Decluttering FOO (Friend of Oprah) Peter Walsh claims all you need is 15 minutes a day, every day, to wrangle the piles around your house. The charmingly downhome FlyLady swears by the 27-Fling Boogie to rid yourself of all the junk that's bogging you down. Even my kindergarten teacher, Miss Panda, had a quick, effective technique that she called Chipmunk Clean-Up to get us to put away all the crayons, books, puzzles, and blocks that we had scattered about.
All three had the same idea: just do it. Chop chop. No dilly-dallying. All too often, however, I'll get sidetracked in my cleaning pursuits--simply because I don't have a plan of attack. I see messes, I see piles, I see some really boring tasks ahead of me and my instinct is to see what's on HGTV. Maybe if I watch just one (more) show about other people's houses, then I'll be inspired to tackle the clutter.
So, tonight, I turned on some rousing music, set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes, and went to it. I emptied the dishwasher, washed the pots, loaded the new round of dirty dishes, recycled that red wine vinegar bottle from three days ago, put last week's grocery list and some random receipts in the recycling bin, gave the stovetop a quick scrub and the countertops a wipe down, put away two pairs of my boots and three pairs of shoes, folded the reusable grocery bags, and yes--dear FlyLady--I even shined my sink. (To her standards, no, but anything is better than nothing, right?)
All in 15 minutes? Well, not quite. I tacked another 8 minutes onto the timer, but the kitchen is pretty darn spiffy right now, if I do say so myself.
So, what are you waiting for? Go clear the clutter--one pile at a time.
_________________________________________________________________________ © 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making the space--both mentally and physically--to live happily ever after. (image from The Household Helper)
