Operation Irritation Elimination

If making lists makes a difference, then there is something every list should include; a minor irritation. Nothing huge, just something that  would make you less crazy if you didn’t have to deal with it. Little things like… say the scissors never being in the kitchen drawer when you reach for them or the way the bathroom door squeaks. Maybe you cringe every time the doorbell rings because it plays a tune instead of a lively ding-dong or perhaps each time you walk from your bedroom on time to leave for work you are late for leaving by the time you reach the car because one of those clocks is wrong. These are minor irritations, you can live with them, they don’t impair your ability to function…or do they?

Imagine being at the office and shutting things down at the end of the day. You turn off your computer and things seem quieter, your printer and things get a little quieter. You turn off the coffee machine, the photocopier and fax machine and the quiet grows. By the time you turn off the light it’s eerie silent. In that moment you realize just how much noise all of those machines where producing, it’s incredible how much white noise bombards our senses while we go about our ordinary average day. It’s doesn’t stop our ability to perform but boy does it ever enhance our calm when the crush of subliminal noise is gone.

Minor irritations are subliminal mood squishers. It might only be the sandwich not fitting in the baggie, no big deal, but you struggle every morning making it work, curse under your breath and pick up the exact same baggies the next time you are at the supermarket. Imagine saying enough is enough and buying reusable sandwich containers that will always fit your sandwich and leave your ham & cheese free of denting from your lunchbox apple. You will have completely eradicated an entire unpleasantness from your day! This might not seem like a huge deal but imagine if you eradicated three or four maybe even ten or twelve, how fantastic would that be?

It would be AWESOME! In my books if you’re decreasing your frustration you are increasing your joy.

I’m on day #11 of Operation Irritation Elimination. As soon as I think “This makes me nuts!” I put the item on the list and it stays there until it’s fixed.

My list of Irritations and fixes so far:

Day 1   Crooked pictures – I straighten the same picture 12 times a week. The fix: Glue dots used for gift basket wrapping and scrapbooking (you can find them at craft stores or that nifty DollarTree) put them on the back of the picture, level, press to the wall and never straighten the darn picture again!

Day 2   Moving Mats – Hardwood and ceramic floors mean I have mats, mats that migrate all over the house! The fix: breakdown and get some of the rubber grippy stuff to put under them, done!

Day 3   Sandwich Baggies – I have this, my family likes sandwiches made on pitas and wraps, they never fit nicely without persuasion into a sandwich bag, not EVER. The fix: Glad sandwich containers. Cheap, reusable, every sandwich (practically) fits with ease and I’m not worried if they don’t make it home from school!

Day 4   The fridge handle – Our new home came with the fridge included as a chattel. (good thing because our old fridge wouldn’t have gotten in the house) The fridge is terrific, except the having to walk around and open it from the wrong side part instead of it opening into the kitchen like it should. The fix: I put it on the ‘honey do’ list and voila! it’s all better. Okay it was a little bit of work for Mike to take the handles off and switch things around but I feel better.

Day 5    I don’t have one – I never never never have those things people (by people I mean husbands and children) ask you for, on hand when they need it. I don’t have gum and nail clippers and antibacterial hand sanitizing wipes in my purse, I run out of kleenex and cough drops. The Fix: Today I loaded my purse up with those things; bandaids, hand cream, dental floss and phone chargers. Now nobody will ask me for them.

Day 6   Change for the bus – Teenagers in the house means that there is always somebody taking the bus. They take the bus home from school, to work, home from work and to the mall to hangout in the food court and giggle at boys under the pretense of eating french fries. There is always more week left at the end of the bus tickets and the house ends up scrambling for change 3 minutes before the bus is due. The fix: I bought an extra strip of tickets and stashed them where the kids can’t find them.

Day 7   Battle of the snowpants – It’s winter, it’s cold, there is snow on the ground and my son who is ten is inevitably going to end up covered in it. Of course he is too cool to be the kid who shows up to school in snow pants and I am the mom who doesn’t like to have the same argument every morning. The Fix: a light weight pair of snowpants rolled up tight and stuffed in the bottom of his backpack for ’emergencies’. He’s ten, surely he can tell when he’s cold and when he’s just being silly.

Day 8   The sock basket – I hate socks, I hate matching them and folding them and putting them away! I toss them all into a big basket while I’m folding laundry and then every morning someone dumps the sock basket on my bed and we each find what we need. The fix: I have no fix, if there is an answer I don’t know what it is, but I am very open to ideas!

Day 9  Pens without purpose – in my desk at work I have a stash of pens, half of them don’t work. Every time I need a pen I grab one out, scribble those ‘get it working’ circles, determine it defunct, mutter and return it to the draw in favour of another. The fix: Today I threw out all of those empty pens!

Day 10  Shoes – everyone comes in the house and so does their dirt! Everyday I sweep a thousand pounds of traction sand off the landing and vacuum the mat. The fix: New rule; remove your footwear in the garage. Now it’s Daddy’s problem.

Day 11   The shower curtain – I have this lovely shower curtain with these cute little hooks that match perfectly and look like blazer buttons, I love them but the hooks stick on the rod, they jam up on one another and every 3rd one falls off the rod. The fix: I trashed the cute little hooks for cheap white plastic rings that snap shut, they look terrible but they work like magic!

I have no idea what will make me nuts tomorrow and what might land on the list but I am certain there is likely to be something. Rest assured it won’t be around for long. I can hear my kids whispering to one another, “Don’t make Mom nuts or she’ll fix you” …haha, silly children somethings can’t be fixed.

Care to join me on my quest? What’s irritating you, how are you ‘Fixing’ it and do you have a solution to my sock issue?