I added a 5-minute-general-pick-up to my list of non-negotiables this week. I did this today right before lunch. My house is quite clean right now, so I was tempted to fall back into my normal habit of thinking it was good enough. I want to catch the little things before they turn into big things.
The little things I caught were:
Put away the two pairs of shoes by the backdoor before they turned into a pile of 20 pairs that spread across the entire room.
Put away the box of blocks that were in the middle of the otherwise clean floor. I’m so used to seeing the floor in this room completely covered that I actually consciously thought that one box of blocks wasn’t a big deal.
I had plenty of time in the five minutes to distribute the new household junk acquired at the birthday party to its proper places. Normally, this might take me several weeks.
I found that many of these tasks involved me going against my natural instinct. It is my natural instinct to think that very small clutter isn’t that big of a deal. This is my problem and why it is my natural instinct to be a slob.
Small amounts of clutter left alone turn quickly into large amounts of clutter.
Other things I’ve done today:
Made bed (unlike yesterday).
Checked bathroom floors for stray items. (Amazingly, they have stayed cleared by picking up small things as soon as I see them.)
Emptied dishwasher.
Cleaned kitchen.
Swept kitchen.
Wiped down potty when the pee-smell got to me while reading a book to my daughter while she did her business. Thanks to my two little boys, the pee smell was already there after that bathroom was scrubbed down so well only three days ago. But hey, one quick wipe of the potty’s pee-collecting-spots, and the smell was gone.
Go me!
