My (Latest) Outrageous DIY Procrastination Story
If you’re a DIYer, you more than likely have at least one DIY procrastination story, right? (I’m hoping you answered “yes”, and that I’m not alone here!!) Perhaps it was something that you built up in your mind to be a much bigger deal (and much more difficult) that it actually is, so you put it off far too long, only to realize that the solution was quick and simple?
Well, after my last DIY procrastination situation, I’ve decided to add “stop procrastinating” to my list of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve always been a procrastinator, but what happened two days ago proved to me that this behavior simply doesn’t pay. Here’s what happened…
Two days ago, I was talking to Matt, lamenting about how I feel like I’ll just never be one of those people who (seemingly effortlessly) maintains a clean and organized home. I mean, I’ve shown you how out of control things can get around here.
I know…it’s shameful. But my tiny kitchen just always seems to eat up my time! I told Matt that I feel like I spend all of my time washing dishes. By the time I finish the dishes, and then get everything else put away, my time has been eaten up, leaving very little time for me to concentrate on other rooms.
After I finished my pity party, I waited for Matt’s response, expecting a flood of sympathy coming my way. Instead, he looked at me with a puzzled look on his face, and asked, “Kristi, why are you washing dishes by hand? We have a dishwasher. Why aren’t you using it?”
Oh dear. The dishwasher. Why wasn’t I using it?! The truth is that when I installed my butcherblock countertops and new single bowl sink, I had to do a bit of rerouting on the plumbing (since we used to have a double bowl sink), and I got rid of the dedicated drain pipe for the dishwasher. Not to worry…garbage disposals have a spout on the side of them where you plug in the dishwasher drain tube.
The problem? The rubber seal on the end of my drain tube didn’t fit the spout on my garbage disposal. I needed an adapter to make it fit. And for some reason, every single time I would go to Home Depot, I would completely forget to look for an adapter. For some reason, it just never made it onto my list of things I needed to buy.
So I washed dishes by hand. Then washing dishes by hand became a habit. After so long, it didn’t even seem strange to me anymore that I had a dishwasher that I wasn’t using. It didn’t even dawn on me that this wasn’t exactly normal. That is, it didn’t seem strange to me until Matt asked the question.
So off to Home Depot I went to purchase the less-than-ten-dollar adapter kit,
Then I came home an installed it in five minutes. Five minutes.
And the most unbelievable part of this story? I installed my countertops and new sink in December of 2009. That’s two years. TWO YEARS! I’ve been washing dishes by hand (and wasting precious time) for two years because I procrastinated on a DIY project that cost less than $10 and took less than five minutes.
Indeed, procrastination doesn’t pay.
Please tell me you’ve done something just as ridiculous, and I’m not alone in my DIY procrastination.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
i must admit this made me laugh out loud – a 2 year procrastination – that takes the cake.
I know…shameful. And I bet if I look around, I can find projects that I’ve waiting far longer to complete. 😀
I don’t think you’re strange for hand washing your dishes. I have a lot of friends and family that have a dishwasher, but choose to wash their dishes by hand. I use my dishwasher a lot though, sometimes twice a day!!
I too find hand-washing dishes eats up a LOT of my time… I put almost everything in the dishwasher, but plastic cups and bowls always stay wet and Pots and Pans just don’t belong in there. I am torn. I just have to do both, and I shouldn’t wait until the sink is overflowing to wash them but I do. =(
Haha! This is the second DIY procrastination story I’ve come across this morning.
Although we haven’t lived in our house very long, we have our fair share of procrastination, too. I finished rehabbing a door in July – it’s still not hung. We ripped out ancient horse hair plaster from an entire room last January – that plaster is still sitting in big rubbermaids in that room. We started painting the living room in November 2010, leaving a corner bare so that we could patch the plaster…that corner of the room still isn’t painted.
Yep, you’re not alone!
Oh wow…you’ve got a few big projects going on! I hope you make lots of progress on them this year!
Right now, I have a lime green couch sitting in my dining room waiting to be re-upholstered. I’m procrastinating because I’m scared I won’t do it right. Who knows how long that’ll sit there!
Oh, that reminds me…I have a sofa and two chairs that need to be reupholstered! Alright. We can do this. This year. Let’s not put it off any longer!
My mom did the same thing with a wall oven when I was 8 years old. We finally took care of the problem when I was a SENIOR in high school. My mom wasn’t a big cook, and really, none of us thought much about the fact that we didn’t have a working oven in the house….
So about nine years? Ha! That’s funny! I think an oven is definitely something I could live without. I can’t even remember the last time I used it! I do all of my cooking on the stove.
Kristi, I can afford to giggle at your post, because I can r.e.l.a.t.e. so well.
We had a garbage disposal for THREE years. Three years it sat out in the garage in its box. It seemed like an overwhelming task. Knowing we had bought it and it was a few steps outside my kitchen door was a nice feeling. Yet, it was easy to forget about it because I was just wrapping anything “scrappy” in newspaper and tossing it out with the trash.
I love your transparency. And I’m joining you this year on taking care of things I’ve put off throughout most of 2011. I love the feeling when a dreaded task is completed, don’t you? It’s just the getting-to-it part that’s hard. Enjoy that dishwasher! (And I absolutely love the color of your kitchen cabinets! Made me drool…)
Three years!! Now I don’t feel so silly about my waiting two years to hook up my dishwasher. 😀
I love, love, love the “keeping it real” posts. So refreshing to hear that we all have things that we just deal with instead of taking care of. I have procrastinated (or am too cheap) to get my car gas cap door fixed. Every time I get gas I have to wedge a credit card between the little gas cap door and then go to pull the lever. Then I fish my credit card out from wherver it falls. Lotsa fun, especially the strange looks I get….
How funny! It’s so interesting how we just get used to the little quirks in our homes and cars, that dealing with them in creative ways just becomes second nature to us.
Hahaha, thanks for keeping it real! I always kick myself for procrastination because of the same trend: I dread a task or project and put it off for weeks/months, and it always takes less than an hour. Maybe I crave that feeling of relief that comes with it finally being accomplished. Hope you enjoy your dishwasher and newfound time!
Well, the silver lining is at least you’ve been saving a lot of water and burning tons of calories! Hahaha 🙂
Yes, I can relate. I primed a darkly painted wall in our bedroom back in July, and still have not painted it! I always have big plans for painting, but then take forever to get started because I know it takes a big chunk of time and so much prep/clean-up.
Your dishwasher story reminded me of my parents. They bought a dishwasher and planned to put it in when they remodeled their kitchen. It didn’t get remodeled until all of the kids moved out TEN years later. During those ten years, the dishwasher just sat in its box in the basement while we kids washed the dishes!
Ten years!!???? Oh my…that’s funny!!
I tend to be pretty good on stuff around the house….but here’s a really stupid thing I do in the area of procrastinating: I will have something that needs to be mailed, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on an envelope, and then CARRY IT AROUND WITH ME ~ in my purse, in the car, in my pocket ~ walking by hundreds of mailboxes, without mailing the freakin’ thing! I’ve almost had my hydro turned off (more than once!) because I’ve been carrying the envelope around for weeks! BlaH!
Yeah, I call those the “finally fix it up when you move out” projects. We had stairway type spindles above a half wall in a room in our old house that bugged me for 3 years. (We called it the” baby crib room”.) It took 30 minutes to saw and remove them, sand the top and bottom rails and paint for the new tenants. It always amazes me how easy some dreaded projects are.
SO glad to hear / read there are others out there like me!
Oh yes I’m just as guilty. This reminds me of the time my son was little, so young he still didn’t know how to tie his shoes. Every time we had to go out I tied his shoes because I didn’t have the time to teach him. This went on for quite a while. Then one day a light bulb moment and I said to self, tying his shoes all the time adds up to way more time than showing him how to do it. I’m happy to say at 37 he knows how to tie his shoes lol
I can so relate to the tendency to procrastinate. I have projects I’ve started all over the house, but I get distracted by shiny objects and move on. The sad thing about my kitchen is that I tend to procrastinate even getting the dishes into the dishwasher. Right now my kitchen is full of dishes and here I am on my computer. No one would ever know I’m so messy since my house is always clean for company. Whew! I feel much better after that confession.