Tag: clean home

Baby Step #10: The Power of 15 Minutes

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I can do a lot of things for 15 minutes, easy. I can scroll Instagram for 15 minutes. I can work in my garden for 15 minutes. I can read a really good book for 15 minutes. I can cuddle on the couch with my family and watch 15 + minutes of a fun show.

Get it? We really can do anything for 15 minutes. The enjoyable activities are a piece of cake. Cleaning, picking up, tidying, well, those aren’t so fun. There is power in 15 minutes. Grab a timer. It’s really not that long; but we can get a lot accomplished.I’ve been building from the 2 Minute Hot Spot:

  • Wednesday’s Hot Spot: My Living room ledge
  • Thursday’s Hot Spot: Kitchen Table
  • Friday’s Hot Spot: Kitchen Table

I’ve also been building from the 5 Minute Room Rescue:

  • Wednesday: Master Bedroom
  • Thursday: Master Bedroom
  • Friday: Livingroom

Next, I added the 15 Minutes Declutter to my Evening Routine:

I can’t Clean or Organize Clutter. So Decluttering for 15 Minutes a Day is the first and essential step to getting my house to feeling of clean and calm I desire.

Like I said in a previous post, I spent a few hours Decluttering my Master Bedroom a few weeks ago. I still have spots I need to tackle, though.

I lump my Master Bedroom and Bathroom together because I consider it one space. On Friday, I set my timer for 15 minutes and tackled the space under my bathroom sink. I have a small 3 drawer caddy that I quickly went through. That has extra floss, tooth paste, razors etc. I didn’t have much to purge there. Next to the caddy I had empty cleaner bottles and various other bottles I didn’t need. There were a few other things I could toss as well. In 15 minutes the space was emptier and looked much more organized. (Not the pile of “who knows what” it looked like before.)

Spoiler Alert: Decluttering never really ends. It’s kinda like laundry. Sorry to burst any bubbles. It was a hard pill for me to swallow; but once we see Decluttering as an ongoing process, we can make it a habit and a way of life Once we declutter, surface cleaning becomes so much easier. Or so I’ve been told.

Decluttering Tip: Have a trash bag or donate box handy when you declutter. You only want to touch items once. Touch them once when you put them in the bag or box. Then, they go directly into your car so you can drive around with them for 3 months in your trunk before you bring them to Good Will.

Kidding!!! Who does that. Not me!! No, never…………

This is actually the situation in my bedroom right now. This pile all needs to go to Good Will. I do not suggest leaving it on your bedroom floor like I am currently doing. Please do not follow my example! This week my goal is to get this to a donation site and out of my sight for good.

It seems like I’m just randomly picking rooms to Rescue or Declutter. Fly Lady has a method for tackling your home and I’m getting into it in the next Baby Step. Stay Tuned.

Baby Step#9: Five Minute Room Rescue

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The Fly Lady’s method is all about building habits to keep our house tidy and running smoothly. This isn’t just about keeping a clean house. It’s about managing our home without it overtaking our lives. It’s about making our house a home, a haven.

I don’t especially love cooking, cleaning and the like. I sure like the results when I do all those things, though. My family likes it, too.

This is why I started doing Fly Lady. I haven’t gone through the steps as quickly as I thought I would. I’m still showing up, though. I’m not going to quit.

It’s not about making my home perfect and picture worthy (Though, I’d like a few of those days!). If your house is messy and cluttered, and you try these steps, it is going to look better. Just in the past weeks with me only completing 9 of the 31 steps, I see a difference.

Today we talk about about the 5 Minute Room Rescue.

First, let’s chat about CLUTTER for just a bit.

You can’t clean or organize clutter. You just can’t.

I know. I know. Everyone talks about clutter. Marie Kondo had a whole series on Netflix, about clutter, which I binged watched in one day.

I am starting to work on the clutter in my home. Step 10 is going to help with this. So, while we will get to clutter in our next step, a 5 Minute Room Rescue is going to help us keep the house picked up while we tackle clutter.

Now, I could have gone about this a few different ways. I could have picked the room in the house that was the worst and most cluttered (Henry’s room). I could have picked the most visible room in the house. This is the one people see when they first enter my home. (Kitchen) Or, I could have picked the room that brings me the most stress when I enter. (My bedroom)

I picked my bedroom.

Your 5 Minute Room Rescue will just start with surface cleaning. We are going to work our way up to decluttering. Just get started.

5 minutes a day. That’s it. Just 5 minutes. Pick up the visible trash first. Next, put things back in their proper place. Then hit the spots that need a little more thought.

Remember, the goal isn’t to declutter. We are just cleaning.

To be fully honest, about two weeks or so ago, I was so fed up with the piles in my bedroom that I spent a few hours in my room decluttering. If you have time, do that! Get in there and declutter. It feels so good.

Today, I timed myself for 5 minutes. I worked really hard for those 5 minutes. I did zero decluttering. It was just putting things in their proper place and taking dirty mugs to the dishwasher.

If I keep working in my bedroom this next week, those 5 minutes will add up. Then I can move on to another room. Fly Lady has a way to go about this with her Zone Cleaning Method; but I haven’t got that far in the Baby Steps yet.

I will probably add a 5 Minute Room Rescue to my Evening Routine. I’ll try that for the next week and see if that is a good time for that task.

More thoughts on decluttering to come! Let’s take it once step at a time, though.