15-Minute House Help
Lately, has your home resembled a college frat house on a Monday morning, after a weekend of hard partying? Maybe it looks like a park littered with debris after an outdoor concert. Perhaps your place has been in fine condition, but all you do is clean up after everyone, and they’re tap-dancing on your last nerve with their sloppy behavior.
You’re not alone.
With more people working and doing school from their residence during the day, it’s harder to maintain a semblance of order. I have something that works for us.
Daily, we do a fifteen-minute clean-up before lunch, and again before dinner. Everyone gets involved, peppy music is played, and we speed-clean our primary living space. This is especially helpful if you are homeschooling and have schoolbooks, papers, or laptops all over the dining room or kitchen table. Put the things away and not transfer more piles to another flat surface. Yes, you may have to get the same things out again, but maybe not. You hit the re-set button twice a day.
This isn’t the time to deep clean the refrigerator or organize the spice rack or tear apart the front hall closet. Leave that. You’re tackling the piles to clear surfaces, pick up random toys and shoes that somehow made it under the table, quickly fold that pile of towels on the sofa, and whisk away renegade crumbs from counters from multiple snacks since the last meal.
What do you need for this to work?
Adults must participate. If you’re cleaning up and bopping around to music, it will be easier to get others to follow along. Music gets people moving. Fast paced favorites make the time fly. If you can, blare it. The kids will love it. It will feel more like a party than drudgery. Take turns picking out the songs. You could make a house cleaning, fifteen minute playlist.
No cellphone use for anyone during this time. It’s only fifteen minutes. Set a timer. This part is key to getting others to help you. Let me say that again. Set a timer. Only fifteen minutes and they are free. You must stick with that, even if there’s more to do. You will have an easier time getting people to join in another day if you have them stop when the timer goes off. Now, if you have someone refusing to take part, you can give them something else to clean afterward while everyone else has free time or gets to eat. Their choice.
We do the early clean up when lunch is ready, and that varies from day to day. For the afternoon session, it’s at three o’clock. It seems to be a natural transition hour. During that time, also set your table for dinner. Yes, I know it’s early and maybe you need the space but hear me out. It’s a psychological thing. With the table prepared, part of the dreaded “Get ready for dinner” stuff is done. You might think about what to make well before your face is staring into the abyss of your pantry at 5:30 PM, and are tempted to get takeout.
This system has developed over the years for us. When we do this, we keep things picked up on our first floor, and the housework doesn’t seem so daunting. When I forget, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
The fifteen-minute concept for completing a task is not mine. Check out the free site of www.flylady.net for more tips on organizing your house. Warning: the site is impressive and quite the rabbit hole of information. Years ago, I devoured the concepts, and it caused a significant change in how I handled the housework when I had only five small ones at home. We have been doing things the “Flylady way” for many years. You don’t have to do everything she says all at once. Give a glance.
Thanks for reading. I hope this helps.