I need a "complete idiot's" guide to housework and hygeine

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Is there such a thing? I know I don't take proper care of myself or my house, but the number of things I have to do in order to do so seems dizzying to me. How do NTs keep their houses and themselves clean? Is it just something you have to learn growing up, or is there like a guide I can read or a course I can take? Does anyone else here struggle with these things or is it just me?

My parents made me help clean our house since I was in elementary school.

-Dust(spray cleaner like 409 and paper towels) ever two weeks
-Vacuum or swiffer(if hard floors) every two weeks
-don't let trash accumulate, have trashcans in every room
-get appropriate containers for excess junk/stuff, there shouldn't be piles of things
-don't let dirty dishes accumulate, do them every single day or every other, try not to leave things dirty overnight

That's all their is to it really for taking care of house. Personal hygiene seems to be vary greatly between individuals.

FlyLady. net

Just do you dishes after each meal

Hang up or put your clothes in the drawer/hamper.

Dust maybe twice a month or so.

Just don't accumulate too much stuff!

I'm pretty good with that stuff. If you have trouble remembering what to do and when, I'd have a daily checklist. Perhaps cleaning bathroom toilet once a week, sink 2-3 times a week, dishes everyday.

Maybe once someone can help you figure out what needs to be done and how often, you can go through the checklist for each day to make it a habit.

Same thing for hygiene. There are great apps to aid in remembering such things.

More specifically :

1. Vacuum at least once a week. More if you have pets or lots of people

2. Dishes: Wash dishes or put in dishwasher as soon as you are finished eating. Same with putting food away.

3. Clean kitchen sink daily with some sort of disinfectant and rinse thoroughly

4. Sweep and mop floor of kitchen at least once a week, but more if there are pets, more people, or lots of cooking is involved

5. Clean countertops of kitchen each time they are used to prepare food in any way. Even if not used, wipe them off once daily to keep off dust

6. Change bedsheets once a week. Wash comforter at least once or twice a year.

7. Clean toilet with disinfectant (the whole thing) at least once a week.

8. Clean bathroom sink at least every other day or more.

9. Clean bathtub and mirror once a week.

10. Sweep and mop floor of bathroom once a week.

11. Take out trash and recycling as needed. Don't forget to clean out trash bins every once in awhile.

12. Clean out refrigerator and freezer by throwing away old food and wiping off the shelves every time you go food shopping. Then it never has a chance to get gross. Every once in awhile check the dates on condiments and throw out the bad ones.

13. Don't use the same towel for more than a week. Wash towels regularly.

14. Remove trash from car every time you come home.

Hygiene

1. Brush teeth twice daily and floss once. This is the minimum. Brush your tongue also.

2. Shower at least once a day. Shampoo hair every day unless you have a dry or curly hair type.

3. Clean socks, underwear, and shirt every day. Jeans or pants may be able to be worn more than once before washing.

4. Comb or style your hair. Get a haircut every once in awhile.

5. Shave every day or every other day.

6. Clean out your ears on occasion.

7. Trim and clean your fingernails and toenails. Wash your hands after eating or using the bathroom.

There's more but those are the basics.

I've had problems with this. What has worked is if I make out a list on a word document of daily tasks, and also weekly and once every two day tasks, copy this every day and put the dates when I last did the occasional tasks, and type the word done next to each daily task when they've been done.

What happens with me is that I slowly internalise the list and my housework and hygiene improves, so stop using the list, then housework and hygiene slowly deteriorate, then start the list again.

By this method, over years, and I do mean years, my housework and hygiene has gradually improved at a snail's pace, in a roller coaster effect that moves upwards.

Writing of my own psychology, it is very easy for me to blitz and be fanatical about things in the short term so that my place and me end up spotless, but it doesn't last this way, and the regime collapses and I end up looking like a tramp.

So for me, and you may be different, learning to put up with the anxiety of having my house only a quarter as bad as it used to be, instead of perfection or oblivion, has been the hardest task.

Maybe the list method works with me because of my extraordinary fondness for words?

It is a lot to remember, however, it becomes easier with habit. Making a checklist is a good place to start.

A lot of the things I do I've associated with other things I do to make them a habit. Such as cleaning up immediately after a meal. Then you don't need to remember afterwards. Same thing with cleaning trash out of the car, or cleaning out the refrigerator when getting home after food shopping. Or brushing teeth right after breakfast and before bed along with flossing.

So everything is connected to something else you do. Eventually you don't even need to try to remember. Just make sure to connect it to another activity and it becomes much easier.

Oh, another thing I do is set my phone timer for 20 or 30 minutes, and do housework, no matter what, for that time then stop and have a cup of tea. Then repeat if I'm in the mood.

This way I feel it's only maybe an hour and a half a day that's being taken up by horrible housework, and breaking it up into little bits makes it feel less like a waste of time.

NTs seem to have better memories for this kind of thing, and will get stuck in for maybe 3 hours at a time doing ironing and crazy s**t like that. My aim is to make my home and myself not actively repulsive.

In my opinion it is worth getting fanatical about showering and laundry - you can easily stink without realising it, and I've had plenty of experience of that in my younger years.

Even now I often set out of the house and check to find my flies are open, or my trousers are tucked in my socks.

If it's of any consolation, I set up an "office" of sorts in the spare bedroom of my basement suite, and I've been making a point of taking trash out of it rather than allowing it to accumulate. Of course, lately I've been spending pretty much all my time in here and even sleeping in my recliner instead of getting my bed sorted out and sleeping in my bedroom. I really think that living out of one room would be much easier on me than having a whole god damn basement to myself.

I will try some of the stuff in here cause I have problems with this area as well

Just start small. Do more things as your confidence and experience grows. Do one new cleaning activity a week.

To start off, why not go to your local store and buy a spray cleaner? It should say something like "disinfectant" or "anti-bacterial" somewhere on it.

Get a cloth. Buy one if you don't have one. Dampen it a bit with some water. Spray the cleaner on any surface from toilets, showers, baths and tiles to kitchen surfaces and wipe. Once you've used it put the cloth in dirty laundry.

I use the 'my effectiveness' app for recurrent tasks so I don't forget. Might be useful!

A clean hose is overrated. So long as you can live with it and you don't have bugs I don't see what the problem is.

Concentrate on the personal hygiene part as that can directly affect most aspects of your life. Social, health, work etc etc.

I think Yigeren's hygiene list is pretty accurate. Probably a little excessive in my opinion. I mean, shaving is more a preference than a hygiene thing. Other than the occasional trim, I haven't taken a razor to my face in a very long time. At least 10 years. I'm not a dirty person. I scrub my beard and I'm good. Of course, if your SO don't like it, gotta adjust. Luckily mine hates clean shaven.

Watch cleaning out your ears as it can be medically bad if done incorrectly. I used to go crazy with it, and wound up with impacted wax and got a bad ear infection. Dr. told me a q-tip should not actually enter you ear canal, but rather go lightly around the outside. Your ears can be flushed if need me using one of those baby-bulb thingys with diluted Hydrogen Peroxide.

I bite my nails profusely, so I'd never have anything to trim. So I'm not sure if that's totally necessary too often. Though if they are long and start to look yellow or have stuff underneath, best clip them SOBs.

As far as housework, paper plates and plastic utensils are your friend. I know I personally load up on them at the convenience store in NJ, Wawa. Many fast food places keep them out too, like many Taco Bells. I just grab a bunch. Some people think that's sh***y, but whatever. I take a ton of their condiments too so I don't have to buy ketchup or mayo ever.

If you dump a shedload of bleach in your toilet and close the lid and leave it for a little while, you really don't even have to scrub it. The stuff just comes off. Do it on a semi-regular basis and at least the toilet's ok.

If you do have to do actual dishes, and are anything like me and have them sitting in the sink for an embarrassingly long time, use rubbing alcohol when cleaning them. You can assure they are sterile, and film and gunk comes right the hell off. Makes it easier when you don't have to scrub for hours.