I am washing a bathtub full of dishes right now and it seems to fill up so fast. The task soon becomes overwhelming and the longer I put it off the worse it gets! If only I could work for 15 minutes and stop that would be great! I can do anything for 15 minutes. But then again, 15 minutes a day won’t get all my dishes washed and pretty soon I would be in a big mess again.
But what if I set the timer for 15 minutes and when it rang, someone else (like a child of mine 🙂 would come take over? They could work for 15 minutes and trade again. No one would feel they had to be stuck there until the job was perfect. I would get to stop in every so often for my turn to make sure it’s done well enough and the job would eventually get done.
What if everyone worked in some area of chores for 15 minutes, someone in the bathroom, someone in the kitchen, someone in the laundry etc. and when the timer rang we just switched jobs picking up exactly where the other person left off? The object would be to do your very best, fastest work in the time allotted, so when the next person came they would notice and say, “Wow! You’ve gotten a LOT done in just 15 minutes.
I’m going to try it in the morning. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
Better than that…..my kids do all of the dishes. I haven’t washed a dish for several years. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration. LOL! I do wash dishes when they are sick. Love you blog! Lisa~
A friend of mine uses the 15 minute strategy combined with a checklist. (when one job is done you just check out the list and choose another) Yesterday we had what seemed to be a very long check list of chores to be done (it filled a whole page!) Between 5 of us, in 15 minutes, the entire house was cleaned and tidied, dishes were done, laundry was folded, and supper was prepped. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 15 minutes! (especially with those tantalizing boxes to check off when the job was done!)
I love check boxes, like Andi… And I love the idea of the 15 minute team work – I will have to remember to implement this when my children are older!! 🙂
i set the timer for myself b/c otw i would clean all night and not sit down and relax for myself or hang out with my hubby.
my friend does a weekly chore list (maybe bi-weekly?) with her teenage daughters and husband. they have a whole list of what needs to be done and they crank up the music in the house while they work. when someone finishes a job they cross it off and initial it until the list is complete. then whoever did the most things gets to pick what dessert the family will go out for. or pick the restaurant if they’re going out to eat – there are all kinds of modifications to the reward but i LOVE that idea and yours and look forward to implementing them in a few years when my baby is old enough!!