When I was getting daily emails from Flylady, she always referred to getting dressed to your shoes. If I’m remembering correctly, she got this from her Mary Kay days.
At any rate it’s good advice.
Sometimes I really have to push myself to get moving when I don’t feel like doing anything, including getting out of bed. Within 45 minutes of waking up, look at all the things I’ve done:
- Out of bed
- Dressed
- Dog walked
- Teeth brushed
- Hair brushed
- Face moisturized
- Breakfast eaten
- Dog fed
- Make up on
I’m all dressed up and ready to go! Whether or not I have any place to go is another story. But I’m ready for tackling the day!
Leaving the house at a moment’s notice
What if someone calls and there’s an emergency and you have to jump in the car and leave now? You’re ready!
If you’re still lounging around in your pajamas after you’ve been awake for an hour – or longer – you’re now racing around the house getting yourself together to deal with whatever crisis has happened.
What if someone unexpectedly comes to the door?
No big deal if you’re already dressed with your hair brushed and make up on.
What if you have on call work?
Welcome to my life! Fortunately, I can wear jeans or shorts for driving pick up trucks, so whatever I put on when I got out of bed is suitable. Every day, I get dressed, brush my teeth, brush my hair, eat breakfast, and put make up on.
Just. In. Case.
A couple of times I’ve been at the barn, and one time riding my horse, when I got a call to come in to work. I was able to head right over there, not worrying about rushing around getting dressed and putting on makeup at 10 in the morning.
More often than not, I’m all dressed up and nowhere to go. But I’m ready to go if the need arises.
Cleaning the house
Yuck! Housecleaning is my big hurdle.
I’m all about little steps, like Flylady teaches. My kitchen is always clean before I go to bed. If you need pointers, check out my post on how a clean kitchen lowers the food bill.
Likewise, I usually swish and swipe in the bathroom doing daily touch ups. Nobody wants to throw up into a dirty toilet.
Not that I get sick all that often, but when I do, that’s the one thing I tend to focus on – I need to scrub the toilet!
But really, think about it. Unless you have a bathroom that’s the size of my entire living area, and if so, thank you to the Kardashian reading this blog, it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to clean your bathroom. Or at least get it cleaner than it was when you started.
I vacuum the floors frequently. Especially after my landlord cuts the grass. My dog and I track in clippings all over the house. By the time I notice dog hair on the floor and pull out the vacuum, someone else would have noticed I should have already dragged out the vacuum. At least twice! I try to vacuum daily, but sometimes it turns into every other day.
My biggest issue is keeping things tidy. My Achilles heel is the coffee table. A dumping ground for everything: keys, mail, magazines, Kleenex, purse, books, magnifying glass, and every loose paper in the house. Everything lands on the coffee table. And then when I’m looking for something, everything lands on the floor!
Fifteen minutes. You can do something for fifteen minutes.
Just choose something in your house and clean that area for 15 minutes. Set a timer. The one on the stove works really good for timing household tasks. Whatever you’re doing, might even take less than 15 minutes.
And don’t beat yourself up that you should have cleaned it way before now. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Everyone has different thoughts on what is “clean”. As long as it’s cleaner than when I started, that’s good enough for me!
Check time
Look where you’re at!
- Out of bed
- Dressed
- Made bed
- Teeth and hair brushed
- Breakfast eaten
- Makeup on
- Cleaned something
Cleaning something is the last task to focus on. If you can complete one household task each day over and above the morning routine steps – then yay! You’ve accomplished something!
Tomorrow? Pick a different task.
Is there a household task that you really don’t want to tackle? The best time to get at it is first thing in the day. Get it out of the way as soon as possible.
At the end of the day, make a list of everything you did. You can just make that list in your head. I’m good at head lists. Except when it comes to groceries. Then I write down the list!
It doesn’t matter how small you think that task you did is, like getting out of bed and brushing your hair. Put it on your (mental) list.
Look at all the things you’ve accomplished today! Not too shabby for someone who doesn’t feel like doing anything.
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