Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is to tackle one spot.

When you are faced with an overwhelming project,

limiting the scope can make you feel productive rather than defeated.

And that is a much better way to go through life.

Like many people, I've been spending a lot of time in my house over the past few

months. Not so coincidentally, other family members have also been spending a lot of time in the house.

All of our stuff stacks up.

I looked around recently and realized that, among other things,

the toy Advent calendars from last Christmas, were still sitting on a shelf by the dining room.

The mail spot contained a stack of Christmas cards from 2019.

I had a baby on December 29 of last year so that somewhat explains how everything got frozen in time right after the holidays.

And it is past time to tackle the mess, but of course the baby and his siblings and my job sort of limit the time available.

So I came to this realization.

I don't have to think of this job as decluttering and cleaning the whole house which sounds impossible.

Instead I can think of the job as a series of much smaller projects. There's the mail pile.

There's the shelf where I stash the advent calendars.

There is each child's bin in the mudroom. Each weekend I can tackle one or maybe two of these spots. No, the house never winds up in a pristine state in this method, but at least one spot will look better. I can look at that one spot and feel like I've gotten

something done. Maybe you too are trying to declutter after months of staying at

home. Maybe you too are finding it overwhelming.

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