could go on for days but... you get the picture.

In July my AOL inbox had an invitation to join GROUP 4 for the MTM~Make Today Matter course. I decided to sign up. I was conflicted though. I wondered if this would just be another waste of money or if it was really different. There were raves like this one that gave me hope.

“I am 20 Steps into this program and have seen DRAMATIC changes to my life already. This challenge has really helped me to FOCUS on what is important in my life and to achieve it in tiny steps. I am glad to be a challenge participant and am telling everyone I know to about this. I can already feel it making changes in my life.” Lana, West Texas

The words DRAMATIC and FOCUS gave me caught my attention! So I signed up, I paid my hard earned money and I started lesson 1. I admit the beginning was slow. The steps open up one at time M-F so you are forced to go slow and steady. This worked for me though I would have rushed through, given the choice!! Each step is well defined and had some element of fun. This worked for me! Each step involved the opportunity to connect with others doing the same thing. This worked for me. Then yesterday Housework Helpers opened up and we learned about SPRINTING.

This is the blurb about Housework Helpers and Sprinting from the site.
See link on side.

"One of the reasons many women loathe housework is because it is never ending. Undoubtedly, as soon as the dining room table cleared and laundry hamper empty, we turn to find a new piles on the table or in the hamper. Like any repetitive task, efforts are rarely noticed by those we live with. It would be rare for a woman to here, “Wow Mom! What a great sweeping job!” This never-ending and under appreciated task isn’t real attractive.

The concept of Housework Helpers started in an online course where we brought women together online in a safe chat environment to conquer clutter and chaos. Due to its popularity we expanded it into a full-fledged program.

How it works:.

Every 30 minutes between the hours of 6:00 AM and 11:00 PM CST a trained moderator asks participants to share an area they plan to focus on and then does a 3...2...1..CHARGE kick-off. Twenty minutes later, women report back to their computer screens to share progress. All chats take place in private, encrypted, member-only, chat room"

This REALLY worked for me. In many books for women with ADD they suggest you have Housework Buddy. What that means is,you should invite a friend to come over and chat while you clean. The friend helps to keep you focused and adds and element of fun and community that make you willing to stick with it. Ha- who do you know that has time to come and sit with you for hours while you clean.

Enter - Housework Helpers. I was reluctant to jump in because "chat rooms" are not my thing. But I decided to try it and it was great!! I checked in 6 times last night and got more work done in 3 hours than I had in the past 3 weeks.

It is true that not everyone has ADD, but we live in a fast moving world where it is easy to lose focus. It is also possible to feel isolated and alone even if you live in a busy neighborhood. There are many SAHM's taking the course. Many have little ones and don't have daily opportunities to connect with other women.

I know that for some left brained, well disciplined, list loving people this would be a bother, something unnecessary to add to an already productive day.

I also know that when I go back to work 3 hours of sprinting won't happen. I am sure I can get in 30-60 minutes though.

The biggest change for me is that I am hopeful that I can stick with this for the long haul. As each step has opened up I have been cautious. Many times as a program progresses I know I will be overwhelming. So far there have been no thoughts of ~ hmmm I will never do that consistently ~.

I will let you know how it goes, but in the mean time I thought some of you might want to check it out for yourself!! I'm not sure when the next MTM group starts but you can join Housework Helpers anytime!!

P.S. Maybe just maybe I will be entertaining soon.

P.S.S. The pictures are of our basement after the rug was hauled out and everything was topsy turvey. It looks a little better now, no soggy laundry left and I can get to my work table but... there are miles to go.