Life is busy, crazy, full.
But there are multiple 5 minutes available throughout our day and it’s by harnessing each of these that we allow ourselves time to relax at the end of a busy day. This isn’t about cramming something in to every spare second of the day, but of using periodic time slots to get tasks done that will allow for a more peaceful experience of the evening.
If we look carefully at how our day is structured, we can often find 5 minute periods that aren’t being used productively. Time before an appointment, waiting for a visitor, waiting for the computer to start, for a load of washing to finish, for a baby to wake… so much of our day is spent waiting for something else.
The key is to use those “waiting moments” well and enjoy the freedom it will bring when you can sit down and relax with an hour of free time and a good book… because – lo and behold – everything else is done!
Here are 30 home management tasks that you can accomplish in under 5 minutes.
- Set your 3 maximum impact tasks for the day
- Clean the bathroom vanity
- Write the shopping list
- Make a basic butter cake
- Sew a button back on
- Weed a small patch of garden
- Water plants in pots
- Change sheets on a bed
- Find 5 new recipes for next month’s meal plan
- Prepare vegetables for dinner
- Hang a load of washing
- Clean a toy to give to charity
- Schedule or confirm appointments
- Clean a window
- Go through old newspapers and magazines to recycle
- Tidy the entrances
- Do a full house pick up, with the kids, to your favourite song
- File paperwork
- Dust and tidy a shelf
- Create a declutter station with 3 boxes labeled ‘give away’, ‘throw away’, ‘put away’
- Change a lightbulb
- Start your online grocery shop (remember to save it!)
- Sort a drawer
- Wipe out a shelf of the fridge
- Leave for an appointment 5 minutes early and refuel the car
- Write a thank you note
- Empty bins
- Check in with your goals
- Mop the bathrooms
- Enjoy a cuppa!
