10-Minute Nightly Cleanup
There’s nothing more depressing than waking up, stumbling into the kitchen, and seeing a mountain of dirty dishes from last night’s dinner.
OK, maybe waking up next to some stranger is more depressing, but a messy house is right up there.
When you get up in the morning, you should be greeted by a pleasant environment that makes you think anything is possible. Dirty socks, unwashed dishes, unsorted mail, coats and shoes dumped on the floor, and other messes just don’t inspire that get-up-and-go attitude.
One way I’ve tried to make my mornings a little sweeter is by doing a 10-minute cleanup before I go to sleep.
Ten minutes might not seem like a lot of time (especially if your house is a magnet for clutter and general disarray), but by getting in the habit of cleaning nightly, your house will never get too dirty.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and get to it! Aim to do the chores that give you the biggest bang for your buck such as folding laundry or running the dishwasher.
Also, grab anything that doesn’t belong where it is (like your kids’ toys) and drop it in the correct room or location. You don’t have to put it away, but getting it in the vicinity of where it belongs is better than nothing.
When the timer goes off, STOP!
It might be tempting to continue cleaning, but you don’t want to keep yourself up too late when you need to get your 8 hours of sleep. Remember, you’ll have 10 minutes tomorrow night to do another quick cleanup.
Now you can wake up to an organized, inviting home in the morning. Whether or not the creepy guy from the bar is there too is up to you.
What are your best tips for keeping a clean house?
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Setting a timer for 10 minutes is a great idea. And cleaning up the dishes before you go to bed is also a great idea. I recently started doing this, and I feel so much better in the morning knowing that my kitchen is clean and I don’t have to worry about cleaning up yesterday’s mess!
I can’t believe I used to not do the dishes before bed. It only takes a minute but it makes such a difference in the mornings when I’m not facing a big mess in the sink.
I’m really great about keeping on top of dishes (my mom taught me very early on that a clean kitchen is a happy kitchen, ha!) but for some reason that almost OCD like kitchen behavior hasn’t transfered to the rest of my space. I always want to do it but never do. There is no time like the present to start though!
I love it! A clean kitchen IS a happy kitchen. OK, if I could only have one room in my house clean, I would choose the kitchen. I like my 10-minute cleanup because I figure I can do anything for 10 minutes.
On an unrelated note, my comment section needs some help. Disqus conked out on me when I switched my site to https. Anyone got a suggestion for a good commenting plugin?
I do this (almost) every day for 15 minutes right before or after John gets home. It’s a nice way to keep track of all the new stuff enters our home daily and tidy up before we start to relax in the evening. I usually do a little morning pick me up too if I feel like I’m being outnumbered by clutter.
I’m usually outnumbered by the clutter. 🙂 I also like to pickup before my husband gets home. It’s always nice to walk into a clean house after a long day.