Time

[kyriani]

How does one get more time to do household maintenance crap without giving up the things you want to do to relax in the evenings? It's not like playing games is any different than the american pasttime of watching TV (except more interactive) and I only get about 3-4 hours of gametime in on an average week night. Yet I cannot find time to do

Comments

[arcticturtle]

People who have clean homes astonish me.

Best I can do is multitask. For instance, I can fold laundry while gaming.

[xavoc]

Many things can be handled by taking a few extra seconds out of your life to arrange your environment.

Eat dinner? Take a couple of minutes to soak or clean the dishes.
Changing clothes? Sort them by color/load as you take things off.
Doing laundry? Fold/hang laundry/sort socks while playing game/watching movie.

Schedule break times in your gaming. It reduces the stress on your eyes, and also encourages you to get up and work on something else for a few minutes.

[kyriani]

Eat dinner = either eating out or nuking something (no dishes fortunately). Though Matt cooks very rarely and we do clean up afterwards.
Unfortunately we have no where to put clothing other than the laundry basket or on the floor/couches so generally we have assorted piles around. Furniture (lack thereof) is a problem, but we are trying to save up to move and don't want to move too much, so I've had very very minimal furniture for 5 years.
And if you've done any pvp in MMOs, you know there is no where safe to go while you fold/hang laundry & such, you are constantly on the go and in battle. But yeah, I should get movies or something and take the night off from gaming if I need to do laundry, so I can just pause the movie to get stuff done.

I'm not quite sure how to schedule breaks in something that requires me as one of 8 people constantly interacting with each other, other players, and the game. Its pretty much take a night off pvping in order to get stuff done (and force the guild to find someone else) or my normal mode.

[_pollox]

How does one get more time to do household maintenance crap without giving up the things you want to do to relax in the evenings?

if you figure it out, please let me know ;-)
(the snickering you hear in the background is probably my former roommates...)

[hydrolagus]

I do it in flurries, a batch at a time when the mood strikes me. There are certainly things that get ignored for months (oog), but it stays ok. One big win is wash-as-you-go cooking, so there's only the pan and the plate/bowl to do after eating. Wm's been handling most of the cooking lately, so I've been off the hook on that front.

[kyriani]

Yeah right now we pretty much do it randomly on weekends when either it gets bad enough or we get the energy/motivation to do so.
We very rarely cook, so dishes aren't a huge deal, but will probably become more and more in the future since Matt is off now. Its mostly the stuff around the apartment that keeps building up that is the problem, and partially its because we dont have anywhere to put stuff (computer desks with chairs, 2 couches, and a bed are our only furniture) and so it just piles all around. ^_^

[woggie]

The way I've been doing it is game for a while, then get up and do a chore, then come back. If your game has a pause function or your MMO has a place you can put your character where they aren't in danger, then that's the way to go.

Dishwashers are your friend. And clothes can't be done all at once, so you can game in between loads. It's like that.

Is any of this helping?

[kyriani]

We have no dishwasher, though dishes aren't our major problem. The clutter/trash is. Generally I can't pause or find someplace safe while I am pvping in game, so I mostly have to take the night off to get stuff done. I wish our laundry washer/dryer was in the apartment, but its 2 flights down and requires 8 quarters a wash and there are only 4 washers and 4 dryers for 50 apartments, so often when I have time to I get foiled. Ah well, hopefully our next place will be better. :D

[woggie]

You have trash cans, yes?
Any time you forage in the kitchen, throw away three more pieces of trash than whatever you just generated. The trash will gradually retreat until you have none left.

I personally prefer short bursts of cleaning to long, drawn out periods of it. I find I have more enthusiasm if I set a timer for ten minutes and clean everything I can until the timer goes off, when I stop and go reward myself.

But I'm also low-energy most of the time.

[kyriani]

Ooooh I like that idea, thanks! ^___^