I am always up for a challenge. Well, almost always. But when my husband wrote this on his blog, it sounded worthwhile to me. I am the queen of dragging out my household chores. So when he suggested avoiding Parkinson's Law by making a list of things to do, assigning each task the time it would take to accomplish it, and then cutting that time in half, I took him up on it.
Today in my home is "Master Bedroom Day." Each area in my home has a cleaning day so that every day there is at least ONE area of the house that is spotless. That way when I'm feeling overwhelmed and, well, messy, I can go to this one room and feel like I have a little control. (Yes, the idea is from flylady. If it weren't for the 500 emails they send you a day, I would say the idea was a brilliant one.)
I began by making my list and assigning each task a time limit...
Make bed - 4 minutes
Pick up clothes in closet - 8 minutes (I'm a disaster inside my closet!)
Bathroom (incl. mirrors, counters, sinks & toilet) - 15 minutes
Vacuum - 8 minutes
I skipped the shower and tub today. I HATE cleaning the shower and tub. I'd choose 50 toilets over cleaning a shower.
Then I crossed off the times and wrote my new time beside each task. Cleaning supplies - check. Vacuum - check. Super Why for the kiddos - check. I headed upstairs to do some cleaning with a vengence. Here's my stats ...
Bed - 3 minutes (not bad)
Closet - 3 minutes (even I was surprised!)
Bathroom - 11 minutes (like I said, I skipped the shower)
But wait, what's that I hear??? Crying? Can't stop now, I'm in the zone! They'll be fine.
Vacuuming - 9 minutes (so I was a tad optimistic, but hey, if you don't take your time vacuuming, why bother?)
Total estimated cleaning time - 35 mintues
Actual cleaning time - 26 minutes
Not too shabby. I saved myself a total of 9 minutes. Hmmm. What to do with an extra 9 minutes?!?! Nap? Shower? Clean something else?
I start to head downstairs and -- grrr. I see that I will spend my 9 minutes scrubbing my entire stair rail that is now covered in tiny pen scribbles. I estimate it will only take me 20 minutes.
