Blitz It Friday

I don't know about you, but for me, there's no better motivation to clean than expecting a guest. Well, last weekend my sister was in town and the house had to be moderately clean by Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, Hubby did most of the heavy duty kitchen cleaning, so that room was looking pretty good. Here's how I did the rest....

Saturday, I did a 15 minute blitz of the upstairs bathroom. I was able to accomplish the tub and toilet. When the timer rang, I considered persevering through to the end, but T had other ideas--she woke up from her nap, probably from the noise of me cleaning. Ugh!

Sunday, I did a 10 minute blitz of the half bath downstairs. That was all the time it needed to be sparkling and inviting. ;-)

Later, when there was approximately 20 minutes before Hubby and Sis got home from the airport, I set the timer for 20 and blitzed again. I loaded and started the dishwasher, then ran upstairs to finish that bathroom--counter, sink and mirror. Those chores filled the 20 minutes but I kept cleaning, wiping down some more counterspace in the kitchen for all of two minutes before the guest arrived. Phew! Overall, I was pleased with how the house looked for her visit.

This week has been extra busy, lots of balls in the air, so cleaning took place catch-as-catch-can. Finally, yesterday I got some time during overlapping naps to do a blitz. There's a bit of a backstory--our HOA is going to paint the outside of our house so yesterday they power-washed it. Well, when they blasted our french doors in the living room, dirty water splashed through the crack between the two doors, and covered a variety of toys. Yuck! So in order to motivate the nasty-toy-clean-up, I set the timer for 15 minutes. (T and L were both napping, but T could wake up at any moment.) The toys didn't turn out to be too bad, most could be wiped down with disinfecting wipes. So with that accomplished and 3 minutes left on the clock, I headed into the living room and picked up toys. The timer rang but T was still asleep, so I plowed on. Picked up all the toys and books and moved things to their proper places--it looked great. At that point, I thought my blitz was done, but I had to change the laundry anyway so I thought, Keep Going. So I changed the laundry and folded some towels and when that was done it had been a 45-minute-blitz, my longest one yet. Yea!

I have to pat myself on the back, because overlapping naps are all too rare, and it's unusual for me to spend that precious time cleaning. I was left with only about 10 minutes of free time before I had to make T's next bottle. So kudos to me for being productive when I could've been relaxing.

To see more blitzes, head to Organized Everyday.