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From the Archives: 5 Minute FLY Bys
Are you being pulled apart in 5 different directions at the
same time, and nothing seems to get done? FlyLady has started
something new - a FIVE MINUTE FLYby! To get us rolling, our
members have helped us compile a list of things we can do in just
five minutes.
Word of warning LOL, this list will take longer than 5 minutes
to go through, so here is a challenge:
Set your timer for 15 minutes and start reading the list.
When the timer goes off, go do one of the 5 minute FLY-bys. Enjoy!
- FlyCrew
"Are you ready to FLY 5 minutes at a
time?" - FlyLady
From our Members...Finding 5 minutes in
the first place!
How do you find those 5 minute blocks of time? These members
have some great ideas!
- I use a swiffer "cloth" and wipe down my computer
and desk while I am waiting for my flylady reminders to
download.
- My personal FLYing technique is called the Hot Tea
rule. There are tons of things I can accomplish while waiting
for my water to come to a boil, then my tea to brew. I'm not
sure this takes exactly five minutes, but it's less than ten.
I get some of my morning and evening routines done this way,
since I drink a lot of hot tea this time of year.
- I love the idea of the "5-Minute FLY-bys"! For
years I have kept a list taped to the wall above the phone of
things that could be done during a phone call.
- I know I can do these things in 5 minutes... I know
because I did them on Sunday... and boy did it feel good!! It
really is amazing what you can do in 5 minutes... thanks
FlyLady, for pointing me in the right direction!
- I have used this many times, and it seems to be a
catchy thing! I set off to do 5 minutes in one room, then I
can actually feel the adrenalin (that motivation stuff we so
often can't seem to find), it starts to flow! Also, I find
that just 5 minutes of "focused" time can accomplish more than
an hours' worth of "chicken with your head cut off" time.
- When I am in the kitchen waiting on the microwave,
or whatever, I wipe down something.
- Sometimes when I get my email message to do a 5
minute room rescue, I actually do a 5 minute house rescue. I
set my timer for 5 minutes and walk through and clean up any
obvious mess! It works great to keep my whole house
shining!
- In addition to upping my water intake (thanks,
Flylady!), I am also trying to kick the caffeine habit. Since
I work from my home, I give myself about 3 herbal tea breaks
each morning. I've found that it takes about 5 or so minutes
to boil the water and steep the tea. So, instead of standing
around doing nothing while I prepare my tea break, I am using
those minutes to advantage. For example, while the water's
boiling, I'll put away any dishes in the dish drainer, or wipe
off my kitchen counters, or throw in a load of laundry.
Yesterday, during the first tea break, I swept my kitchen
floor. While I was waiting for my second cup to be ready, I
quick-mopped the floor. Waiting for the third cup to be ready,
I rinsed out the mop head, put away the broom, dumped the mop
water, and quick-shined the kitchen sink.
- While I am running the water for my dd's bathes I
wipe down the sinks & mirrors in the bathroom. I keep
cleaning stuff in that bathroom so I don't have to go get it
from another room.
- Waiting anywhere...write a shopping or errand
list...pray
- I put my cup of water for tea in the microwave as
soon as I'm up-set for 2:22, 2 minutes, 22 seconds. The water
has to boil to make good tea. In that 2:22, I unwrap the tea
bag, head for the bathroom, use the toilet, wash my hands
& face, and run a brush through my hair. I'm back in the
kitchen just as the microwave timer goes off with tea bag in
hand.:)
- When watching TV, every time a commercial comes on
(or when I have to run to the bathroom) I pick up anything
laying out of place on my way and put it away. I get back
before my program comes on again. (It isn't cheating, do
combine work with pleasure!)
- For my 5 minute flyby I do what I call sweeps. As
quickly as I can I walk from one end of my house to the other
(living room, kitchen, computer/dining room) and do a sweep of
3 things. First I grab a plastic bag and sweep thru for trash.
Then I sweep thru for dirty laundy. Lastly I sweep thru for
dirty dishes that haven't made thier way to the sink. If I
have enough time I quickly sweep all the toys out of the
computer room and kitchen and toss them back into the living
room. It isn't perfect but just enough to let me breath. I
usually incorporate this into my morning afternoon and evening
routines, but I will throw one in here and there if things are
getting out of hand, or if I am feeling discouraged or
stressed.
- Do you have any idea how much you can get done
while talking on a cordless telephone? Lots of stuff! You can
put a load of laundry in washer, or take out a load and put it
in the dryer. You can get your mail and go through it or shine
your sink. I have a quilting business in my home and if I have
to do any ripping out while the quilt is on my machine, I can
do this while talking on the phone also. I have a headset
telephone and I can use two hands to do anything that doesn't
take a lot of thought. And let's face it, housework doesn't
take much thought. It's the same things over and over and over
and over..................I guess what I'm trying to say is
that I don't just SIT and talk on the phone. I am always doing
something!!! I can make one heck of a meal while talking on
the phone also!
- Because we don't have a fenced in yard, I have to
accompany my dog on her "business trips." So I pick weeds
while I wait for her to be a good girl! This works great,
since I'm pregnant and can't imagine spending an afternoon
picking all the weeds at once.
- At night I hit my hot spots...during the
commercials! I also do most of my nighttime routine during
commercials.
- The longer I fly, the more I've been doing 5-minute
fly-bys automatically! Thanks
flylady!
Just for You
- Take 5 minutes and open the outside door and take a
deep breath, notice what a beautiful day it is and be
thankful!
- Drink a glass of water.
- Stop and breath!
- Look over my day's routine and to do list and
reorganize my thinking.
- Schedule your next days workouts and
errands
- Read flylady emails
- Brush my teeth after meals – this isn’t on flylady,
but my son (6) reminds me of its importance in the prevention
of cavities!
- Floss. I never get time to do this because my
little ones are always pulling at me.
- Remove nailpolish or apply nailpolish.
- Do 10 crunches.
- Stand up and streeeetch tall, then bend over and
reach for the floor (1 minute acutally!).
- Do one part of an exercise routine - 25 situps, or
25 jumping jacks or leg lifts.
- Rub lotion on your elbows and heels.
- My favorite one....light a candle! (goes along with
putting on music for me)
- Sit down, put your feet up and a cool cloth over
your eyes and rest.
- Write 3 things you've accomplished today.
- Journal for 5 minutes.
In the Front Entrance and General
Throughout the Home
- Sweep the front steps.
- water the patio plants
- I use a broom to sweep off the outside of front
door and surrounding wall and ceiling, sweep the outside entry
and walkway. Then water plants on front stoop, the pot between
the two garage doors and the plants on the patio. Living in
south Florida, I try to water on Tuesdays and Fridays but I
only sweep like that about once a week. It helps my house say
"welcome" when people come to the front door or to greet me
when I get home. I also keep a seasonal wreath on the
door.
- Clean the glass on our front door. (It has 18
separate "pains" where lots of little fingerprints magically
appear.)
- Pick up shoes, ties, etc, and put in box at bottom
of stairs (where things to go up sit while waiting to be
carried up on next trip).
- Straighten shoes in closet.
- Hang up the jackets cluttering the kitchen and
living room chairs.
- Spend Five minutes cleaning those kiddie
fingerprints off the stairway wall.
- Dust the railing around the top of the hallway
stairwell, getting in between the bottom of each rail and
rung.
- Clorox wipes all door knobs in hallway especially
after little one eat.
- Clean off the landing of the stairs that can
quickly become a "hot spot".
- In five minutes I can walk through my house and
gather all the things that are in rooms they don't belong in
and put them in the right rooms. I don't always get them put
away in that 5 minutes but I can get them all put away in
another 5 minutes in each room!
- Pick up my earrings that are all over the house
(depending on where I've taken them off) and put them back in
my jewelry box where they belong, and where I can find
them!
- Gather up the kids toys and things that have been
left out. (I sweep through the house with a laundry basket and
then put the basket next to their bedrooms for them to put
away)
- Carry contents "Stairs Box" up or down (as
appropriate) and distribute to correct rooms/spots.
- Empty all the trash baskets in the house.
- Shake out small rugs.
- Change the A/C-furnace filter.
- Change the batteries in your smoke alarm or CO
detector, or your Palm.
- If you smoke--which I don't--clean out the
ashtrays.
In the Kitchen
- I turn the blinds so the sun pours in my
kitchen.
- Clean the inside of the kitchen window.
- Unload dishwasher
- Wipe down kitchen counters and the cutting
board.
- wipe down the stove top.
- I can wipe down the outside of my kitchen cabinets
in 5 minutes too!
- A good way to finish off the "sink shining" is to
slice up old lemons or oranges and put them down the garbage
disposal. This helps rid of old fruit that you haven't gotten
around to throwing away AND makes the garbage disposal smell
fresh.
- Scrub and rinse the coffee maker (or any other
appliance).
- remember to put the coffee carafe in the dishwasher
(I feel better with a clean carafe)
- Scour the inside of a coffee-stained mug
- One 5-minute fly-by that I have added to my evening
routine is to set up the coffee pots for the morning. (Yes, we
have two coffee pots. DH drinks regular and I drink decaf. :-)
I do this when I am cooking dinner or just have a few minutes
in the kitchen. Really saves time in the mornings to just
start the coffee without having to go through all the steps.
- Wash that sticky set of salt and pepper shakers
that always sit on the table or stove.
- Clean microwave (boil a cup of water first, let sit
a few minutes, then wipe out)
- get rid of 3 "yucks" in fridge.
- Clean a shelf in the refrigerator.
- I open the meat/cheese drawer in my fridge and toss
what I know is old, then wipe down the drawer.
- Wipe off the fridge.
- Fill icecube trays
- Move the microwave or other counter-top appliances
and wipe up all the crumbs.
- Wipe the kitchen chairs and wipe off all those
sticky, crusty kid-spots.
- Wipe all the cobwebs, etc. from the underside of a
table (you'd be surprised what's under there!)
- Clean your kitchen table off, push in the chairs
and put new placemats/tablecloths on.
- Sweep the kitchen floor
- Spot-mop the kitchen floor
- Cleaning the kitchen floor was something that I
hated to do, because I thought of it as an hour-long project.
But it really isn't! It is just amazing how much you can
accomplish in five minutes, isn't it?
- Sort recyclables.
- Take "big" trash items to the dumpster/recycle
(dishwasher soap bottles, empty 24-packs of soda, cardboard
boxes that big mail items came in).
- Empty the kitchen trash and put in a new bag. (I
was terrible about putting this off until it was a piled up
pyramid and twice as hard to take care of by that
point)
- When I pull out my kitchen trash can liner, I spray
& wipe off my trash can.
- Take out the trash
- Grab kitchen garbage and bag of recycleables on my
way out the door to drop off in outside cans.
- When my children were little I got tired of them
opening and closing the icebox to get drinks of cold water. It
was lowering the temperature and I was worried the food was
not staying cold enough. My husband bought a large container
like you take on picnics, probably a 1.5 gallon (6 liter)
size. I fill it with ice and fresh filtered water so it is
available at the touch of a button any time of the day or
night. One of my 5 minute FLYBys is to pour in the ice cubes
to keep the water cool, then I refill my ice trays fast using
a large sports drink bottle with a squirt top lid. But I was
squirting the water everywhere until I learned just how much
water will come out and how hard to squeeze. LOL When we go to
a soccer game or on a trip, I just grab the cold water
container and a few disposable paper or styrafoam cups and
head out on the road.
- Take your vitamins and give the kids
theirs.
What's for Supper?
- Cut up fruit or veggies to snack on all
day.
- Glance at our monthly menu calendar (I make up our
menus for an entire month) to see what's coming up for dinner
in the next week and make a list of the things that I forgot
to purchase during my last shopping trip or things we have run
out of. (I hate going shopping sometimes so I do it once every
2 weeks or once a month is even better.)
- Get a good start on a grocery list (can finish
while drinking the tea)
- Gather ingredients for dinner.
- I can set the table in the five minutes that my 3
kids are playing happily after nap/snack/movie time but before
I have to really focus on dinner. Caveat: hungry two year old
thinks it is time to eat, RIGHT NOW!!
- Make a green salad.
- put ingredients in bread maker (and start
it)
- My throw together 5 minute dinner -- in a casserole
dish combine
- a bag of frozen broccoli
- a can of broccoli cheese soup
- tuna or whatever meat you have leftover from last night
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
- Start a roast cooking in the crockpot. I have a
wonderfully simple recipe. One roast, one package of dry Beefy
Onion soup mix and enough water to come to the top of the
roast. Takes all of 5 min. to do this and it's wonderful for
supper.
- put 1/3 c. oil, 1/3 c. water, and 1 egg in a bowl,
mix 40 strokes w/ Ghiradelli's Chocolate Chip Brownie mix and
toss in a greased square pan to bake for 40 minutes for a nice
treat for the DH! This was a big step for me because I believe
EVERYthing has to be homemade from scratch etc. etc. but this
is a fabulous mix that makes moist, chocolate-y brownies and,
you know, sometimes may love really DOES come in a box
;)
- Make Jello.
- Set the table in an attractive manner for
dinner--placemats, napkins, candles.
- My dining room table is already cleared off (or I
do that!)....so I take my table cloth out to the back door and
shake any crumbs off of it. Then I put it back on the table
nice and neat. (I use a linen table cloth and change it once a
week or sooner if someone spills on it)
- check the picnic basket* (at this time of year,
find it!) I keep a thermal bag half full of cups, plates,
plastic utensils it make preparing picnic foods short and
sweet, the basket is table service ready, don't forget a
disposable tablecloth.
- Wash out the crock pot.
- Make my husband's lunch for the next
day.
In the Bathroom
- I like to do my bathroom in tiny spurts when it
needs attention. I will on a particular day tell myself that
every time I go into the bathroom, I have to do one thing.
First, I usually do the sink, the next time the counter,
another time take down all the old towels and put up a fresh
one....I usually eyeball the room to determine what the next
attack will be one stop ahead. By the end of the day the
bathroom is pretty spiffy especially if I am drinking lots of
water!
- Well, this week I cleaned my bathroom in 5 minute
flybys. Monday nite I cleaned the sink and the mirrors. Tues
morning I cleaned the tub - spray on and wipe off. This
morning I swiffed the floor. This afternoon I will swish the
toilet. And voila - done.
- Go through a bathroom cabinet and chunk out-dated
medicines, old make-up, lotions, etc.
- One of my five minute flybys is taking a Clorox
wipe (lemon scented!) and I quickly go from bathroom sink to
bathroom sink and wipe them down and then I wipe down all the
toilet seats. It takes just a few minutes everyday and my
bathrooms always look clean!
- Shine the bathroom faucet and wipe down the back of
the toilet bowl where little boys tend to shoot instead of in
the bowl.
- Clean a toilet.
- Wipe down the shower.
- Grab some paper towels (I have a holder attached to
the inside of a cupboard door in the bathroom) and wipe the
bathroom sink, dab the mirror, and wipe the back of the toilet
(it attracts dust and lint)--all with the same paper
towel.
- My favorite 5 minute FLY-By is to clean all of the
mirrors in the house. When they sparkle, I feel
better.
- After my evening bath I take about 2 minutes to
swipe the bathtub with an extra CLEAN toilet brush I have just
for that purpose. My tub is now so shiny I want to hang a sign
over it....DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE BATHTUB....LOOKING AT
THE BATHTUB WITHOUT PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR CAN PERMENANTLY DAMAGE
YOUR VISION!! Okay, thats not true but it is that
shiny!
- Put out a clean fresh hand towel to go with my
clean sink!
In the Master Bedroom
- And I also strip down the bed, wash the sheets, and
make the bed up again. This is a great task that can be broken
into easy 5 minute steps. I've also discovered that by washing
the sheets and replacing them right away, I don't have to go
through the task of folding sheets ever again!
- Make a bed (or two even)
- I love flying with you all. I love my home, since
cleaning it. I never had permission before to do it even if
all the nooks and crannies were not spotless, so consequently
I wouldn't do it very often......Perfectionist personnified.
Anyway, my 5 minute hint is: It prob'ly takes less than 5
minutes......When I make my bed (king size), I just do one
side at a time: straighten the bottom sheet, pull the other
sheet and blanket and comforter up over the pillow and all.
Then I go to the other side and do the same. Come back to
other side and put the 3 toss pillows in the center over the
comforter. The pillows are peach colored and the comforter is
off white. Looks great and neat.
- Light candles in bedroom--don't forget to blow out
when you go to bed at a decent hour! (Don't leave candles
unattended!)
In the Living Room, Family Room, and/or
Den
- Arrange the sofa cushions.
- Check under the sofa. I cannot believe what gets in
there in just a couple of days!
- Straighten books (I have a "to be read" pile --
books from the library or books that I'm studying a bit at a
time through online classes. So I put stray books there and
straighten them so they don't fall on me!).
- I go through the pile of newspapers/magazines and
at least pull out the sections, or whole magazines, that I
know I'm not going to read. This lightens the pile AND
straightens it out a bit.
- Check my magazine stack. I really do mean to read
them but the first time I did this I found 3 yr old magazines
that I had never read! (And my mom keeps recommending these
good books to read LOL)
- Pick up all newspapers and put in recyling box, and
put all magazines in one pile.
- Straighten the video tapes (I try to keep them in
alphabetical order, my kids don’t!)
- pick up the shoes littering the living room
floor.
- water all my plants.
- Clip dead leaves from plants (check for presents
from your kitties)
- My newest quick habit is dusting my piano.
- Dust the top of picture frames
- sweep out fireplace
In the Laundry Room
- Sort my laundry if it's not in the right baskets
(dh and kids aren't perfect, LOL)
- I either toss a load of laundry into the washer,
switch a load from the washer to the dryer, or fold the
clothes that are dry and in the dryer. Each of these takes
roughly 5 minutes (not as long for switching them from the
washer into the dryer, but if you have another load to start,
it's about 5 minutes), even if you have to scrounge up enough
laundry to have a full load. (But if you implement those
hampers like FLYLady says to...you get my drift!)
- Start a load of laundry
- While I am putting clothes in the washer, grab a
rag, wet it in the water filling the washer, and wipe down the
washer and dryer.
- I take a dirty towel from the laundry and quickly
swipe the top of the washer and dryer--the cat eats up there
and leaves footprints and cat food behind, but now, thanks to
FLYing, it always looks great anyway!
- Clean the lint trap from your dryer.
- Fold and put away a load of laundry
- Added to the throwing the laundry on the couch-- 5
minutes folds and puts away most of them!
- Fold a load of towels or baby clothes.
- I actually timed myself one day to see how long it
took me to fold an extra large load of dried clothes from the
drier. Since I have the children empty their baskets at night
before bed, I take the baskets back downstairs after hugs and
kisses ready to be refilled the next day. I can fold a drier
of clothes in 5 minutes, go tend to the puppy and kids, come
back 5 minutes later and change the clothes over from the
washer to the drier and add more clothes to the washer! In
just 15 minutes I’m on my way to doing 2 loads of clothes! :0)
*doing the happy dance*
- take drycleaning basket out to car so it's ready
for drop off
- Sew on a button
- Clean your vacuum cleaner (yep, that's right; we
tend to forget about how filthy our cleaners can
get).
In the Office
- My 5 minute Mail Fly-By:
- I try to never keep my junk mail hanging around. As soon
as the mail comes I sort through each piece.
- *Those credit card offers and other obvious junk mail --
in the trash immediately.
- *Catalogs - most go directly in the trash.
- *Bills - well, I'd like to chuck them, but they go in a
pile of mail to be opened, then put in the Bill Basket.
- *Envelopes full of coupons - I quickly go through them
and immediately toss the ones I'll never use.
- My mail pile is whittled down considerably when I toss
stuff immediately, and it only takes 5 minutes!
- Open and sort the mail (bills go with the
bill-paying stuff, junk gets tossed, hubby's magazines go to
his computer room).
- chunk the junk mail
- Work on the bills (even if it's just sorting them
or getting them all out of the envelopes)
- Pay a bill. In 5 minutes, you can even put it in
the mailbox!
- Declutter the bulletin board.
- Write a thank you note.
- write an encouragement (note card) for a
friend.
- Call mom and thank her for "keeping the house
managed" when you were a kid.
- A thank you note to ANYONE for ANYTHING you
appreciate, a nice note to a friend, a love note to DH--or
email :). How often can you only spend 5 minutes on someone
and know you'll get a smile out of it? By the way, thank you
FlyCrew for all you do! I like all of the stuff you make
available for us on the site--it's good to know we're all on
the same team. Very comforting. (Note from FlyCrew - I had to
post this one LOL - and You are Welcome! I love doing
this!)
- plug in cell phone to charge
- Look up a phone number.
- Make a phone call (to make an appointment, get
info., etc.).
- return a phone call
- Clean out and straighten one drawer of my desk or
the computer desk, making sure to put everything where it
belongs.
- Clean computer screen
- Home business. Sitting at my desk waiting on the
phone while the music plays, I turn up the speaker on tne
phone and;
- ...dust my desk with a special cloth I keep handy.
- ...tidy/declutter one desk drawer
- ...sharpen pencils
- ...clean out my purse
- ...refill the printer with paper
- ...scan and purge a few magazines (keep the pile handy)
- ...do some simple stretches
- Sync my palm pilot. I couldn't live without it but
I am always entering in different info and forgetting to sync
it with my home computer, once the batteries ran out and I
don't know what I lost.
Five Minutes With and In Between Your
Babies
- Hug my babies!
- I'm so glad you sent out the FLY-bys memo! It's
exactly what I've been having to do, since I've become a new
mom. I found your website when my baby was 3 months (he's 4.5
months now) and was frustrated that I couldn't even get ONE 15
minute block of time. So I just started doing everything in 5
minute increments! I'd get my son up, feed him, then I could
put him on a blanket beside my dresser and put my clothes on.
He'd fuss after about 5 minutes. Then I'd play with him or
take a walk, then 5 minutes to put on makeup (I'm fast). More
baby play or nursing, then 5 minutes to unload the dishwasher.
You get the picture. What it did for me was to motivate me and
see results. What it did for my baby was to learn to have some
independent time to explore his toys or to sleep on his own.
Yea! Now we are up to 20-min increments, where he will sit in
his jumper and watch me get dressed to shoes AND put on my
makeup and hair before he gets fussy. Or he will play in his
exersaucer and watch me bake a cake or other activity. It's
been great for all of us. I can't say that my house is in
"House Beautiful" condition yet, but DH did tell me the other
day how proud he was of me for keeping the kitchen so clean!
(And in our house, HE is the cook most of the time and the
kitchen is his haven, so me keeping it neat enough for him to
notice is a big compliment for me!) Thanks!
- Brush your daughter's tangely hair
- A 5 minute evening Toddler Toy pickup
- Spot clean kitchen floor (especially around
highchair)
- Hunt down sippie cups. I am amazed at how quickly
our ample stack of sippie cups dwindle down to
nothing.
- Straighten the books in my son's room.
- I set the timer for 5 minutes and have my 2 boys go
on a sock hunt. I don't know how many other people have socks
all over the house. I am thinking of dyeing them for easter,
forget the eggs!
- I have each room in the house written down on an
index card. I put them in a bowl and the kids draw one out at
a time. We set the timer for 5 minutes and all 4 of us (kids
ages 12,8,2) go to the room together to clean it up. It may be
picking up toys, dusting, windexing, whatever needs to be
done.
- I'm new to FLYing... was explaining some of the
concepts to my daughter today - the 15 minute jobs - and she
remarked, "Oh. Kind of like a 5-minute sweep?" That's what
we've called 5-minute FLY-bys in our house. Every so often,
when the toys and shoes and books and craft supplies and
newspapers and games are all over the living room and dining
room, we would declare it was time for a "5-Minute Sweep" -- 5
minutes to sweep through the room, gather up your stuff and
return it to its proper place. Kids are great at getting into
this - it's only 5 minutes and they can "race the clock" to
see how much they can get done in 5 minutes.
- Do a shoe round-up - get them from where they don't
belong and put them where they do belong
- Make a “Great Job” award for a little one.
- Check children's Chore Chart and gently remind
them, with a SMILE
- Change the baby's
diaper.
For the Pets
- Wash pet dishes.
- I pick up the cat's dishes from the floor - the
ones we put the canned food on - wash & dry them and leave
them on a paper towel on the kitchen counter for the kids to
conveniently find in the morning...so when I yell downstairs
while I'm getting ready for work - "Are the cats fed yet??",
it's much less of a "chore" for one of them to do. If I'm
feeling REALLY organized I'll even put a can of food and a
spoon by the dishes. Besides, it's so much nicer not waking up
to dishes with dried cat food on them....
- Clean out the cat box (really can be done in 5
minutes...especially if you do it every day)
- Shake out area rug by cat litter box and grab the
dust buster to vacuum up around it.
- Use the lint brush over the sofas to
"de-cat."
- Pet the cat (relax for 5 minutes).
- Refill bird feeders. (this one may not count as
Anti-CHAOS, but watching the birds from my kitchen gives me so
much pleasure, I count it as FLYing)
- Clean a window of doggy nose prints.
- Brush one of the dogs with a slicker brush.
- Play with dog. Play with cat. Play with parrot.
- Pick up dog toys and put them in a basket
In the Car
- I leave five minutes early to pick my kids up from
school. This is when I declutter and clean the van. I keep a
(non-tip) trash can and liners in my van along with Windex and
paper towels. I also bought a little vac that plugs in the cig
lighter for quick pick ups. I used to get annoyed "waiting"
for kids or DH, now I look forward to that time because I use
it to spiff up the van. Looks better than ever. When I get the
email on Friday to clean the car I can delete it because I
have it done. It is a good feeling to get rid of "CHAOS" in
the van too. (Can't Help Anyone Out Syndrome) Since I started
flying I'd be proud to give anyone a ride in a moments notice.
Once your car is clean GO WEST! There is nothing like the
feeling of going west in a clean car. You gotta try it.
- De-clutter the car/truck (grab the umbrella used
earlier this week, the pile of CDs you're done with, the gas
receipt that's been flapping around in the breeze) and take
the stuff in with you when you get home.
- It takes just 5 minutes to clean out my van or my
purse!
- Get together some non perishables for the local (or
church) food pantry and put it in the car so you don't forget
it.
- Vaccuum the car.
- Waiting in the car I;
- ...clean out purse
- ...dust the inside of the car. (cloth stays in car)
- ...declutter car..two bags kept in car, one for trash,
one for take to house.
- ...practice relaxing
Pamper Time for You and Your
Family!
- Grab the kids and dh-- hug them tight and say "I
think I'm the Luckiest woman in the whole world!!" Then have a
tickle fight for the other 4 minutes!
- Hug my guys and drink a glass of water.
- Call hubby at work and Tell him you love
him.
- Leave a happy voicemail on DH's machine at work
when you know he won't be there to catch it in person; a nice
surprise.
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