1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,120 Keep moving for 20 minutes and just stay on your feet and then 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,840 sit down for 10 minutes and take a break. 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,080 I'm Ronnie and you're listening to Clean With Me, the podcast 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,880 where I walk you through cleaning your house step by 5 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,280 step. When you clean along with this 6 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,520 show, you'll get more done in less time, so you can spend the 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,400 rest of your day doing what matters most to you. 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,320 Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, I'm going to 9 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,680 talk you through 20 minutes of housework. 10 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,560 This is not a speed clean by any means. 11 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:40,720 This would be a good episode to listen to if you're having 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:45,000 trouble getting started. Maybe you're feeling tired and 13 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,800 you're trying to get started with a little bit of housework. 14 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,640 The first thing I want you to do, if you haven't already done 15 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:55,200 so, is get dressed for the day all the way to the shoes, OK? 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,520 Because if you're feeling overwhelmed, chances are your 17 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,280 kitchen floor is less than pristine and you're going to 18 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,040 feel better with shoes on. And sometimes putting shoes on 19 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,120 can just energize you. If you want to clean barefoot, 20 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,560 that's fine too. But I'm recommending that you 21 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:16,280 put on some shoes for this episode because I'm going to be 22 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:22,280 operating under the assumption that you lack energy, 23 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:27,000 motivation, or both today. And I'm going to talk about 24 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,080 something called the 2010 method of doing housework, which means 25 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,800 you keep moving for 20 minutes and just stay on your feet and 26 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,680 then sit down for 10 minutes and take a break and then repeat, do 27 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,040 another 20 minutes. I'm going to talk you through 28 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,840 the 1st 20 minutes because getting started is always the 29 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,280 hardest part when you don't feel like doing housework. 30 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,240 And I'm also going to base this episode on what I did this 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,440 morning. Once you get dressed to the 32 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:03,280 shoes, you might want to open up some curtains and let some light 33 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,120 in, open up your blinds and then do whatever it takes to get your 34 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:11,600 house smelling good. I put a couple fresh wax melts 35 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,600 in the wax warmer, but you could also open a few windows and let 36 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,480 some fresh air circulate through. 37 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,240 If it's a nice day today and my trash had already been recently 38 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,840 emptied, probably yesterday afternoon there was hardly 39 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,200 anything in the kitchen trash. But a lot of times when I'm 40 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,400 kicking off a cleaning session, I take out the trash and reline 41 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,720 it so that I'll have somewhere to throw stuff away and to take 42 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,880 care of any smells that might be lurking. 43 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,320 Usually our trash is not a problem as far as smell because 44 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,240 we take it out every single day. Another possible problem that 45 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,320 could keep your house from smelling fresh is some dirty 46 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,680 towels in the laundry room that were left in there damp or 47 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,680 something. You could always start a load of 48 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,960 towels and add a little bit of white vinegar to the load along 49 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,280 with your laundry detergent. Or maybe you just need to run 50 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,120 your garbage disposal. The time honored tradition for 51 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:16,600 freshening your garbage disposals. 52 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,320 Putting some lemon wedges and ice cubes in there, running that 53 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,520 through. But all I had to do was get 54 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,640 dressed to the shoes and put some fresh wax in the wax 55 00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:29,960 warmer. I did crack the living room 56 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:36,080 blinds and I was ready to clean, so hopefully you've had time to 57 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,720 do whatever you needed to do to gear up for your cleaning 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:41,960 session. I'm hoping you're off the couch, 59 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,080 you're off the bed, and you're up and moving. 60 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:49,840 Now I want you to spend about the next 5 minutes tidying up, 61 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:55,040 starting with the floors. A cluttered or dirty floor can 62 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,880 make everything else in the room appear messier. 63 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:03,560 We're not going to sweep and mop or vacuum just yet, but what we 64 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,320 are going to do is remove the clutter. 65 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,440 But starting by picking up any clutter from your floors can 66 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,040 make a huge impact. It can immediately change the 67 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,240 look of your home. I mean, it's not that 68 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:24,080 embarrassing if someone walks in and you haven't vacuumed in a 69 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:28,040 while, but what is embarrassing is when there's stuff all over 70 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,840 your living room floor or your front entrance is cluttered. 71 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,760 I feel so much better when I make sure that my living room 72 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,440 floor is picked up and my throw pillows are straightened. 73 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,600 Makes a huge difference. And also picking up my bedroom 74 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,960 floor makes a huge difference. If I've left any dirty laundry 75 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:49,960 on the floor, I get that into the hamper. 76 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:54,880 If I have clean laundry draped over a chair or the ironing 77 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:59,280 board, I hang that stuff up. OK, this could all be part of 78 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,720 this 5 minute pickup you're doing right now. 79 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,560 Now while you're picking up, I want you to be observant and 80 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:12,800 notice one or two things that you need to take care of that 81 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,160 are bothering you. I'm talking about something 82 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,720 other than just stuff that needs to be picked up. 83 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,640 I'm not talking about the fact that you need to pick up some 84 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:27,560 shoes or some toys and put those items away or throw away some 85 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,080 trash. That's what you're working on. 86 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,120 But what I want you to think about is maybe something that 87 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:39,240 would only take you 5 minutes to deal with, but you've been 88 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,240 putting it off. I have kind of a cut out in the 89 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:50,320 wall where my living room meets my dining room, the dining area 90 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,720 of my kitchen. It's just an opening, but it's 91 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,480 not the kind of opening where you're supposed to put dishes or 92 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:02,040 anything on that ledge. It's just an architectural 93 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,400 feature that allows you to see into the next room and make the 94 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,200 house feel more open. If you were supposed to put like 95 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,560 plates and cups there, there would be a countertop. 96 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,560 So it's a ledge where you could put a decoration or something. 97 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,240 I have a little runner in there. Sometimes I put a fake plant 98 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:26,760 there but it's not a surface that's designed for wet or dirty 99 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,440 items. But recently someone put some 100 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:38,120 dirty dishes there and it got moisture on the wall and it 101 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,520 looked really bad, like I felt like the wall was ruined. 102 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,400 I don't know what happened, I wasn't home at the time, but 103 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,320 something spilled out of these dirty dishes that shouldn't have 104 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,320 been there to begin with. Apparently somebody was sitting 105 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,920 on the couch and then just set those things behind them and 106 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,240 just be picking up while I talk. You'll have a chance to do a 107 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,720 special task like this in a few more minutes. 108 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,880 You're still doing kind of your whole house pickup, starting 109 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,720 with the floor and then moving to the upper surfaces like 110 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,120 couches and tables and just putting away things that don't 111 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:12,720 belong. But at least get the floor 112 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,560 picked up even if you don't get every anything decluttered so to 113 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,520 speak. But I grabbed some Lysol 114 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,800 all-purpose cleaner. This is not sponsored or 115 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,360 anything. It's just what I used and 116 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,360 sprayed that ledge and then the wall where something had dripped 117 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,960 down and let it let the chemical sit for a little while and then 118 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,960 wiped it down and it didn't get completely clean at first. 119 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,760 So I sprayed it again, let the chemical sit again. 120 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,440 Then I went over it with a scrub brush. 121 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:44,960 I didn't get too crazy or anything. 122 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:46,760 I didn't want to scrub the paint off. 123 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,560 But there, there were like rings where the dishes had been, you 124 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,240 know, discoloration. Some of it came right up on the 125 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,240 first pass when I wiped it, but these little rings and stuff 126 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,880 didn't. So I repeated that process a 127 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,840 couple times. I'd spray it, I'd do something 128 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,720 else in my kitchen, come back, scrub it with a brush with a 129 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,720 paper towel, and eventually it got completely clean. 130 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,840 And I say eventually, but it only took like 5 minutes total 131 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,000 to take care of this glaring problem that was bothering me. 132 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:23,320 Don't let some kind of a mess in your house steal your piece 133 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:28,040 because you're procrastinating. It's going to help you feel much 134 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,320 better. It's going to motivate you when 135 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:34,760 you do something that makes a lasting impact or you take care 136 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,039 of something that's been there for a few days. 137 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:42,520 OK, by now you've had time to quickly tidy up your house, 138 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:47,680 starting with the floor, and no doubt it's looking a lot better. 139 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:53,880 Now it's time to pick at least one thing that's been bothering 140 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:55,840 you. I gave you one example. 141 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,680 It was something that had been there for a couple days. 142 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:02,920 I mean, the dishes were cleared and somebody had tried to wipe 143 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,560 it off, but it it hadn't been completely cleaned. 144 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,640 But it was surprisingly easy. It was just a matter of letting 145 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,400 the cleaning product do its work and going over it a few times. 146 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:20,200 Another thing that I took care of this morning was a little bit 147 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,320 of rearranging. We have a large printer right 148 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:25,400 now. It was in kind of an awkward 149 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,440 spot. So I moved some stuff around and 150 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,280 then told my husband I need help putting this printer. 151 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,560 It's it's like a large industrial type of printer. 152 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,640 He was like, what? All you want me to do is just 153 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:39,360 move this. I'm like, Yep, that's all I want 154 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,200 you to do. And so he moved that into the 155 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,880 new spot. And so that was another thing 156 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,960 that was making my house look cluttered. 157 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:54,560 So you could have a dirty spot on a wall somewhere or a stain 158 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:58,920 on your carpet or just some clutter that needs to be 159 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,200 removed. And what I didn't say, when I 160 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:07,960 was kind of decluttering for the printer, I had to put some toys 161 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,560 out in the garage toy box. I do kind of a rotation system. 162 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,760 I keep a few toys in the house for my grandkids, but some of 163 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,440 them go out to the garage in a toy box out there. 164 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:26,680 I do kind of a rotation so that we don't have too many toys in 165 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:30,840 circulation. Highly recommend taking toys out 166 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,160 of circulation. You know, maybe you could have 167 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:37,080 like a Rubbermaid tub up on the shelf in your kids closet. 168 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,200 That's what I did when my kids were younger and I would take 169 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,480 some things out of circulation and put them up there. 170 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,240 And then when you put away the toys they've been using and 171 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:50,040 bring out something else, it's like new and exciting to them. 172 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,120 So it could be kind of an organizational challenge where 173 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,080 you want to do a little bit of rearranging or take something 174 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:02,600 out of circulation, or it could be a mess on a wall, a piece of 175 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,520 furniture, the floor. Now that you've gotten your 176 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:11,120 house picked up, I want you to tackle that one procrastination 177 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,640 project. So I'm gonna give you just a 178 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,520 little bit longer to do that. I know I mentioned 2 projects, 179 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,920 scrubbing that wall and removing some toys so that we could move 180 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,960 the printer, but I want you to do at least one procrastination 181 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:28,920 project. And by the way, another 182 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:35,560 procrastination project to do soon is just getting your paper 183 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,520 clutter in order. I'm really big on having an in 184 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,480 basket for mail that needs to be dealt with. 185 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,000 I mean, it's usually bills, but sometimes there's some other 186 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,640 type of mail that needs to be dealt with. 187 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,600 I have just an inbox basket on my desk, just like if I worked 188 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,680 in an office and had an in basket and that's where those 189 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:00,960 items go. Then when I go to pay bills and 190 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,200 I'm like, where's the electric bill? 191 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,480 Where's the water bill? And I'm starting to look through 192 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:11,280 the items in that basket. I will toss anything that I 193 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,680 don't need because when I first plot things in the basket, I 194 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:17,240 don't always sort through them first. 195 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,360 I read in a book a long time ago that you don't want to bring 196 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,880 junk mail into the house. And I do try to abide that by 197 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,040 that to an extent. So let's say my husband and I 198 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,520 are out running errands. We stopped by the mailbox. 199 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:37,400 I tried to throw away the obvious junk mail before even 200 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,760 walking into the house. And then the rest of the items 201 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,680 go into that in basket. But if somebody brings else 202 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:45,480 brings in the mail and everything ends up in the 203 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,320 basket, that's OK too. Because when I go to pay my 204 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:54,480 bills, which I typically do once a month now, I toss anything 205 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:59,160 that I didn't need. OK, I want you to head to the 206 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:04,120 kitchen and do your dishes. If you have a dishwasher, you 207 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,920 may need to just do an empty reload and run. 208 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:13,080 Of course you need to have an item to scrub the dishes with 209 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,200 when you're doing that pre rinse. 210 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:19,120 Unless you have just a state-of-the-art dishwasher and 211 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,360 you don't have hard water and there's a built in garbage 212 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,240 disposal in your dishwasher. I get it, some people are able 213 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:31,120 to just stick things right in. But most of us need to do a pre 214 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,520 rinse of those dishes as they're going into the dishwasher. 215 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,080 So once you empty it, you need to have either a scrub brush on 216 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:43,080 a handle or some type of abrasive sponge like a scrub 217 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,960 daddy, scrub mommy, Scotch brite, just whatever you have. 218 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,120 A lot of times I'm just using the scrub brush on a stick when 219 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,920 I'm just pre rinsing things, scraping the food off under 220 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,320 running water to put them in the dishwasher. 221 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:03,560 I'm more likely to use the scrub mommy sponge when I'm washing 222 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:09,560 dishes by hand, which typically I wash a few pots and pans by 223 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:12,360 hand and that way I use that sponge that has the abrasive 224 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,480 side and then the soft side. But when you're preparing things 225 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,240 for the dishwasher, you don't really need that soft side to 226 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,520 remove any greasiness. You need to just get the chunks 227 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,440 off and then let the dishwasher do the rest of the work. 228 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,040 So that's why a lot of times I just use the scrub brush on a 229 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,240 handle. So super easy. 230 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,880 If you just need to do an empty reload and run of your 231 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,760 dishwasher, that's going to make you feel so good. 232 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,240 You're likely going to be able to fit everything or almost 233 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:44,960 everything into your dishwasher. Or if you're facing a dish 234 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,920 shaster, you'll at least put a dent in those dirty dishes. 235 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,720 And you can get the rest of the stuff soaking if you, you know 236 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,320 before you take your break because remember, we're talking 237 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,160 about 20 minutes on, 10 minutes off. 238 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:04,280 It's similar to the Pomodoro method, but different lengths of 239 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,200 time. But of course if you're hand 240 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:11,600 washing, get any difficult items, soaking the pots and pans 241 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:18,120 and then pre rinse and soak that first sink load and just start 242 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:22,040 washing your cups, your bowls. Wash all the easy stuff first. 243 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,760 Those items that are submerged in your soapy water that are 244 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:31,600 going to take a little time to get clean that need more 245 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,280 scrubbing, save those for last. I always just grab the easy 246 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,480 items 1st and get those washed and then the other things are 247 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:41,760 soaking in the meantime. Makes sense. 248 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,960 I know sometimes I state the obvious on this show, but I'm 249 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,120 talking you through your housework and you might need 250 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,000 these reminders to help you keep focused and on task. 251 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,480 But while you're finishing up the dishes, I'll talk a little 252 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:02,000 bit more about paper clutter. Just, you know, not right now, 253 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,640 but at some point you want to have a really good system for 254 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,840 managing your finances. If you're the one taking care of 255 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,560 the bills, you've got to get organized. 256 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,000 It's a good idea to create a spreadsheet with all of your 257 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,920 expenses on it. It's also a good idea to use an 258 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,000 app. I use the every dollar app. 259 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,680 This is not sponsored but it's a it's a budgeting app that I use 260 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:35,760 and also. So you need to either assign 261 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:43,120 each bill to a certain payday or just stay completely ahead of 262 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,720 things and pay all of your bills once a month. 263 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,800 OK but some people don't have the self-discipline. 264 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,320 I'm older now, but some people don't have the self-discipline 265 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:59,600 to leave the money in the bank and pay their bills once a 266 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,160 month. So if that's you or your spouse, 267 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:08,560 you might want to assign each bill to a certain paycheck. 268 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,440 That way you know how much you have left of that paycheck, you 269 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,400 know if you're living paycheck to paycheck. 270 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:21,400 But you need a system and at some point you need to sit down 271 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,160 and get organized with your bills and your finances. 272 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,920 Another thing you need to do is have a calendar, whether it's an 273 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,440 electronic calendar or a wall calendar. 274 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:40,480 Now I do save things in my phone on an electronic calendar and 275 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:46,000 when I was working just a 40 hour remote job from home, that 276 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,800 calendar was everything 'cause I needed little reminders for 277 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:54,560 meetings and what not. But I found that for me and my 278 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:59,480 husband, just keeping track of things, appointments and social 279 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,840 engagements and trips and graduation, graduations and all 280 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:08,680 the things that it helps us to also write things down on a 281 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:13,160 physical calendar that's on the wall that we can both reference. 282 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,400 That way, when one of us is making an appointment, the other 283 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:21,440 can look at that calendar. And you can also use your 284 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,360 calendar to keep track of bills. I have a different one for that. 285 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:30,560 I have a planner and a binder, and I used to write down on each 286 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,680 payday which bills I needed to pay. 287 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,360 But now I have just this new system where I'm just paying all 288 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:41,080 of my bills the same day of the month, which is the 15th. 289 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:42,600 I mean, I give myself a little grace. 290 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:47,160 It can be either the 14th or the 15th and sometimes it can spread 291 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:52,000 across those two days, but I pay all the bills at that time and I 292 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,800 keep track of that in the notepad app of my phone combined 293 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,720 with the budgeting app. You've got to have a system 294 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:02,360 though can and having all your bills in one place can make a 295 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:04,280 difference. And I know you've probably gone 296 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,920 paperless with a lot of your bills, but with some of them 297 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,080 that you need to pull out that physical bill, you need an in 298 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,040 basket for that. Hopefully you got your house 299 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:17,920 picked up, your dishes done, or at least started and you took 300 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,560 care of 1 glaring problem in your house that's been bothering 301 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,800 you. Now it's time to take a 10 302 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:32,160 minute break and hopefully start another 20 minute cleaning 303 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,680 session. And we have, I've got a whole 304 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,680 catalog of episodes you can listen to, and I doubt you've 305 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,720 heard all of them. So by the way, if you like 306 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:49,440 longer episodes, be sure to subscribe to the bonus episodes. 307 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,320 Special thanks to those who have already started supporting the 308 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:58,840 show to unlock those episodes. But even just listening to these 309 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,440 free episodes helps me. Happy cleaning and I'll talk to 310 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:02,840 you soon.