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I know we are all busy and don’t have a lot of time to clean up the house, which is why I love the 5 minute clean-up game. I’ll explain later why I call it a game.
Take my living room for example. It’s easy for things to get piled up on the coffee table throughout the day, and by the end of the day I’m tired and don’t feel like cleaning it up. Take a look at this picture, it might not seem like a big mess, but there are lots of little things that need to be done and sometimes the little things overwhelm me.
Right before I took this picture I was sitting on the couch, looking around the room, not sure which pile to start with. That’s when the 5 minute clean-up comes in! It’s a challenge to myself to see how much I can get done in 5 minutes. If I finish cleaning up everything in this room, then I move onto the kitchen to see if there’s anything that needs to be cleaned up in there. 5 minutes isn’t a lot of time but you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in a little amount of time, if you’re racing against the clock!
My daughter loves this game, she’s the reason I call it a game. If she has a mess in her room that needs to be cleaned up, and I have a mess somewhere else in the house, I’ll set the timer and then we race each other to see who can get done first. She usually beats me but when she gets done with her room she comes out and asks me what she can help me with.
If you want to make it even more fun, instead of using the timer, pick an upbeat song that’s about 5 minutes long, and race to see if you can finish before the song. I haven’t found our perfect clean-up song yet but I’m still looking! If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them.
So now get up from the computer, take 5 minutes, and see what you can accomplish! Leave me a comment and let me know what you just cleaned. Good luck!!! Ready, set, GO!!!
I find I have to use music to motivate myself…but when I need my hubby’s help I end up doing the timer thing or he won’t :/
wow! i need that motivation everyday! I made my bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, cleaned bathroom mirrors, packed medicine bag for upcoming vacation and started bagging up stuff to take to the Salvation Army to clear out my “junk room”. I reset my 5 minute alarm 3 times!!! Thanks for the tip…i need motivation like that or it won’t get done!
Wow, that’s amazing! Great job!!! 🙂
I totally do this, too!! Lol — I literally JUST wrote a post about how my timer is my BFF. When I’m feeling overwhelmed or lazy, I’ll make a little “10-minute” to-do list to get myself going. (Or 2-minure, etc…the size of the task/time chunks depend on how much energy I have when I’m starting!). It really is amazing what you can accomplish in such a small chunk of time when you stay focused! I love that your daughter gets into it, too. When I was teaching, I would have my students do a 2-minute tidy before we lined up to go anywhere, and they loved it. It definitely helped the classroom stay clean, too!
That’s awesome! I guess great minds think alike. 🙂
Love it!! I think anytime we can turn things into a game for our kids it totally changes their perspective on chores especially when they are little. Awesome idea! 🙂
Vanessa
I am a preschool teacher who has to bring things home in the summer and we also have tons of papers. Any easy solutions for overcoming feeling overwhelmed. I love the 5 minute game but thinking it could be 5 days. I am a creative person and bore easily of the norms so let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks so much!
At our house, we call this game, “Quick Clean.” And it’s fun to try to say ‘quick clean’ as fast as you can while you’re playing. 🙂
Wonderful idea Anna and such a great thing to teach!
Thank you Bonnie. 🙂
What a great idea Anna! Sometimes it’s just finding the motivation to get started that can be so difficult but if you know that it’s only 5 minutes – that feels totally “do-able” and way less overwhelming! Great tip as always!!! ~Thanks!! Jennifer
Love this Anna! There’s typically so much to clean that I feel like I can’t even begin to start. But I love the idea of setting a time limit and doing just what you can. I’m sure that just 5 minutes can make a difference!
I use an app called lickety split. My daughter loves it!
I like the song idea!!!
LOVE the song idea. We do a 10-tidy cleanup (or 20 on bad days!)
I used to do this as a stay-at-home momma of three. Five minutes before daddy got home, we would scramble! He really appreciated walking into a home that was halfway decent. And I made sure there were good smells coming out of the kitchen! 🙂
Hi! I have the PERFECT 5 minute clean up game song for you! Ironically it is actually called “Ready, Set, Go!” By Ben Gidsjoy. There’s no lyrics except for the title repeated a few times….it’s just a fast-paced song and my kids and I clean to it all the time. You must look it up!! It’s seriously PERFECT and exactly 5 minutes long! 🙂
I love that! I’ll have to google it. 🙂 Thank you!!
When I was a child, growing up with my younger cousin, we used to sing the Barney (yes, purple dinosaur) clean up song. She loved it and we also made it our little game to pick up toys, etc. The song might be cheesy, but if your daughter is still young she might enjoy it 🙂