foolish games

I wish I had a cleaner apartment, since I live alone I find it quite easy to turn about every room into a place to lay clothes down, drop my purse and work bag, and leave dishes in the sink for days. I know, it’s sloppy and not fun to clean the entire place when people decide to visit for the weekend, or when I decide to put my hostess-ing skills to test and invite friends over for dinner.  Long ago, to combat some of my lazy ways around good housekeeping, I started playing my own game while I watch TV at night, I like to call it “10 items or more”. The general gist is that when there’s a commercial break (which means not fast-forwarding during DVR’d shows), the goal is to try to get 10 items back to where they belong in my apartment. Once the commercials end, I can happily view my show, until the next break, and the game kicks off again. For some reason, this absolutely silly game works for me – like my own little minute to win it, and before I know it, I am convincing myself to put a few more things away, or wipe down the counter, or sorting out the closet.  All of a sudden those daunting chores don’t seem as bad, and oh wait all I have to do is vacuum? How did that end up to be?

Does anyone else trick themselves into cleaning?


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