The long list of small annoying house jobs
And how I tackle them
The post I should be writing is the one I promised about my double bathroom renovation, with before and afters and resources and all those things interiors obsessed people (myself included) seem to enjoy. But a post like that feels like work. And while I’m not work shy, with my writing I like to be freeeee! I’ll wake up with the seed of an idea and I go with it, making it up as I go along. Something that Annabel, the wonderful editor of all my books - were she to read these posts - would probably say, “Hmm yes, I can tell you made it up as you went along…”
Putting together a post like that requires research: Old photos must be found and resized and uploaded; paint colours must be remembered; tile and sink and shower enclosure resources must be searched again and listed and linked to; the deep recesses of my memory must be trawled for useful tidbits to share about do’s and don’ts. Never underestimate the amount of work that goes into a resource list or a renovation article - we’re so used to reading these pieces that we forget the slog involved.
It gives me the same feeling as writing an essay at university. Picture me burning the midnight oil in a library on the Boston University campus in 1995 crying over having to write the footnotes and the bibliography of an essay I’ve already struggled with. Ah the joys of being a writer.
So I won’t be writing that piece today.
Today I will be tackling my Long List of Small, Annoying House Jobs. It is Sunday and I have no plans other than to cross off something from this list. But first I wanted to write about it, which may or may not be procrastination…
The subheading above - “and how I tackle them” - is, I must admit, a bit click-baity. Because the truth is, lately I’ve been struggling to tackle them. The problem is there are so many small jobs around the house and they all need doing and once complete they will be part of the bigger picture of the house’s overall done-ness (Long time readers will know how I feel about a home being done. It never really is), but as stand alone jobs they seem too insignificant or irritating or both to begin. Most of them require buying or finding some kit, maybe getting messy which then requires clean up, and so on. And so I’ve stopped myself before I even begin.
So I write a list. Not exactly groundbreaking, ok. This one is specifically a small house job list, there is also a house exterior list, a long term big house job list, a garden list, a Substack article idea list, a new products to design list, and many more.
Before writing any particular list, for months I find myself at various points in the day thinking, “Ugh I need to fix that thing, paint that thing, sell that thing,_____ ” and then inevitably I forget and then the next day I have the same thought when I see that same thing and it starts to feel like one more thing I’ve failed at.
The thing about this type of list is that by simply writing it, you can often begin to group similar jobs and formulate a plan to tackle them in an efficient way. For example, on this list so far I can see now that there are a couple of painting jobs, a couple of sewing jobs, a few hardware type jobs. On its own, ‘buy and attach small latches on sideboard’ is such a small job that the idea of having to get in the car and drive to a hardware shop, find the latches, get the drill out of the garage, and attach them seems like such a waste of time. Yet, every day that bloody door swings open because the latch is broken and I have to wedge a piece of paper in it to keep it closed and when I open the door the wedge of paper falls into the cat’s water bowl below and then the next day it happens all over again. So talk to me now about how I’m wasting time…
Writing my list has shown me that there can be a plan and an order to things. A trip to the hardware store isn’t so annoying if I’m getting all the bits for the hardware type jobs on the list; getting out the painting gear isn’t such a pain if I know there are a few painting jobs that will get done; setting up the sewing machine isn’t so fiddly if I know I’ll be tackling a couple of sewing jobs over the course of the next couple of days. This might sound obvious to some, but I find that even having worked on photo shoots for years and my organisation having to be on point while prepping and on set, at home I can get overwhelmed by all the small jobs and then they just never get done.
I’m lucky because my children are no longer at home - let me re-phrase that. I miss them so much it sometimes physically hurts. But…their not being here and needing me every 15 seconds means I have more time to dedicate to my home. I do also have to work to pay for it all, but I am no longer dressing and feeding and caring for a family. Point being, my list will be different from yours and my priorities will also be different, but regardless, a list is how I cope. It also means that your Long List of Small Annoying Jobs might happen over a longer period of time than mine. But when you’re at that point where you’re sick of thinking about the things you have to do, there is no better way than getting it down on paper and sticking it somewhere you can’t avoid it.
What I love about writing here is that I’m learning with you. Remember that seed of an idea I mentioned? I woke up today knowing I wanted to write about my list, but it was only by writing about it here that I saw the pattern emerge. I didn’t know what I was going to tell you about how to tackle your long list, but now I see clearly that a lot of the time there will be groups of jobs that can be done together to make each small annoying thing seem more achievable and less of a waste of time.
The only decision I have to make now is, today do I want to get covered in paint, wood dust, or sewing threads?
And the video was hilarious (albeit unintentionally so). That’s me in every conversation I have with people. Start out at (a) and get to (b) via the carotid artery.
Obsessed with that note from a concerned neighbour is it real?!