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Clutter Control: "The Ten Minute Tidy"
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Clutter Control: "The Ten Minute Tidy"
by Deborah Taylor-Hough - DSimple@aol.com
Description: Tips for controlling clutter around the house.
Housework and I haven't always been friends. It's
been
a struggle over the past twenty-three years of
married life
to learn the habit of keeping a neat and orderly
home.
Some days I'm more successful at it than others, but
I'm learning and growing in this area constantly.
I've often found that reading assorted books by
housework
"experts" are more depressing than they are
inspiring for
those of us who are a bit domestically challenged.
Yes,
these experts know what they're doing. But so often
I
don't feel like they have even a glimpse of how
difficult
basic housekeeping can be for someone who just
doesn't
seem to have it in their genes to do it naturally.
One of the most helpful and simplest things my
children
and I do to maintain our home is something we've
dubbed
the Ten Minute Tidy. What it invovles is this:
Everyone
runs around the house picking up clutter and putting
it
away as fast as they can for ten minutes.
Whenever I notice that the main living areas of the
house
are getting that well lived-in look, I call for a
Ten Minute
Tidy. Everyone drops whatever they're doing and
then
flies into "pick-up-the-stuff" mode. I actually set
a kitchen
timer for ten minutes and when it goes off, we're
done.
Usually I tidy the kitchen and main bathroom myself
while the kids tidy the living room, family room,
and if
there's still time left, their bedrooms. It's
amazing how
quickly the house can go from looking messy to
looking
neat when everyone works fast, works together, and
works smart.
The purpose of the Ten Minute Tidy isn't to actually
deep
clean the house, but to tidy up the rooms so our
home
looks neat and livable again. The cleaning and
regular
maintenance is done during a scheduled "Upkeep" time
each day. I always focus the Ten Minute Tidy on the
areas that make a first impression when people enter
my home. In our case, that's the entry/hallway,
living
room, kitchen/family area, and main bath.
This article excerpted and adapted from "A Simple
Choice:
A practical guide for saving your time, money and
sanity"
(Champion Press, 2000).**
Deborah Taylor-Hough (free-lance writer, wife, and
mother of three) is the author of 'Frozen Assets:
How
to cook for a day and eat for a month' and the
soon-to-be-
released 'Frugal Living for Dummies(r)' (Wiley, Feb.
'03)
For further ideas on simplifying life, subscribe to
her free
e-newsletter by sending a blank e-mail to
subscribe-simple-times@ds.xc.org.
Visit Debi online at: http://hometown.aol.com/dsimple/.
