Cleaning Up, 5 Minutes at a Time

Every time I see a dead bug here, I thank wonderful Mr. Warder for his wonderful bug-killer spray. Living life in peace here.

Also living life a few hours off. I accidentally fell asleep last night while I was reading with Kal after he'd asked me to join him. That was before I'd finished cleaning the kitchen or writing a post for yesterday.

So, today was a restart at 4:15 when I woke up with the book flopped over. The kitchen is back to happy now, and I worked on several other tasks around the house. I get so much done before the house wakes up.

Folding laundry is next on the list. It almost becomes a game to see how much I can do before... Before church, before school, before work, before dinner is cooked, before the movie is over, before school pick-up, before...

I've enjoyed reading the FlyLady over the years, and her 15-minute rotation is a great idea to keep moving.

I've tweaked it for me to be 5 minutes per task. I call it a 5-minute hop-around.

It's amazing what can be done in 5 minutes or less:

• Load the dishwasher

• Unload the dishwasher

• Wipe the counters, island, and table

• Sweep the floor

• Sweep the deck and porch

• Change the laundry

• Fold a load of laundry

• Put away the laundry

• Speed-clean the bathroom (that's wiping down the mirror, sink, toilet, and floor, plus using the brush in the toilet; the shower and tub can be done while we're in there using it)

• Empty the trash cans from all over the house

• Make the beds

• Straighten up a room

• Clean the mirrors and windows in a room

• Dust a room, or several, if the knick-knacks are non-existent

• Wipe down the walls where I most regularly find hand prints smeared (sometimes, I think my family finger paints the walls with dirt)

• De-junk a drawer, a shelf, a box, a cabinet

• Pull out the sofa and clean up the scary mess that is underneath...

Scary mess under the sofa

It helps to have the tools and supplies needed in every area of the house that needs it, no matter how many multiples that requires. For us, it looks like:

• A broom for each hard floor area, inside and outside

• A vacuum for upstairs and one for downstairs

• Cleaning supplies or wipes under each bathroom sink, plus the kitchen

• Scissors, pens, and paper in every part of the house that we need those things regularly

• Trash cans in every room with extra bags stored at the bottom of each one

• A set of clean sheets in each bedroom for the bed or beds in that room

• Towels stored in the bathrooms, not in a linen closet away from all the bathrooms

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Time to get the family up for church. Have a happy Sunday!