s/o Housekeeping: Those 2-minute jobs

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I'm trying to do better with housekeeping, and I know that it's generally recommended that if there's something you can do in under 2 minutes, you should just do it right then so the little things don't pile up. But am I the only one who feels like, if you just do all the little tasks right when you see them, you'll never get to the big ones? 

 

Am I missing something in the bigger picture? I work from home, and I'm HSing two kids who still seem to need me a lot, and I feel like big tasks are always waiting for me, so I abandon the smaller ones to get to the bigger things because they're more pressing...but then that's how my house ends up looking like a nuclear war zone.

 

I was really hoping the new year would bring an extra hour or so each day, but it doesn't look like I got my wish!  :willy_nilly:

[Critterfixer]

There aren't many jobs around my house that fall into the two-minute category except maybe swapping laundry and putting a few dishes in the dishwasher. 

[Critterfixer]

What kind of big tasks are taking up all of your free time?

[Elizabeth86]

me me me. It's those 2 minute jobs that kill me. I hate em. I don't mind the big stuff. With 3 small kids I have a ton of 2 minute jobs. I see a sticky patch of something and I hate wiping it up. I have annoying perfectionist tendancies that make me think I will wait until later and mop the whole floor. vThen the baby keeeps waking while I'm trying to mop, then the floor is still sticky. Those 2 minute jobs I'm sure is what keeps things running smoothly for others. I struggle. I will be watching this for tips.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Maybe this is a perspective thing? I feel like my whole house is made up of two-minute tasks. Right now from the couch (where I'm supposed to be working at my paid job), I can see: an empty candy box that needs to be recycled, a small stack of mail that I need to pick through and get off the dining room table, a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong on the kitchen table, a small stack of board games that need to go back downstairs, a sweater and a jacket that need to get hung up... As I move through my day, I see stuff like this and think, "I should just deal with that right now, as I'm standing here," but then I'll never get to sit down and spend an hour on my paid work before I have to start dealing with dinner or whatever. 

 

Am I looking at this the wrong way? 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

What kind of big tasks are taking up all of your free time?

 

Well, mainly homeschooling and work. Those are the things I should be fitting the cleaning stuff around, but I often feel like I'm trying to fit them around taking care of the house, cooking, running errands, etc. 

[Critterfixer]

Well, mainly homeschooling and work. Those are the things I should be fitting the cleaning stuff around, but I often feel like I'm trying to fit them around taking care of the house, cooking, running errands, etc. 

Oh, I see. I tend to look at homeschooling and work as tasks that kind of demand my full attention. I don't generally do housekeeping when I'm supervising school or writing. 

 

Faced with what you see from where you are sitting (candy box, clutter, mail, clothes to be put away) I would probably think, "I'll get that when I clean up this room. After I do my work." 

[bolt.]

Maybe this is a perspective thing? I feel like my whole house is made up of two-minute tasks. Right now from the couch (where I'm supposed to be working at my paid job), I can see: an empty candy box that needs to be recycled, a small stack of mail that I need to pick through and get off the dining room table, a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong on the kitchen table, a small stack of board games that need to go back downstairs, a sweater and a jacket that need to get hung up... As I move through my day, I see stuff like this and think, "I should just deal with that right now, as I'm standing here," but then I'll never get to sit down and spend an hour on my paid work before I have to start dealing with dinner or whatever.

 

Am I looking at this the wrong way?

Maybe the trick is to just do one of them?

 

It sounds like it's not your natural style to think in individual small tasks, but instead you sweep through spaces (where each task leads to another, and you leave actual tidiness behind you). Not every housekeeping tip fits every person. Maybe your style is s better fit for 'set a timer, go through a space doing everything, until the time is up'.

[Critterfixer]

I figured out that if I allow little things to claim my time, I won't have any time for what I want to do. So I assigned time in my day for cleaning (2 to 2.5 hours including chores like dishes, laundry, animal tasks) and outside of that time, I don't clean. Sure, if a big mess happens, I'll deal with it, but if it's a little thing, no. I'll take care of it when it's time to take care of it.

But that's just the way I do things. It might not work for someone else.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Oh, I see. I tend to look at homeschooling and work as tasks that kind of demand my full attention. I don't generally do housekeeping when I'm supervising school or writing. 

 

Faced with what you see from where you are sitting (candy box, clutter, mail, clothes to be put away) I would probably think, "I'll get that when I clean up this room. After I do my work." 

 

Here it seems to work out that I never manage to get my full attention on them, because I'm trying to put out a million tiny fires. I'll start cleaning up the kitchen or something before the kids get up, and when they do, I'm still in the middle of it because I don't want to walk away or it will never get finished, and then by the time I'm done they're in the middle of something, so while I wait for them I start to do something else...and then it's 3:00 and we have to leave for an appt or no one has any attention span left to do schoolwork effectively. If I do manage to get schoolwork prioritized, when I finally come back upstairs, the kitchen's still a mess from breakfast and the kids making themselves lunch/snacks and I have to clean all that up before I can start dinner, and so on. 

 

Maybe the trick is to just do one of them?

 

It sounds like it's not your natural style to think in individual small tasks, but instead you sweep through spaces (where each task leads to another, and you leave actual tidiness behind you). Not every housekeeping tip fits every person. Maybe your style is s better fit for 'set a timer, go through a space doing everything, until the time is up'.

 

I figured out that if I allow little things to claim my time, I won't have any time for what I want to do. So I assigned time in my day for cleaning (2 to 2.5 hours including chores like dishes, laundry, animal tasks) and outside of that time, I don't clean. Sure, if a big mess happens, I'll deal with it, but if it's a little thing, no. I'll take care of it when it's time to take care of it.

But that's just the way I do things. It might not work for someone else.

 

Hm, these are really good points. There are a few things left over from my childhood that seem to paralyze me because they don't work well with my real, adult life. I can still hear my dad's voice! "Never leave a job unfinished." Or "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing RIGHT." Of course, he never had to run a household or raise kids or homeschool :lol: 

 

Thanks for these tips. I'm going to try to re-frame the little things as "things I will deal with in x time frame" rather than "things I should be doing right now, all at once, before I can accomplish anything else."

[solascriptura]

I'm a messy person by nature, but when I married a neat freak, I began to get the hang of things!  My dh is always doing those 2 minute tasks, but rarely the big ones.  Why?  because those two minute tasks add up to those big time consuming tasking if you don't take care of them.  If you refuse to wipe those milk drips or crumbs from breakfast, it turns into big moping jobs or vacuuming the entire house.  Those sticky spots on the bottom of shoes/feet and the crumbs begin to travel to the other living spaces.  If you hate loading the washing machine everyday (takes me 2 minutes) it then turns in to a full day of laundry on Saturday.  I do a load of laundry every day or about 5 times a week and I don't have a "laundry day" to worry about.  Because I quickly wipe up the bathroom sink of toothpaste splatters and globs, I only need to really scrub the sink about every 2 weeks or so.  If I notice the toilet getting gross, I tell my kids to clean that one toilet and that takes them 2 minutes or less.  If you take care to wipe the stove at the end of the day, the gunk doesn't get cooked on and impossible to remove.  Most of my friends are always remarking how clean our house is, but really we only have a big cleaning day about once a month.  It's all about maintenance.  So, I guess the trick is to change your perspective about the little cleaning jobs.  I really hate cleaning (REALLY), but I find the quick jobs manageable and they get done.  Also, it helps if you have the right supplies to get the quick jobs done.  There is no way I will do quick spill clean ups if I have to drag a mop and bucket from the basement.  I keep spray bottles of cleaner or wipes in every major cleaning area such as the bathrooms and kitchen.  

[regentrude]

I found that staying on top of the two minute tasks means there are very few big tasks left. I do the small tasks in the nooks and crannies of the day: start laundry while coffee is brewing, wash a few pots and pans while DH showers, swiff the living room while talking on the phone, wipe the counter while waiting for the pasta to finish cooking. Tasks that take two minutes (or less) are: clean a toilet, empty a trashcan, put away laundry, dust shelves, wipe down the microwave, take recycling to the garage, wipe off one shelf in the fridge...

I've done my housekeeping in small snippets for decades and it works much better for me than waiting until I have large consecutive chunks of time to clean the entire house at once.

Edited January 11, 2018 by regentrude

[Bluegoat]

I think the two min task thing works in some settings but not others.  So, one time it works well is when you have natural little breaks in your day, you can accomplish one of them.  It may not be a big task, but in that break you wouldn't have time for that big task anyway.

 

Another element is you can build these two min tasks into some other necessary tasks.  For example, I hate toothpaste all over the sink, so whenever I go to the toilet, if the sink is messy, I wipe it down.  The stuff to do it is under the sink, it is right there, and it takes two min or less.  If I've had to go to the toilet while schooling, or working, it really doesn't get in the way to add that on.  It isn't stopping me from cleaning the whole bathroom - I don't have the time for that at that time.  But when I do, I may not have to clean the sink.

 

The main thing I think is that the big jobs, in many cases, are actually made up of the small jobs, and if you break them up you can get the big job done by using smaller windows of time.

 

Another example of this is I had a hard time getting my fridge cleaned. I just could not find time in the day to get it all done so I didn't even start. My mom told me not to try and do it all at once - instead, do one shelf a day, or the door.  I can often find time for that in the day - it's not a huge job.  So - it gets done - maybe over four days, but still done as opposed to not-done.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Bluegoat

[regentrude]

There aren't many jobs around my house that fall into the two-minute category except maybe swapping laundry and putting a few dishes in the dishwasher. 

 

but isn't almost every big job composed of little two minute sub-tasks?

 

[regentrude]

Maybe this is a perspective thing? I feel like my whole house is made up of two-minute tasks. Right now from the couch (where I'm supposed to be working at my paid job), I can see: an empty candy box that needs to be recycled, a small stack of mail that I need to pick through and get off the dining room table, a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong on the kitchen table, a small stack of board games that need to go back downstairs, a sweater and a jacket that need to get hung up... As I move through my day, I see stuff like this and think, "I should just deal with that right now, as I'm standing here," but then I'll never get to sit down and spend an hour on my paid work before I have to start dealing with dinner or whatever. 

 

Am I looking at this the wrong way? 

 

Schedule your paid work and your homeschooling. During that time, do not do housework tasks. Do not LOOK. Pretend you are in an office and close the door, i.e. get into the mental 'work" or "school" space, even if you have no separate physical space for it.

The 2 minute task rule applies for the time outside of the scheduled work and school times.

 

ETA: ideally, the empty candy box would have been removed as soon as the candy was finished, the mail sorted when it came out of the mailbox, the jacket hung up upon taking it off - that's when the 2 minutes should have happened. Not during your work time.

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by regentrude

[CAJinBE]

I think most of house work is little tasks that up to using up all my free time if I let it. We have a big, old house that frequently gets dusty and dirty. We have three dogs and are homeschooling. So I use pockets of time throughout the day and do big cleaning and organizing seasonally, like before Christmas and before we go on summer vacation. There is nothing like a house sitter coming to motivate me to get things all clean at the same time. If I'm waiting for the shower to heat up (which takes some time because it's an old house) I can clean the sinks and mirrors, or the toilet and floor. I take a load of laundry downstairs first thing in the morning and finish that off usually at lunch. Kitchen tasks are clean as I go usually. Vacuuming occurs right before the language tutor comes at a minimum, sometimes more often. I rolled up and stored all our rugs for a time in the future when there are no more dogs. I might never see the rugs again and that's okay. Tile floors save so much time. 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I think the two min task thing works in some settings but not others.  So, one time it works well is when you have natural little breaks in your day, you can accomplish one of them.  It may not be a big task, but in that break you wouldn't have time for that big task anyway.

 

Another element is you can build these two min tasks into some other necessary tasks.  For example, I hate toothpaste all over the sink, so whenever I go to the toilet, if the sink is messy, I wipe it down.  The stuff to do it is under the sink, it is right there, and it takes two min or less.  If I've had to go to the toilet while schooling, or working, it really doesn't get in the way to add that on.  It isn't stopping me from cleaning the whole bathroom - I don't have the time for that at that time.  But when I do, I may not have to clean the sink.

 

The main thing I think is that the big jobs, in many cases, are actually made up of the small jobs, and if you break them up you can get the big job done by using smaller windows of time.

 

Another example of this is I had a hard time getting my fridge cleaned. I just could not find time in the day to get it all done so I didn't even start. My mom told me not to try and do it all at once - instead, do one shelf a day, or the door.  I can often find time for that in the day - it's not a huge job.  So - it gets done - maybe over four days, but still done as opposed to not-done.

 

I'm quoting you, but really this is in reference to the other posts as well. This is where I run into trouble again. If I use the bathroom example, I break from school to use the toilet, and while I'm there, I decide the toothpaste bugs me, so I wipe it up. And then mirror is splattery, so I quick spray that down. And someone has let water spray out of the tub and it made a little puddle on the floor, so I'll clean that up too. And a couple of things should get put under the sink, so I put them there. And while I'm under the sink, the garbage is full, so I tie it up. And since I'm going back downstairs, I'll take the garbage and just run it out the bin outside the garage. And while I'm doing that, I'll grab the recycling bin too, since I'm passing it. And once I dump the recycling, I realize the bins are all over the place, so I straighten them up so the recycling's not spilling out of the one accessible bin. And then, of course, the recycling bin has to go back upstairs...

 

These are all two-minute jobs that I could keep doing on and on and on forever, and I'll never get back to the school table where my kid is waiting for me. KWIM? So how do I decide which two-minute job is the one at which I draw the line, even though I see it and should do it, because it's "just two minutes"?

 

That's how I get stuck. I want to be the person who sees the two-minute job and just handles it quickly, but like regentrude said, EVERYTHING is made up of two-minute jobs. I could clean the entire house two minutes at a time...eventually! :lol: 

Edited January 11, 2018 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[HomeAgain]

I do 2 minute tasks, but I also think Flylady has some wisdom in her weekly 10 minute task list.  Throughout the week you continue with your few minutes here and there, but on the weekend you set aside time for a small list of tasks: changing sheets, cleaning mirrors, things like that.  And if you don't finish in 10 minutes, it's okay to stop and move to the next item on the list.  Over time it ends up staying pretty well picked up and the bigger things are never really neglected.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Schedule your paid work and your homeschooling. During that time, do not do housework tasks. Do not LOOK. Pretend you are in an office and close the door, i.e. get into the mental 'work" or "school" space, even if you have no separate physical space for it.

The 2 minute task rule applies for the time outside of the scheduled work and school times.

 

ETA: ideally, the empty candy box would have been removed as soon as the candy was finished, the mail sorted when it came out of the mailbox, the jacket hung up upon taking it off - that's when the 2 minutes should have happened. Not during your work time.

 

 

Thank you. That brings up another issue I have. The candy box was brought to me while I was working, so I would have had to get up from my work to deal with it. When I did get up from my work, it was in a sprint to start getting dinner ready, so I thought, "I'll deal with that once the pot's boiling" but of course once I left the room, that was the end of that thought. The mail was left on the table because I was hurrying to get back in the car to take a kid to a doctor's appt, so there was no time to sort and shred right then. It feels like I'm always in a rush to get something bigger going, so those little jobs get pushed aside. If I did all the little jobs, dinner would be at 9:00 at night, we'd be late places, etc. And that's how the little things pile up. I just don't see another way! It's so frustrating. I feel like I'm missing something that's so apparent to other people. 

Edited January 11, 2018 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[Bootsie]

Thank you. That brings up another issue I have. The candy box was brought to me while I was working, so I would have had to get up from my work to deal with it. When I did get up from my work, it was in a sprint to start getting dinner ready, so I thought, "I'll deal with that once the pot's boiling" but of course once I left the room, that was the end of that thought. The mail was left on the table because I was hurrying to get back in the car to take a kid to a doctor's appt, so there was no time to sort and shred right then. It feels like I'm always in a rush to get something bigger going, so those little jobs get pushed aside. If I did all the little jobs, dinner would be at 9:00 at night, we'd be late places, etc. And that's how the little things pile up. I just don't see another way! It's so frustrating. I feel like I'm missing something that's so apparent to other people. 

I have found that I sometimes must make changes to a system in order to keep a small task as a small task.  If I find that a box that needs to be recycled is left on the couch rather than being carried to a recycling bin when I get up because dealing with it at the moment will take too much time often means that I do not have a handy, readily accessible place to put recycling items.  I may not get all of the recycling sorted and out to the curb in 2 minutes, but if I can at least get the box into a dedicated spot, then once I am ready to take care of recycling I know where everything is and do not have to go around the house gathering it up.

 

I try to at least get mail to a central location--dropping items that I know are trash in the recycling on my way.  Then I can dedicate some time to sorting, filing, shredding--but mail does drive me crazy, especially when other people in the family have mail that I can't tend to the way I would prefer.  

[Miss Tick]

If you didn't eat the candy, ask whoever did to go take care of it. I can't read your sig, but when I feel overwhelmed by 2-minute tasks i start assigning them to the people making the messes in the first place. I do it either ad hoc or on a rotating chore list. It doesn't work for everything, but it makes me feel like I'm not falling behind at least. As a bonus, your dc stay to learn how to incorporate these tasks into their daily lives.

[solascriptura]

I'm quoting you, but really this is in reference to the other posts as well. This is where I run into trouble again. If I use the bathroom example, I break from school to use the toilet, and while I'm there, I decide the toothpaste bugs me, so I wipe it up. And then mirror is splattery, so I quick spray that down. And someone has let water spray out of the tub and it made a little puddle on the floor, so I'll clean that up too. And a couple of things should get put under the sink, so I put them there. And while I'm under the sink, the garbage is full, so I tie it up. And since I'm going back downstairs, I'll take the garbage and just run it out the bin outside the garage. And while I'm doing that, I'll grab the recycling bin too, since I'm passing it. And once I dump the recycling, I realize the bins are all over the place, so I straighten them up so the recycling's not spilling out of the one accessible bin. And then, of course, the recycling bin has to go back upstairs...

 

These are all two-minute jobs that I could keep doing on and on and on forever, and I'll never get back to the school table where my kid is waiting for me. KWIM? So how do I decide which two-minute job is the one at which I draw the line, even though I see it and should do it, because it's "just two minutes"?

 

That's how I get stuck. I want to be the person who sees the two-minute job and just handles it quickly, but like regentrude said, EVERYTHING is made up of two-minute jobs. I could clean the entire house two minutes at a time...eventually! :lol:

 I get what you're saying.  Your perspective is that you are starting from the big clean up job and then you have a ton of small tasks to do.   I start from the clean bathroom and then maintain it.   Get that bathroom to where you want it and then maintain it. 

 

I don't know the ages of your kids, but they can do a lot too.  I taught my only son how to clean the toilets.  Why?  Because he is the only one that dribbles down the front of the toilet.  Who made the globs of hair conditioner in the shower?  Most likely my hair obsessed dd.  

Edited January 11, 2018 by solascriptura

[Bluegoat]

I'm quoting you, but really this is in reference to the other posts as well. This is where I run into trouble again. If I use the bathroom example, I break from school to use the toilet, and while I'm there, I decide the toothpaste bugs me, so I wipe it up. And then mirror is splattery, so I quick spray that down. And someone has let water spray out of the tub and it made a little puddle on the floor, so I'll clean that up too. And a couple of things should get put under the sink, so I put them there. And while I'm under the sink, the garbage is full, so I tie it up. And since I'm going back downstairs, I'll take the garbage and just run it out the bin outside the garage. And while I'm doing that, I'll grab the recycling bin too, since I'm passing it. And once I dump the recycling, I realize the bins are all over the place, so I straighten them up so the recycling's not spilling out of the one accessible bin. And then, of course, the recycling bin has to go back upstairs...

 

These are all two-minute jobs that I could keep doing on and on and on forever, and I'll never get back to the school table where my kid is waiting for me. KWIM? So how do I decide which two-minute job is the one at which I draw the line, even though I see it and should do it, because it's "just two minutes"?

 

That's how I get stuck. I want to be the person who sees the two-minute job and just handles it quickly, but like regentrude said, EVERYTHING is made up of two-minute jobs. I could clean the entire house two minutes at a time...eventually! :lol:

 

I can get into this too - I have to be careful only to do one thing like that.  So, the mirror or the sink, but not both, say.  The next time you go to the toilet, wipe the mirror.  At the end of the day, the room will be a lot better, and you might even be able to contemplate taking 10 min to really polish it up (or not, but that is ok too.)

 

That kind of approach is mainly for trouble spots, where you are going to them regularly and also they get disordered quickly.  The kitchen is another place that can be like that.  

[SamanthaCarter]

I'm quoting you, but really this is in reference to the other posts as well. This is where I run into trouble again. If I use the bathroom example, I break from school to use the toilet, and while I'm there, I decide the toothpaste bugs me, so I wipe it up. And then mirror is splattery, so I quick spray that down. And someone has let water spray out of the tub and it made a little puddle on the floor, so I'll clean that up too. And a couple of things should get put under the sink, so I put them there. And while I'm under the sink, the garbage is full, so I tie it up. And since I'm going back downstairs, I'll take the garbage and just run it out the bin outside the garage. And while I'm doing that, I'll grab the recycling bin too, since I'm passing it. And once I dump the recycling, I realize the bins are all over the place, so I straighten them up so the recycling's not spilling out of the one accessible bin. And then, of course, the recycling bin has to go back upstairs...

 

These are all two-minute jobs that I could keep doing on and on and on forever, and I'll never get back to the school table where my kid is waiting for me. KWIM? So how do I decide which two-minute job is the one at which I draw the line, even though I see it and should do it, because it's "just two minutes"?

 

That's how I get stuck. I want to be the person who sees the two-minute job and just handles it quickly, but like regentrude said, EVERYTHING is made up of two-minute jobs. I could clean the entire house two minutes at a time...eventually! :lol:

I understand, and agree. I think maybe the two-minute mantra has more to do with building good habits than a paradigm for household management. I think it means, learn to hang up you coat when you come inside, throw away the junk mail when you check the mail, put your clothes in the laundry basket, set your glass in a place where you’ll use it again later, put ingredients away as you use them, screw the drawer handle back on if it’s coming loose, etc, etc, etc. I could be wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[solascriptura]

I understand, and agree. I think maybe the two-minute mantra has more to do with building good habits than a paradigm for household management. I think it means, learn to hang up you coat when you come inside, throw away the junk mail when you check the mail, put your clothes in the laundry basket, set your glass in a place where you’ll use it again later, put ingredients away as you use them, screw the drawer handle back on if it’s coming loose, etc, etc, etc. I could be wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All that you said is spot on. That’s it.

[Critterfixer]

but isn't almost every big job composed of little two minute sub-tasks?

 

I suppose I could break down the mopping into the two minutes it takes to get the soap, make the water, get the mop from the front deck and then quarter the room into two minute sections. But that doesn't really work, because one task flows into the other. If I make the mop water, I really need to use it. I couldn't go clean the bathtub because it's full of mop water. And I certainly couldn't sweep a quarter, then mop a quarter. Most of my big tasks don't divide well into two minute segments.

[Critterfixer]

For me it just works best if I totally ignore any cleaning jobs until it's time to clean. And even then, if the cleaning is in a room I'm not doing that day, I'll ignore it. I only clean during cleaning time. 

[regentrude]

I suppose I could break down the mopping into the two minutes it takes to get the soap, make the water, get the mop from the front deck and then quarter the room into two minute sections. But that doesn't really work, because one task flows into the other. If I make the mop water, I really need to use it. I couldn't go clean the bathtub because it's full of mop water. And I certainly couldn't sweep a quarter, then mop a quarter. Most of my big tasks don't divide well into two minute segments.

 

That is why I said "almost every big job".

If your cleaning process is complicated and your room so large that it takes more than two minutes to mop it, then it obviously won't work.

 

If I run the swiffer through my living room, I am done in two minutes. I just swept the kitchen in 70 seconds and used another 50 for my dining room. Running a wet swiffer through is another two minute gig. Etc. So, cleaning the downstairs, for me, is a "big" task that can easily be broken into small segments. YMMV.

 

ETA: I don't do "cleaning time". I prefer my housework to be fit into barely noticeable 2-5 minute snippets, preferably multitasking.

Edited January 11, 2018 by regentrude

[SparklyUnicorn]

What job is a two minute job?  That I'm curious about.

 

 

[regentrude]

What job is a two minute job?  That I'm curious about.

 

2 minutes or less:

 

sweep kitchen

wash knives

wipe down counter

clean one toilet

shine one sink

take out trash

put recycling in garage

start washing machine

put away  laundry

put cup in the dishwasher

etc

Edited January 11, 2018 by regentrude

[Critterfixer]

That is why I said "almost every big job".

If your cleaning process is complicated and your room so large that it takes more than two minutes to mop it, then it obviously won't work.

 

If I run the swiffer through my living room, I am done in two minutes. I just swept the kitchen in 70 seconds and used another 50 for my dining room. Running a wet swiffer through is another two minute gig. Etc. So, cleaning the downstairs, for me, is a "big" task that can easily be broken into small segments. YMMV.

 

ETA: I don't do "cleaning time". I prefer my housework to be fit into barely noticeable 2-5 minute snippets, preferably multitasking.

Yeah, none of my rooms would sweep up in two minutes or less, except the bathrooms, and the mopping in there is best done by hand because the space is cramped. Which takes longer than two minutes once you start wringing out rags and so forth.

 

I've always thought that solutions to housekeeping difficulties are very individual. Cleaning things two to five minutes at a time would make me want to pull my hair out. But I can tackle cleaning in one room for an hour or so, get a lot done, and let it go for a week until it's time to clean it again.

[Ausmumof3]

It doesn't work well for me either. I need to block off chunks of time for cleaning.

 

In part I think it's just the age and stage of the kids and in part I'm just a person who likes my time in neat boxes.

 

I remember at one point when I was trying to train one of my kids to handle the small stuff. So she spilt something and I sent her to get a rag to clean up. In taking out the rag she spilt all the others so had to put them back. Then in getting the cleaning product she spilt that so we had to clean that up. Then she dropped water so that had to be wiped. Etc etc.

 

I've tried having the kids folding laundry. End result is after about a month I need to go sort out their closets because apparently the concept of putting the clothes in right places instead of shoving them all in together was too hard.

 

I know we'll get there but in the training process it takes more time than doing it yourself.

[SparklyUnicorn]

2 minutes or less:

 

sweep kitchen

wash knives

wipe down counter

clean one toilet

shine one sink

take out trash

put recycling in garage

start washing machine

put away  laundry

put cup in the dishwasher

etc

 

Huh...almost none of these are 2 minute jobs for me.  But I get the gist.  I do plenty of quick little things in between being busy with other stuff. 

[solascriptura]

I suppose I could break down the mopping into the two minutes it takes to get the soap, make the water, get the mop from the front deck and then quarter the room into two minute sections. But that doesn't really work, because one task flows into the other. If I make the mop water, I really need to use it. I couldn't go clean the bathtub because it's full of mop water. And I certainly couldn't sweep a quarter, then mop a quarter. Most of my big tasks don't divide well into two minute segments.

Mopping isn’t a 2 minute job. Spraying and wiping the milk drips from under the kitchen table is. Running the stick vacuum after breakfast is 2 minutes. Vacuuming the entire house isn’t.

[SparklyUnicorn]

It doesn't work well for me either. I need to block off chunks of time for cleaning.

 

In part I think it's just the age and stage of the kids and in part I'm just a person who likes my time in neat boxes.

 

I remember at one point when I was trying to train one of my kids to handle the small stuff. So she spilt something and I sent her to get a rag to clean up. In taking out the rag she spilt all the others so had to put them back. Then in getting the cleaning product she spilt that so we had to clean that up. Then she dropped water so that had to be wiped. Etc etc.

 

I've tried having the kids folding laundry. End result is after about a month I need to go sort out their closets because apparently the concept of putting the clothes in right places instead of shoving them all in together was too hard.

 

I know we'll get there but in the training process it takes more time than doing it yourself.

 

Ugh yeah regarding asking my kids to do ANYTHING when they were little.  Folding?  Oh my.  They just balled stuff up and stacked.  Balls don't stack and then everything was wrinkled.  It created more work to undo that than if I just did it myself in the first place.

 

I guess I lack patience for certain things.  LOL 

[regentrude]

Huh...almost none of these are 2 minute jobs for me. 

 

Have you ever actually timed yourself?

 

I highly recommend this. I found that I grossly overestimated how long tasks take if I focus on them.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Have you ever actually timed yourself?

 

I highly recommend this. I found that I grossly overestimated how long tasks take if I focus on them.

 

Well stuff like cleaning a toilet.  I feel compelled to clean the floor, behind the toilet, the walls, etc. etc.  I never just clean the toilet. 

 

I don't sweep.  So I have to lug out the vacuum.  Next thing you know I'm moving furniture, dusting behind stuff, etc etc.

 

It's like I see a thousand tasks in one.  It never is just the one task. 

 

But I do do various little things here or there.  Just not THOSE things. 

[Critterfixer]

I second timing your tasks. I ended up figuring out that I could complete a room in a certain amount of time. Then I put the rooms together that took less time and put them on busier days. Rooms that took more time got put on days when I have more time to focus on them. And days with heavy cleaning mean less cooking for me. 

[Ausmumof3]

I did time myself and figured out I'm quite slow at housework. People say it takes two minutes to make a bed. For me it's 5 -8. I'm not great at motor skill tasks. That's ok it's how I am but it does help to explain why I find housekeeping a bit more overwhelming than some. I seem to be dealing with more low level pain these days which makes it harder to be fast.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Have you ever actually timed yourself?

 

I highly recommend this. I found that I grossly overestimated how long tasks take if I focus on them.

 

I'm 100% certain that emptying the dishwasher takes at least three hours, and no one is going to convince me otherwise. Maybe four. Seriously!

[EMS83]

Maybe this is a perspective thing? I feel like my whole house is made up of two-minute tasks. Right now from the couch (where I'm supposed to be working at my paid job), I can see: an empty candy box that needs to be recycled, a small stack of mail that I need to pick through and get off the dining room table, a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong on the kitchen table, a small stack of board games that need to go back downstairs, a sweater and a jacket that need to get hung up... As I move through my day, I see stuff like this and think, "I should just deal with that right now, as I'm standing here," but then I'll never get to sit down and spend an hour on my paid work before I have to start dealing with dinner or whatever. 

 

Am I looking at this the wrong way? 

 

How old are your kids?  Unless they're littles, they can recycle the candy box, move the board games, hang up the clothes.  Or if clothes are mine, I ask the kids to toss them on my bed (this is rare, and usually stray socks or a jacket).  Of course, half my dining able is covered in stuff, so you might not want to listen to me...  :D  Most of it actually lives there, though--does that make it better or worse?   :lol:

 

FWIW, 2-minute jobs here are either ignored, delegated, or done, depending on what the job is and what kind of day it is.  So not all 2-minute jobs are done, and not all the 2-minute jobs that do get done are done by me.  Make sense?!

[Pen]

Ugh yeah regarding asking my kids to do ANYTHING when they were little.  Folding?  Oh my.  They just balled stuff up and stacked.  Balls don't stack and then everything was wrinkled.  It created more work to undo that than if I just did it myself in the first place.

 

I guess I lack patience for certain things.  LOL 

 

 

For little kid set up, I had a hanging thingy that was attached to wall hooks.  It is nylon fabric with mesh front that you could sort of see what was inside of multiple pockets. sort of like a shoe bag, but bigger pockets, and about 4 feet wide.   socks could go in one, underpants in another etc., all balled up.  Bigger things could get tossed into a drawer.  I think I got the hanging thingy originally from a pet supply place intended to hold items needed for dog shows and to attach to outside of a crate.  But it worked well for clean kid laundry.

 

Ds now has it and has random stuff like marbles, headlamps, and other small things in its various pockets, I think.  

 

I'd really like another one for items like gloves, hats, etc. nearish the most used door to outside.

 

I found it easier to get little kids to do things than teens.  for a little kid, folding something could be a fun project.    for a big one it is an annoying chore.    Sounds like you are finding the opposite.  ???  eta: but big ds can get dressed in 5 minutes, so if his stuff is stuffed or piled in his room and not folded it really doesn't matter.   ... I don't have to find it and get it on him.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Pen

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

How old are your kids?  Unless they're littles, they can recycle the candy box, move the board games, hang up the clothes.

 

One would think  :glare:

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I understand, and agree. I think maybe the two-minute mantra has more to do with building good habits than a paradigm for household management. I think it means, learn to hang up you coat when you come inside, throw away the junk mail when you check the mail, put your clothes in the laundry basket, set your glass in a place where you’ll use it again later, put ingredients away as you use them, screw the drawer handle back on if it’s coming loose, etc, etc, etc. I could be wrong.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I think you're probably right. I tend to have an all-or-nothing mindset. I'm going to work on finding a mental compromise between doing ALL THE THINGS, ALL THE TIME and setting time aside to deal with the big picture all at once.

[Critterfixer]

One thing I found out about myself through cleaning is that I will clean to distract myself from doing what I ought to be doing. I absolutely use housework to procrastinate tougher work, like dealing with a tricky plot issue, figuring out a painting problem, gardening, spending time with my children and my husband when I'm all peopled out. I will start picking at the nit-picky things. Kind of like distracting myself from reading by playing around on the forum. :laugh:

Ironically, the house doesn't get any cleaner from my "cleaning procrastination." I just end up finding more things to pick at.

Just one of my little quirks, I guess, but I do have to watch out for it from time to time. 

[regentrude]

One thing I found out about myself through cleaning is that I will clean to distract myself from doing what I ought to be doing. I absolutely use housework to procrastinate tougher work,

 

I have mowed lawn and cleaned toilets to avoid grading exams :) (Which tells you where grading ranks on my scale of tolerable tasks)

Edited January 11, 2018 by regentrude

[EMS83]

One would think  :glare:

 

Oh I see.   :laugh:   Well just **conveniently** interrupt their fun and have them finish the task they didn't do.  ;)  Mine are 7-11, so this is my annoying mama approach.