A Quick Housekeeping Hack For Busy People Who Are Trying Their Best

What did you do today?

We’re not the best housekeepers by any stretch of the imagination, but we manage — to a degree. My wife and I both work a lot, and we take care of a small child and an elderly relative.

It’s a lot, but we manage.

The dishes get done every night. Beds are made. Trash is taken out. Shopping and laundry stay on schedule. As well as a bunch of other chores that keep our household from descending into absolute chaos.

But there are still things that get missed.

I noticed this one day when I happened to be lying on the living room couch, looked up, and then asked myself, “How can a ceiling get so dusty?”

It’s true. There was visible dust collected in the corners of the ceiling and some cobwebs.

I got up and went for the Swiffer I usually used for the wood floors and got rid of the dust and cobwebs on the living room ceiling. It took about two minutes. I then went to every other room in the house and did the same thing.

Total time — a little under 15 minutes.

It was around then that I started taking some notes.

Yes, we managed the daily and weekly tasks just fine, but there were gaps. Some chores tend not to need daily or even weekly attention, but still — over time — need seeing to.

Here’s a sample list:

• China cabinet (dust and reorganize)
• Medicine cabinet (clean and reorganize)
• Clean mirrors
• Clean/reorganize top of the fridge
• Clean stove
• Wash windows
• Organize counter

There’s more, but you get the idea. Most of these are once-in-a-while chores, and I think that’s why they get forgotten until it gets to the point where I happen to finally notice and go, “Yuck. How did this happen?”

A missed spot here and there is one thing, but the house seems filled with these neglected little corners, and the cumulative effect really bothered me.

I’ve managed to get myself very well organized these past couple of years, and I like it. I want more.

But I also know my own limitations — both in time and personality.

How could I take care of these forgotten areas of the house and still keep on top of my daily upkeep chores and my job and riding herd on an active four-year-old?

A Solution

I’m a list maker.

A maker of lists.

I have a daily checklist of chores I run through every morning before anyone in the house is up. It usually takes between an hour and a half to two hours to complete, and that amount of time is blocked off specifically for that purpose. By following that list each day, I keep my house in order.

For “special” chores — like the ones I listed above — I’ve found a different place to make a note of them.

On the last page of my planner, I’ve listed a bunch of “needs doing every month or two” chores, and on my daily To-Do list, I’ve added the phrase, “What did you do today?”

When I see that on my list, it means that when I step away from work for a few minutes, I could tackle at least one of those little particular chores.

Note that the special chores are all pretty quick. None should take me more than 15 minutes. Twenty at the most.

For instance, today, I’ve been preparing a bunch of books for press. It can get a little tedious. So between the book about Alfred Hitchock and the one about Old Time Radio, I went and took care of the medicine cabinet.

I threw out old or expired medicines. I looked at that one tube of toothpaste we bought but didn’t like much and finally tossed that. I collected a necklace that belongs to my wife and put it in her jewelry box where it belongs. I wiped everything down and put the bottles and tubes I kept back on nice, clean, dust-free shelves.

Done.

Total time according to my phone’s stopwatch: 13 minutes and 20 seconds.

I had just enough time to heat up a cup of coffee in the microwave and then get back to work.

That medicine cabinet should be fine for the next couple of months, so I put a little checkmark next to it on my list.

Yesterday I took care of the top of the refrigerator. That included dusting it off, straightening up the take-out menus, clipping the chip bags, giving the breadbox a wipedown.

That all took less than 10 minutes.

I won’t have to worry about that again for at least a month.

So, little by little, my home is becoming more civilized and more orderly, but it’s not taking significant time out of my day nor causing any significant stress.

“What did you do today?”

It’s that gentle reminder on the To-Do list that makes all the difference. And I feel good about getting it down.

You can view this as a sort of habit-stacking. Or as self-training to be less of a slob.

However you view it, if you find the little chores slipping past you until they end up becoming big chores (and eyesores), try adding a “What did you do today?” reminder to your daily To-Do list.

It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, but the results are tangibly worth it.

You could even apply this concept to keeping your workspace more organized — either at a home office or an office office.

But for me, order and peace begin at home.

And this is a great way to attain both with surprisingly little effort.

Give it a shot and see how it makes your home a better place to be in.

All you’ve got to lose is a few minutes and some dust.

Cheers!

About John Teehan

John lives in Rhode Island with his wife, son, and dog. He specializes in tech, health, business, parenting, pop culture, and gaming. Visit wordsbyjohn.net for more info and rates. Twitter: @WordsByJohn2