Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
—Earl Nightingale
“Who wants to go out for ice cream?” my husband asked on a Sunday summer evening. Our three children immediately responded, “Meeeeeeeeeee!!!”
I chuckled at their enthusiasm despite the long day we’d had, including the hassle of breakfast, church, lunch, and dinner with young children. As a matter of fact, I relaxed a little myself all day and left the dishes in the kitchen sink. But as I thought about time out for ice cream, I spied the sink full of dishes I had left from the day.
“David, why don’t you take the kids, and I’ll clean up and enjoy a little time for myself ?” My husband nodded, knowing it would give me a break. I thought I’d spend about half an hour on the dishes and then read a magazine or relax a bit before the busy week ahead.
As I washed dishes, I thought about how this simple task used to take all evening. With no plan and lots of interruptions, it became a never-ending process. At least now I had shortened it to ten minutes after every meal. So three meals today should only take thirty minutes, I told myself. I started the dishwasher, cleaned the pans, wiped down the counters, and swept the floor. When I sat down and glanced at the clock, I was surprised. It had taken me an hour and a half!
My rest was short-lived as the family came piling in a few minutes later. I missed my entire break time—over what? A day’s worth of dishes. How disappointing to miss ice cream and peace and quiet.
At that moment I suddenly saw what I had not seen before, and a time principle was forever etched in my mind. Maintenance is always more effective and efficient than a big cleanup. What should have taken thirty minutes took three times as long! That’s a real time waster.
You, too, can save time by putting away household clutter of dishes, laundry, and paperwork as you go. Here are three systems to streamline cleaning up the clutter at home.
Quick Cleanups Save Time
It takes only one step to put an item away immediately after using it. But it takes two steps to use an item and set it down before putting it back later. Here are some examples of short cleanups:
Hang up your coat when you take it off instead of dropping it on the couch.
Put your bags, mail, and briefcase away when you walk through the door instead of dropping them on a counter.
Put your paperwork away when you’re finished instead of leaving it out.
A Quick Pickup Each Morning and Evening Saves Time
I’m always looking for faster ways to save time and keep a nice-looking home. The best way I’ve found is to notice which efforts keep my personal space in order with the least amount of effort.
System #1: Morning Cleanup Routine
1. Make the beds: 2 minutes each
2. Pick up the bathrooms: 5 minutes
3. Clean up the kitchen: 15 minutes
When I asked an audience of preschool mothers what happens after the morning routine of making beds, picking up the bathrooms, and cleaning up the kitchen, one mom with a newborn and two toddlers raised her hand and answered, “Lunch?”
After the audience had a good chuckle, I reassured her the three hours of household chores between nine and twelve would shorten to thirty minutes or less once the children were older and able to do more things for themselves. Good routines improve as you practice getting better results, all with an eye to creating your own time-saving shortcuts.
System #2: Evening Cleanup Routine
1. Complete the mail: 15 minutes
2. Put away laundry: 10 minutes
3. Pick up clutter: 10 minutes
When you pick up clutter and put away personal and household items each day, you follow the same principle I learned when I missed my ice cream outing: maintenance takes two-thirds less time than a big cleanup.
A Time-Saving Weekly Schedule
Save yourself additional time by planning the tasks you have to do each week to keep your life running smoothly. These might include banking, errands, filing, emptying wastebaskets, and completing projects. Sometimes it feels like more than we can handle. But when you put the tasks on paper, they become less daunting.
System #3: The Weekly Cleaning Routine
Weekly Cleaning Strategic Tasks
1. Empty trash cans.
2. Change bed linens.
3. Vacuum traffic areas.
4. Mop or sweep the kitchen and bathroom floors.
5. Eliminate an annoying pile.
6. Complete a project from your project list.
7. Include banking, fueling your car, and shopping in your weekly plan.
Don’t Just Think About It—Take Action!
Making a list is a great idea, but your chance of finishing the tasks on that list will be reduced by 50 percent unless you link it to your calendar or other time management system. For the most productive use of your time, assign a task to a particular day of the week and stick to it.
Save time and eliminate worry and stress by doing the same tasks on the same day each week. Your schedule will then “decide” for you the “when” and “what.” Just do it and be done.
Visible and Invisible Clutter
There are two kinds of clutter: visible and invisible. The visible clutter sits out on your countertops, desk, and tables, while the invisible clutter is hidden behind closed cabinets, closets, and drawers. Both kinds can slow you down and sap your mental and emotional energy.
For instance, if you have clutter on your countertops, and you spend five minutes a day looking for an item, that’s 30.4 hours a year spent looking for something in a drawer or paper pile. Think about it. You could have an extra three days each year to use in a more enjoyable way if you just put things away. What great motivation to clean up the clutter!
Find a “Giveaway” Spot and Fill It
What if you want to get rid of something in order to simplify your life? It would waste time to drive to Salvation Army only to deliver one extra curling iron. So what can you do?
Save time by designating a “giveaway” spot in your garage or closet with neatly marked boxes, such as the following:
giveaway clothes
giveaway stuff (items other than clothing)
giveaway media (books, CDs, and DVDs)
You can choose whether to give these items away to a charity or needy family, or you could sell them in a garage sale. One time I sold several boxes of items at a friend’s garage sale over the course of two weekends. With the earned income we bought a new light fixture for our foyer. But more important, I saved a total of 12.5 hours for the year by not spending five minutes per item to clean, sort, or store the things we sold or gave away. That’s time saved and freedom gained.
One of my class participants, Jan Hickerson, a Realtor, was getting ready to move. She shared how she collected all the unopened tools and products her husband hadn’t used and, with his permission, returned them to Home Depot. She proudly displayed the credit slip for $276 and enjoyed the cleared space.
A friend of mine interviewed a cleaning lady who refused to work for her unless she put away some of the many collectibles she had on display. Chris learned some-thing from the experience. “I never realized how much clutter these items added to our living space. Marcia, you’d be proud of me. My home is now uncluttered and easier to keep in order––and I have saved a great deal of cleaning time each week.”
It’s Your Time
Clean Up the Clutter (Time Habit #5)
□ Commit to cleaning one stressful area regularly (e.g., kitchen papers or laundry).
□ Find “homes” for homeless items that pile up.
□ Put away clutter every day until your counters and floors are clean and clutter free.
Creating open space is a two-step process. First, clear clutter from all flat surfaces one at a time. That includes the desktop, counter, table, shelf, windowsill, floor, and any other surfaces. After you have cleared all the flat surfaces, then you begin to delve into the inner spaces: drawers, cupboards, closets.
—Porter Knight