15 Minute Tidy Blitz
Yes, it does work!
Everyone can do something for 15 minutes.
Even your kids (not matter what their age from about 3 years old).
Mostly, us mums shoulder the responsibility of house cleaning and when we have kids, the mess is even bigger.
Many years ago my husband and I were kid free every second weekend.
I love my kids, but when I tidied up on the Thursday they left for their dads, by some miracle it stayed that way until they came home the following Tuesday!
And it was bliss.
I’m half German and everything being in order (alles in ordnung) is my comfort zone state of being.
But sometimes it’s a huge burden to carry around.
Always being the one responsible for ‘how’ the house looks is a weight I carry around all the time.
Alison Armstrong has written about this in many of her books including ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ and ‘The Queen’s Code’, where she talks about the relationship between men and women and the roles we each play, with the aim of helping women understand the significant men in their lives (fathers, husbands, sons).
In one of her books Armstrong talks about how the house ‘talks to you’, when things aren’t in order.
If washing needs doing, dishes need cleaning, then often (no matter what you’re doing), they practically scream at you across the house.
There is no point she says, in sitting down to write that article or your book, if you can’t block out the dirty laundry saying ‘wash me’ in your head every five minutes.
You either learn to block it out, or deal with it.
Over the years I’ve gotten better, but sometimes I will start cleaning something or put washing on etc and my husband will say ‘but didn’t you have X deadline today?’.
And I’ll say to him ‘the house is screaming at me’.
He’s read the book, so doesn’t think I’m entirely insane!
But when it comes to a house full of mixed aged children, (at one stage we had a toddler, and two teenagers), it can get very messy, very quickly and it’s impossible to keep on top of that on your own, and remain sane!
Enter the 15 minute Tidy Blitz.
There are not really any rules to this, other than, every member of the household helps, it only goes for 15 minutes (set a timer) and it generally covers communal areas of the house.
The reason for this, is we all live in this space.
When it’s nice and tidy, it helps everyone’s disposition, not just mine.
Now I need to be clear that this is a tidy, not a clean.
It just means putting everything back in it’s rightful place, which is usually not the room it is currently in.
Our youngest even at 3 or 4 years old was quite capable of carry his toys to his room or the play room and come back and get the next thing. Obviously lots of encouragement and some supervision is needed at that age.
But the beauty of this is the multiple benefits it gives.
Firstly, everyone can do something for 15 minutes, even a surly teenager!
Secondly, it involves everyone (thus less resentment from me on being the only one who usually cleans up).
Thirdly, it can create a bit of healthy competition on beating the clock as it counts down the 15 minutes (I use the microwave so you can all see it), with the kids wanting to be the one who puts the most stuff away (winner, winner, chicken dinner!).
Fourthly, it showed our boys, that a clean house isn’t just ‘women’s work’
And lastly, it makes me feel like everyone is contributing.
It makes me feel valued, appreciated and also loved by them.
When the house is tidy, swinging the mop or vacuum cleaner around the next day while they are all at school is much easier, because I don’t have to tidy first.
And this 15 minute blitz can be extended (I advise on another day/night) to their bedrooms, so they can be tidy too.
Why don’t you try the ‘15 Minute Tidy Blitz’ this week and let me know how it goes?
As we seek excellence in all we do, I want to share with you what I’m up to each week. It will keep me accountable to you, my readers and it will also help me to reflect on what I’ve done over the previous week. I’d love to get your feedback on whether you think this is a good idea or not.
➡️ This Week’s Progress
Launch day for ETC website is April 29th, so I am really getting into it now!
➡️ This Week’s Reading
Not much reading this week, been concentrating on content work.
➡️ This Week’s Viewing
Finished watch Gilmore Girls. Some crying was had (don’t judge me too harshly ok?)! lol
📝 - Latest Issue- Traveling Through History Newsletter
Issue 44: European Cities - Amsterdam
🎙️- Tilt Your Business Podcast - This Week’s Episode
Ep 34: Personas with an AI Assistant
🎙️- Business on the Bloc Podcast - This Week’s Episode
Michelle is a Writer, Marketer, Content Entrepreneur, Historian (Mst Oxon) and mother of 3 boys.
After 25 years in business and as the ‘Content Marketing Queen’ for over 13 years, she has helped countless small businesses understand and develop their content strategies and focus on a customer first approach.
On International Women’s Day in March 2024, Michelle hung up her crown so that she could be a Queen Maker to inspire and assist women over 40, rise up to be the Queens they were born to be.
At Excellence Takes Courage we will navigate together what it takes to achieve excellence, with courage.
Follow me on these social media platforms:
Website - incoming…. stay tuned!
Please help me build my list by sharing this newsletter with your friends.
If you love history and traveling then you might like to follow my weekly Substack newsletter on History Travel - Traveling Through History.