I used to be a serious runner and devoted gym attendee.  Then I got injured and to my dismay this passion was thwarted. Naturally, I put on weight and lost muscle tone left me in an unhappy predicament. Last week I had the opportunity to earn some extra money by using my house for some photo shoots. I was panic stricken because being busy and lazy, I had let things go pretty badly and had very little time to sort it out.

Since this potential for income came at a critical time for my family given the state of the economy, I simply had no choice but to roll up my sleeves and get to work.  There was a lot of it and I wasn’t thrilled.  But guess what? I got on the scale this morning and I lost three pounds in the last week by…you know it, cleaning! Talk about a silver lining.

I’m talking about serious cleaning. Getting rid of the clutter, washing walls, baseboards and light switches: the stuff that if you are fortunate enough to have house cleaners, they don’t do anyway.  It’s true that it took a lot of time, which took me away from other things and boy, was I tired and sore.  But three pounds made it worthwhile.  There aren’t a lot of sensible diets that will produce this result. Give it a try.  You’ll save money, have a cleaner home and yes…shed those unwanted pounds.