How to Shorten Your To-Do List

Larsen, Jo Ann. I'm a Day Late and a Dollar Short...and It's Okay! Shadow Mountain, 1991.

I bought this book a couple of years ago. I found it in a bargain bin, but it would have been worth it even if I'd paid full price (or double).

Here are just a few excellent sentences: "As you set priorities, delineate the amount of housework you'll do each day. As you know, there's never an end to housework--and for many women it's always there, intimidating, pushing, prodding, and indicting them. Because of this, you need to take charge of your time." (193)

"I can't anticipate or control the way other people make messes or move the pieces of my house. Nor is there always enough of me to go around. Nor can I always fix things or people the way I'd like. Nor should a clean house be entirely my responsibility--it should be our responsibility. Therefore I give myself the right not to have an ordere house in a disordered world. And the right to have other priorities besides my house." (188-9)

I think my favorite sentence is the last one. There are some people who could cook, clean, and do laundry all day and enjoy it (or so I hear). I'm not one of them. I don't want to spend my entire life taking care of my house. There is too much life to enjoy! So if you feel less than perfect because your house looks like people actually live there, take heart and read this book.