AMAZING results in just 5 minutes!!

I just have to share with you something that I have found to be one of the biggest blessings when it comes to cleaning my house. This is especially, and probably mostly, for when I am not physically or emotionally feeling up to the task.

I'm sure you know those days - the ones where the kids have gone off to school and you are home with the littles, facing the daunting task for cleaning up what looks like the aftermath of a tornado! Every single room needs attention, some more than others - in fact, some look SO awful that you are truly embarrassed and wince every time you walk through the door.

This is a big job, an overwhelming job, when you are feeling well! But oh, when you are sick - it is truly something you view with a sinking heart. In my experience the most trying times are when I am newly pregnant and so very tired, as well as nauseous, for two long, solid months. And then in the last 2 months of pregnancy when every step is heavy...the baby is positioned in a painful position...braxton hicks are uncomfortable and come often. And then, of course, the first 2 months after the baby comes.

So. I am going on my 6th week of nausea now, in this my 8th pregnancy. It's so weird, when I write "8th" it sounds so...experienced. So accomplished. So mature and very much like I must have it all together by now.

Ha! And I truly mean HA!!! Honestly EVERY TIME I get pregnant, I feel like this time, THIS time is harder than it ever has been. I don't remember particulars with each pregnancy so it's like it hits me hard just like the very first time! It doesn't matter how many children I have, to me having 2 children while being pregnant was JUST AS HARD as having 7 while being pregnant.

So there you have it. Sorry to tell you it doesn't get easier, lol!

Okay so back to my morning! I have been in true survival mode, doing only the basics, and I mean REALLY basics - meals and laundry, while halfheartedly trying to pick up here & there in between feeling so tired and weak and nauseous. I have been relying heavily on the WONDERFUL invention of children doing their daily chores - each child is in charge of a main room in our house and they clean it up however often I tell them to/it needs it (usually twice a day at the most). They do the dishes at night, but...nothing and I mean NOTHING has been getting really and truly cleaned. Like the dishes will be done, yes, but there is food in the sink (grrr...!), handwashing sitting there, little bits & pieces of trash, misc things like toys, scissors, you name it, left on the counter. The sink is in DIRE need of cleaning.

This morning is the 4th day I have been 100% raw vegan, and it shows!!! I am feeling so much better and today I had enough energy to try out my 5 minute method.

I got out my handy running watch and set it for 5 minutes, and went to town! In each room I worked as quickly and efficiently as I could, picking up the trash, dirty laundry, books, toys, everything that needed put in it's place. If I finished tidying a room before the 5 minutes, I got out the window cleaner and cleaned a mirror or window.

Outside in the backyard, I brought a bag with me and picked up all the trash pieces, toys, things that didn't belong, pieces of wood to put in the recycling, a couple of old chairs that need to go to the dump or Goodwill. The front porch, I picked up the 5-6 misc things that have been sitting there for WEEKS (dirty old shoes, an abandoned storage box lid, a toy wheelbarrow) and disposed of them, then swept all the leaves off.

The kids' rooms are the disaster areas currently, and I've been meaning/wanting to tackle them so badly but just have been so, so sick. It's such a daunting task! But armed with my 5 minute mindset, I jumped right in, sorting toys, shoes, and putting lots and LOTS of things in the trash. I am a huge fan of dumping things when they are no longer played with, and/or are really dumb like McDonald toys, etc. The kids never know, they have too much anyway, it is obvious! =)

I made a small dent in the children's rooms - I got maybe 1/8 of it done but oh, that small part of clean floor looks absolutely serene to me! Such a breath of fresh air when I walk in to put them to bed, where before it was such a source of stress for me! My plan is to do just FIVE MINUTES in their rooms each day until they are finished. This gives me peace, I know I don't have to try to fit cleaning the whole thing from top to bottom in my whole day, because it will be worked on some more tomorrow.

Woohooo, it felt so so so so good! I can't even tell you! I divided my house into rooms/sections. I got them ALL DONE except for a few! And now, after 2 hours of working, it is time to rest so I'll get to those probably tomorrow.

Living Room
Family Room
Backyard
Front Porch
Side Porch
Hallway/Laundry
Kitchen
Master Bedroom
Girls Room
Boys Room

And yes, I know, the rooms I got done only adds up to 50 minutes, lol, if you're truly counting 5 minutes in each room. But I was also taking care of 3 active littles ages 5,3,& 1. Lots of diaper changes, making lunch and cleaning up them/the mess, playing judge with disputes, and then of course cleaning up all their little messes and kissing owies. I wasn't able to get to 3 of the closets, 2 bathrooms, and the garage. But I'll just start with those tomorrow, and work my way backwards.

Also! Tereza, I was totally inspired by what you wrote the other day about taking care of the clothes monster before it grows, well, into a MONSTER. My current method of laundry is that I have baskets for all of the children, labeled with their names, into which I put their clean clothes. ALL of them, except for socks and pretty dresses that need hanging. Yes, sometimes their clothes are a little wrinkled but if they need to be dewrinkled, we can always run them through the dryer real quick.

So basically when I pull out a load from the dryer, it goes on the couch in our family room and sits there until I put them away. It grows and grows....! Yesterday I got it all sorted and folded because we were having company, and today as I pulled another load out and put it on the couch, I though..."This really would not take me long at ALL if I just sit down and do it!" And it looks SO trashy and messy when there are clothes on the pretty floral couch!

It took me all of about, 7 minutes! I sorted each child's clothes into piles, and folded Bret & my clothes. It was a quick job just to scoop up the piles and put them in the allotted baskets (also stored in our family room) and then bring our clothes into my room to put away and hang up. I think there were like, 3 things to hang. Easy peasy!

Now my couch is clean once more, there are clean clothes in the baskets and ahhhhhh I can breath! (And the dryer is humming away with yet another load for me to do soon) It's such a beautiful sunny day out, too.....now I'm going to go relax and rest in the sun and enjoy the fact that today I have really and truly earned a lovely break. =)