By: Alissa

Alissa — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 05:02:00 +0000

um. come back already. i don’t like being broken up with you. i’m lonesome.

By: Valarie

Valarie — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 20:43:00 +0000

how much longer? I miss you.

By: ShelahBooksIt

ShelahBooksIt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 19:49:00 +0000

Hope you’ve got your groove back!

By: Linsey

Linsey — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:20:00 +0000

We are totally on the same routine!

Hurry Back!!!

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:55:00 +0000

I just wanted to let you know you are in my prayers. I hope you bounce back sooner than later.

By: QueenMeadow

QueenMeadow — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:25:00 +0000

I’ll miss you. I have been trying to get back to my life as well, so I understand. I just hope your kids don’t notice as much as mine have “you are going to eat lunch with us?” followed by a shocked face, tee hee.

By: Rachelle

Rachelle — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 12:28:00 +0000

Hugs to you! You have been through a lot the past few weeks. Take some time to recoup.

By: Hope

Hope — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 02:44:00 +0000

So if you’re not checking you may not see this but….

You might try my 10 minute cleaning method. I HATE housework. You know I was raised in an environment where I did not learn the skills or the habits to keep a house clean, BUT I feel much more calm and mentally healthy if my house is fairly clean and organized. So what I do is clean for 10 minutes at a time! I set a timer (literally!) and work my butt off for ten minutes. At the end of 10 minutes I STOP and do something fun. Like I will play one game of computer scrabble, read one chapter of my book, check one online bulletin board or blog…. then I do it again. At the end of the day my house is usually fairly good - you can do a lot in 10 minutes! - but I don’t fee like all I’ve done is clean all day because I’ve also knitted a hat or played online or earned a new high score in scrabble or read half a book….

You must follow the rules for it to work successfully and that means making yourself stop after 10 minutes, even if you feel like you’re “on a roll” because you don’t want to condition yourself to hate it - finish THAT dish you’re washing when the timer goes off - not ALL THE DISHES.

When my house is really bad or I have a special project to finish I sometimes set the timer for fifteen minutes instead, but still follow the rules.

Honestly, my new floor would never have made it in if it weren’t for this method. One New Year’s Day, I cleaned the entire garage using this method.

And you can go read Flylady.net to get her tips on like the seventeen thing fling etc. That’s how I keep my bedroom clean. Every night before I go to bed I put away 10 things - I literally count out loud when I do them. It’s usually enough to keep it fairly organized and then on a weekend I’ll do one of my ten minutes in there and vacuum and stuff.

I have had lots of people tell me, “I’d rather just clean it all and get it over with.” but Amber, you are like me. You would never feel like it is done and would never do anything but work on it. So limiting yourself to ten or fifteen minute intervals gives you some balance in life!

Comments on: Routines and we need to break up…