I'm not a naturally neat person. I'd much rather be playing with my kids, reading a book, crocheting, or chatting with my husband than cleaning house. That said, my spouse is a naturally neat person. Due to this fact, I've had to change my ways over the course of our 7 1/2 years of marriage.
Even though I have changed, that doesn't mean that our house is neat and tidy all the time. It really does look like a tornado (aka Riley and/or Caroline) went through at break-neck speed from time to time. In fact at some point during each day, my living room looks something like it does in the photo you see below - books on the floor, necklaces behind the chair, pillows and blankets thrown haphazardly on the couch (which is usually a pretend house, boat, or car at some point every day).
When the house looks like this, I find myself whispering quiet prayers that my mom (aka next-door neighbor) or BFF won't stop by. Yes, they know that it doesn't always look like this, but it's still embarrassing (I know, I know... "it doesn't look that bad." Black and white improves this picture a lot, people).
Enter the timer. I set my phone (or the kitchen timer) for 10 minutes, promise myself I won't answer texts or be distracted by children, and get to work. Sometimes I even run from place to place putting things away and straightening pillows. In just 10 minutes, I can take my living room from looking like the photo above to looking like this. That includes sweeping and dusting. Not bad if I do say so myself.
Now, just in case this didn't impress you. I'll show you my dining room from this morning. My kids were messier than usual. Caroline brought me clothes that she wanted to change into then got distracted by breakfast being served. Riley brought me her American Girl doll so I could "fix her piggy tails" and put her baby on the floor when I said I couldn't fix it right that second.
I know, I know. I should have made my kids put those things in the proper places right away, but I didn't want their cereal to get soggy (besides my husband, is there a person on this planet who likes soggy cereal?) so I let it slide. Then I got busy talking to my husband about something or answering an email or reading books to my kids, and I just forgot. When the kids were both productively engaged, I decided to set my timer and clean it up myself. 10 minutes later, the area was much easier on the eyes, the table was cleared, and the corner stand was dusted.
Sometimes, 10 minutes might not be enough time for the room or task you're working on. That's ok, either work in several 10 minute intervals or up your time to 15 or 30 minutes. Either way, you're working in manageable increments and you'll be able to see progress quickly. I think that's the key to staying motivated.
Here's a transformation that took 15 minutes.
My goal is to have my house look like the after pictures at the beginning and end of each day. Sometimes that doesn't happen, but that's my current goal.
Do you use a timer when you're cleaning your house? Does your house generally look neat?
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