Laundry the easy way?

Anyone who has ever met me knows that I am one who is a time thrift.  I love to save it anyway I can.  I do all kinds of random things to save minutes, even seconds.  A few years ago I decided to stop folding my wash cloths into fourths.  At the time, I used two washed cloths a day to wash my face.  (Since then I started using Doves Noncomedogenic face wash. It's awesome if you haven't tried it.) So, that was my small attempt to save time.  Other ways I conserve is by pre sorting all my silverware before I put it in the dishwasher.  (I know, I am starting to sound anal retentive- but hang with me for a second.) I rinse the silverware off and set it on the counter above my dishwasher in piles.  Then when it's all clean I can just reach in, pull out the little sorter basket and hurl it into the correct slot in my silverware drawer. 

Now, why am I telling you all of this? Well, I have discovered a new way to cut my laundry time  down to ONE FOURTH of the time.  I have to warn you, it's not pretty and it's not conventional and your grandma would probably tell you I was a bad influence if she heard what I was about to tell you.  

So here it is: I stopped folding my laundry. 

Yes.  It's true.  I hang everything up that I don't want to be wrinkled and I fold the towels because they wont fit in the closet unless I do.  I match the socks up  and everything else I just place in their drawers.  Ha!  Am I crazy?  Perhaps!  Eccentric? Well sure- I'll give you that one! But with all that I have on my plate at this time- who has life to waste folding laundry?? So far I have tried it two weeks in a row and saved almost and hour and a half.  This is just an experiment so we will see if I keep it up- but I thought I would share my little secret with you; if for no other reason than for you to shake your head at me and have a good laugh.  

So tell me, I am all ears.  What is your way to squeeze more time out of life? What are your tips for productivity and time thriftiness? 

Organize your life in just ten minutes a day!

With all that we have to do in a day- who has time to organize? I don't know about you, but I have a plethora of closets that if you came over to visit you would NOT be allowed to look in. I just can't ever seem to find the time to roll up my sleeves and tackle all these crazy messes. So recently, I implemented a new method of organization and it only takes ten minutes a day. Yes, just TEN minutes a day! Sounds kind of, "Act now and I'll throw in a pair of Ginsu Knives gimmicky" but I've been trying it and wow, it really works!!

I know all of us have the highest intentions when it comes to cleaning but after a long day it is honestly the last thing that we want to do! Especially if we had to cook, clean or do laundry. So here's why only ten minutes: ten minutes is easy to do. It's not a big commitment. Like the old adage goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Since none of us have HOURS to devote to a closet cleaning frenzy- we simply don't tackle the whole closet. We tackle small, tiny, bite sized parts and there is only one rule to the whole thing: You can only clean for ten minutes, no exceptions!

Well, I am sure that you are thinking, "Only ten minutes? I'm jut getting into my cleaning rhythm in ten minutes! " I hear you, and I would have totally agreed with you at one point. However, if we refer to the tell-tale states our closet are in (and the numerous junk drawers that won't close) I'm sure we can all agree that our old method isn't really working for us.

A few helpful hints to keep in mind when organizing:

1.) Concentrate on very small areas. One box in the closet, one drawer, one shelf in the bathroom- you get the picture. Don't bite off more that you can chew. Keep your expectations very low and don't over achieve. The key here is slow consistency.

2.) Pull things out and sort them into "like" categories.

3.) Use a big trash bag and THROW STUFF AWAY! Be objective here. Sure we all need the plant food that came with the last bouquet of fresh flowers we got. But do we really need eight of them? If you don't use it, lose it.

4.) Be aware of finding "many multiples". Whenever I find multiples of an item in spread out in different places in my house it is a sure key to me that I must not have a really good place for it. It means that every time I need the item, I can't find it; so I go out and buy another. Find good resting places for items don't just shove them places.

It is amazing how much peace a little order can bring in your life; you know where things are, you learn to trim down excess in your life, to save and to simplify. It is the antithesis of our culture to learn to live with less, but there is something deep inside of us that longs for a simpler way of living. Robert Southey said this, "Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the city, the security of the state. Like beams in a house or bones to a body, so is order to all things."

Ten minutes can really make a big difference in your life. This doesn't just apply to organization, it really can apply to any area of your life that you want to see change in. Small things start adding up in big ways when you do them consistently.

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