(Today’s guest post by my dear friend, Wyndie Deaver, shows that you don’t have to devote a huge amount of time to get visible results…)

I hate cleaning. It’s gotten worse since I moved in with Dad. Going from an apartment to one bedroom was bad enough. But all my teenage disdain for housekeeping returned, so I let stuff pile up and up and pray none of it topples over. The only problem with that is—Dad & his wife are unable to care for the house. My son is unable to follow more than 3 or 4 step instructions.

Which leaves me.

Moi.

To clean house.

I have always said I like tiny houses. What I mean by that is that I like apartments. If the plumbing breaks, someone else pays to fix it. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to clean the kitchen. Or living room. You get the idea. But I have allowed stuff to pile up so much in my room and the kitchen that it started to affect my mental health. I just can’t think straight in all the mess. But I hate cleaning. What’s a girl to do?

I pulled an egg timer out of the kitchen. This morning, I set it for 15 minutes and worked in the kitchen. In those 15 minutes, I swept and mopped the floors, cleaned off the kitchen table and scrubbed down the stove. The dishes had already been done. (I forgot to do pictures, though, I’m sorry!)

Later in the day, I set it again. This time for my dresser. A picture is worth a thousand words and here’s mine. I need a certain amount of clutter—but that is covered by the collage of cards and pictures around my mirror. The clutter on the surface? Not so much. The dresser is one of the last things I see before I go to bed and one of the first in the morning. It would be nice for it to be a little better. A lot better, actually, but I only want to invest 10-15 minutes at a time.

It made a huge difference. You can actually see the lace runner I have going across the dresser. There are clean, clear spaces. All in 15 minutes.

I chose the egg timer and the times specifically for the housework. It keeps me from feeling overwhelmed. Once the timer goes off, I’m done. I go do something else. I have a bad habit of once I start working on something, doing it until it’s done and my back has been thrown out. The timer frees me to stop working before I’ve hurt something, but also allows me to make an impact in the house.

What will you accomplish in 15 minutes?