Five Minutes and a Laundry Basket

I have several disaster zones in my house. Do you? I'm looking around my desk at stacks of miscellaneous papers as I type, then over my shoulder to see the huge pile of laundry in the corner of our bedroom. I know that toys are scattered around the corners of our home and everywhere in between and that there is an ever-growing accumulation of items on the bookcase in our kitchen in need of being taken down to the basement. These "disaster areas" wouldn't be called such if I'd just deal with them, but there are so many that sometimes it's too overwhelming to know where to start!

I've decided to do something about them, but I know I need to start small. So here's my plan: I'm going to take just five minutes to conquer one (just one) of these disaster zones. We're all busy, but we can all spare five minutes. I've convinced that if I determine to do this, I'll reap an abundant reward. I'll spare myself the headache and frustration that a "zone" can cause each time I pass by without dealing with it.

If you're accepting the challenge and part of that challenge includes gathering items from around the house (e.g. toys!), try using a laundry basket. This will increase your efficiency in cleaning up and may even keep you under the five-minute mark, which is our goal!

Here are some suggestions, if your "zones" aren't obvious (who are you and how do you do it?):

1. Tackle a bathroom - bathrooms are relatively small and a real good cleaning can easily be done in five minutes.

2. Go through mail - throw out junk mail and then sort mail into piles of immediate and not-so-immediate attention.

3. Desk - purchase (totally worth it) two paper sorters or files to keep track of things that need to be filed, bills that need to be paid, etc.

4. Refrigerator - clean out refrigerator or freezer