It was a crazy idea but I decided to try. Tofugu is my primary resource for learning Japanese. One day, Koichi posted about “Using ‘Jerry Seinfeld’s Secret To Productivity’ To Learn Kanji.” This strategy involves a calendar and a goal. It’s a great idea for learning kanji.
Well, I thought about using this idea for homemaking. Having a clean kitchen is so nice! Unfortunately, most nights I feel lazy and just leave the dishes until breakfast. It’s not fun waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes.
First – I set a goal: to wash, dry, and put away all the dishes before going to bed.
Second – I printed out the nice calendar that Koichi so kindly provided.
Third – I bought a set of really cute stickers from Walmart.
Fourth – I started trying to create a streak!
It’s motivating to see a solid line of stickers! If I skip washing the dishes one night, I have to break the chain. Some nights I’m motivated to do dishes only because I want my sticker. Other nights, I’m motivated simply by having a clean kitchen. My chart currently has a streak of 35 days of clean dishes. Whatever works!
Do you think this method would work for you? How else can it be applied?
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This would probably work well for me but I am too lazy to bother printing and finding stickers – though I seem to recall doing something similar and putting stickers on my calendar at some point in the past – what for I don't remember. However my kitchen is currently clean and tidy, but that's mainly because I needed to bleach 5 out of the 6 chef Jackets and 2 out of 3 aprons that I washed for hubby yesterday, so I needed the sink to be empty and clean. – I am otherwise lazy about putting the dishes away after washing them up.
I hear you on being too lazy to print and find the stickers! 😉 I just added them to my shopping list one day when I went to Walmart. I was lucky and found 100 stickers for $1. I figured that was a good investment for a clean kitchen.
Yay for you having an empty and clean sink!
I have found that I love to have motivation like this! I tried this about a month ago with another household chore I was lazy about completing and it has worked! I just used my calender I see everyday in my kitchen to help me.I just wrote a heart in the corner of every day I completed it. and it was enough to get me to finish the task in order to have a long streak!
Great idea I my just print a list out.
I think I'd need additional motivation…a big reward. I AM lazy!
Thank you that I am not the only one to leave dishes for the next day. I also leave toys on the floor all night…laundry in baskets…I'm bad!
However, I find that as long as I wash the dishes directly after dinner and don't wait, I do wash them. I don't worry about bedtime snack dishes though as long as they are in the sink/counter.