New game! Mowing through your messes

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:

• It gives me a road map to completion—start here, finish here.
• Any single row seems manageable.
• I can see my progress as I make my way through the room. 
• It helps me do a thorough job. Every inch gets covered. 

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! 

---