Small Victories

Do you want to feel amazing about your weekend? Find some small victories to win in your home. A small victory is a task that has just been bugging you with its existence. You just can't seem to get it done and it's odious and (this is very important) it probably takes less than 15 minutes to complete.

Take that sleepy hour after you wake up on a Saturday and before you get dressed, make a cup of coffee, and tackle a small victory which will make you feel like you just moved mountains.

My small victories from this weekend:

I cleaned my ceiling fan blades. You did not want to see these fan blades before. When I lay in my bed, I could see the solid masses of dust and grime (and probably tiny little creatures…ewwww) and could only imagine how they flung around the room and found their merry ways into my throat and lungs. I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't cleaned my ceiling fan blades since I moved in two years ago. Um, I'm 5'1"… is that a reasonable excuse? Probably not. Bad homemaker. Well imagine my feeling of triumph when I did clean the blades, and it took less than 15 minutes.

How to clean your ceiling fan blades without ruining your day:

1. Spread out a sheet underneath. My ceiling fan is above my bed, so I put a drop cloth over my bed. Put on a hat because stuff will be falling on you.

2. Fill a spray bottle with half vinegar and half water. Get a pillowcase that you don't care about. Also, grab a cleaning rag.

3. Find a way to reach your ceiling fan. I used a large step ladder on top of my bed. I don't recommend it, since I almost fell several times. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

4. Generously spray your first blade with the vinegar mixture. Slide the pillowcase over it, and wipe on both sides of the blade, moving down until the pillowcase is off. Then spray the blade again with vinegar and go over with the cleaning rag.

5. Move onto the next blade. You can use the same pillowcase, just rotate it to a clean spot. Don't even worry about that too much, since the pillowcase functions to get the big gunk off, and then you'll get the rest off with the rag and the second vinegar spray.

No joke, my room looked brighter after I did this. And I felt like a hero.


I cleaned out my freezer

If you have roommates, it's likely that there's stuff in the freezer that doesn't really belong to anybody anymore, because no one knows who bought it. I spent ten minutes throwing out unclaimed or expired items (um, edamame that had been in there since I moved in? ) and ran the trash bag down to the dumpster. There is now so much more room in our freezer, which will come in handy when I start making slow-cooker recipes in advance. TRIUMPH!

Organizing your pantry is also a nice little victory.


Here's some other ideas:

1. Paint your nails.
2. Vacuum your house
3. Organize your paperwork
4. Make an annoying phone call (insurance company, bank, etc.)
5. Clean your toilet
6. Launder your rugs
7. Clean your stove
8. Dust one room
9. Sort the pile of clothes in the corner of your bedroom into "clean" and "dirty." Put away the clean ones.
10. Replace blown out lightbulbs.

The key is that the task be something that has been nagging you, something you don't really feel like doing, and something that takes no more than 15 minutes of hands on time. I promise, you will feel amazing afterward.