Keeping on top of our home can be daunting, especially when there is something in every single room that needs doing.
Something that helps me to stay on top of the daily mess and to just make life easier is a 15 minute reset a few times a day.
You might find that you already do this just as part of your routine, but if you don’t it’s a really good thing to start implementing.
The thing is with 15 minutes, is that it’s a really small amount of time out of your day, but you can get a surprising amount of stuff done in it.
What is a 15 minute reset?
A 15 minute reset, is pretty much what it sounds like.
For 15 minutes (or so) you just go around your house ‘resetting it’.
That might look like putting toys away, putting things in the dishwasher and wiping the worktops and straightening the cushions in the living room.
The point of it is – your home feels reset.
If somebody walked into your house it wouldn’t look like a bomb had gone off.
It’s not so much about cleaning or decluttering, it’s more about a quick tidy up.
It’s a bit like tidying up before moving on to the next activity.
Set an alarm
One way of making it a bit more ‘fun’ is to set an alarm.
It helps keep you focused and not doing random activities that aren’t really part of the reset, but it also helps make it into a bit of a game – can you get everything done before the alarm goes off?
Setting an alarm can be helpful for any task, cleaning the bathroom etc, if you procrastinate against things because it gives you a start and end point and it doesn’t seem quite so daunting if you know it will only take x amount of time.
When do I do a 15 minute reset?
My advice here is to build it into your routine and to do it multiple times throughout the day.
I tend to do one in the morning, I’ll put the breakfast stuff away, and all the getting ready for school stuff gets put away (e.g. hairbrush etc), pyjamas get chucked in the laundry basket, blankets get folded up, I make the beds, give the sinks and toilet a quick wipe down – it sounds a lot but it only takes about 15 minutes and then the house is ‘reset’ and ready for the day.
Typically, I would do another one after lunch. Tidy away the lunch things, switch laundry, wipe down the kitchen – if the kids are home anything that has been pulled out gets put away if they have finished playing with it.
Same again after dinner in the evening.
Then once the kids are in bed I do another one – just to tidy up at the end of the day so that I can actually relax once they are in bed.
Do what works for you. Maybe it makes sense to do one before you do the school run if you also have little children home not in school. Or once your child goes for a nap.
The important thing is that it’s helping you feel more calm and less stressed out in your home and it sounds like a small thing but it actually makes a huge difference once you start doing it regularly.
Hope this helps!
Do you do a 15 minute reset?
Beth x
