![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/unsplash-image-_JHfot1DW8o.jpg?resize=329%2C480&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHave you ever heard the \u201cPower of 15\u201d? It\u2019s a common phrase and one I never took to heart until I became a wife and mother with a million things going on. Organization and cleaning kept moving further down my priority list in lieu of just keeping everyone fed and alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But truly, I despise cleaning. Was it ever actually on my priority list? Hmmm. Probably not. I Loathe it. Hate it. Dread it. And keep putting it off until I can\u2019t take it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BUUUT\u2026I\u2019ve learned that I also enjoy a clean house\u2026ESPECIALLY now that I \u201cfor real\u201d know what it feels like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past, my motto was if it\u2019s picked up, it LOOKS clean, and that\u2019s enough for me. And if I\u2019m being honest, I don\u2019t fuction well when it starts getting cluttered, so keeping my home uncluttered is relatively easy for me. It\u2019s easy to do the things that are, well, easy. It\u2019s the things that are hard (like cleaning) that I\u2019d rather just push off to a later date (as in never).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the dust bunnies under the beds and night stands, and the ones on top of the fridge (you know the ones I\u2019m talking about), also on the ceiling fans and on those pesky stair spindles\u2026Oh! and don\u2019t forget the crumbs in the microwave and the grease splatters behind the stove\u2026every last one of those rascals keeps rearing their ugly heads at me letting me know that they are {still} there and secretly driving me crazy although I don\u2019t really want to admit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uggh! I wish I could just hire someone already to get all this cleaning done that I can\u2019t ever seem to get to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s not happening so\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tried everything. I tried the Clean Mama method where you do one house task each day of the week. But, let\u2019s be real. When she says dust on Tuesdays, you better believe I\u2019m dusting flat surfaces only and will not be getting to ceiling fans, washer and dryer, back splash, baseboards, under beds, under nights stands, in closets\u2026well you get the picture. Bare minimum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also tried the clean the whole house one day a week method. But I\u2019m always in such a hurry that basically only the floors and bathrooms get done. Maybe a little dusting if I\u2019m lucky. I mean, who really wants to spend 8 hours on their only day off cleaning every single thing in their home. Uh, no thanks! WE HAVE A LIFE TO LIVE PEOPLE!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And don\u2019t even get me started on Spring Cleaning. ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME? Just the thought of spending a week cleaning all of the things that typically get passed over and are extremely nasty because they\u2019ve been sitting there for a year (or five!) since the last time they were cleaned. GROSS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want a clean home, but I don\u2019t want to clean it. Ha!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s be real though. I DO need to clean it, but I don\u2019t want to spend every spare moment cleaning, nor do I want to pay someone else to do it for me. So I came up with a system\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was listening to a mother\/daughter duo talking about SCAMP. (Which means Speedy Cleanup After Meal Party.) This was when she (the mother) would assign a specific task or room to each child for a season and they\u2019d get the kitchen clean and the house tidied up after every single meal. They\u2019d set a timer, play some music and work hard and fast for 15 minutes only. The next task was to make a list of everything I could think of to clean\u2026EVERYTHING. I originally wrote all of our chores down on a piece of printer paper and cut them up. Later I typed them out and printed them off. This worked ok for us, but I found that doing it this way caused a lot of running back and forth and upstairs and downstairs and wasted precious time in our short 15 minutes. And sometimes I\u2019d want to work on a certain area or room and have to fish around for the specific chores so I could make sure we pulled them out when we were finished. This became another \u201cpain point\u201d for me, so we actually just redid our whole list and wrote them on COLORED POSICLE STICKS so that each room would have it\u2019s own color. This makes it easy for me so that if I want to specifically work on the guest bedroom because we are having overnight guests coming the next day, we can pull out the yellow posicle sticks. LIFE SAVER!!!! I try to clean anything that gets gross very often\u2014at least once a week or day or as I notice it. For example\u2026the toilets. I try to do them every Monday during our Clean 15 after breakfast. They aren\u2019t even in our jar. I just know that during Monday morning Clean 15, we\u2019re doing the toilets. Vacuuming high traffic areas (Kitchen and entryway) happens as needed which turns out to be daily, if not twice a day. Putting dishes in the dishwasher and quickly wiping down kitchen counters and table happens when we clean up from whatever meal we just ate. That is not part of our Clean 15 routine (although there is a more thorough deep clean of the kitchen counters that IS included in our list of things). Our Clean 15 Playlist on Spotify<\/a> Have you ever heard the \u201cPower of 15\u201d? It\u2019s a common phrase and one I never took to heart until I became a wife and mother with a million things going on. Organization and cleaning kept moving further down my priority list in lieu of just keeping everyone fed and alive. <\/p>\n But truly I despise cleaning. Was it ever actually on my priority list? Hmmm. Probably not. I Loathe it. Hate it. Dread it. And keep putting it off until I can\u2019t take it anymore. <\/p>\n BUUUT\u2026I\u2019ve learned that I also enjoy a clean house\u2026ESPECIALLY now that I \u201cfor real\u201d know what it feels like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[317,312,313,318,167,316,314,315],"tags":[301,303,300,309,310,297,302,298,311,165,306,305,299,307,308,304],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clean-15","category-cleaning","category-cleaning-routine","category-homemaker","category-homemaking","category-routine","category-routines","category-systems","tag-15-minute-clean-up","tag-15-minutes","tag-after-meal-clean-up","tag-clean-15","tag-clean-home","tag-cleaning","tag-cleaning-after-meals","tag-cleaning-routine","tag-homemaker","tag-homemaking","tag-routine","tag-routines","tag-scamp","tag-system","tag-systems","tag-timer"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Clean3.jpg?fit=1000%2C1333&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/img.jpg?resize=327%2C490&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat Clean 15 is and how we do it<\/h3>
Enter LIGHTBULB MOMENT!<\/strong>
What if I take this same idea and use it for doing all the little unwanted tasks that I never get around to or put off because I either don\u2019t see them or they\u2019re just plain yuck?
15 MINUTES IS NOTHING! I can clean for 15 minutes. I can do this!
And get this\u202615 minutes a meal is actually 45 minutes a day. And 45 minutes a day, minus Sundays, is actually 4.5 hours a week! Take that 4.5 a week and multiply that times 2 people (because this is family effort between me and E) and we got 9 hours a week baby!!!!!
Wait what?!?!
We are currently cleaning our home around 9 hours a week, give or take. Haha! I\u2019m literally cracking up because this is the first time I\u2019ve done that math. Wuuuuuut?!
The greatest thing about it is that it really feels like NOOOOOTHING. 15 minutes\u2026THAT\u2019S IT!!!!
This is a prime example of taking a pain point and \u201cmaking it easy\u201d like James Clear talks about in his book Atomic Habits<\/em><\/a>. If it\u2019s easy, it won\u2019t be so overwhelming and off-putting.
And to be fair, there ARE hard days\u2014low energy days, tired days, etc., and 15 minutes even sounds like too much! So on those days, just do 5 or 10 minutes. Because 5 or 10 minutes is SOMETHING! And something is better than nothing!<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>\n\n\n\nMake your cleaning list<\/h3>
Things like cleaning our Dyson vacuum cleaner. It\u2019s relatively easy, but that\u2019s one I put off constantly\u2026because it\u2019s gross. And I have to pull up a YouTube video to make sure I do it right.
We broke down every chore we could think of into about 2-5 minute tasks so we can knock out several in one fifteen minute time chunk. It\u2019s awesome this way! Trust me. Instead of, \u201cclean the bathrooms,\u201d we have it split up into several different chores. Clean toilets. Clean bathroom mirrors. Clean bathroom vents. Dust bathroom baseboards. Clean bathroom light switches and handles. Clean tub. Clean bathroom floor. Clean sink. Dust TP and towel holder. See that? Clean the bathroom is so overwhelming. Clean bathroom vents? That\u2019s nothing!
If you\u2019d like an exhaustive list (free printable) of all our 2 mintue house chores see this blog post<\/a>.<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Clean3.jpg?resize=330%2C440&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nimplementing clean 15 (it will change your life)<\/h3>
After our chores were all written onto our papers (or posicle sticks) we put them in a jar and just got started.
I explained to E what we were going to do so she would know what to expect. (She was actually pretty excited about it because she got to help write the chores on the popsicle sticks and pick out the specific colors for specific rooms.) I also told my husband about it, but he\u2019s not usually home for Clean 15. He will sometimes help us in the evening if he\u2019s home.
I told E the rule was that if you have an attitude about cleaning, I\u2019m adding five minutes. Also, if you don\u2019t do a good job on your chore, you have to redo it. (Note, I did not tell my husband that. Lol.)
And that\u2019s that. After most meals, we set the timer for 15 minutes, turn on some ridiculous music that makes us laugh (Here is our Clean 15 Playlist on Spotify<\/a>), then pick a chore out of the jar and bust it out. Once we finish one chore, we pick another, and another until the timer goes off. We can usually get through about 3 or 4 chores each during the 15 minutes.
We put our \u201cdone\u201d chores in a different jar until the chore jar is completely empty. When that happens, we add them all back in the origianl jar and start the process over.
Our goal: WORK HARD, WORK FAST, WORK HAPPY! We even have a little cheer we\u2019ll do to get us pepped up! Lol.
Sometimes I absolutely do not feel like doing it. But I know it\u2019s only 15 minutes, and it will be over with before we know it.
When I first wrote out our list, I missed some things. As the weeks went on, I would just add a new chore as I thought of it. In fact, I\u2019m sitting here now thinking how it would really benefit us to even add in some outside chores that get overlooked. Hmmm. I\u2019m going to have to think on that!
It takes us about a month to get through all of the chores.
This means three things. First, our home is pretty much always clean\u2026ceiling fans aren\u2019t dusty, cobwebs aren\u2019t hanging down from the corners, the top of the fridge is always clean, no food splashes are above the stove, the microwave isn\u2019t nasty. You get it. Second, since we are doing all the cleaning so often, it\u2019s not super gross or overwhelming to clean. And third, our home is always company ready! It\u2019s not overwhelming to prepare for guests because our home is already clean. All I have to worry about is food!
It\u2019s just been amazing. And take that from someone who despises cleaning!<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/faithfulandflourishing.org\/staging\/9315\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Clean2.jpg?resize=331%2C441&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA couple of notes before you get started<\/h3>
E will often make daddy\u2019s lunch as part of our evening Clean 15 Routine so that we don\u2019t make a mess in the kitchen AGAIN after cleaning up. (Go in the right order! A lazy-genius principle<\/a>.)
Anything on E\u2019s morning chore list are not added to the SCAMP list. This would include emptying bathroom trash.
Clean 15 works with larger families too! I have many friends with several young children who do this with their kids, but instead of mom cleaning themselves, they oversee the cleaning of their children as well as use this time as a special training time. What a perfect opportunity! If you have older and younger children, it also works to pair older children with younger to get tasks accomplished as well.
I did a podcast interview with my friend, Brettnay from No Higher Calling<\/em><\/a>, about Clean 15, so if you\u2019d like to listen to us chat about it, you can find the episode here<\/a>.<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>\n\n\n\nQuick Links for Easy Finding<\/h3>
An Exhaustive List of our Two-Minute Chores<\/a> (free printable)
Podcast Episode about Clean 15<\/a>
Hopefully I\u2019ve answered all of your questions, but if not, feel free to leave more below.<\/p> <\/div> <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"