5-Minute Clean-Up Works for Me!
Posted in Mixed Bag and tagged with Cleaning, Works for Me on February 20, 2008
When I’m going through busy times with school, work, and other responsibilities, my room starts to go a little wild. I’m a neat person usually, but I tend to get a stack of papers to be dealt with and a pile of clothes that are somewhere between clean and dirty (how long do you wear something before it gets dirty, anyway? Do I really need to rewash something I only wore for a couple of hours?).
My solution: spend 5 minutes working on cleaning up before going to bed. It helps to whittle down those piles to keep them managable, while taking no more time than it takes to check email or go to the bathroom. I make sure to time myself too, because I’m shocked at how much I can do in 5 minutes.
I’m sure this can be adapted to other areas of the house, as well as for children!
Spending five minutes cleaning up, it works for me!
Other Works-for-Me Wednesday ideas:
February 20th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Great idea! Thanks!
February 20th, 2008 at 7:08 am
That works for me, too! I always have piles of clothes around our bedroom, because they aren’t dirty, but semi-clean and I don’t want to hang them back in the closet.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:41 am
This works for me, too. Except I don’t just do it myself–I line up my 5 older children and have them work, too. I pretty much “manage” the clutter control by giving a specific direction to one child at a time. For example: Child One, “Take your [whatever toy is there] off the desk and put it away in your room. Then come back to see me.” Child Two, “Pick up all the socks that are on the floor and put them in the laundry.” Child Three, “Go in your room and pick up everything on the floor. Put it away or throw it away. Come back in 5 minutes.” Child Four, “Put all the books neatly on the shelf.” Child 5, “Organize all the shoes on the shoe shelf.”
While they work, I work, too. It’s amazing what we can all get done in just 5 or 10 minutes! I find that keeping clutter contained goes a long way in making the house look neat, even if it’s not perfectly clean.
Blessings,
Cindy
February 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
What a great tip! I love Cindy’s twist, too.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
There’s no way I’d remember that we were born in the same hospital…because you were born a little bit more than 7 months before I was. Hopefully you got out of the hospital by then.
And it’s perfectly fine for me to call Dr. Pepper “common,” since you’ve abandoned the true faith and have settled for your divisive Diet ways.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
This is a great tip and will help anyone. It’s alway amazing what 5 minute of focused effort will accomplish.
I do it with the kids too. An egg time would be a great motivator for the little guys. “See how much you can do before the beep”
You have been tagged for the “What’s On Your Refrigerator?” meme. It is a Meme and a contest! I’ll be giving away two free books. Read all about it at http://heartofwisdom.com/heartathome