Two Minute Tasks - Just Do It, Baby!

(This post is linked to Kristin at Works for Me Wednesday but I'm too techno-dumb to figure out how to put her cool logo here, but you can go there and see it. It's a very nice logo.)

Yep, it's me again. Posting, pretty much on the heels of my last post. No biggie. I'm just super consistent like that.

Oh, and a big shout out to my new followers. I'm on my way to getting that blog re-do thanks to you. I am so sick of whatever that green 'border' is by the donuts on my header. And my pictures aren't crisp (which I'm sure has nothing to do with my camera...)

Hundreds Many of you asked me to elaborate on how I've revolutionized my time management skills by refusing to put off doing anything that takes 2 minutes or less. Well, first of all let me just tell you that many tasks take much longer than 2 minutes.....in your head. But actually Doing Them takes much less time.

For example, this week it took me less than 2 minutes to:


~ Go through the home school card pack that came in the mail, keep the one card I might actually use and throw the rest away.  I have now thrown even that card away. Mail is a no-brainer. The whole process should never take more than 2 minutes.  You either file it (to be paid, to be answered, etc.), can it, or put it on your husband's desk :)

~ Put the camera back in the camera bag....with the lens cover on.....And take it back to where I store it.

~ Figure out a permanent place to store said camera bag :)

~ Hang up my clothes. This actually takes nano-seconds, not minutes...unless you never do it, and are a 19yo girl living in my home..then it would definitely take 5-6 of your precious minutes.

~ Enter all my debit receipts into my check book. I know this is foreign language to those of you under 35, but some of us are married to men who still balance the checkbook and think online banking is of the devil. Of course it would be quicker to just record them as you use your debit card, but we don't want to get all OCD about it, now do we dear?

~ Make my bed. I started doing this years ago, even before Flylady. In fact, I'm pretty sure she got the rule of not even going to the bathroom until your bed is made from me.  Makes for some mighty fast bed-making in my small-bladder household; MUCH less than 2 minutes - and that includes a duvet, four pillows, a European sham, and 3 decorator pillows. (YouTube forthcoming?)

~ Empty your amazon cart. This may cost a lot of money, but it's very quick :) 

~ Delete some emails. The 2 minute thing really works for me here. I can take out about 5-7 emails in 2 minutes (2 seconds if they are forwards.)   The goal is to see each email only once, just as if it was a piece of paper. File it, delete it, print it, or click unsubscribe. Simple Mom, who writes on productivity for home managers, has a good blog post up today bemoaning the size of her inbox and giving some suggestions on how to tame it. For a gal with no vowels in her name she has some great advice :)

~ Comment on someone's blog (sorry...couldn't resist! But it's true...It takes so little time and gives such warm fuzzies to the blogger.)

~ Take my pills. Again if you're 30something, you might be saying, "What pills?" But the older you get the more challenging it becomes to get them all swallowed, rubbed in, or chewed in less than 2 minutes. And then, for the love of all things decent and orderly, Put them Away. No one likes to walk into a bathroom and know your whole rash history.


Speaking of Things that Work for Me - Here's a picture of my sweet boys giving my "new" kitchen chairs a make-over. Winston (who is going to be a super-duper handyman husband...in about 20 years) sanded them and painted them a glossy black. Then Alex cut the black toile fabric using the old covers as a guide.  Here's a picture of the two of them stapling and nailing and pleasing their grateful mom.

I think they're wonderful! .....The boys and the chairs :)

 

 

 

 

 P.S. My friend, Lea, is coming over later today. Lea is creative, and smart, and funny (and she thinks I'm funny...which makes her even more funny) and she has an amazing camera, which she uses brilliantly. She's going to take some pictures of some non-2 minute projects I've been working. Can't wait to show them to you!