Deal with clutter in 30-second blitz bursts
Your home will soon show the results of focused and fast hits of cleanup
If you’re living with stress, it’s likely your house will reflect it.
We’ve all been there. Everywhere you look, there’s clutter. Added to that, you can’t remember the last time your house had a thorough cleaning.
Having too much to do guarantees being too stretched for time to keep a house neat and clean. Housework is one of the obligations that’s easier to let slide.
So what’s the answer? This approach can help: Realize the power of using just 30 seconds. Implemented often throughout the day, this tiny time investment will add up.
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish in random, 30-second time frames,” says a nurse we’ll call Diane who has two children and two elderly relatives living with her.
“I have no spare hours,” she says, “So I’ve recently tried kicking in 30 seconds to get my house looking a little better.”
Diane says in less than a minute, you can do these kinds of chores: throw in a load of clothes; clean the clutter around a bathroom sink; hang up a few clothes; tie up the kitchen garbage bag; or neaten a pile of reading materials on your nightstand.
Tracey, a cleaning service owner, says her own house was a mess. While she did professional jobs with her crew for clients around town, Tracey says her place was looking like a dump.
“When I decided I’d face any mess in front of me, clean it up, and pat myself on the back, things started to change,” she says with a laugh.
“Now, this 30-seconds-to-aminute plan isn’t perfect, but you’ll be amazed at how much neater your house will be.”
Tracey says cleaning is easy. But cleaning around clutter is almost impossible. So she advises getting those shoes out from under the bed, unloading the dishwasher without taking 10 minutes and hauling those magazines off the coffee table to the car trunk for recycling.
“I swear, this becomes a fun game after about three days,” she adds. “When you see your piled-up rooms looking neater, you’ll start to hunt for spaces to tidy up. Don’t expect a miracle at first, but after a week, you’ll see that letting things slide got you buried under clutter in the first place.”
Working on your home clutter means sticking with it. Don’t use this approach for other things, such as calling friends or finding websites to read. If you do, you’ll still be in a housekeeping mess.
“Once you feel you’re on top of your house mess, you’ll know the real truth,” says Rachel, also a home cleaning service owner. “You buried yourself with clutter by putting off making decisions. You chose not to hang your sweater. You chose not to put away your golf clubs. Clutter represents decisions you’ve put off making.
“A clean and neat home makes you feel in control,” she says. “You’ll also realize how valuable a tiny bit of time is.”