Of all people to give housekeeping advice, I should not be one of them. With five children, a husband who coaches and a dog…well, I barely have time to change diapers let alone keep a spotless house. However, I still want to share my tips on how to keep your house from being condemned. Fair enough?
I have two forms of cleaning house. The first is my favorite. When we moved into our first house they gave us one of the floor plans that the original builder had used. {Example below}
What I do with the floor plan is make many copies and keep them all in a folder. Once a week I pull our a new sheet and tape it to the wall. As the rooms get cleaned I take a marker and cross out the completed room. It’s easy and the children love to each pick a different colored marker and see who can cross off the most rooms by the end of the day.
Using a floor plan is especially humbling when considering the homes of many across the globe are only the size of one of our rooms {if that}. It is a good reminder that ‘we’ are the rich that is talked about in the Bible.
“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”{Luke 18:24-25 ESV}
The above video is from a post at Inspired to Action. A beautiful reminder that the ‘stuff’ keeps us from living real life.
One way we get the kids to help us clean is by taking photos of the clean rooms. Sometimes we show the photos of the clean rooms to inspire us all before we begin our cleaning day or we have a contest and every time somebody cleans a room they get their photo taken in said room. Whoever has the most photos at the end of the day gets a special treat. For example everybody will get a bowl of ice cream but the winner gets a topping {chocolate, nuts, fruit, etc}.
The children don’t enjoy cleaning. Obviously, right? Whose kids do? Almost every single time I hear “can we please donate some toys?” How can I say no? They know they too will enjoy life more with less. If ever your children ask this simple question don’t hesitate! Encourage their selfless, giving hearts. And join them in helping others.
Blessings!
