I seriously thought that my house would look this way every day when I was raising kids... My imagination was picture perfect. Then reality sets in... kid #1, then super reality check for kids 2 and 3 and by kids 4,5 and 6 I was watching, "This is your life" flash in front of me and all I saw were toast crumbs, barbies, Lego's, and single socks and shoes with no matches.Here's the blazing truth: Everyday you HAVE to do the minimum. So, what's the minimum work you can do for the Maximum impact? Girl- I'm queen at this! Read on...
- Get up and Get Ready: We'll talk more about this later but have a little pride in your appearance and get that makeup on and wear shoes. You're gonna get through this morning routine so fast you'll have time to meet your girlfriends for lunch or a play date so be ready!
- Make the bed and do your breakfast thing and give yourself 10-15 minutes in the kitchen to tidy up after the nuclear mess your kids left before heading off to school.
- Devote 5 Minutes TOPS to each room! SOO Important! Just 5 minutes-- but the trick is that you have to race the clock. When I do this I break a sweat or break my neck. I work like I just won a trip to Tahiti and I have 5 minutes to clean the room or I forfeit. Remember to take care of the things in your line of site... don't get caught up organizing a drawer unless the room "looks" spotless. If the room is clean, go ahead and use the extra time to clean windows or vacuum, wash finger prints...work yourself deeper into cleaning. Always use your time wisely.
- Minimum Daily Maintenance time is sacred: Your family and your home come before the rest of the world. Ignore the phone, let the kiddos veg out to Sesame Street or if you're into resistance training, strap one to each leg... try not to get distracted (hint, don't check your blog!).
Tomorrow we'll talk about those "other" schedules. They might take more than 5 minutes but doesn't it feel great to have a beautiful, manageable home? Off to clean, Palace Guests! Can't wait to hear about your results:)
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10 comments:
Thanks! This post is the reminder I needed. Ignoring the blogs, the phone, and TV are hard for me. When the kid is asleep, I want some ME time. And since I wasn't born with the freakishly CLEAN and ORGANIZED gene, my household minimum needs just don't fulfill my "me time" requirements. So, once again, thanks for this post. It makes me hopefull.
This has always worked wonders for me!:)
Lidy
I just need to get off the computer! LOL!!! I'd get so much done if it weren't for reading blogs. sigh
Great advice! I really need to learn to ignore my e-mail and the phone for at least an hour after my kids go to school.
How about cleaning while preggo? Whew!
Wheeeeee!!! I love this idea!
We sometimes do a 15 minute blitz in our house. We work as fast as we can to get the whole downstairs picked up in 15 minutes. It totally works and plays into my hubby's competitive streak. :-)
Kimba
You find the best pictures. I am queen of the 5 minutes rule - love it!
Loved your post today so much that I linked to it in my blog. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it all down. http://nagle5.blogspot.com/2009/02/today-feels-like-monday.html
Amen! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I work part time from home, and I'm supposed to be online by 9 a.m....but I WILL NOT turn the computer on, until the kitchen is clean...all the beds are made...a load of laundry is in, and one is folded...and all the kiddos (and myself) are dressed and ready for the day. Whew! It wears me out just to type it...but if I don't get those things done first thing...they might never get done. ;-)
I desperately need to work on this. Inspired am I!
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