This video has nothing to do with this post. I just like it…

Tonight, I am having a hard time tearing myself away from the sofa. I’m tired. I don’t feel like getting things done but things HAVE to be done so I’m playing a little game I like to call Commercial Cleaning Relay.

I wait for commercials and then do as much as I can during commercial breaks. As a result, I’ve found out a few things.

I can empty and reload the dishwasher, shine the sink, clean the counter tops, wipe down the stove top, and take out the trash during a standard commercial break.

I can declutter the living room, pick up the dog toys, straighten the couch covers and load towels into the washing machine during a standard commercial break.

I can sweep the living room and kitchen, straighten the books and dust the mantle during a standard commercial break.

I can clean the toilet, clean the bathroom counter tops, and wipe down the sink in the bathroom with time to spare.

It’s pretty amazing to be honest. Commercial Cleaning Relays make it easier for me to get the shit done on days when I’m having a hard time doing it. I mean really, it’s the same amount of work, but for some reason, the time constraint of a commercial break and the reward of a little more Project Runway or Sheer Genius, or Charmed makes it easier for me to get things done.

This is a cleaning tip.

If you want to know how strangers will see your house, start taking photos of your rooms then wait a day and examine them. When you look at your rooms through the unforgiving eyes of a camera, you will see exactly what needs to be done. The clutter, the little homeless knick knacks, the dust, the corners, the floors, everything will reveal itself in bright vivid living color. When you finally take a photo of the room that doesn’t make you cringe just a little, you’ve probably finished cleaning.

The reason this works is that cameras don’t filter the way our minds might and when we look at the photo we see things that our brains may have long filtered out. This is something I do when I know we have guests coming and I need to make a good impression. I’m always shocked at how things I’ve looked at for days now stick out in a photo like a million sore thumbs.

Anyway, I hope it helps!