I picked up the 'Fifteen Minute Rule' from someone I know as Lynne, who some people will know as the owner of the Blogging Brits webring, one of my earliest blog 'friends' and inspiration, though we have never met.
The Fifteen Minute Rule applies largely to housework and related chores, although I suppose it can be adapted to other matters. It acknowledges that housework is never done. As soon as you've 'finished' something it will crop up again eg once you've done the washing up, you want to make a cup of tea.
It is particularly useful for Spoonies, but also for people who feel constantly pressed for time or who feel daunted by the seeming overwhelming volume of tasks to do.
So, how does it work?
Divide your household chores into large fairly clearly defined chunks. Mainly room-based, with additions for extra on-going tasks. So I have 15 minutes for each room, plus washing-up, laundry and paper-sort.
Work through them in a pre-determined order.
Using the timer on your phone* and set it to 15 minutes. Get on and do what seems the most pressing things in the first 'room'. Don't sweat the details eg if it's the living room, remove the dirty plates and the detritus of post and magazines, plump the cushions and wipe the coffee table. Don't get anxious about the cobwebs in the corner.
When the timer goes off, stop. And I mean it. If you've gathered all the rubbish into a plastic bag, obviously, you can throw that into the wheelie bin, but don't say - I just need to put those DVDs away or clean the window.
Move on to the next room, say 'laundry'. For me, that's sorting clothes to be washed, and putting them into be washed. Usually only after putting away the last lot that has been drying in the airing cupboard and/or over the bath. Again, stop at 15 minutes, and again apply that with common sense - if you're poised at the machine about to load it, carry on. And at some time, you'll need to take them out, an obvious flaw to this otherwise excellent system!
Do three lots of 15, then reward yourself with a break, also 15 minutes, where you may sit down with a cup of tea, catch up on Twitter etc, before starting again, or not.
You will never keep a house spic-and-span just using the 15 minute rule, but it stops you drowning. I try to do 3x15 on a work night, if I'm in, but don't beat myself up if I don't.
It's important to look at the tasks in manageable chunks, such as rooms, but it's also okay to flex the boundaries a little. So, for me, if the washing up is finished before the 15 minutes, I put things into recycling, even though a pedant would class that as 'kitchen'. Or if I'm vacuuming the dining/computer room, it also makes sense to vacuum the stairs.
Sometimes there are jobs that need more than 15 minutes, or only need doing occasionally. For example, if you feel the need to go through your wardrobe, cupboards and drawers to chuck out what you no longer wear, you can still break this down into 15 minutes chunks.
If you know you don't have a beauty regime and figure that maybe you ought to, add certain tasks to the 15 minute rule: face mask, varnishing toenails, all that girly crap I pretend doesn't matter but sort of does. Sometimes there is something you enjoy doing but can't get back into because of 'writer's block' - for me, editing photos and hand diary writing - so add them, too.
Keep a standing list of what should be done in rotation. If you do it often enough, you will find yourself in a spiral that means that by the third rotation you are able to do more - eg tackle the cobwebs in the corner. Or focus on one specific area eg tidy the computer table, clean the cooker.
The advantage of this is that if you have casual non-judgemental visitors you never need to feel ashamed that your house is a tip. And when you realise that it's time to do a bigger job - sorting out cupboards, spring cleaning, you don't let the smaller mundane tasks become an excuse for not tackling it!
* people with iphones may want to use a mechanical kitchen timer
