Mother’s Day gift idea
Great points and I can hear the enthusiasm in your words. Here’s the catch…unless you develop a routine or any other sustainable approach that works for your own personality, it’s like to be like a fad-diet that leads to a crash & burn of sorts and you are left becoming more lax on things again, but with an additional heaping of guilt on yourself. What has worked for many people I know is to develop a routine and an auto-pilot approach. As you mentioned, cleaning as you go is a really great way to shorten the time a task takes AND the mental exertion put into its completion (seeing undone things are very demotivating). When we notice what tasks can be integrated into our life as a routine (like loading dishwasher after dinner, empty dishwasher in the morning when making coffee/tea, etc.), we are able to think through what can happen & when, rather than trying to remember what needs to be done while “in the moment” AND doing half a dozen other things. As for undone tasks, like getting side-tracked and missing the opportunity to do the laundry as soon as its dried, that’s where the auto-pilot approach comes in. When we do something at the same time each day, or right after/before something else, etc. we are creating internal reminders for ourselves that aren’t as easily forgotten as thinking we can just remember to do it.
What a great post today! I love your idea of picking up as you go. This will force me to have better time management as I usually get in a hurry and leave a mess for later. I already implement the 10 minute rule ~ get as much done as you can in 10 minutes. When I don’t feel like doing chores I break it down in 10 minute increments throughout the day. The ten minute rule also works well for children!
Of course I know you’re absolutely right. My problem is that I’ll talk myself out of doing these things right away because I’m in a hurry or eager to move on to the things I actually WANT to do. I never thought about how much time it is costing me in the long run. You have a knack for pointing out things that should be so obvious, but somehow aren’t without a little guidance
You are so right about this! If I could just stay on top of dishes instead of letting them pile up… what a time saver that would be!
I do pick up our living room every night. Nothing is worse than waking up to clutter everywhere. (Why can’t I apply this to my kitchen?!) I also make the beds every morning… it feels better to crawl into a made bed every night plus it save a little bit of my sanity by creating the facade that my bedroom is clean.
I know it’s easier to clean it up now, but I constantly procrastinate. Why do I do that?!? You’re right, not only does it take much more time later, but it drives me crazy to look at the mess. I’m off to declutter right now…