Do Anything In 15 Minutes And Squash Perfectionism

Flylady (Sink Reflections) says “you can do anything in 15 minutes.”  I’m gonna take her up on it today.
I found myself waking up this morning feeling overwhelmed and discouraged with our home.  It is in a state right now where every room seems to be unraveling.  Stuff sitting where it shouldn’t, crumbs piling up, dust making itself at home…LAUNDRY.  Ugh, laundry.

It has been a very busy week, and I have been gone most of the day the last 2 days doing haircuts for family.  The days I spent at home, I was out in the yard gardening and getting our yard in shape.

 I started having a pity party this morning with thoughts like “It’s never-ending.” “If only I could afford a cleaning service” “I’m starting to feel like a maid.”  I  know when thoughts like this enter my world, perfectionism is rearing its ugly head again.  This all started with the thought that I needed to get everything done (perfectly) so I can just relax this weekend and enjoy doing things outside with the kids. (and do what I want to do).

I know perfect is not the goal, so I needed to rethink things.  This is where the 15 minute thinking is going to come into play.  My timer is going right now as I type this 15 minute post, it won’t be one of my best but again, perfect is not the goal.

The rest of my morning I’ve divided into 15 minute segments- each area will get 15 minutes of my time, then on to the next, even if I am not done.  It is 9:00 am right now, I have a date with a friend to grab iced coffees and hit up some garage sales in this beautiful weather (yippee!) at noon, so I should be able to get quite a bit done in 3 hours.

Here is the plan:
15 min.-Living Room/Dining Room
15 min-Kitchen
15 min.-Study/Girls Rooms
15 min.-Hallway & Bathrooms
15 min.-Upstairs Landing Area/My Room
15 min.-Laundry (includes making laundry detergent-I’m out!)
15 min.-Shower
15 min.-Dressed/Hair/Makeup
15 min.-God time/Prayer Time
15 min.-Check On Garden/Water Plants

This equals 2 1/2 hours, and if I end this post now, I will have about 10 minutes of extra time before I  leave on my date.  Hope this works!!  The key will be stopping and going on to the next item on the list when the timer goes off!  Again, this will challenge my perfectionism, but it is also astep closer toward defeating perfectionism!
P.S.  This will all be done while listening to the happy music of “Ocean Eyes” by Owl City. Music is a must!
Oops! Gotta go, time’s up!
*UPDATE:  It worked beautifully!  An added bonus–I moved so quickly to beat the clock that I was out of breath most of those 2 hrs!  Built in cardio!!:)
The weather ended up being not so beautiful, but time with my friend sure was.
I am now sitting in a quite, clean up home, enjoying the computer while Todd has the girls at the park.  Family night awaits with recorded tv, pizza and popcorn.  Such a great day…almost perfect:)
This post is linked to:
30 minute blog challenge @ steady mom
Tackle It Tuesday @ 5 minutes for mom