The artwork is by Goya. Entitled 'Time'
Click on it for the larger version, but the smaller one isn't as freaky.

Trying to lend class to my otherwise classless post. :)

I have been thinking about savings of other sorts. This past summer, I did a cleansing... both of clutter and emotional baggage. Took 4 truckloads of stuff to Goodwill or gave to friends.

I feel so much better. As an added bonus, it's much faster to clean my house now. It's not possible to clean clutter, but when there ISN'T any clutter, it's much simpler to make things look neat. Keeping the dog hair swept up is another story, of course.

Okay. Here's a specific example. We have a king sized waterbed, which means the bed needs to be spread up every morning so we don't lose the heat in the mattress. This used to mean a king sized comforter. The comforter did not fit in my washer. It did not fit in my dryer. Having it dry cleaned was not only time consuming, but 15 dollars! Taking it to the laundromat meant finding three hours out of my busy day to do so. I tried the duvet (comforter cover) but it didn't get clean in my washer either. I finally went to Goodwill and bought two matching twin sized comforters. Each one fits in the washer and dryer. No one sees our bedroom anyway. But it really doesn't look too bad. I have a beautiful quilt I can spread over the top if someone is going to look at it, but that's pretty rare.

Another example... LAUNDRY. I won't sort socks. I will wash them. I will dry them. After that, they all go into the same basket. If you want socks, go look in the basket. If you put your shirt in the laundry inside out, I will wash it that way. I will either hang it that way or fold it that way, too. If you want to wear it, YOU fix it.

Cleaning the bathroom... well, I don't have time to really get in and scrub as often as I should. So when my towel is getting ready for the hamper, I dampen it and wipe down the counter and faucets and the floor. It's going to be bleached anyway.

Any tips for keeping up with dirty dishes?