Easing The Cleaning

Cleaning. It's a necessary evil that, some days, I am okay with and other days, I would rather hide from. In the midst of my journey, I have found a few things that have made my cleaning much easier and much more tolerable!

Before February, I had been home schooling the children and working almost full time. Needless to say the house became increasingly cluttered and more unmanageable. When I suddenly found my life in shambles, I was able to resign my position, send my son to school, and begin to get my house in order. It became very healing for me to do this, as God was not only cleaning out the "house" of my marriage, but my physical house as well.

It began with my bedroom. My best friend came over and we went through everything in the entire room. We organized, donated, and threw away so many things...things that hadn't been touched, used, or worn for longer than I could remember. It felt so good to purge and over the next three months, I began purging each room of the house. The result was a house where I knew where things were and if someone was planning on dropping by, I could have the house cleaned up in 20 minutes, sometimes less!

But, through this process, I learned several tips that help me manage and keep the house orderly. The basics are as follows:
* Empty the dishwasher in the morning so that throughout the day you can put used dishes in right away.
*If the kitchen sink is clean, the rest of the kitchen looks clean! As you cook, wash used large dishes right away...the things that won't be put in the dishwasher.
*If the beds are made, the rooms look clean! Make the bed right when you get up.
*Your bedroom should be your "safe room". If the rest of the house is messy, your room should be a peaceful retreat that you can go to and recharge. This also helps with ensuring a positive and healthy sexual relationship with your spouse. When I get up in the morning, I make the bed and then do some general pick up. It doesn't take long to throw clothes that are in the floor into the hamper and push shoes into the closet. I also remove any children's toys that may have found their way into my room. Lastly, I open the curtains/blinds, and put anything (jewelry, books, pens, etc.) that may have been placed on the dresser in their appropriate places so that the dressers and night stands are neat and tidy. I also make sure that there are not baskets of clean laundry sitting in my room, so that there are no reminders of housework gone unfinished. These 5 minute clean ups have enhanced my relationship with my husband, not just sexually, but spiritually, emotionally and mentally as well.
*Have the kids help you pick up the living room daily. My husband says our home is a safe haven for him now because of this 10 minute activity. We often make a game out of it. Sometimes we pretend we are tornadoes to see how fast we can do it. Other times I will give the kids a grocery bag and see who can fill theirs first or fill the most bags. (Each bag of toys is then emptied into the toy box.) I do, however, often give each child a task. Someone gets all the shoes, someone picks up the trash, someone focuses on toys, etc.
*Do a thorough cleaning of the bathroom once a week. One or two days, wipe the sink and swish the toilet. I also daily put things that wind up on the counter away. This again takes 2-5 minutes and saves you headache later.
*Go through a purge process of each room. You will find after it is complete that you can clean a room up in 15 minutes when the room is free from clutter and junk. I have also limited the amount of items I have sitting around. I detest dusting and have found that my rooms look just as nice with one or two items on the surfaces as if there was a lot of things there. Less is more!
I'd be happy to hear what you think, and any other ideas that have worked for your family when it comes to easing the cleaning!