Monday, June 11, 2012

Cleaning


Random recommendations on cleaning:

Clean one area at a time, and don't use clean areas as workspaces when cleaning not-clean areas.  It's a lot easier to keep an area clean than to clean it up after the fact.  Disney did a lot of work studying this, and discovered that people make unconscious efforts to keep clean areas clean.  Which is why there are way more trash cans at Disney parks than there "should" be - because one wrapper discarded on the ground invites more wrappers.  This applies in the home, as well.  It's harder to put a banana peel on a spotless kitchen counter than one that already has an empty pizza box and three dirty dishes sitting on it.

Also, from my files as a janitor at Disney: People are very weirdly predictable.  There's no trash can that doesn't have three in sight, and yet it's very common to find one trash can overflowing with trash, while the other three have single gum wrappers in them.  This applies in your personal life, as well.  If a particular area tends to get messy, don't just resolve not to make that area messy, you won't succeed.  Put a trash can in a room you don't think really "needs" one, if it tends to accumulate trash.  Upgrade trash cans to larger sizes if they develop a tendency to overflow.  Keep your craft storage near where you do your crafting.  Keep a few spare plastic bins empty, or leave shelf space empty, to stow unfinished projects and their supplies.  Making it easier to be clean is much more effective than trying to be clean.

2 comments:

  1. Sound observations, all.

    I would add: Any flat surface, regardless of clutter or lack thereof, will magnetically attract scrapbooking supplies/tools/sundries with the force of a black hole. Even if you devote an entire room to your Wife's obsession, the stuff will multiply throughout the house like tribbles.

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    Replies
    1. *Laughs* Yeah. They attract junk mail in my house.

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