There’s only one thing to remember to have a productive house cleaning session.
one thing.
It’s not a cleaning solution or an expensive steamer. It’s just a phrase.
Touch it Once.
That’s all. Just touch it once. You pick it up — put it away, don’t just move it to another spot —
PUT. IT. AWAY.
It will save you the time of moving it and THEN putting it away. You can just directly put it away.
Sometimes my lazy self likes to fool myself into thinking I’m just SO busy I cant put it away. Ok, that’s true. Sometimes when a person is dying at work — I truly am too busy to put something away. But, if I just need to get something else done, it will take me like 15 seconds longer to put it away and then it’s done.
So, your towel is on your wet body. Just hang it up. Don’t take the time to drop it on the floor and THEN hang it up. Just hang it up.
The mail is on the counter. Don’t take the time to move it to your dining table and THEN go through it. Just go through it and chuck 90% of it like you always do.
You pull the laundry out of the washing machine. Don’t just thow it a couple inches beyond the machine (so then you’ll later have to move the basket to where you keep clean laundry) — just put it away the first time.
When I’m REALLY overwhelmed I tend to stop doing this rule. Also, when things are extra dirty, I stop doing this rule. That’s the dumbest time to not do this rule. Insanity.
Touch it once, put it away and don’t have to think about it again.
Unless you’re doing CPR. You might be too busy then. 🙂
If you liked this post — try my 5 word Organization Challenge — and check out my other household tips below that:
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Lynness says
Agree that this is the best way, but I’m not that great at it. And I know that if I leave the room I’m working on to put something upstairs, Ill get stopped by the kids, or distracted by a pile of stuff on the way that needs to be cleaned….so I tend to make a pile (or a box, if I have one handy) of stuff that goes out of the room, so I definitely touch it twice then.
Hilary says
I’ve used the box technique too — I think that actually may be faster if the room is pretty dang dirty, and you are committed to putting it all AWAY in the end (not just leaving it in the box). 🙂
Havok says
I can do this with some things, yay! But, like you mentioned, for laundry, it’s a 50/50 kind of deal! Sometimes it gets on the bed, which means it has to be folded before bed. Sometimes it ends up in the hamper, which means I might end up with dirty clothes all over the floor for the week.
It does make things easier to do them while you have them ready, though. Saves energy and thought process – no need to remember to come back to it, which is always nice, ha. 🙂
Hilary says
I TRY to remember …. emphasis on try. 🙂 I was thinking about it while I cleaned up yesterday — I did it about 80% of the time. 🙂
Leilani says
This is super advice. Something I do – now that I count my steps daily in an effort to walk more and be healthier – is this same thing. I use the free app Pacer which tells how many steps I take and I’ve found if I go ahead and walk from room to room straightening, putting kids things up, doing laundry… That I naturally will be increasing my steps! It all helps bc I have a high goal of 10,000 daily steps and it’s hard for me to reach it. This has been a great motivator for me to touch it once and get it done. 🙂
Hilary says
Ooo, that is a good idea. My new phone has a pedometer also, I must admit having extra steps makes me giddy.
Angela says
Words of wisdom, Hilary. Words of wisdom. Adoption of this motto will lead to the destruction of junk drawers everywhere. May they quiver in fear. Very nicely said.
Hilary says
Haha Angela, you’re funny! I like funny! 😀