Saturday 16 April 2011

Rewards Programme

Lesley - you are brilliant. Your comment has stimulated a train of thought. Actually it has stimulated a Clapham Junction of thought.

Just typing out loud to try and get some ideas into shape.

1. Need to save money. I finally have permission to get the flooring in the living room and study updated, both large rooms. It will need to be done professionally and will cost a lot of money. Also I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a stove. That would also be expensive.

2. Need to declutter. The house is far too full of things.

3. Need to get routines and processes in order. The dr has muttered about ME and while I have not been confirmed with a diagnosis (and I am not chasing it), I can fit most of my reactions to most of the ME stuff. This means that I have to get things set up in such a manner as to make things easy for me to do no matter how bad and achy I feel.

4. Need to clean house as little bear now wants to invite people in and I would be mortified.

So, these are all big things, and the decluttering, cleaning and routines are strongly interlinked.

Thoughts on rewards

1. I don't want to spend a lot of money

2. I don't want to bring a lot of extra stuff into the house

3. A reward can be something other than physical

4. Rewards should feel good and be unnecessary, otherwise they are not rewards but necessities and I would need them anyway.

The titanium scissors are a great example of a good reward. They are unnecessary, they are small and will not take up much room, they are earmarked for a specific purpose (my craft) and they are inexpensive.

Other good rewards I think should be a long bubble bath, reading a book amid the chaos and not feeling guilty, taking an afternoon out of the house when little bear is at nursery, listening to music (rarely manage that).

I shall have a long think about this. The other thing I need to do is break things down into small steps, so that it seems achievable, and that can be nice rewards, like starting a scarf before finishing another one.

Lesley, thank you.

2 comments:

sweet blondie blue eyes said...

Have a look at Fly lady on the MSE web site, she works by giving you goals, I know a lot of people find it inspirational and easy to follow. Once Little Bear starts to school you are going to have a bit more time.

When my children were small I found writing out a sort of rough timetable helped. Also setting a goal for the day....i.e. clear out and de-clutter 3 drawers. Be ruthless when de-cluttering, I know its so easy to say, 'oh i might need that one day' and put it back. If you haven't needed it for a year you are not going to need it.

Take care, I have fibromyalgia which is linked in some ways to ME, its not easy especially when you are feeling rotten, but I try to do as much as I an and recognise when I have reached my limit, so sit down with a cuppa for half an hour before starting again.

Wannabe Sybil said...

I'll have a look at the thread, Silver, but I have always felt a bit overwhelmed by the thread. You are right, though, to keep going. I give up too easily. WS x