It's one thing to cook in your kitchen and it's another thing to do all those little maintenance tasks that pile up and never seem to go away. Top of my list right now: Replace the liners in the cupboards and drawers, regrout the area around the sink, organize and purge the spice drawer. (I'm not even going to think about the disaster area that's called The Cupboard Under the Kitchen Sink.)
These are the little things we avoid and put off, that nag us and make us feel less the superhero that we really are. These are our Heinous Tasks and I'm here to say: there's hope.
I draw my inspiration from my friend, the poet Genine Lentine. She lives next door and regularly hosts The Heinous Task Table in her dining room. The invitation is to bring a task that you are avoiding and gather with others who are also dealing with their own avoided heinous task. It could be a basket of mending and button replacement, a pile of tax receipts to be organized or a cleaning up of the 4000 emails in your inbox. (Yes, these are all mine, too.)
The idea is that by gathering with others, we are creating an atmosphere of support and encouragement...and a little company, too. But for things that aren't portable, like cleaning your oven or that grout around the sink, you can bring the Heinous Task Table to you. Call it a Heinous Task Party and invite a friend or many friends over to help you with your task. Or they can bring their own, portable task and keep you company.
I once got my kitchen drawers lined on a variation of this theme. A friend, who finds the activities of measuring and cutting very soothing and relaxing, traded me my kitchen drawers for her husband's birthday cake. (She hates to bake.) So while she lined my drawers, I baked her cake and we spent a nice afternoon in the kitchen together.
OK, it's your turn to fess up. What are some of your avoided, lingering tasks? And what are you going to do about them?
(Image: Dana Velden)
I have struggled all week to get papers graded. Yesterday, I finally started to just do one question at a time. I tried one paper at a time, but it proved too daunting.
One thing I noticed: I can actually use the attempt at "understanding why I am procrastinating" as a way to perpetuate it. Sometimes it's important to let go of the why so you can just get through it.
view Daigan's profile
Well, I just moved into my new apartment exactly one month ago and 95% of my belongings are still in boxes. It's been so hard for me to sit down and try to unpack. I dread it so much!
However, I've come up with some solutions. Yesterday I bought a bookcase/shelving system and dresser drawers at IKEA. Part of my excuse at putting things off was that I didn't have anywhere to unpack things into. My boyfriend and I are going to attempt to put together the furniture and unpack the rest of my kitchen today.
Moving/Unpacking is such an ordeal. You're excited about getting to redesign a new space, but at the same time it seems like such a daunting task!
view sarahlani's profile
Aw man you name it. When you move into a new house there are so many task that need to be done. While lining my kitchen drawers is one of them. I know that I have items that go all over the house that need to be unpacked. I have some kitchen utensils that I need to find somewhere in the garage. I need to clean out my catch all drawer. I want to find another place to put my catch all drawer instead of in the kitchen. It just bothers me. I still have clothes and tons of shoes that haven't been unpacked either. Its be a year and six months and it bothers me but I just haven't done it yet. I also need to do some gardening in the back yard.
view mculp's profile
Strange, last few hours before sitting down at my computer just now, I spent cleaning out and reorganizing some of the stuff in my kitchen. It wasn't preventing cooking from being done, but still, it's nice to have things organized.
view wunami's profile
Putting up a ceiling fan in a ceiling which has mysteriously located studs.
view sciencegeek's profile
My mending basket. I have a perfectly good white blouse that needs 4 or 5 tiny hand stitches on the collar seam---it would take me longer to thread the needle than it would to set the stitches ...
Re: the horror under the kitchen sink. I never throw out an old laundry basket. No matter how broken up the top part may be, the bottom is usually still good. I use scissors or an X-Acto knife to cut all the top part off and then use the basket bottom under my sink. I have them in the cabinets under the kitchen sink and the bathroom sinks. They are easy to slide in/out to reach things in the back. The one in my bathroom caught a slow leak and kept the water from ruining my cabinet.
view SunnyBlue's profile
There are a TON of things that need to get done in my house. I can fake clean pretty good if someone is coming over but I seriously need to get the job done correctly.
view witchbaby's profile
I've got a 5 page list of to do's since we bought this house- change handles on the kitchen cupboards, doors on bedrooms, new mailbox, hem curtains, etc... But thanks to your little inspirational post yesterday I actually crossed two off the list: I cleaned and reorganized my cutlery drawer, and my husband and I finally started cleaning and painting our second bedroom. Thanks!
view spotonmeg's profile
I need to clean out the huge closet that I've decided to turn into a pantry and post the spare dresser hiding in there on CL. Hang things (which means getting them framed). Deal with The Pile on my writing desk.
I did get the entry way cleaned up last night, swept all the floors, vacuumed the rugs and put all the shoes back into the closet. I almost wish I was still studying for my exam, my apartment is always so clean when I'm procrastinating on something else!
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
I did have a bunch of heinous tasks like that in the kitchen... and one night last week while I was gone for a class, my boyfriend did them ALL.
I came home and nearly fell over from astonishment: the kitchen was spotless. His huge step in the right direction totally paved the way for me to do things like clean baseboards, purge the fridge, and mop. TEAMWORK!
view amber77's profile
I spent the last month leisurely going through 5 years of cooking magazines and clippings, sorting and filing in three notebooks, and releasing the mags to a second-hand store. I am now chastened and will try not to download/buy/save so many recipes I've never tried! (Also threw out old vitamins and culled through cookbooks--yay)
view jen_g's profile