Make a Snowball

Have you ever heard of a 'debt snowball'?  It's a popular financial approach.  Dave Ramsey has made it popular most recently, although I've seen it used by many other financial teaching methods.  Here's how it goes:  You make a list of all your debts. Arrange them from the smallest amount of debt to the largest amount.  Then, you keep paying minimums on all of the debts except the smallest one - that one, you throw any extra money into so that you pay it down quickly.  Once that smallest debt is paid off, you take the amount you were paying on it and roll it into the payments of the next smallest debt.   With each debt you're paying off, you're creating a larger and larger money amount to pay off the next debt.  Get it?  You're making a snowball to pay off your debt.

So, I was thinking about it and the same idea can be used for chores.  Do you feel like you're constantly cleaning around your house and not making a dent in the mess?  Are you spreading your efforts around the house?  Try this:

Start by making a list of all the chores that need to be done in one room of the house - preferably the smallest one, usually the bathroom.  Then arrange those chores by how long they will take to do.  Put the shortest first on the list.  It may take you a week to get through the list, and that's ok.  Take it slow and steady, but keep on plugging away at your list.  In the rest of the house, concentrate on the bare minimum to keep it going - do the dishes, maybe pick up clutter in the most lived in room.  Don't spread your efforts over the whole house though.  Keep them mostly focused on the one room you're working on.

Once you finish that room, you'll probably feel a sense of accomplishment!

Lately I've been using this method to get my home deep cleaned.  I do my minimum chores for each day.  Then I turn my focus to the room I'm working on. I started with my tiny foyer.  It was so easy, I pretty much just wiped off walls and scrubbed the floor.  It got my momentum started, though.  I diverted from the snowball idea, simply because I didn't move on to the next smallest room, but I still turned all of that energy on to the next room: the living room.  I scrubbed every wall and surface, moved things away from the wall to scrub behind them. I cleaned baseboards. The list went on.  After I did the living room, I did the kitchen.

I've been amazed at how much I can get done in a room using this method.  I thought there was no way I'd get through my whole list for the kitchen!  But I finished it by Wednesday!  What a feeling that was!

This week, I'm moving on to the dining room.  I have a huge task here because my china cabinet needs cleaning out.  Not just dusting but decluttering.  I'm dreading this task.  But I know the momentum will build each day. Even if I only do a shelf or cabinet a day, I'll make progress.  I know I may not get it all finished this week, but I hope I do.

Try this chore snowballing effort!  Focusig all of your effort on one room at a time increases your productivity. The Happy Herbivore describes a method of task snowballing too.  Maybe that method will help this idea make sense.  Let me know if you try it.  I'd like to know how it works for you!