March Challenge: 5 Minutes a Day

After my somewhat successful challenge for February, and my incomplete challenge for January, I decided to go really simple for March… Something vague and non-committal that only takes 5 minutes a day… 

March Challenge: Daily 5 Minute Clean-Up

It’s easy!  All I have to do is, at some point in my day, spend 5 minutes cleaning something up that I would typically just leave because I “didn’t have time” or I was too lazy… We are 9 days in to March already and I’ve only missed 2 days so far.  Pretty good!  And some days I have definitely done more than 5 minutes.  But that’s all that is required.  5 minutes.  Sometimes it’s as simple as picking up the recycling and putting it where it belongs, and sometimes it is finally cleaning up that stack of whatever that has been collecting for weeks…  (If this is sounding familiar, I got the idea from A Slob Comes Clean – she posts about 5 minute clean-ups regularly.)

It doesn’t make sense to take photos and report on every 5 minute clean-up session (it would take twice as long to do that), but I thought I’d share a couple of my sessions just as examples of how easy and successful this challenge is turning out to be.

March 3rd: Kitchen Counter

You’ve seen this area before, when I did the 31 day decluttering challenge, but it always collects stuff…  I did this in a few minutes in the morning before work… I went through all the papers that were in the little mail sorter thing, recycled a lot and filed a bunch of things away.  I put a few of my husband’s tools back in the garage, washed and put away the water bottle, took the random wrapping paper and gift box down to the stash we keep in the basement, put my wallet and bullet journal in my purse (where they belong when I go to work), and then tossed a few things that we don’t need in to the donate pile.  There is still a few papers that I have get my husband to deal with, but for not much effort, it’s definitely much nicer!

 

March 5th: The Other Kitchen Counter

This is another area in the kitchen that seems to collect stuff… Most of this stuff was related to Bentley’s recent trip to the vet to get neutered.  I put his treats in the treat container that we have and got rid of the bags… I put his medicine in the box of Bentley stuff that is literally on the shelf below this counter… Not sure why I couldn’t put it there earlier… I filed away the papers certifying that Bentley has his rabies shot and put the little tag on his collar… Put the pen with the pens, and the post-it notes with the other note papers (in the mail sorter above).  Then recycled the random flyers and put my headphone in my purse.  Ta-da!  All clean!

 

March 7th: Living Room Shelf

This is another location that has been revisited many times… It gets decorated for holidays, and when it isn’t decorated it collects papers and random stuff… like my purse… Why would I put my purse there?  In any case, it didn’t take long to clean up.  The bin was the decorations from Valentine’s Day that I hadn’t put away yet because it was a new bin (to replace a cardboard box) and I wanted to label the box before I put it away… So I labeled it… And put it away… Simple, eh?  I put the Nintendo Amiibo characters with the video game stuff (though they have since emerged from there again… and are on the mantle now… this is a constant battle…) and the papers that were in the file have been filed away.  Oh, and my purse?  I took that with me to work…

 

March 9th: My Bedside Table

This one felt a bit like a cheat because if it hadn’t been for the photos, it probably wouldn’t have taken 5 minutes… But in any case, I did it, and it looks better!  I only took a couple things off the table (my dirty water glass, a few random receipts and papers, and a pen), and then it was a matter of stacking everything neatly.  Although, before stacking I did take everything off and actually wipe the table down.  Not sure when the last time that was done… So much dust and pet hair!

If you are wondering about the August 15 thing… That’s a coaster… We made them for our wedding save the dates and have many, many extra… If you need any coasters, let me know!

So, there is a sample of what I’m doing for my March challenge.  Wish me luck for the rest of the month!  Do you have a challenge for March?  Do you think you’d be able to spare 5 minutes a day to tidy something?

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