Good Housekeeping
I always get asked how I keep my house clean all of the time especially since we have kids. I would be lying if i said that it's always like that but for the majority of the time I do follow by certain rules that help me with my tasks, which makes this process a lot easier and simpler.
From the title of this blog, you will probably think that I will talk about spring cleaning. You may be right in some way, but what I truly wanted to do was give you a few housekeeping tips that will save you time, energy, money and most importantly frustration. With the New Years coming around the corner, I hope most of you will be sitting down to write some goals down. If you are not writing them down, then they are most likely not going to come to pass. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to write down with an actual pen and paper what you want to accomplish. This will help you gather your thoughts and prioritize what you want to do in this coming year. Every year you should be writing new goals and not the same ones that you didn’t accomplish last year because you fell off of a bandwagon six months into a year. I know that I don’t want to start over every year and I definitely don’t want my children to repeat the same cycle over and over again. One of the areas that I really try to improve on is housekeeping. No, this is not a blog all about cleaning, although I will talk a little bit about that as well. What I really want to focus is on how you can better manage daily affairs of your household so that you are not stressed and you have more time to spend with the people that you love, so here are a few household ‘secrets’ that I personally do that help me do just that.
1. Do Laundry Once a Week: I have two main baskets that I keep in our closet. I have a white basket for the light clothes and dark basket for the dark clothes. (yes the colors will help your spouse remember to throw the right color clothes into the right basket) I also have one basket that is in the laundry room, which is located between both of the kids rooms, so that I can just toss their clothes in one basket, if I am changing them in their rooms. I do my laundry once a week. I do a load of the dark clothes and then a load of the light wash. Once both loads finish washing and drying, I bring both baskets to the living room and fold the clothes right then and there. I don’t leave it for the next day. Even if that means that I fold laundry in the evening when both of the kids are in bed, so be it. If you have older children, I would suggest having one basket in their room and teaching them how to wash and fold their own clothes. We are not in the 1900s where they have to scrub their clothes in the basin. All it takes is a push of a button. This will eliminate the problem of your child throwing unnecessary items into the wash, because they will know that they will have to throw it in the wash and fold the clothes themselves. This also teaches your children a great life skill. I try to get Mila involved even now by helping me throw the clothes from the basket to the washing machine and she actually enjoys it. Some weeks you may have more laundry because you might need to wash sheets and towels but most weeks, I stick to two loads.
2. Toys Stay in the Room: Most of Mila’s toys stay in her room. I have about a basket full of toys in the living when she comes out of her room to play. I keep it in an ottoman so that it looks neat when we have guests over and I am not stepping on or over toys. Baskets work great as well for this purpose. I let her play with the toys throughout the day and in the evening before she gets washed up, she picks up all of the toys and puts them back in the storage. One thing that I’ve learned being a part of big family is that everyone has to do their part. Believe it or not, your children want to do the adult things. You just have to teach them at a very young age to clean up after themselves. Again, you are teaching them a great life skill. If they are ever at someones house and they play with their toys, they will know that before we leave, we will pick up all of the toys that we played with.
3. Declutter Every 6 Months: This is probably something that people dread doing, but honestly this is the part that stresses majority of us out. We bring stuff into our house. We cram it into empty closets and cabinets until they can’t hold the stuff any longer. Quite frankly most of us don’t even know what we have because of how cluttered our closets and storage spaces are. I keep a few things in our attic that I know my children will grow into, but the rest I give away to a family member or to a person in need. Can you imagine a community of people, that help each other out by giving away what someone else can use? In the end we all win, because that person won’t have to go buy an item and they took something off of your hands that would’ve have cluttered your closets or storage space. I follow a 6 month rule. This goes for toys, household items, clothes and other things. If I haven’t use an item in 6 months, I am not keeping it so that I could just have it. This helps me to do less laundry and less clean up every single day. Trust me, a few minutes a day adds up to hours of cleaning. Decluttering also helps you to re-evaluate your spending. We all find ourselves in a store wanting to buy that new pair of pants that we don’t really need but it’s just too good of a price to pass by. I know, because I deal with this on daily basis when I go to the store. I am not saying that you shouldn’t buy new things but just to re-evaluate what we’re doing with our time and our money. Even if a family member can’t use an item, you can always donate it to Goodwill or Miracle Hill where someone will buy it for a small price and would be very appreciative of it.
4. Cleanliness=Good Health: I don’t know if any of you watched the show ‘Hoarders’ but if you have, you have seen how unsanitary their house is. Everything gets contaminated and they end up digesting things that only should be flushed down the toilet. Their houses become infested with spiders, roaches, mice and other creatures. Just typing this makes my skin crawl. I am not an OCD person but having a clean house gives me a peace of mind that my children and my family are as healthy as possible. Owning a house comes with a big responsibility and that responsibility is to make sure that everything is in working condition as well is a safe environment for you and your children to live in. Something that I’ve noticed here in America is that we have so much opportunity to lead a great life. Even the poorest of the people still can live relatively well under a roof, with an AC and a heating system, yet we end up spending our time and money on things that end up cluttering our house, which end up not benefiting us but hurting us. Having a clean house means that you will be healthier. I am not saying to douse your house in bleach because we all know that it is not good for you either. What I am saying is, that just maintaining a clean environment daily will help you and your family be healthier. Let’s face it, we all go out to different stores, houses, restaurants, schools, day cares, jobs and etc. and we bring back germs. This is not to say that some germs are not good for us but over time if we don’t maintain the cleanliness of our homes, we will get sick.
5. Weekly Chores: There are things that I do on daily basis such as a load of dishes or sweep the floors. There are also things that I do on weekly basis, such as vacuum, wash our floors, laundry and clean our bathrooms. I’ve jumped into a routine so i know in my head what I will do in the coming days or coming week, but if you need to, make a list and hang it on your fridge. If you are working and you have older children, have them do some of those chores with you. Cleaning is miserable if it’s left for one person to do. If the whole household chips in 10 minutes of their day to do a chore, then everyone can have a restful evening finishing up their school work, playing games or watching a movie. Usually, the woman of the house ends up doing more but that’s because God created us to be multitaskers. We see things that men may not notice at all. This is not to diminish the value of a woman. If you look at it from a different angle, you will see it as a special gift. Yes, we notice a household task that may need to be taken care of, but we also notice a hurting child or a family habit that may need to be corrected. We help steer this boat as much as a man does, just in a different way. We are unique and we need to acknowledge that. Your husband might be the one taking care of the house while you’re the one providing, either way, we all need one another. Whatever your household looks like, we need to learn to work with one another so that the load and the responsibility doesn’t rest on one person causing stress, frustration and tension.
I have so many more tips to share with you guys, but I will probably leave it for part 2 of this blog. :) Please like and share if you found this blog helpful. Comment below and let me know how you run your household and what does good housekeeping mean to you.
“Provers 31:27-30
27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Create Coleture, Be YOU
Viktoriya Cole