Biggest task or smallest task?

The next time you're in the super-market, take a walk down the cleaning aisle.  How many all-purpose cleaners do you see?  How many specific cleaners do you see?  How many furniture polishes, how many stove top cleaners, how many stain removers?  Too many to name, huh?

I am a firm believer that when cleaning a room, you should tackle the biggest task first.  For example, in the bedroom, make the bed first.  It gives a sense of accomplishment, but also a huge visual of progress.  In the home-office, it's probably the desk... in the bathroom, it may be the counters, or the shower, or the tub.

Biggest task first is my rule of thumb.  However, rules are made to be broken -- or at least bent -- from time to time.  

Think again about yesterday's post.  Think about your style of cleaning.  If you're more motivated by seeing a lot of tasks checked of a never-ending list, then by all means, motivate yourself!  Go for it.  If you've categorized and sub-categorized your list, work it!  

Warning - back story!  When Lovey and I were putting our first house on the market I'd never sold a house but I'd read the importance of keeping it pristine.  And being the OCD-prone person I am, pristine perfection, is what I strived for.  I kept a running list - updated EVERYDAY - and I would not sleep until every item on the list was marked off.  EVERYDAY!  But for me, my list was categorized by room, and subcategorized by task.  So for example my list looked a lot like this:

Kitchen
     Wash dishes
     Shine sink
     Clean counters
     Wipe cabinet fronts
     Empty trash
     mop floor

Bedroom
     make bed
     vacuum floor
     clean baseboards
     dust furniture

Living room
     straighten room
     vacuum floor
     clean baseboards
     dust furniture


Some days I was motivated and tackled the biggest task first; the beds, the bathrooms, the kitchen.  Other days I was barely holding out hope our home would sell, or even show, and I needed the motivation of seeing progress.  That's when I would wash all baseboards and then mark that task off of multiple categories.

Do you follow me?  Do you see where I'm going with this?

Assess how you feel as you look at your list.  What will motivate you most?  Will it be to see one HUGE task marked off and taken care of?  Will it be to mark off multiple small tasks and see a multitude of progress?

Each day may present a different motivation for you.  You may even be too busy to get to even a single task today.  That's okay.  Keep plugging away.  You'll get there!

Only By His Grace,

Billie