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Kat
4-6-11, 3:48pm
Babr's "A bit at a time" thread inspired me to get started on a daunting task--organizing the office. When I started working from home, I brought all my stuff from my work office and plopped it in my home office. I have been dreading going through it all because I knew it would involve shredding tons of confidential documents (which I hate doing).

So today, I set my timer for 15 minutes, and in that time, I cleared off my desk top! When I was done, I set it for another 15 and shredded, and then another 15 and got through one box.

Anyone else use this method? It is amazing what you can do in 15 minutes!

Madsen
4-6-11, 3:52pm
Yep I got a kitchen timer with the buttons for each number, so you can set any time you want. I use it for focused tasks like you did, and for workout-type stuff too.

Greg44
4-6-11, 8:59pm
We started this after reading it from the "flylady" - I think that is what she calls herself. Away we will do a 10 minute pickup and surprising how much stuff can be put away and tidied (sp?) up if everyone is helping. Usually it is as a result of a phone
call that someone is going to "stop over" and we look around the house in a panic and someone screams - okay 10 minute pickup!

GT

danna
4-6-11, 9:09pm
Always..they only way I get things done...15-30 min in kitchen, then maybe tidy and clean for 15-30 min etc....sometimes I stop after that time and more often then not I continue on longer...
It gets me going...

Kat
4-7-11, 5:59am
Well, it isn't my genious technique. I read about it somewhere--probably Flylady. ;-) But it is new to me. I have always been the type of person who likes to finish what is started. I don't like to leave a task half finished, so while I am waiting for enough time to complete it, it snowballs out of control (like my office). I'm glad I decided to give it a try, though. I am sure that when the baby comes, I won't have hours and hours of free time to get things done. I'll have to take what I can get, and it is good to know that such a small amount of time can make such a big difference. :-)

P.S. @greg--I'm glad I am not the only one scrambling to pick up before someone stops by LOL

Stella
4-7-11, 1:14pm
I haven't used this in the past but it's a great idea. This morning I took 15 minutes and reorganized "my" corner, the area around the big comfy chair where I feed the baby and read and all that important stuff. Such a huge improvement! I am so pleased!

Greg44
4-7-11, 5:18pm
P.S. @greg--I'm glad I am not the only one scrambling to pick up before someone stops by LOL

The emphasis is on "Screams" 10 minute pickup! :0!

ejchase
5-16-11, 7:11pm
Yes, I learned this technique from flylady, and it's probably no exaggeration to say it changed my life.

From using this technique, I've learned how really very quick some tasks I put off are. For example, I now live in a house with hardwood floors and stairs that collect dust bunnies. Because of using the 15 minute technique, I've learned dust busting up the dust bunnies on the stairs (which look really awful when not dealt with) takes LESS THAN A MINUTE. Nevertheless, I will sometimes put off vacuuming them up for two or three days. When I'm able to say to myself, "It takes one minute," I'm much more able to get myself to do it.

And yes, if I just take 15 minutes a day to declutter at home, I can get so much done in a week.

I've also used a variation of this technique for times when I had time to tackle bigger decluttering projects. I will sometimes declare a weekend a "decluttering retreat" and commit to doing 4 hours of decluttering on each day of the weekend. I can divide up the hours any way I want - usually I do about 2 hours straight, then break up the last two hours each in 30 or 45-minute increments. It helps so much to know I'm committing a finite amount of time and that when I've hit that 4 hours, I'm done for the day. And, of course, over 8 hours, much gets done.

Amaranth
5-17-11, 9:25pm
***15 Minute Put Away Challenge Version 1***

One fun way to do this is to get a sturdy basket such as a laundry basket.
Set timer for 15 minutes.
Go to the room that is at your front door.
Start in one direction(if you have trouble deciding, go clockwise) and put anything that goes in another room into the basket.
And put away anything that goes in the room.

Move to the next adjacent room.
If there is anything in the basket that belongs in Room 2, put it away.
Then put anything that goes in another room into the basket.
And put away anything that goes in the room.

Move to Room 3 and repeat.

See how far you can get in 15 minutes.
The next time you do this start wherever you left off the last time. If you have small children, put the basket in a safe location between times.
If someone is home most of the day, do this after breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, and before bedtime baths. (If the children are small, before bedtime doesn't work as well-- as racing through the house to beat the clock tends to wake them up.)

***Version 2--5 people/5tasks***
If the house is in an extremely difficult condition, and you have 5 people to help, use 3 baskets, a plastic bin and a trash bag.
Person 1 puts other-room items in basket 1.
Person 2 puts things away in the room.
Person 3 puts recycle in basket 2 and trash in the bag
Person 4 puts dishes in the plastic bin.
Person 5 puts clothing to be washed in basket 3.

As soon as anyone finishes their task in a room they move to the next room.

At the end of the 15 minutes:
Take recycle to recycle bin.
If the trash is smelly or dangerous, take it to the outdoor can. If not and there are no small children about where bags or the contents would be a safety issue, the trash bag can be left along with the bin where you stopped or both can be put away.
Put dishes in dishwasher. Start dishwasher if full.
Take clothing to laundry area and add to sorting bins. If there is enough for a load in one of the bins, start a load or leave for its regularly scheduled day.

***Version 3***
Eventually things will be in good enough shape that you can go to all the rooms in 15 minutes, get everything put away, and return the basket to where you keep it.

***Version 4 Many people, central exchange***
If you have a number of older children and adults doing this, you can give each person a basket and have them do one room.
At the end of 15 minutes, everyone comes to a central area and exchanges items in their basket for items that belong in the room in which they are working.
One extra basket can hold items if you have more rooms than people for that go-round.
People then go back to their initial room and put items away.

The next time you do Version 4, you can do the rooms that didn't get done on round 1.

***Version 5--10 minutes per room***
Do as for Version 1, but do as much as you can for 10 minutes in each room.

***After awhile you may discover certain patterns to the disarray. If so consider strategies and routines for preventing particular hotspots.

***Advanced version***
Make a list of all your shelves, drawers, bins, and cabinets. Every six months go through each one and clean it out. Spread these out evenly over the year. These can be scheduled as recurring tasks in Outlook to make things easier. For most things the date won't matter, but some like sorting kid's clothes in advance of the new season could be timed for that. So things might look something like:

Date 1 Monday: Clean Kitchen Drawer 3
Date 2 Tuesday: Clean Mary's Room dresser drawer 2
Date 3 Thursday: Clean Bookshelf 7
Date 4 Saturday: Clean Garage shelf 2

benhyr
5-17-11, 9:50pm
Sounds very similar to the pomodoro technique which I use very extensively, especially on work tasks. Basically, go 25 minutes then take a short break. Every 4 sessions, take a slightly longer break. It's definitely easier for me when I'm only facing down the next 25 minutes.

Oh, more information here I think: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/