Yes, I have a confession. While I have used my timer — for it is my friend in 2010 — on many occasions, I had never used it for decluttering until this week. When I challenged myself to debunk my personal decluttering myths, I knew I had to follow Flylady’s 15-minute guideline to make my little experiment valid. After all, if I’m proving to myself that decluttering can be accomplished by dealing with it a little at a time each day, then I obviously have to set a time limit on my endeavors.
I was seriously amazed at how much I could get done in 15 minutes, how fast 15 minutes flew by AND how easy it was to stop after 15 minutes. In this journey with Flylady, I have trusted that Flylady knew what she was talking about when she first urged me to shine my sink and swish and swipe my bathrooms. I have no doubt that washing two loads of laundry every day keeps Mt. Washmore under control. I don’t question the value of wearing my lace-up shoes from the moment I get up. But, somewhere along the line, I didn’t buy into the whole idea of routinely decluttering for 15 minutes.
However, I think that my experiences over the past two days have made me a believer. I’m actually looking forward to spending those 15 minutes continuing to declutter our pantry, even though it’s Saturday. If you’ve never tried setting your timer and decluttering, I urge you to try it! You might be as pleasantly surprised as I was.