BFS Assignment #103 It keeps going, and going, and going…

Housekeeping: that household mess, it keeps going and going and going. It’s a perpetual chore that we diligently need to keep going on to stay on top it. We all have different ways of keeping ourselves energized.

This week's assignment: How do you keep energized so you can get it all done? bouncy music? treat it like a workout? Do you use a schedule?, a housekeeping binder system? luck of the draw system?.. or is this an area where you need encouragement? Do you need God’s help to keep order and beauty in your dwelling place? Take this week to tell us how You diligently keep going with your housekeeping chores.

Housework...gotta love it, right? Right?? Well, I can't say I love it, but it isn't a horrible thing either. I'm somewhere in between. You see, I try to keep the attitude that I am keeping my home. That simple attitude adjustment can keep me going for weeks. I want my home to be my husband's retreat. The place where he is excited to be after work, where he can relax and think, "Yes, I'm home!" I also want it to be a place where we can have anyone over and they will feel relaxed.

My home is not always spotless, but it is clean and fairly organized. Any room could be picked up and company ready in just minutes. It hasn't always been this way and I have struggled in the past. What has changed? The boys grew up!LOL Well, that and I found flylady. I have mentioned her in the past and I really do credit her with a lot of my thinking nowadays. You cannot organize clutter. I spent a summer going through the entire house and decluttering. We seriously reduced what we had. That was key. Now I regularly go through things at a much more relaxed place. A closet one week, a drawer weeks later, etc. When things that you own have a place it makes it so much easier to keep clean.

I have also been blessed with a daughter who loves to clean. She has grown up with my flylady attitude and happily purges her room regularly without me asking!! My friends often joke about how they want to "borrow" her.

Another thing that has been a blessing is that Mike has been doing the dinner dishes. I hate facing the dishes after I cook and eat dinner. Leaving them until morning is NO WAY to wake up and start a day. So, now that he takes care of them I can relax. No more walking into the kitchen in the morning and groaning!

Schedules? Nope. I stopped following flylady's routine years ago. I sort of have my own routine in a non-routine sort of way. The one thing that really, really gets me going is turning on some favorite music. Nothing like sweeping to a good beat. ;o)

If things do happen to get backed up and ugly around here(like after a really hectic time or illness), I keep in mind that it won't take as long as my mind thinks it will. I turn on some music and set a timer for 15 minutes. It's a challenge to see just how much I can get down in 15 minutes. After the timer goes off, I allow myself to walk away if I need to and take a break....or switch rooms for a change of scenery. Anyway, a few 15 minutes sessions has never failed to bring about results that at least give me hope!

For everyday cleaning while kid #4 is working on school, I slip away and do quick chores. (throwing a load of clothes in the laundry, making a bed, sweeping a room, wiping a bathroom down, etc) When we are done with school we usually finish up any chores that haven't been completed. On Fridays, we do a little extra in preparation for a relaxing or busy weekend. It works for us.

Here is a picture of our kitchen area this morning. We had a huge kitchen remodel done this year. If you are interested in seeing the progress you can check the beginning of my blog. You'll find all kinds of steps, choices, plans, etc.

We also did a laundry room update on a much smaller scale and truly, "The Dirt Stops Here!"

Memory Verse: 1 Timothy 4:15 (NIV)
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.