Y’all (because that’s what my guest today would say), I’m so excited to be hosting my friend April today on the blog. She introduces why I invited her over today so I won’t tell it twice, but April was one of my college roommates and one of my lifelong friends, well at least the better half of it because that’s how long I’ve know her – half my life (insert cross-eyed, eeekkkk emoji face). But, April is a fantastic mom and wife in her everyday. She works part time for her church, runs her own business, partners with a friend to run an encouraging podcast, and keeps her house clean and make homemade meals. She is a hustler and slays the things in her way. April also makes time for others, cheers on the crazy that we come up with, and gets what it means to “just do life together.” I love her and I know you will too! Maybe today will even inspire you to dust your blinds…
So, my dear friend Keisha reached out to me the other day because she was cleaning the dust off of her kitchen blinds and she thought of me.
Yep. I’m the friend people think of when they clean. Try not to be jealous. I lead a very glamorous life.
The real reason Keisha thought of me when she dusted her blinds is because she knows my strengths. That’s what’s great about being friends with Keisha: she makes the effort to know who you are, to connect with your unique self. Being friends with Keisha means to be really, really KNOWN.
So, she knew that I probably wouldn’t have months’ worth of dust on my blinds because she remembered a small detail about me, which is that I have had a system for years where I clean a little bit every day and she
asked me to write a little bit about it.
And that’s all I’ll write: just a little bit. Because while I COULD drone on and on about why you should clean every day and the infinite number of systems you could dream up and write down and craft chore charts for, everyone’s already heard all of that and, if you really wanted to be doing that, you would be.
So, instead, I thought I’d share about how to make changes to our habits, not our schedules. See, life is never about the tactics we employ; it’s about our motivations behind them. So that’s what I’m passionate to share today: some small tips that, yes, will help us live in cleaner, better organized homes, but will also begin to change our behaviors and our habits, which is where REAL change begins.
Hope you enjoy!
- Clean something every day. Whether you have a set schedule (dust on Tuesdays, mop on Wednesday, etc.) or not doesn’t matter. If you just clean SOMETHING every single day, your house will never get out of control. If you’re not the type to stick to a set schedule, don’t force yourself to. Instead, trust that you know what area of your house needs cleaning the most that day and just do it. This habit is likely to snowball and you’ll end up cleaning more than just one thing as you get used to it, but even if it doesn’t, you’re doing better than you were before without putting enormous expectations on yourself that you know deep down won’t stick. Progress is better than perfection, right? RIGHT!
- Do a daily pickup. Not of the whole house, just the main areas. Most people will say to do this before going to bed at night and that’s great but guess what? I go to bed with my throw pillows all over the floor and remotes and popcorn bowls littering the coffee table. When I wake up, the first thing I do is put it all away and start the day fresh. Know why? I’m a morning person! I would never stick to that if I tried to do it right before bed. So pick the best time of day for you and do a daily pickup.
- Designate a spot for everything. You’ll never get a handle on clutter until you know exactly where to put things. You’ll end up doing that thing where you stand in the middle of your kitchen with two random things that have been sitting on the counter for a week and you still don’t know where to put them so you put them back on the counter. Take five minutes to think through where items that don’t have a home should go. If you can’t figure it out in a day or two, maybe you don’t need those items after all.
- Keep the kitchen clean. Clean up the kitchen after every meal. I know, I know. If your family is like ours, as soon as you’ve finished one meal, somebody wants a snack. No big deal. Make a snack – it’s fine. But don’t make breakfast, lunch, or dinner and leave everything out. Load the dishwasher, wipe down the counters, and put away the leftovers. You won’t dread the next meal you make and you have one room that’s reasonably clean most of the time. For most of us, that’s a huge win!
One final thought on keeping your home neat and running smoothly – we don’t live in magazines or on Pinterest. We do LIFE in our homes and unless you’re hosting a formal event, there is no need for everything to be in its rightful spot all of the time.
We are busy women with families that need to feel the freedom to enjoy their homes: to leave a book out that we plan to return to later in the evening, to leave your rain boots sitting out by the back door, or to *GASP* leave a blanket fort up in the living room for a few days because it brings joy!
For more Christian encouragement and laughs, look up the Being Women Podcast wherever you get your podcasts or visit Being Women Podcast.
For more tips or help getting organized, visit my organizing business Facebook page, Ordered Life.
Now you know why I love April. She keeps it real. I love these tips. I’m terrible at number one…hence the reason I was cleaning dust off my sink window blinds on a random Saturday. I should probably do that again this weekend! But, I love her advice about everything having a place and it making it easier to put it back. At our house, that also makes it easier to be found next time and I’m not the only one who can go find it! Thanks Ape for hanging out with us and sharing some of your wisdom that you live out. Oh, i cant wait for little man to get big enough for blanket forts!
