Winning in Increments

Some people have a hard time settling into a routine and making sure that all the little details around running a household get done on a regular basis.
It's really easy for things to get missed, or just get put off due to a crazy week, or the speed of life in a season.
If you want to be sure that you are at least keeping up, make a list of the things that you absolutely have to, do every day, in order to at least stay afloat.
This list could include things like doing a load of laundry, getting all the dishes done after lunch to prepare for dinner prep, making the bed, wiping down the bathroom, etc.

Now, organize this list into groups:
Tasks that you can do in 5 minutes
in 10 minutes
 and things that will take more than 15 minutes.

Next, plan to do all the things that you can do in five minutes or less before you leave the house, or get started on other things in the morning.
You may be surprised that most of the things on the list take 5 minutes or less.
If you want to break down a longer job into smaller tasks, you can reorganize your list and do one of those tasks in the morning, one after you get home, and one in the evening.

A load of laundry takes as long as the washer and dryer, but starting a load takes less than 5 minutes. Switching to the dryer takes about a minute, and folding out of the dryer about 5 minutes.
Put it away before bed, and the load is totally done. The actual work takes about 15 minutes.

Here are some examples of nagging tasks that really improve the flow of the household, and really only take minutes!

Making the bed- 2 minutes
Wiping down the bathroom sink- 1 minute
Wiping down the shower- 2 minutes
Sweeping the floor- 2 minutes
A sinkful of dishes- 5 minutes

A lot of what we dread is what has accumulated through procrastination.
Look around and take control in small ways.
Each small battle won is a step toward winning time, peace and enjoyment.