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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Love It Or Hate It?

I'm prompted by a couple of things to write this post.



1. My sister's post on tidying up her bedroom, and
2. Lori's request that I divulge my photo filing secrets.

There are so many jobs around the house that we 'should' be doing, right?
Some you love, or at least like, OK...that you don't hate.
And then there are the ones that you do hate!
Sometimes you hate them so much, they never rarely never get done...or is that just me?
Does anyone else actually do all the housework every week other than my mum??
I know it's bad but much of my housework is done on a need-to-because-it-is-so-bad-I-cannot-stand-looking-at-it-anymore basis.

Let's make some lists...because I am very good at doing that.  (Following up on the lists is my problem.)

Jobs I LOVE -

  • Organizing my photos on the computer
  • Writing lists
  • Checking e-mails, Facebook, Twitter (that's a job, right?)
  • Sewing and craft projects
  • Writing and reading blogs (I know, that's a pastime, but I'm calling it a job to make me feel better.)

Jobs I don't mind too much -
  • Washing
  • Folding
  • Ironing (Call me crazy, but the bit I hate is getting the ironing board out...so I put it off)
  • Making beds
  • Washing the dishes (and I do not have a dishwasher)
  • Tidying up

Jobs I HATE -
  • Changing sheets
  • Calling anyone about repairs/maintenance/insurance
  • Cooking dinner
  • Cleaning the bathroom & toilet
  • Cleaning windows, walls and ceilings
  • Cleaning the kitchen, fridge and microwave
  • Dusting
  • Vacuuming and mopping the floors
  • Cleaning out cupboards
  • Washing the car
  • Cleaning & vacuuming the inside of the car
  • Cleaning air-conditioner filters
    There's a definite theme here....I hate cleaning!
    When it comes to cleaning I'm the world's biggest princess.
    You should hear what goes on in my head...

    "I hate doing this."
    "This is disgusting."
    "Why do I have to do this?"

    As though I'm fully expecting that my maids should be doing it for me.  Maids that, of course, I do NOT have!
    I'm not too bad with the minor jobs but big jobs like washing the outside walls of the house with a cloth and bucket of water....ewwwwww.

    My two year old daughter, however, doing the exact same thing, thinks it's totally fun.

    Wouldn't it be lovely to find cleaning pure joy?


    My impressive photo filing skills, on the other hand, aren't really so impressive because we all know when you love doing something, it's not hard at all.

    In the days before digital cameras and photos on computers (yes, I am so old!) I spent hours collating my photos into photo albums. (Not scrapbooking, never got into that.)
    I even used to do my sister's...just for fun!
    I love photos!
    And now that it is so easy to take photos and see them instantly (no waiting for processing) it means I have more photos than anyone needs.
    More than 22 000 photo files are stored on my computer, that's ridiculous! Admittedly some are double ups because of my super filing storage system...hehehe...anyhow, here it is for anyone who's interested...

    I have files within files within files.
    I download everything from the camera into a 'downloaded from camera' file (original, I know.)
    Then they're all labelled according to the date they were taken - year, month, day.  That way they come up in chronological order.
    I move them to files within my 'photo album' file after I've named them all.
    My files in the photo album are

    2010
    Family
    Friends
    Places & Scenery
    School
    Special Days, Holidays & Days Out
    Weddings

    Each of these files has multiple files within...you get the idea.
    It seems like a lot of work, but I do it regularly.  Pretty much as soon as I download I name and move them.  At the end of the year I'll move all of the ones in the 2010 file into other files and will rename it 2011.

    Maybe that only makes sense to me.
    I need to know where my photos are at all times because I'm always using them for editing, blogging, watching them on my screensaver, so this is what I do to make them easily accessible.

     (One of my photoshopping projects)

    My mother-in-law is always asking me to download hers from her camera and they just go into 'My Pictures' with the thousands of other photos....I cringe every time.  I just want to get in there and organize them for her!!

    11 comments:

    1. Serious? You don't like cleaning? The only job I really dislike doing is washing dishes, mostly because I'm tall & the sink is too low and it hurts my back. I do my cleaning every day, at least one room a day. It's never simultaneously spotless, but it's usually pretty clean.

      ReplyDelete
    2. We need a pool of skills. We need to live in a village so close that we can all do the jobs that others despise.

      You can do my photos, and I will happily do a lot of your "hate" list.

      Thea can I admit that when my photo filing gets too much, I just move the WHOLE lot unfiled onto a new USB, file that in the safe, and start again? (And repeat about once a year?)

      ReplyDelete
    3. Cate - I need a little bit of you to rub off on me!

      Lucy - That's a great idea...whatever works, right? ;)

      ReplyDelete
    4. That's actually a really good idea for filing photos - I might have to steal it - I've been struggling for ages with catalouging mine...

      ReplyDelete
    5. I love your Photoshop project!

      I arrange my photos in a similar way, and can't imagine not having them organised like that. I love that they're always on hand. What I do need to do, though, is scan in all the old pre-digital ones.

      ReplyDelete
    6. Loving Lucy's pool of skills idea!! I don't mind cleaning, but if someone can cook for me I'd be over the moon ;)

      Thank you so much for the photo filing system- consider it stole, by me, as of now.

      Have you heard of the FlyLady...? Google her. She's free. And kind of my nemesis. I'm writing a post on her as we speak...

      ReplyDelete
    7. Megan - I've spent hours scanning. The old photos come up so well on the computer screen.

      Quixotic & Lori - steal away, that's why I shared! ;) And Lori, no I haven't heard of the FlyLady...looking forward to your post.

      ReplyDelete
    8. oooh cleaning...I don't know if its that I hate it or if i hate how obsessive I get about it - I was brought up by an OCD Mum and verging on OCD Dad - so there was a 'right' way of doing stuff...all the vaccum cleaner lines in the carpet had to go the right way, dishes had to be washed in order, bathroom - don't get me started. I do laundry. And stuff I didn't have to do at home when little , like helping kids with their rooms...otherwise I tend to spend over an hour on vaccuming the lounge room - and thats not good- right?
      Am impressed by your photo organsiational skills :)

      ReplyDelete
    9. You're still going to have to come and organize mine for me :) I just can't ever see me doing all that lol Half the time I don't even download all the photos from the camera until it's almost full.

      ReplyDelete
    10. April - I thought my mum was bad! ;)

      Kallie - Sure, I'll be there in a sec. :)

      ReplyDelete
    11. At times like these I am glad to live in South Africa where it is feasible to employ a maid. Josephine is a perfectionist and does all my hate jobs. Sorry for you ladies! But there has to be an upside of living here. Karin @KJvdM

      ReplyDelete

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