The best shortcut is to ask for help. – Apartment diet

Over homes are like this too. If one person is carrying the load well…it can be a lot. Too much.

I’m not sure when it became embarrassing or difficult to ask for help. Is it an adult thing? A pride thing? A perfectionist thing? Maybe. But is it really worth all the stress?

There is no faster ways to move on from feeling overwhelmed, stuck, stressed about our homes (and lives)…then this:

Ask for help.

It could be your partner, your kids, your friends, someone to help with the cleaning or cooking, an impartial person like us to give you a roadmap to get back on track…or all of the above.

Really, it is that simple.

The best part is, it’s also usually MUCH more fun!

So today, if something feels too big ask yourself

– who can I ask to help me with this?…and ask them.

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It’s been a hectic week and I’ve been meaning to post something here and I have just realised that actually, to honour this week’s happy house rule that I should just, in fact, do less and to repeat last week’s 5 minute rule, I should just do it now! So here it is:

This is not just about having less but DOING less. Choosing quality over quantity where possessions are concerned but also with respect to what you choose to do each day.  Decide what’s most important and make it count.

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Words via DesignedforLife

Nat and I came up with this rule as we were designing our 5 week “Change your space, change your life” course – I don’t recall the details but it had something to do with the book I was reading at the time called Getting things done by David Allen where he talks about a 1 or 2 minute rule for getting all those little things, that unecessarily clog up our already too full to do lists and add weight on our subconscious, done and off our plate. We decided to extend it out a little bit to 5 minutes as it’s more realistic in terms of getting all those household niggles done, so here it is, in a nutshell:

“If it can be done in 5 minutes then do it NOW.”

Don’t be fooled by its simplicity. If done consistently, this rule is a life changer (I’m telling you from experience here that it has changed my life, especially since mummy brain after two kids which has left me rather forgetful, and our clients have also told us how much of a difference it makes)!

I have also successfully used this type of rule when dealing with emails and other work-related tasks.  My colleagues are baffled by my efficiency. Let’s keep this between ourselves okay?

Happy getting it done week to you all,

Tip

PS The photo is by Shira – check out her great blogpost for another take on the 5 minute rule which is a bit more like our “Just Start” rule but also a great way to get going.

Congratulations Apartmenttherapy.com for your 10 year anniversary & for paving the way for people like us to do work like this too!

They made the most gorgeous little video “saving the world, one room at a time” …thought you’d enjoy it too.

Dream a Little Dream Anniversary Short Film from Apartment Therapy Media on Vimeo.

This week’s #happyhouserules is about cleaning. Yes, that’s right.  Cleaning!

We talked about cleaning at the beginning of the year as part of a new year cleanse but in reality, it’s not just a once a year exercise but an ongoing, regular activity (well…at least it should be!).

While the answer to “Is it clean?” is no doubt different for most of us, generally speaking, if it’s covered in grime/dirt/dust or cobwebs then that should give you a bit of a clue as to the answer! If you can’t see out of a window or your reflection in the mirror looks hazy then a wipedown of those surfaces would definitely be in order (unless of course you prefer not to see yourself properly, which leads me to other questions but perhaps those are for another time). I could go on about when things might need a clean but I’m fairly certain you know … you might not want to know, but you do know.

So. Our Happy House Rule for this week is to “Keep it clean”. It’s an exercise that we include in our courses and is fairly straightforward so here goes:

1. Stop and look around your space. Look HARD (because we often lose the ability to really ‘see’ things that we walk past regularly so take the time to do this properly).

2. Once you’ve looked then you’ll know what needs your attention. Out of those things, surfaces, drawers, corners etc, pick one thing that you will clean. Start small. A quick win is always a motivation booster!

3. Planning – think about what you need to properly clean the area you’ve chosen and how long it will take you to both acquire your cleaning materials and actually do the cleaning.  Then, plan this in your diary for the week.

4. When the time comes, grab your cleaning materials and completely empty the area that you have chosen. (Yes, this is also why I suggested that you start small.)

5. Clean the area, be it a shelf or a drawer or a corner (floor, walls) etc AND clean all the items you’re returning to the area before you place them back there (also relocate or throw out the things that no longer belong). Clean it all.

6. Stand back, admire your work and give yourself a big pat on the back for a job well done! Yay!

7. And repeat (if you wish) all over the house.

There are a lot more tips we have with respect to cleaning and learning how to make it an easy habit so feel free to ask specifically in the comments if you want to know them! But a lot of you might be wondering how “Keeping it clean” could possibly be a major Happy House Rule for us. Well, besides the obvious health benefits of living in a less dirty/dusty home, what a regular cleaning practice could help you with are the following:

– It encourages you to take notice of where things/stuff/clutter stagnate in your space so you can deal with these areas (research has shown that clutter makes a lot of people rather stressed and unhappy)

– It allows you to engage with your things (also shown to be important in terms of our enjoyment of them)

– It encourages you to change things around in your home (as they say, a change is as good as a holiday for giving yourself a little pep up)

– It ensures that you are ‘seeing’ your home and catching anything that needs repair early on (which will save you money in the end – you’ll be much happier with that I’m sure!)

– It pretty much ensures that you only keep the things that you need and love (because moving mountains of things aside to clean and then putting it all back – well, you’ll get sick of that pretty swiftly)

The above list is by no means exhaustive but rather a handful of things to get you motivated to do something that most of us find a chore.  If that’s not enough then perhaps thinking of cleaning as an act of gratitude (which has also been shown to increase happiness) might help – so go thank your home for providing you with shelter and safety by giving it some TLC. Someone once told me that it helps to name the items that you need to clean so it’s easier to remember to give them some love once in a while – so why not try it with some of the items that you hate cleaning the most (like the Ollie the Oven) and see if it works!

As always, let us know how you go,

Tip & Nat

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Image credit: Dustpan & broom. Design by Ole Jensen for Normann Copenhagen.