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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to spring clean without losing

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Speaker 1: all your free time in the process. When the weather

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Speaker 1: turns nicer, many people like to open up their homes

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Speaker 1: and freshen things up. We're not living in the era

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Speaker 1: when this was about airing out soot, but still the

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Speaker 1: impulse to spring clean is strong. This is especially true

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Speaker 1: this year, when many of us are spending way more

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Speaker 1: time in our homes than we're accustomed to. In normal times,

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Speaker 1: you might keep walking past that streak on the wall

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Speaker 1: in your kitchen and continue on to everything else. This year,

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Speaker 1: there's nowhere to escape. Of course, the trouble with this

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Speaker 1: is that housework, like email, can expand to fill all

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Speaker 1: available space. Consequently, this year, in particular, we need to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to spring clean without consuming all our time.

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Speaker 1: It will probably not surprise you that I think this

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Speaker 1: calls for getting organized instead of just grabbing a spray

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Speaker 1: bottle and paper towels and going for it, or, as

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Speaker 1: one friend of mine posted on social media, rage cleaning

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Speaker 1: and actually throwing all her family's dirty dishes in the trash.

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Speaker 1: Make a list of projects that will have the most impact.

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Speaker 1: These are actual discrete projects. Maybe it's finally putting away

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Speaker 1: all the junk on your stairs or kitchen island, or

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Speaker 1: maybe it's wiping all the streaks off the windows. I

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Speaker 1: don't know, but make a list and then next to

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Speaker 1: each item, state what done looks like. The kitchen island

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Speaker 1: is done when everything is off of it except for

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Speaker 1: maybe a centerpiece and the counter is wiped down. If

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Speaker 1: you're talking window cleaning, count how many windows you have.

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Speaker 1: If you have twenty windows, this project is done when

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Speaker 1: twenty windows are clean. Or maybe you break it into

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Speaker 1: upstairs and downstairs windows. Name may object that housework is ongoing,

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Speaker 1: which is true. There's an old phrase that housework is

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Speaker 1: never done, but most households that have at least some

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Speaker 1: system for the ongoing stuff. Eventually you empty the dishwasher

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Speaker 1: and take out the trash. Spring cleaning is better focused

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Speaker 1: on the other stuff that isn't part of routine household maintenance,

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Speaker 1: So ideally these projects can in fact be done at

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Speaker 1: least until some point a little farther in the future

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Speaker 1: than tomorrow. Anyway, make your list, ask any other household

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Speaker 1: members for feedback. They may wish to add projects. They

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Speaker 1: may decide that some projects aren't necessary, in which case

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Speaker 1: probably they should take on different projects, divvy them up

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Speaker 1: ideally based on who volunteers. If you are often the

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Speaker 1: taskbuster in your house, you can win people over by

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Speaker 1: noting that this is the list. You are all agreeing

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Speaker 1: to it, which means that you won't suddenly appear later

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Speaker 1: telling someone to turn off the video games and go

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Speaker 1: wash the windows. Then assigned times for getting these projects done.

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Speaker 1: You have to know your household here. Some families do

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Speaker 1: best taking a few designated hours on a Saturday. Others

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Speaker 1: do best letting people choose the time as long as

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Speaker 1: it is done by Sunday night at eight pm. But

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Speaker 1: with a limited list you can start seeing progress quickly. Yes,

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Speaker 1: the house may not wind up looking like something out

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Speaker 1: of a magazine, but with all of you living in

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Speaker 1: there seven that's unlikely to be the end result. Anyway.

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Speaker 1: If you choose a few projects and focus your efforts,

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Speaker 1: they will get done, and then you can relax and

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Speaker 1: enjoy your free time too. If you have a system

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Speaker 1: for spring cleaning, I'd love to hear about it. You

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Speaker 1: can let me know at before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Two