Whether you love or hate cleaning the house, it's hard to find a good chunk of time to do it. The large responsibilities, job, family, and errands eat up those hours until you're just too tired to do anything as strenuous as house cleaning. But you probably have an awful lot of small bits of time you could use to get a little bit ahead, or at least keep from falling behind.
So often I would see my kids put something in the microwave oven and just stare at the timer counting down. I could never do that. Most of my kitchen cleaning gets done in the 90 seconds it takes to heat up a cup of tea, several times a day. In the three minutes it takes to heat up a meal of leftovers, you could have all the dishes put away. Or wipe down the counter. Or replace the trash bag.
Our microwave time might not be log, but it is flexible, and you might be astonished at how much you can get done in increments of one, two, or three minutes at a time. Meg Asby got into this habit in a big way, and the chores she accomplishes are not limited to the kitchen. Small jobs add up to a lot of cleaning over a day's time! Read about breaking down household tasks into small pieces, and how much it can help you get ahead at Apartment Therapy.
(Image credit: Chris Kelly)
