Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home

In my post Home is Where The Heart Is, some of you asked questions and others wanted more info. So today I shall try to answer these questions and give a few more tips on keeping a tidy and sweet running home.

Okay, hang on to your chairs now because I am going to tell you something that is true and maybe even profound. Did you know that cleaning your house is easy? Now hear me out. It's easy to clean the house. It gives us a very domesticated, cozy, and settled feeling. We get inspired and so we sort through closets, making piles for thrift stores and pile for garage sales and piles for the cousins and still other piles for missionaries overseas, and when we're done we feel quite smug and contented with our little selves.

Did you hear me when I said that's easy? So then why do so many people sit in untidy homes? I'll tell you why. Cleaning your house doesn't take any discipline. It doesn't take character. It really doesn't even take much skill. BUT...maintaining a clean house takes all of the above, and that's where women are missing the boat!

When a friend stops by unexpectedly your tidy home that you welcome her into doesn't just happen by chance. I've had more than one person tell me that they could keep a clean home too if they had my house. No, you couldn't. Ive said this on one of my other housecleaning posts but it bears repeating. If you had my house you would keep it like you keep your house. You see, it's easy to think the carpet is easier to clean on the other side of the fence but it's not.

For Christian women it's doubly important that you keep a shiny and comfortable home because we have been told to be women given to hospitality. I cant tell you how many times I hear women say that they cant have anyone over because they're house is too messy. Now sure there are those days when even Kings palaces become messy and life gets hectic and you have to say no, but when you can NEVER invite a friend in it's time to reevaluate your cleaning habits.

I was asked if I do my work in the morning before homeschooling or in the afternoon. I do the morning work before school. That consists of making my bed, checking the kids beds to make sure they're made, starting a load of laundry, getting breakfast on, and cleaning up the kitchen after we eat. It's really not much. I wait until after school to do the cleaning for the day. It's easier for me to switch to school mode if I'm not knee deep into housecleaning.

Before I even do the morning work above though I get up and have my quiet time (I fight this one all the time) then take my shower. I keep a can of cleaning Bubbles on the shelf in the shower. Before ever getting out of the shower I spray the self cleaning Bubbles all over. I got this tip several years ago from a reader and I've used it since. You truly never have to scrub your tub and shower again if you use this stuff. After getting out of the shower and dressed, I gather up all laundry and towels and take them to the hamper.

Then I head into the school room to finish any last minute lesson planning and prep. I do most of that at night before bed. In the morning I just refresh my mind on what I'm going to do and tackle any bothersome little task that I was too tired to do the night before, usually the printing. I somehow have vast amounts of printing to do in my homeschool. My printer cranks out papers all day long.

After the schoolroom I usually write my entry in my blog. While I'm doing that I'm running the printer with the school stuff. My desk gets messy but I leave it until after school. I can only do much before the kids get up. On summer mornings I do all the outside watering while they're in bed because it can be done without waking them with all my banging and such. By the way, my school and office are upstairs on the other end of the house so I can do all that without waking them too. I also eat my breakfast at this time.

Usually by now it's seven and time to wake the kids. On summer mornings they waken on their own around 8 am. We have breakfast and I talk to them about the day. Tink clears the table.

After school both kids help me clean. It usually only takes half an hour on their part. I do the cleaning and they do the running. It just goes so much faster this way. For those of you who like the nitty gritty, here's how it works. I'm cleaning the living room so I take both kids with me. Kids can't seem to see anything smaller than a rocking horse in the middle of the room. Have you ever noticed that?

This is where working with them comes into play. I say; Tink, go through this room and pick up every pencil and every book that goes into the school room and put it away. Peter, take this truck and these hotwheels to your room. Both of you come right back.

I continue cleaning the room but rarely leaving it. I swish the feather duster over things and straighten the couch pillows and when they return I load their arms with any thing else I have found. In this manner we move from room to room. I dont vacuum or sweep floors at this point. This is just decluttering. We can go through the rooms very quickly this way.

After picking up the rooms Tinks sweeps the hardwood floors and I vacuum for the day. The mornings laundry is folded and put away by both of us. I almost never empty the dishwasher. Tink does that. Peter loves to mop. So I let him mop the kitchen floor after Tink sweeps. At their ages neither job is done perfectly. I use a handy dandy little mop that I bought at Home Depot. It's light weight and the mop part comes off to be thrown in the wash machine. A half hour after beginning the kids are ready to go play until evening chores.

I keep Clorox wipes in every bathroom. The kids are taught to wipe down the sink and then the toilet ring after they use it. In that order too, mind you! :) I wash out all burner plates when I wash the stove after dinner. Again this saves me a big stove top cleaning day.

I rarely sit and watch TV without my hands doing something. If I want to watch a show I fold laundry or iron or grab a drawer that has gotten messy or sort papers, or hoist one of the kids sock drawers onto my lap and sort the socks that they've undone, or some thing, but I almost never just sit there.

Okay this is getting quite lengthy. If you're interested in more on applicable chores for your kids you can click on Age Appropriate Chores for a complete list.

Now can you see a little bit more why I say cleaning house is easy but the real test is in the daily maintenance? Feel free to leave any questions that you might have, in the comments. I will gladly answer them. I'm sure there are other means to the end but I'm just sharing with you how I personally keep up on things.