There is STUFF everywhere in my house!
Books, here. Magazines there. School papers in piles - multiple piles, in various places. Toys in corners and in the middle of floors. Clothes...not exactly in the right spot. An Amazon box, emptied and then dropped, randomly on the ground. Coats taken off, but not hung up. Backpacks dropped on a chair. The list could go on...
It would be easy for me to blame it all on my kids. A lot of it IS definitely their stuff. But, truly a significant portion is mine. And a wee-bit of my husband's. (He is a bit of a neat freak - it drives me bonkers at times - but that's a whole other post.)
The STUFF is driving me crazy!
And, when the house gets to this point, it is time for the 10 Minute Sweep!
I wish I could take credit for the idea - but it's not mine. I read it somewhere - Family Fun Magazine, perhaps? Or maybe it was on a mommy blog, or on the Today Show.... I can not remember where I got the idea, but the 10 Minute Sweep is simple and brilliant! And, the best thing is that it works!
The premise is simple. I put the kitchen timer on 10 minutes - and the boys and I start in one room, and I hand them a piece of the STUFF and tell them what to do with it. They have to quickly put it away and come back for the next item. We continue until we finish one room and then move on to another room. For ten minutes, we are continually picking up and putting the STUFF away. When the bell rings at the end of the ten minutes, they have to finish what they were doing and then we are done.
It is amazing how much can be picked up and put away in just 10 minutes!
So today, after school and snacks, we did the 10 Minutes Sweep.
And, now I feel so much better!
FlyLady! Great resource for cleaning and organizing...not that I would know from practice...lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks Debbie! It works great...there is occasionally a bit of whining...but it still happens (and if there is too much whining, I add minutes :)
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