One shitty job a day - mission to get all the crappy tasks done this year

[Shittyyear2025]

I'm an eternal untidy person. I don't see my own clutter. I've tried HARD to find a routine that I can get engaged in, signed up for COUNTLESS get yourself organised apps.

I saw a video yesterday about getting one shitty job a day done. I think I can manage one shitty job a day. So far I cleaned the lounge carpet (over yesterday and today, bad back and heavy furniture) and I've painted a door that's been off it's hinges and propped up against my hall wall for maybe a year.

I reckon one shitty job a day (or for an hour towards it say, after work, longer crap jobs can be done at the weekend) I can do. I can finally finish decorating the kitchen. I can finally finish painting the landing/stairs/hall after the ceiling collapsed in Autumn 2024, I can sort out the front garden one job at a time (hell, I can even get rid of the ironing mountain and charity shop everything I no longer wear for an hour a day).

Anyone want to join me? Or any tips for starting AND STICKING WITH domestic routines?

Well done 👍

@justasking111Thank you!

<Impressed>
It's one of those things that look straightforward but you need precision .

My SJ today is descaling taps !

Got to the bottom of the ironing basket, again.

On the SJ list To Do:
Clean the outside bin ( it got water in from the rain so a bit sludgey)
Shred a load of confidential papers ( receipts, letters ) that's DS job
Bag up some garden waste

Washing done
Vacuuming done

Scraped gunk off the shower screen, bleugh!

I deleted over 2000 unread emails from my gmail account and unsubscribed from a lot of junk

@WindyWi have one of those fillable sponge scourer things for dish washing, fill it with washing up liquid and white vinegar solution and use it in the shower screen, it does all the corners and edges really well and takes off any scum and limescale. Then shower it away.

I discovered by accident Head and Shoulders shampoo that we don't like using is brilliant to clean showers, I used it in one of those scrubby brushes that you can put cleaner into the handle, ditto cheap shaving foam and fabric conditioner applied directly and worked in.

Got 30 things on eBay last week and already made £100!

Put a couple of bits on our local Freecycle page and got rid of those two.

Dining table full of stuff to put on this week. Loft still got maybe 20 boxes of stuff from my mum's house but feel like I've made a dent in it, some bits hard to see again but time has been quite the healer so not as emotional as when I packed them up 4 years ago. Car boot sale scheduled in the calendar for May for anything leftover.

Fixed the reverse light of my car today. Been leaking water in for YEARS and had to order a new light after smashing the original getting it out last week.

I put a load of stuff on EBay and uploaded loads of empty jars for Boots beauty recycling.

Can someone tell me how to delete unread emails in bulk ? Not gmail.

It's amazing discovered it by accident too

Omg @thenewaveragebear1983 and @CherryRipe1 thanks for the tip! It’s a new house so it’s not even our gunk (bleughhh) and I could do with keeping it shiny from here on in ☺️

I find it simplest just to mark them all unread, and wait for time to take them to archive…

I also do searches for particular brand names and then delete those from particular addresses (obviously some brand names are also words) which means I can delete at least 75 at a time.

I've done quite well the last few days:

Ordered, received and constructed a new office chair and 4 new dining chairs. When I say "constructed" I mean attach the legs but it was more complicated than it sounds and I've spent the time since wondering if I should offer my engineering services to NASA... 😀I'm really pleased with the dining chairs, they are very Art Deco in style and quite unusual. I can't stand modern generic furniture - my sitting room looks like it's 1930.

Stuck old dining chairs on FB Marketplace/Gumtree (new office chair went that way a few weeks ago)

Got DD13 to continue clearing her room. Moved my desk (in 2 pieces as it's L shaped) into her room to check it would fit and see how it looked. She was thrilled with it so I've ordered her the same one, that's arriving tomorrow and my neighbour who is a joiner and all round good egg is going to construct it for her on Thursday and amend it a bit so it works better for her.

As a result of her clearout we've stuck one of her old pieces of furniture on FB Marketplace etc - it's basically a frame with pink storage boxes that you can move around - we've always called them her Doodle Drawers if anyone remembers Mister Maker from CBeebies back in the day 😀

The boxes that the dining chairs came in are a) huge and b) astonishingly good quality - like heavy duty removal boxes - so they have gone in the loft (they just fit through the hatch) and out ultimate aim is to just have those up there for permanent storage with the things we really don't want to throw away once said loft is finally cleared.

Re-arranged a load of tights in a drawer so I can now tell tights from pop sox and it's not just a sea of nylons!

Sold several more items on eBay and Vinted. Photographed a load more stuff, need to list all that. Stuck a load of other stuff to sell in the rear divan drawers in my daughter's bedroom - I know this is a bad idea as it's a case out 'out of sight out of mind' but I had to clear some space pro temps...

Am keeping up with ironing and cleaning.

Ordered a silver polishing cloth as the metal straps of my 2.55 are looking rather tarnished. Need to find time to get on and clean it now!

Found the moth repellent things that tell you when they're out of date - need to go round replacing the ones that now say 'end' on them! I had some moth holes in clothes a few years ago so I've had moth repellent in every drawer and wardrobe since.

Went into the EE shop and enquired about upgrading my iPhone. I absolutely loathe doing this - find it very stressful - so I was pleased with myself for information gathering. It's a start.

I'm finding that I'm ticking multiple things off my list every day and am enjoying the sensation of relief and satisfaction that comes with completing each one. I think it's part of what's pushing me to get one with the next task.

Cleaned the kitchen sink with BarKeepers Friend powder cleaner , it worked pretty well , the sink is old (about 18 years ) and needs frequent cleaning as it's a granite resin composite .

DS cleaned the washing line under sufferance , I haven't hung anything out yet .

Next SJ is cleaning the bathroom radiator . I charged up the whirly brush and will give it a go with some BKF .
Got some household things for the charity shop to go .
There's loads of tidying needed in the garden , mainly sweeping up and clean the patio slabs .

Oh , and I bought one of those scrubby things with the hollow handle fpr detergent so I can fill it up and scrub away at the bathroom. I have some Dr Bronners liquid soap , favourite one is the almond .
DH is going to paint sometime so I'll use my spare time profitably and do the pre-paint clean .

Cleaned my oven yesterday, out of necessity. I wanted to use it but I'd spilt oil in it so when I put it on, there was this stink.

Still, that's one shit job the fewer.

I have a feeling that I am going to be spring cleaning the bedroom the next rainy day we have.

I have tidied and cleaned out both the cutlery drawer (So. Many. Crumbs.) and the bottom drawer (trousers and nightwear) of my chest of drawers.

I meant to say that I found this genuinely inspiring and encouraging, @NoExchangeBeforeChristmasThen :

I'm finding that I'm ticking multiple things off my list every day and am enjoying the sensation of relief and satisfaction that comes with completing each one. I think it's part of what's pushing me to get one with the next task.

Oooh oil is a nightmare to clean. Once my DS (little treasure ) dropped a glass bottle of oil, it went everywhere
So not only picking up the glass , but sluicing with neat washing up liquid to break it down then very hot soapy water . I had to wash the kitchen windowsill , and everything on it .
Looked bloody marvellous afterwards though !

This has reminded me! I need to sort a couple of floor nails that are slightly sticking out and catching on my robovac! I'll do that now!

Right...I've sorted out the floor nails, and then wiped down skirtings and stairs. Yay!

Waxed the pine skirtings. I used a drill brush to buff up. Weeded the large planters in the garden & planted some sprouted spuds. They usually grow into spuds eventually. Went to the DIY shop on the bus. The beading I bought was so long I accidentally poked someone with it on the bus and had to snap it in half to manoeuvre it. Apologised of course. Made a job lot of mash potatoes & froze it before those spuds chit too. A potato tumbler helps immensely with the peeling task. Did some repairs to things with the stitching coming apart. Debobbled partners favourite jacket I got him. Posted off a letter and family photos to a relative who doesn't do online.