“Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden and waiting on the sick could be a prayer, if it were offered to God.” ~ St. Martin de Porres
Growing up in the household I did, I didn’t learn a lot about keeping house. My bedroom was usually a tornado until I couldn’t take it anymore and cleaned it up. Life was spent doing other things, things that had to be done in order to survive…school, and then as I got older.. work (I started working part-time at a young age). Oh yes, and that necessity that was called…friends! Many friends. Who had time to clean and have order?
My mom was busy with her own nursing job and then when she did come home to stay, she was on survival mode, too. We lived in a big city in Canada, little money and lots of obstacles.
When I started to have children, I found out something about myself. I craved order and beauty in my house. I wasn’t great at keeping the corners clean….the closet and the drawers. But for the most part I kept the house picked up. (Homeschooling made this more difficult…the “picking up” had to wait until after school).
Anyway, if it is one thing that I really appreciated from reading Emilie Barnes’ books it was the “15 minute rule” of breaking those bigger jobs into smaller tasks.
When one is running a large household, it is very difficult to pull away and tackle a big job. The rest of the house goes to pot and the kids run amuck. BUT, if one can spend 15 minutes a day on a big job…just 15 minutes….that big job is tackled in a few days!! And it didn’t make the whole house dysfunctional while doing it!
This approach can be hard on perfectionists. They have to put aside the mindset of getting it all done and neatly packaged once you begin. No…that is not how this approach works.
When one turns a big job into smaller pockets of time it is way less overwhelming. And we are much more likely to roll up our sleeves and “get our 15 minutes in for the day!” I usually put it on my list and I so like to check it off!
This helps so much with procrastination! It is not hard to put in 15 minutes and for the most part, I am quite amazed what can be done during that focused time.
I actually set the timer on my phone. And if it is a day that I don’t have a whole lot going on…I will do 15 minutes in one room and 15 minutes on another big task.
This lightens the tasks so much and before you know it, your “troublesome spots” will no longer be so intimidating!
From Flylady:
When you hear yourself utter these words, “I don’t have time!” either in your head or out loud to your family I want you to stop in your tracks. This is just another form of whining. Yes you heard me right.
We all have 24 hours in a day. In our perfectionism there will never be enough hours to do what we need to do, because the job will never be finished. Now in our defense we were taught by well meaning people that were taught by another generation of well meaning people that if you can’t do it right then don’t do it at all! So why shouldn’t we procrastinate; in our minds we don’t have enough time to do it right so why even start!
I am determined to put an end to this stinkin’ thinkin’ once and for all! Our perfectionism will not allow us to do just a little. We have to hyper-focus till the job is done!
Well I don’t know about you but in my home there are things that don’t ever get finished: Dishes, laundry and hot spots. It is a continual battle but here is the difference. I don’t look at it as a battle, it is a blessing. Yes, you got that right. Dirty dishes are a blessing, because when they are put away I am blessing my family. Laundry is the same way. I am no longer chained to a chore but I have been given a chance to show my sweet darling that I care for him. After all, nothing says I love you, like clean underwear.
So when we have a change in our attitude from feeling martyred to finding joy in blessing our family, we will have time to do just a little. In the south we call that “hit a lick at a snake”. This is why we love our timer so much. We can accomplish more than we think if we will just set our timer for 15 minutes and jump in.
And from Mother Mary Potter, Catholic Australia Magazine:
The angels never tired of gazing at their Queen as she went from one duty to the other in the simple routine of her life. She grew more and more wonderful to them, and they loved human life, seeing it such as they had ne’er before seen it, “life as Mary lived it.”
Let Mary’s children resolve to imitate their Mother; let them, wherever they may be, whether in the world or the cloister, resolve to imitate Mary by their cheerful, careful performance of their daily duties. Our Mother is looking lovingly upon us. Let us think of her sweet, smiling face; let us earn from her the crown she is holding for us, which she is so anxious to bestow upon us, the reward the good God will give to all who are faithful to Him, and persevere in His service to the end.
Let us never grow weary of our work; let us never grow remiss; let us never yield to sloth. We shall not be able to work for God in heaven, we shall rest in Him there. Now is the time for toil and labor. Now is the time to show love for God by fulfilling His will, which is that we labor in the sweat of our brow in a spirit of penance, though at the same time with a spirit of joy that we are able thus to give gifts to our God, the gift of ourselves and ail our faculties.
Despite what the movies say, no one “finds” happiness. If you obtain it at all, you must earn it. And it will be earned only by what the Catholic marriage ritual calls “the great principle of self-sacrifice.”On your wedding day you surrendered your individual lives in the interest of a deeper and wider common life. From that day forward you belonged to each other. You were expected to become one in mind, one in heart, and one in affections.And as the ritual counseled: “Whatever sacrifices you may hereafter be required to make to preserve this common life, always make them generously.”-Fr. George Kelly, The Catholic Family Handbook
Beautiful St. Patrick Wire Wrapped Rosary! Lovely, Durable. Each link is handmade and wrapped around itself to ensure quality. Available here.
Lenten Printables!
Lenten Journal Printable available here!
Lenten Activity Bundle Available here!
Filled with inspiration, encouragement, and tried-and-true tips, this book is a must-have for every woman!
The good news is that a beautiful home doesn’t require too much money, too much energy, or too much time. Bestselling author and home-management expert Emilie Barnes shows readers how they can easily weave beauty and happiness into the fabric of their daily lives. With just a touch of inspiration, readers can
- turn their homes into havens of welcome and blessing
- build a lifestyle that beautifully reflects their unique personalities
- enrich their spirits with growing things (even if their thumbs are several shades shy of green)
- make mealtimes feasts of thanksgiving and kitchen duty fun
- establish traditions of celebration that allow joy to filter through to everyday life
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I love my lists, they are my time savers! I usually have a list going, and if I don’t, I need to go make one. 😁
And sometimes I can get a small extra job or rather sneak it in, in between kids homework questions.
Yes… wonderful!