Forget About Using The Weekend To Clean And Instead Follow This 20-Minute Rule

You may have heard of the 20/10 cleaning rule, where you clean for 20 minutes, take a 10-minute break, clean for 20 minutes, and so on. While this method is helpful when you're attempting to complete a time-consuming chore, like mopping the entire floor or de-cluttering the garage, there is another 20-minute trick that is circulating online. How often do you stumble through the week, not accomplishing your daily chores, and before you know it, it's the weekend? You look around, and you haven't finished a single task. Now, you have to complete them all in one or two days, when you'd much rather be relaxing. Here's how to avoid that problem: Set aside just 20 minutes every weekday to clean a specific part of your home. It can be taking on a single room, washing that pile of clothes in your closet, or clearing the junk drawer in your kitchen.  

While it may seem overly simple, this type of mindset can be extremely helpful. Twenty minutes sounds a lot more manageable to the mind, especially if you're picturing hours of tedious chores. Throughout the week, you will be slowly chipping away at your to-do list until you get to the weekend with a fully crossed-off agenda. Don't forget to stop when the timer goes off. If you feel like you can do more, you should still take a 10-minute break before heading back into cleaning mode. 

Instead of leaving every single task to your weekend self, you can allocate just 20 minutes during your weekday to focus on a specific area. This can include vacuuming the rugs, wiping down the bathroom counters, cleaning the shower, or putting away clothes that have piled up in the corner of your closet. You can forget about all other tasks and just concentrate on checking this one off. Of course, there are a few basic chores that should be completed daily, such as washing dishes, wiping down the kitchen counters, putting items back in their spots, unloading the dishwasher, and taking out the trash. This will also help eliminate the weekly buildup of mess that you're inevitably left with on the weekends.

Larger tasks, however, can feel overwhelming when they are taking up an entire weekly to-do list. An easier way to navigate these chores is to assign them a day of the week. For example, you can think of Wednesday as a wipe day. Set a timer for 20 minutes and wipe down the main surfaces in your home: Kitchen counters, sinks, bathroom counters, dining table, desks, island, etc. When the timer goes off, you stop. That was your chore for the day. Now you can cross one item off your chore list, and by the weekend, you should have a fully crossed-off list. That leaves the weekends free for larger home projects, tackling big chores, or, the most important task, relaxing.