The Whiz Around

This is the kind of blur you should see when you get whizzing. Warning: if you don't see this blur, you're not going fast enough.

I'll never forget reading about a woman who said she refused to do any more than 10 minutes of housework a day.

Okaaaaay.

If she didn't have a rat problem, I'll eat my kitchen floor crumbs.

Whilst I insist on doing more than 10 minutes a day, I am all for making housework as effective as possible, in minimal time.

Because I am so permanently and utterly permeated by my writing (haven’t even STARTED on the next Riley book… that’s a worry), I’ve become more than a little resentful that I have to clean the house, make dinner and shop for sustenance.

Ach. Where is ayi when I need her?

I’m not complaining – well maybe I am. But here’s the quandary – I don’t mind doing housework. Truly. Stop snorting into your lattè. What I’m resentful about is the TIME it takes to do it.

So, grand announcement. I have invented (and will soon patent) the Whiz Around. That’s right. The busy mum Whiz Around. That’s the one where you suddenly look up at the clock and the kids will be home in 15 mins and you’re still in your jammies because you’ve not even moved from the keyboard once.

Sheesh, every day I swear I’ll get on the treadmill and my work lures me. I’ll only have myself to blame for my squishy chunk of a behind…

But I digress. The Whiz Around is fantastic because it’s a WORKOUT. And it works. You just grab a washing basket, think “on your mark, get set, go” and off you run. You must try to maximize time usage by minimising back tracking. Grab, run, do, tidy, fluff, straighten, pick up (I hate picking up!), wipe. Do it in sequence, as you run.

Here is an example. Grab washing basket, ready set go! Swoop past kitchen bench, grab Ella’s colouring pencils, maps, Riley’s teddy, measuring tape, tv guide. Swoop past coffee table to drop tv guide and straighten remotes, while I’m there, straighten cushions, fold throw rugs, pick up Pokemon cards, dash off to Riley’s room, drop cards and teddy, pick up his washing, make his bed, off to Ella’s room, drop pencils, make bed, pick up washing, head to laundry picking up iron on way as well as used coffee mugs from dining table, drop mugs in sink on way to laundry, plop kids’ washing into basket, put away iron, pick up kids shoes, football and off I go again.

Get it?

It’s really that simple. But you must RUN. And do NOT be distracted by anything with fat and sugar in it as you pass the kitchen, and most important of ALL - DO NOT GO NEAR YOUR COMPUTER, even if you hear an email come in!

Get Whizzing!

(Ahhh... the continued and relentless attempt at motherhood/womanhood/career balance...)