Managing a Clean Household

I’m sure we've heard this phrase before. Is there life after house work? I learned an important lesson this weekend that I will share with you a bit later in this post. But first, let’s talk about why it’s good and important to have a system for our house work. We are all aware that house work never ends. In light of this, it’s important to have some regular duties that help keep it maintained and orderly.

Order

It is important for our homes to have a sense of order. It helps us think straight, it helps our kids think straight and reduces major stress. Having order means doing the same things in the same order everyday or most days.

Consistency

To maintain our order, we must be consistent. This is probably the most challenging thing about doing house work. When we’re consistent, things tend to stay a bit more calm, tidy, and most of the time caught up. When we take a day to slack for no good reason, our house work quickly backs up. Suddenly, the small tasks we were doing daily have turned overwhelmingly enormous. Our stress levels rise and we wonder how in the world we’re going to tackle it all before it tackles us!

I think the best way to keep house work at bay is to do it consistently. It doesn't matter what system or what method you adopt, as long as you stay consistent.  It saves time, energy, stress, and temper.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to get a little too excited as I start to make headway on the house work. I’m so happy that it’s been well maintained and things are in order, I falsely believe if I let it go just a little, it won’t be a big deal. How wrong I am! It is much easier to tackle the tasks when they are small. Like those few dishes in the sink. Or the one load of lonely laundry that needs to be folded. By waiting, I compound my work and end up instead with two sinks full of dishes and two baskets of laundry. Since my time is limited, it’s harder to squeeze these now larger tasks in.  So believe me when I say, tackle the work while it’s small so it won’t get out of hand.

A Stopping Point

Each evening I force myself to have a stopping point, no matter how much there is left to do (which is why I try to get all my most important tasks done first). The thing about house work that you’ll learn is that it always stays faithful to show up again the next day. I know this can seem like a downfall because you don’t want it to be there. But there will always be something that needs to get done.

It’s very important to have a stopping point each evening in order to relax, refresh, and prepare for the next day. When focusing on the day passed, try to focus on the things you did accomplish rather then the things you didn't. It seems there are always things left that I didn't accomplish and that can be rather discouraging to think about day after day. Instead, I try to reflect on all I did get done so that I can look forward to the next day with a positive start.

Now a Tip

Don’t allow house work to consume your life. It’s impossible to keep everything perfect 100% of the time. Especially with little ones. Our children need us more often then the house work. Be sure to invest the majority of your time connecting and building relationships with them. You can even have them work alongside you for some of the house work, like laundry or wiping down cabinets close to the floor. Don’t miss out on those important training opportunities. In the end, our children will not remember the house not being constantly company ready. They’ll remember the fun times with mommy, the important lessons taught, and the house being comfortably lived in.

This article was contributed by First Troy Builders, which offer Dayton Ohio Corporate Housing which, of course, are already clean when you move in.