Sometimes, cleaning up after yourself can feel like an impossible task, but there is a way to keep your house clean without spending all your time tidying. Read on to find out one simple cleaning method that can make your cleaning routine a thousand times more manageable!
Cleaning can be a complicated task. All the schedules to keep track of and to-do items left on the list can feel a little overwhelming.
I’ve certainly been there.
I love a clean home, but my time-management skills are pretty sub-par. I’m constantly losing track of what needs to be done.
And that is why everything I share with you when it comes to cleaning and organization is so simple to try!
If it was any harder, I wouldn’t be able to keep up!
This cleaning method I’m about to share with you is a sort of game you can play at home to ensure that your cleaning tasks don’t pile up. Want to know what it’s called?
“The One Touch Game”
Sounds easy, right? Read on to find out how to get motivated to clean up after yourself!
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How to Make Cleaning Up a Task of Simplicity
What is the One Touch Game?
For the sake of transparency, I should mention that this “One Touch” thing was not originally introduced as a game. It is really just one of many different cleaning methods that help maintain order in the home.
However, I love gamifying boring tasks– it’s best to add fun where you can, right?
So that’s why I’m not going to tell you about the boring old cleaning method today. No, I’m going to teach you how to play this game, instead! (See how much more fun that sounds?!)
Basically, the point of the game is to get items to their proper home in the least amount of touches possible. You could play this in competition with someone else, or you could play alone and try to beat records.
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How Does this Game Help with Cleaning Up?
The trouble with cleaning up is that, if we didn’t proactively tidy after ourselves throughout the day, then we’ve got a huge pile of stuff that has to get put away all at once before we can even start the actual cleaning tasks (like sweeping and wiping tables).
This game will help you proactively clean in tiny, unnoticeable moments throughout the day.
That way, when it’s time to wipe counters and sweep the floors, everything is already cleared away for you. It will save you time and energy.
Remember when you were a kid and your parents used to say, “You can’t play with a new toy until you put the other one away.” This was so that you didn’t have a mountain of toys to clean up at the end of the day.
Why did we stop doing that when we got older?
The One Touch Game reminds us to tidy up before moving on to the next thing for the same reason we put away our toys as kids. It is so that, at the end of the day, you won’t be stuck cleaning up piles of things you didn’t clean earlier.
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Benefits of the One Touch Game
There is the obvious benefit of having less stuff to clean at the end of the day, but the One Touch Game has a lot of other benefits, too.
It keeps your living space clean and enjoyable all day.
When you wait to clean your home until you can do it all at once, it would get progressively messier throughout the day until you have way too much to clean. Nighttime would be the opposite of relaxing.
It ensures that each item gets cared for properly.
No accidentally sitting on something you left on the couch. No forgotten items that were missed during the end-of-the-day cleaning routine. Instead, everything you use gets cared for at the proper time.
It will give you a little bit of healthy movement throughout the day.
If you are someone with a sedentary lifestyle, then this will be a great benefit to you. Instead of sitting all day and moving all at once, you sprinkle a bit of movement into your entire day which is better for your body.
It gets you into a mindset of intentional living.
This game makes you constantly aware of your surroundings and your belongings, and it reminds you to take time throughout the day to give love and care to your home. Instead of making cleaning up an afterthought, it is a mindful habit sprinkled throughout your day.
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How to Play
The main goal is to get all of your items into their proper home in the least amount of touches possible.
For example, when you finish using a pen, you would successfully put it away in one touch if you put it directly back in its proper container.
However, if you put it down on the table first (one touch) and then move it to a different counter when it’s in your way (two touches) and THEN put it away properly (three touches), you completed that task in three touches.
The point of the game is to try to achieve as many one touches as you can throughout the day.
While you’re using the item, you don’t have to count touches. You only start counting once you are finished using something. Now, I play this game with most household items, but I DO make an exception for dishes since their cleaning process already requires a lot more moving around. But everything else is fair game.
Scoring
If you are playing alone
By myself, I do scoring one of two ways.
Option #1: The three-strike system
In this version, every time I don’t put something away in one touch, I get a strike. Once I get three strikes, I lose the game and try again the next day.
Option #2: The tally system
In this version, I create two ‘teams’. The One Touch Team is the side that I am on, and the Many Touch Team is on the opposition.
When I put something away in one touch, my team gets a point. If it takes more than one touch, then the opposition gets a point. At the end of the day, I hope to have more points than the Many Touch Team.
It’s a silly game that adds some lively fun to the day’s chores.
If you are playing with someone else
You could choose to play as a team or against each other if you are playing with another person. If you are playing as a team, you can use either of the styles mentioned in the playing alone section.
If you are playing competitively, you can keep a tally and go up against each other.
But here’s the catch: you’re opponent only gets a point if you get caught.
For example, say you’ve been putting things away in one touch all day. But then, you left a board game out on the table instead of putting it back. You don’t lose a point, but if you’re opponent spots the board game, they can call you out on going over one touch to put it away. If they do, then they get a point.
Whoever has the most points at the end of the day wins!
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Final Notes and Warnings
This game can be a really fun way to make cleaning up a bit more enjoyable, but I wanted to mention a few things to be wary of in closing.
Warning #1: Don’t make it personal
If you choose to play this game competitively, don’t let it become something that feels like nagging. It is supposed to be a fun way to encourage each other to clean.
If you feel that it’s getting to be more of a chance to point out each other’s mistakes, then you are going into this with the wrong intentions.
Warning #2: Keep it encouraging, not demoralizing
Along the same lines as this first warning, this game should NEVER be used as a way to shame yourself or anyone else. The point is not to win, but to increasingly think of cleaning up as a more intentional, proactive activity rather than a chore. If it is only making you feel bad and it fails to motivate you, then it truly isn’t worth it.
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It is never my intention to make you feel like you are not doing enough. In fact, if anything, I want to introduce a habit into your life that will actually have you doing less. Yes, we need to give every day our best work, but that doesn’t mean you have to make the work more complicated than it needs to be. ‘The Seasoned Lifestyle’ is all about offering our most authentic selves to every day and living simply. No worries if you don’t achieve the ideal. That’s authentic living at its best! Keep it simple and have fun! And (hopefully) enjoy cleaning up after yourself from now on!
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