10 Minute Tidy: Messy Kitchen

Do you ever look at a task and find it too daunting to do. You don’t even want to start because you figure it will take for-ev-er to finish? Or, you know that you are short on time, so you don’t even try? I’m convinced that at least half of getting something accomplished is just starting it. Case in point… my kitchen. I was gone way too late last night and we ate dinner way too late and it seemed way too late to clean up after dinner. Knowing that I had to get up way too early in the morning, I did some thing that I very rarely do: I went to bed with a messy kitchen. This is the kitchen that I woke up to:

Ugggh. This is really horrifying for me to show, but I know that we all get messy kitchens. We’re friends here, right?

See that window above my sink? That is the front porch. Translation: anyone who comes to my door can see if my kitchen is clean or dirty. This is a good incentive for me to keep a clean kitchen!

I decided that this would be a great 10 Minute Tidy activity…to clean up my messy kitchen.

First, and probably most importantly, I started my oven timer…10 minutes on the clock. I told myself that when the timer sounded, my work was done. To be truthful, the dishwasher was already empty, so that helped me out time-wise. Usually my family puts their own dirty dishes in the dishwasher, but the clean dishes didn’t get removed until, you guessed it…too late last night. Excuses, excuses! As I hurriedly cleaned, I kept glancing at the clock to make sure that I would be done in time, and just as I was rinsing out the just scrubbed sink, time ran out. Perfect.

I’ll be honest. When I’m trying to beat the clock like this, it doesn’t really seem like work. More like a game. Or a race…without a lot of sweat…or shin splints…or calories burned. Darn! But, my reward today was a clean kitchen: