Using Pockets

Aren't pockets great? I often say about something or someone that I love that they are the "best thing since pockets!" We use our pants pockets to hold things, small things. Short term storage, right? We don't keep books in there and we don't put things in our pockets that are meant to be kept forever because those pockets come and go with our change of clothes. It's not these kinds of pockets, pants pockets that I want to talk about. Though they are similar as I consider them. I'm thinking about pockets of time. Throughout my day I have dozens of pockets of time. Some are large and some are much smaller, like the photo. I realized recently that I haven't been using my pockets properly for a long time. Everyday I have a few main things to accomplish and they tend to carve up day so that all that's left are these pockets of time. Oftentimes I don't have whole hours to string together but rather 30 minutes here, 20 minutes there, maybe even just 5 minutes. I've found myself in recent years using my pockets of time, like my pants pockets, for my phone. Guilty? I am. When I have 15 - 45 minutes of down time waiting to get ready to leave the house, or for someone to arrive I burn those minutes surfing social media, playing Yahtzee on an app or watching a video. Total waste of a good pocket. As I've been making changes around my home and creating new home schedules for chores and tasks I have been timing how long it takes to complete the tasks. I used to do this when the kids were young so I would know how long to give them to do things in a fair amount of time. I realized that most of my dish loads take about 15 minutes (I hand wash). It takes about 5 minutes to sweep my kitchen floor. 20 minutes to give the bathroom a fair wipe down. I could go on and on about all the chores and you know what, none of them take 4 hours. None of them. Every room is broken into many chores and none of those chores take more than a few minutes, not really.

I don't know when I re-wired my brain to think I needed an ever-elusive, 3 hours of uninterrupted time to clean my house. But somehow it got in my head.

I've realized and embraced anew in recent weeks is that there is MAGIC y'all in those pockets of time. Magic. In a few minutes the bed is made. In 5-10 minutes one load of laundry is folded. In another pocket of time I can take one stack of folded laundry to the linen closet and put it away (gasp) on the same day! Vacuuming, food prep, laundry, tidying up, bathrooms - all can be done in our pockets. Next level, and this what melts my butter the most, is the organizing. Drawers, shelves, a cabinet here or there. All can be done in pockets of time if we have a plan. Before we can be really productive in our pockets we have to get a few bits in order. Pockets of time are much better utilized if you can do these FOUR things:

• Have cleaning basic supplies stocked, organized simply and centrally located.

• Always keep a donation box or bag in the house. When you clean or organize discard things you don't need, add them straight away to the donate box and when it's full take it away - maybe in a pocket of time while you are waiting for a prescription or a practice to finish.

• If you like to sell items you've outgrown or don't need anymore have a sell box too. Photograph items before you add them to the box and then you can list them in a pocket of time!

• In some of your pockets of time go room by room and make a cleaning list of what needs to be done to get each room for it to be "in good order". Write it down or put it in your phone. I prefer typing it and posting it inside a cabinet or door in the room. When you have pockets now you, your spouse or your kids can check the list and tackle a couple chores.
  

Using our pockets of time actually frees up our real time, the time in the evenings, the weekends, to do what we want to do most. It's hard to put the phone away when it feels like we are relaxing but putting the pockets to better use can give us so much more - a home that's easier to keep, less stress from clutter and more down time.