Lessons I’ve Learned from My Daughter – Lesson 2

So we were frolicking on our merry way, chore time going smoothly, with some extra stuff getting done without my even asking.

I was on cloud nine.

And then it happened.

A bomb went off in the kitchen.

OK, I'll be more accurate.

I got up one morning and it LOOKED like a bomb went off in the kitchen.

WHAT HAPPENED?

3 things…

1. My daughter decided to work on a bonus task.

2. She didn't do her 'base' task, which is dishes.

3. She didn't allow herself enough time to FINISH her bonus task, which you may have guessed, was to declutter and clean out our tupperware and dish cupboards.

Can you spell MESS?

And no clean dishes, or counter space for breakfast.

So what went wrong?

THE ERROR OF HER WAYS

1. Didn't do her base tasks first. These are the foundation of everything. If they aren't done, the slightest miss step will spell DISASTER (which means you have to read through more spelling lessons on this blog).

2. Tried to do too much at once. We all know the feeling of pulling it all out, and then wishing it would just disappear… without our help.

3. Didn't allow enough time. She started quite late and had to go to bed before she was finished. Which meant it was left sitting there all of the next day too. It goes along with trying to do too much at once.

4. Underestimated the importance of her everyday, ordinary tasks.  This kind of goes along with number 1.

I was hit with clarity in the error of her ways, because… well… it's always easier to see other people's mistakes. 

And I saw in an instant that I had made the same mistake over and over, for years… on a much larger scale.

And it was a big reason that I used to have such a hard time keeping things in order, clean and clear around the house.

I forgot RULE #1.

RULE #1

The basics need to be done first. Not doing so is like trying to ice a cake before it's baked. 

It's just not the same! And is likely to just create a mess, that only grows worse over time.

In my life, almost without fail, anytime that I have let a basic slide so that I could 'get ahead' on something else, I suffered for it because more often than not I ended up with just another mess to look after as what was in order became an unmanageable mess from neglect and disrepair.

It's the same principal as cleaning a house. You just can't clean it by moving piles from one place to the other, you have to get rid of them.

When working on basic tasks and 'projects', you can't switch one up for the other and expect to have anything different going on. You will just end up with one clean mess and another dirty one in it's place.

It's kind of like chasing your own tail. 

WHATS THE ANSWER?

It's all in the approach.

It's all about consistency.

It's quite simple really.

• Create your housework schedule.

• Add what I like to call 5 Minute Magic.

5 minutes of improvement on something that needs improvement, something that nags you, calls to you in the middle of the night (ok, that's a little melodramatic, but sometimes these things will keep you up as you well know, especially if they are things like piles of books on your bed, not that I would know anything about that :0)

• And you can also add a 5 -10 -15 minute BOOST project time block if you like.

I highly recommend it. Just choose a time period that you can easily handle daily.

Choose a project that you'd really like to see finished.

Something on a larger scale that you can tackle every day.

Like cupboards.

If you are doing 15 minutes…

• Take things out for 5 minutes.
• Sort, wash or dump for 5. 
• Replace for 5.

Hopefully you will have less to replace than you took out.

If you are doing less time, just divvy it up with less minutes. 

Do this every day and you will never find yourself under a pile.

NEED SOME HELP?

Get yourself set up with my housework schedule foundation.

I call it my BOOST Circuit.

Set it up.

Choose what you want to do.

Hop on. Hop off.

No thinking involved. That's the best part!

No deciding what to do.

Just a short, focused housework session every day in manageable pieces that will keep you on top of things and feeling good about your house… and your self again.