Sloppy Jo

I'm a sloppy Jo. Seriously. The "J" in "SJ" stands for "JO". No lie. And as for the sloppy part, I hate to clean. I will do anything to not clean, even things that take way more effort than cleaning itself. I have always, always, always been messy. My room was never clean as a kid, nor my desk in school, my locker, my folders, and as I got older, my car, my car trunk, my dorm room, my first apartment, etc. It's never disgustingly messy (OK, well sometimes), just never clean. This is especially troublesome when you live in a one bedroom apartment with another person. A person with whom you hope to live, harmoniously, for the rest of your freaking life.

Enter, the "15-minute rule." I begrudgingly set a timer for 15 minutes, and Joe and I clean until it beeps. Cleaning isn't so bad when it's finite. You can look at the timer at any moment, and see exactly how much longer you have to go. And, when the timer beeps, you can drop what you're doing, and walk, or run, away. Or throw your hands in the air, and say "HEEEYYYY-O! Gotta let go!"(Anyone?).

I love it. Well, I hate it; it's still cleaning after all. But I love the rule. Our apartment has never been as consistently clean. And often times, you just finish what you're in the middle of doing, and clean longer than 15 minutes.

The change that you see in your home in just 15 minutes of daily cleaning is pretty remarkable!

Any other Sloppy Jos out there? Dirty Dees? Messy Mabels? OK I just made those other names up. But seriously, any other tips for lazy girls like me to keep your home clean? Anyone try the "15-minute rule"?

-SJ