Get those fists pumping! I am back with a weeknight productivity game. It's pretty low pressure, I promise. You and the couch will be reunited shortly.
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So I had this little festive idea. How about turning The Elf on The Shelf into a big-hearted clutter buster? Here's how: As these little buggers invade homes across the country, they find one item a day to donate to charity. It’s about time they were productive members of society, don't you think? Introducing ... The Get the Elf-ing Out of Here Basket Kids will enjoy seeing what their nocturnal nomad selects for the donation basket or box. After the holidays, you can donate the whole kit and caboodle to a local charity. Or even more magical, leave the basket out with the stockings. See where I am going with this ... Santa himself can pick it up to make sure it gets donated. I checked with him. He's onboard. Don’t have kids or a weird little elf doll, you say? You can still adopt this daily holiday donation idea. Fun, right? If you want to pretend there’s a sly elf involved, hey, the more merry on you. What I like about this game:
In case you haven't noticed, "do easy things" is a recurring theme here at Rock Your Chores. As Mr. Christmas says, "Keep it simple, sweetheart." (He has no idea what this elf-shelf business is all about, and he's good with that.) That’s me ... throwing myself a little countertop chocolate milk party. It’s also evidence of my early need for fun and gratification—and chocolate. Always chocolate. This was my dad’s favorite picture of me. It was lost for years, and he would tell me wistfully how much he wished he and my mom could find it. When my siblings and I were cleaning out my parents’ home after they passed away (within months of each other), we discovered it. I thought about how happy that would have made my father—to see that grinning chocolately face. (This one's for you, Dad.) It also makes me think of the lost memories in my home. I want to make this photo my inspiration to uncover those hidden treasures. I really regret that it was only after my parents were gone that we dove into the deep clutter. They would have loved sharing the memories with us and they could have answered our many questions. So I am musing on what Rock Your Chores games I can come up with to go deep on clutter in 2019. I am hoping some of you will join me. (Like will you come to my house and help??!) I can say with confidence that most of what I’ll uncover is probably more trash than treasure. That’s pretty motivating too. Less trash. More chocolate. Sound like a plan? Curator of The Happy Childhood Museum Part of my personal clutter crisis is that I am holding on to artifacts from when our kids were young. Do they want these dusty relics of their upbringing? No—well, not in their own beautifully uncluttered adult homes, anyway. So I hold on. Can I finally part with soccer jerseys and science projects? If you have let go of this type of sentimental clutter, please give me a kind word of advice, as I aim to find the true treasures in our deep clutter time capsule. The Disney movies on VHS, you ask? No way. Those are staying. This lady is a sucker for the tramp. This fox needs her hound. This beauty ... OK, enough of that. You know that satisfying feeling you get when you create fresh neat rows of mowed grass? You don’t have to overthink it. You just proceed—row by row—until the job is done. I like to apply this strategy to systematically clean a messy room—to make the chore more fun. I call this game, “Mow the Lawn.” It keeps me from bouncing around and getting distracted. It also works great when you’re not sure where to even begin in places like cluttered closets and garages. (For me right now that's an oxymoron. Got some mowing to do!) How it works Start in one corner of the room or area. Decide which direction you’re going to mow through the mess. Proceed in rows, back and forth, until you’ve covered the entire room. Unlike mowing the lawn, you’ll have to leave the row to put items away but just return to where you left off and keep mowing along—until the job is in the bag. What I like about this game:
Girls can kick some grass When I was a kid, girls did not mow the lawn at our house. It wasn’t until I was a single mom with no manpower around that I ever yanked a starter cable. Somehow I made that sound a little dirty, and this is a clean blog about cleanliness, so don’t go there, OK?! Anyhoo, I remember how rewarding it felt to get the job done. Confession time: Now I have a handsome hubby who does the mowing. I could do it. I totally could. He knows that. But instead, I am a weirdo “mowing the lawn” in my kitchen. That’s me. I taught this make-chores-fun game to my 5-year-old granddaughter, and we mowed her messy bedroom in a matter of minutes. She happily sang, "mowing, mowing, mowing..." as we worked away. I recommend that for upping the fun and weirdo factor! “Little things make big things happen.” —John Wooden For years, OK, make that decades, I let my clothes fall where they may in the bedroom. If you thought that sounded sexy, you’d be terribly wrong. So not sexy. More like the dressing rooms at Old Navy on the Saturday before school starts … lots of poor choices, empty hangers and inside-out jeans. We’re talking clothes clutter. When I’d finally get around to tackling this fabric of my life, it was a serious time suck. That changed when I started playing a morning edition of “The 10-Pick-Up Game.” How it works Each morning before I leave the house, I pick up 10 items in the bedroom—clothes or otherwise—and put them where they should be. I don’t overthink it. Every flip-flop, dirty sock and coffee cup counts. It takes just a minute or two, and then I get on with my day. I am also not a morning person, so believe me, I am not always chipper about it. I just do it. I’ve been playing this a.m. game for a few months, and it’s like I am a real grown-up. I don’t have to ground myself every weekend until I clean my room. Not to be overly dramatic, but how does life-changing sound?!? And a funny thing has happened. Now that the room tends to stay clean, I am more likely to hang my clothes up at the end of the day. Who is this person? She’s someone who’s happier. Sometimes it truly is the little things. Finding little ways to make chores more fun. This post is the first in the RYC’s Pebbles category—small steps that can pave the way to success. |
Hello!I am Margie Reece. I am here to help you rock your chores and have some fun doing it. Categories
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