Joyful Abode

When my apartment is OUT OF CONTROL messy, I like to do a 15 minute marathon. Let me explain.

Flylady has a whole list  of things to do to save your house, 15 minutes at a time. I choose to do mine differently.

Basically, I set the timer for 15 minutes and go to town cleaning in one room. Then, when the timer goes off, I finish up the small task I was working on and move to another room, set the timer again, and start over. Does each room get the deep cleaning I ultimately want to give it? No. But it ends up WAY better than it started.

Today I’m doing my 15-minute marathon.  And to inspire you, I’m tracking what I did in each 15 minutes.

Kitchen:

• cleaned out the fridge (threw out food I’m never going to eat)
• emptied the dish dryer
• washed all of the dishes beside the sink, filled the dishwasher
• started the dishwasher
• wiped down all of the counters with 409

Is it perfectly clean? No. Did I get to swiffer the floor? No. But is it better? Much!

Bathroom:

• put everything away… including medicine from when I was sick about a month ago.
• Wipe down counters and edges of the tub with a wet washcloth just to get the dust off.
• Cleaned the mirrors
• Refilled the soap dispenser
• Threw away old razors
• Decluttered hair things
• Swished the toilet
• Lysol-wiped the toilet seat and counters

Hmm… I didn’t get to swiffer this room either. Maybe after I do 15 minutes in each room, I’ll do another 15 to take out trash and swiffer.

 Bedroom/Office area:

• Put dirty laundry in hamper
• Went through a stack of mail, threw out trash
• Filed bills and paystubs
• Decluttered purse contents
• Made bed nicely
• Put books away (they pile up on the nightstands… do yours?)

Whew, MUCH better! Maybe T (the man) will vacuum for me when he gets here.

Living room (Currently the craft area):

•  When through another stack of mail (how does it sneak in??), threw out trash
• Decluttered some more items, including fabric scraps and some things from teaching this year
• Put away a bunch of shoes
• Made a stack of papers to go through later… not usually a good plan, but it’s Kosher during a 15-minute marathon!
• Some other general tidying-up

It’s no where near “done”… but it’s a vast improvement.

It’s 2:30 and my stomach is growling, so I’m taking a lunch break!  The dining room is an extension of the craft area right now, so it can stay how it is…

After lunch, I’ll do a quick trash-can round-up and take out the trash, swiffer the kitchen and bathroom, and empty the dishwasher. The apartment feels SO much better.