As you zoom around getting your kids ready for school, you notice the cobwebs behind the fridge. Later on, you see the skirting boards have dust (and various other unidentified stains) on them. Throughout the day, you notice this and that and you think to yourself, I’ll get to it. But the moment you go on to the next thing, you forget about it. Until the next time you see it.
Over time, your shoulders get heavier with all these ‘reminders’ stacking up. And every day, it just feels that little bit more overwhelming to keep up with maintaining a clean house on top of everything else life (and kids) throw at you. (learn how to say no with these scripts)
I’ve been there.
I should say, I’m still here. But I’m less overwhelmed than I was before I came up with this principle:
One small chore a day
One small chore a day does not mean you leave the rest of your house untouched. There are always daily maintenance needed to keep the household running. For example, laundry, getting meals done, cleaning up after, etc. (Here is a strategy on how to do less housework)
‘One small chore a day’ refers to all those ‘non-urgent’ but still important housework that need doing but never gets done because there is no due date. If you sort out only one small thing a day, I guarantee you’ll feel lighter, your house will feel more organized, and spring-cleaning will not take the whole of spring to do.
Afterall, you need to do other stuff in spring other than spring-cleaning:
Not sure how to prioritize your to-do list? I use the 10K matrix which I tweaked for moms.
How do I make this work?
Since having kids, my brain is like a sieve. If it’s not written down, it never gets done. My favorite way of doing this is with Ticktick (I tell you why here). You can use your favorite to-do app.
I have a recurring task on Ticktick called ‘One small chore’ and under this, multiple subtasks that I fill in as I go about my day and notice something needs to be done.
This is a snapshot of what’s currently on my ‘one small chore’ list:
- wipe down the skirting boards
- clean behind the stereo
- throw out expired can food
- donate old clothes
- attack cobwebs behind fridge
I could go on and on but you get the idea.
Stop overwhelm by only doing one thing
I know what’s going to happen next when you do this. Because it happened to me. I felt even more overwhelmed looking at the long list and felt that I had to tick it all off!
That’s a hack gone wrong. This principle is meant to help you feel better, not worse. You have lots on your plate that needs to be done every day. The last thing you need is to start ticking off all these subtasks just to ‘tick it off’. That’s a recipe for disaster. As much as we like to think we are Superman in a skirt, we’re not.
Remember, only non-urgent chores get to go on this list. I’ll say it again. These chores are all not urgent. You don’t have to do them all today. Only allow yourself to do one chore a day. Never more.
The moment you do the ‘one small chore’, tick it off so it disappears from your list for the day. That way, you don’t have to look at it or think about it until tomorrow.
Genius.
I think.
It worked for me. Let me know if this works for you.
- The $10K framework for a regular mom - September 1, 2024
- Using the Ticktick Eisenhower Matrix for my $10K Framework - September 1, 2024
- One daily chore you can do to keep up with housework - September 1, 2024