You know that when you’re making cookies you want to SET THE TIMER. Of course that’s because you don’t want to burn your cookies making them only edible when they’re crumbled over a massive bowl of ice cream and then covered in Hershey’s chocolate, not that I’ve ever done that or anything.
When baking I view each of those 7-10 minute blocks of time as little mini challenges.
It’s like how much can I get done while the clock is running? GAME ON!
When I set the timer for cookies I roll the rest of the dough into balls and pop them in the fridge until it’s time to pop them in the oven.
Most of our daily or weekly tasks that we need to do around the house can be done fairly quickly.
I’m not even kidding when I tell you this next part…
I’ve spent hours looking at clean houses on Pinterest and Google searching ways to tidy the house quickly. HOURS! And then I’ve put my phone away and gone back to doing something that is equally as unproductive as looking at clean houses online.
When I do this simple little thing it changes the way I clean. The results are excellent, both for the physical outcome of the house, and for my energy level. It’s quirky, but I LOVE racing the clock. It gives me so much energy and makes me happy!
I grab my timer and then go around doing random things like this:
- Fold or switch out laundry
- Wipe down the sinks
- Wash the mirrors
- Vacuum the living room
- Wash the Vacuum filter- I love my Dyson and treat it well.
- Organize a drawer
- Separate the dirty socks from the toys in the toy bin (this is a real issue that only parents of toddlers understand).
- Wash my makeup brushes
- Take the recycling to the garage
- Empty the garbage cans in each room
- Check the furnace filter, change if needed
- Organize the fridge and wipe down the shelves
- Pull all of the “too small” clothes out of a kid’s closet.
- Strip down the beds and wash everything
- Wipe down the TV screen
- Dust the furniture
- Straighten up the shoes and coats in the mudroom
- Unload or reload the dishwasher- My kids mostly do this task, bless!
Okay, you get the point. So many of these really simple things could be done in 10 minute blocks. Several of them you could group together and within 30-40 minutes all the little annoying things are done and you can just admire your work OR set the timer and keep going on something else!
I put things off sometimes because I think they’ll take forever. And then I time them and they take like 4 minutes. I like your timer trick! I might have to do that with a few tasks to get them off my list.
This is a great tip and it’s amazing how much you can do when you put your mind to it rather than getting side tracked 😉