To ask how much I can realistically achieve in 4 days?

[Ajaxe]

I'm off work for most of next week.

I have what feels like 1001 jobs to do at home. I started making a list but it was overwhelming...but to give you some idea:

I started decorating my hallway and stairs last year but never finished it, I need to gloss all the woodwork on the stairs, paint all the doors and architraves, need to do some filling round one of the door frames...

I need to completely decorate my spare room (which I use as an office) and another room downstairs needs doing, and there's some other finishing off/touching up to do in the living room.

Then I've got a load of stuff in the box room (some pots I got to recycle, other things that need fixing or throwing away, the whole room really needs a Good clear out.

Then outside my garden is a mess, a lot of it I won't be able to do as I don't have tools but the stuff I could do is mow the lawn, strimming of some other patches, my decking needs oiling and I also need to stain all my fences. Oh and jet wash all my front driveway/weed the edges and so on.

Plus the whole house could do with a bloody good clean.

I look at that list now and already feel overwhelmed and have no idea how or where to start. I don't want to waste this time off like I did my last break and end up achieving nothing, just wasting the week sitting around on my fat arse.

So if you were me where would you start and how much do you think a fat, slow person like me could reasonably expect to do in the time available?

Don’t be so mean about yourself! Also start with the hallway and stairs and just do that. It’s enough.

Realistically you can probably get one of those projects done in 4 days if you don't have help.

It's much better and more rewarding to focus on on one thing until it's done than to jump between tasks without finishing any of them.

Which is most urgent? Can you put them in order of priority?

I would finish decorating this time.
Your list is too long for 4 days off!

Maybe mow the lawn and do some sorting as well if you have time.

Which of those jobs would bring you the most joy and/or sense of accomplishment? Do the one that would make you happiest.

Having said that, I wouldn't do the garden, bar mowing the lawn. We're heading into winter so you won't be able to get out and enjoy it and plants will start dying off. You could spend all week making it look nice, only for it to look untidy again in a month or two.

Finish the job you started and have materials for

I'd do the hall. Just the hall. That's plenty.

One tip I've seen on Minimal Mom is to write yourself 3 task a day, each one on a separate post-it. Put your 3 post-its on the fridge and just focus on those. Tomorrow, move your finished post-its round to the side of the fridge and give yourself a new set of 3. By the end of the week you will have up to 15 things in your "done" area to admire. And if it's only 10 or 12, that's ok too. If you do the same both weekends (maybe smaller tasks) that would be up to 9x3 = 27 jobs done. But on any given day, limit yourself to 3 tasks that can realistically be achieved that day. They don't have to be massive tasks. 27 jobs add up even if they are tiny. This is your holiday.

Then move somewhere manageable!

Prioritize and be realistic. Set 1 goal for each of the days so you can focus on that and have it done. Good luck!

No help really, so will be just me doing it.

I keep reading about people decorating their whole house in a week and feel really slow in comparison.

There's not really any job that is more urgent but they all need doing. I need to replace all the carpet on my stairs and in all the upstairs rooms but can't do that til I've finished all the painting.

I do also need to get the flooring replaced downstairs but that's a whole other nightmare because my current flooring was fitted before the skirting so when I've had anyone out to quote they say I will have to take up all the skirting and refit (which is just beyond me).

I would start with the cleaning and sorting. No point painting dirty/cluttered rooms.

I would prioritise the

Recycling (quick and big difference that stuff isn't lurking on your mind)

Finish the hall etc but I mean glosswork and doors are boring and a right sod. Finish the stuff that is obviously half done.

Does the office decoration make you actively unhappy? Feel like a change? Or just you feel it's time. If the last fuck it off. Put some different pictures up or buy a rug etc.

Gardens are best done little and often. Not how I work sadly but true. Leave that as well we're coming into autumn. Stuff will stop growing/ die back. You can tackle it then, easier.

So couple of things then have a rest imo.

I've basically been trying to finish this house for 10 years. Its now closer to being finished than it ever has been. Once I've done this decorating, got carpets I'll only have my utility room to do (which needs some actual plumbing stuff done but I'm intending to leave that to a professional though).

I like the 3 tasks idea I might try that as I know I constantly waste time at the moment because I just don't know where to start and little jobs never seem to make any difference..

Are you doing all these changes because you're

Actively unhappy with what you got
Pretty ok but think would be nicer
Some other reason?

Unless it's a Wendy house no one can single handedly do a whole house in a week!

Even if they did the shortest job ever.

What grates on you most?

I vote recycling hall but ditch the gloss and doors if at all poss.

Do you hate how it is or just what you decided to do and now hanging over you?

I do really need to oil the decking as it is overdue. That's one garden job I can't put off. Its tricky because I have to do it on a clean surface so I need to jet wash it but then I have to leave it overnight to dry after washing...except by then its covered in leaves and grass again! I just feel everything is so complicated to do properly.

I could leave my office room, it's not been painted for about 8 years and looks grotty, its White but all the paintwork has yellowed etc. I look at everyone else's rooms on Teams calls and feel serious envy!

Finish the hall! And fill your recycle bin to the brim with as much stuff as you can from box room

If the weather is predicted to be good. I would do some of the outside jobs first & enjoy the sunshine.

The inside jobs, can be done during the winter at a slightly slower pace

Day 1
Get up early,
take one load to the tip,
buy a nice lunch that will make you smile,
turn on music from your last years at school and paint the hall.
Eat the lunch and then mow
finish painting if needed then have a long bath and watch a movie.

Day 2
Clean kitchen
Go and do some gardening in the sun
Take a load to the tip and buy food for rest of weekend.
Clean bathroom and sittingroom
Start laundry and keep going till all done and folded back in drawers
Chill ax

Day 3
Last load to tip if needed, clean study,
Paint if you really want to

These are jobs I either started doing ages ago and didn't finish, or haven't been done in so long they need doing again. My carpets are all 15 years old and horrible but I keep putting off replacing them til the decorating is all done.

I have had ages to do all this stuff but never do, which is why its all built up. The full list is even longer 😢

Can you allocate some time each work day to do any small jobs or jobs you can break into chunks?

On a nice evening do an hour in the garden, strimming, the next nice evening the mowing etc

On a wet evening do sorting, cleaning or decluttering, even an hours glossing?

If I wrote a list of all the things that need doing, it’d be a mad long list. But it’ll never all be done and i don’t care.

If I were you, I’d finish the hall and clear out the room. Nothing more. Stick up a nice picture in the study. Job done.

I would spend day one doing all your getting rid of stuff. Just go room by room making 3 piles, keep, toss, donate. And put the keep stuff away when you finish each room.

Day two I would clean the house and do all laundry start to finish

Day 3 mow the lawn and weed and wash the driveway.

Day 4 relax, enjoy your clean house get a takeaway and make a plan to do ONE of your other projects next weekend. Pick up any needed materials this week. If I were you I would probably paint/decorate the spare room

I take it back, don't paint skirting if you might need to take it up. Maybe consider using Scotia/beading instead of removing skirtings. But that's not one for next week.

This is your home, it's not the boss of you. Seriously, 3 jobs per day and some downtime or you'll burn out.

Give yourself some time to relax/ enjoy your days off as well!

Nobody decorated their whole house in a week!