Session #6: Having a Plan for Keeping Your Home Clean
Do you need a little help in organizing your house and keeping things clean? Marci shares her wisdom from her year's of experience as a homemaker and gives you the practical tools you need to create realistic homemaking routines.
Session Information
Video Time: 45:56
Do you have a plan for keeping your home clean? Marci shares her practical advice on how to go room by room and week by week to keep your home clean and with a beautiful atmosphere.
Session Notes
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”~ Colossians 3:23-24
“Caring for our homes can be a bit overwhelming. We don’t have to feel enslaved by our daily tasks when having a plan in place can help us be in control.”
What is in My Homemaking Binder:
- Morning Routine List
- Evening Routine List
- Zone Cleaning Schedule
- Zone Cleaning Detailed Checklists
- Weekly Home Blessing
- 5 Minute Chore List
- Kids Chore List
Quick Overview of Zone Cleaning:
- Break your home down into Zones. List all the rooms in your house and combine them into various zones. (I have 5 you may only need 4).
- An example of one zone may be your kitchen and laundry room.
- Each week spend at least 15 minutes a day in the Zone of the week
- Keep a detailed cleaning list of the various rooms in your homes.
- Use my sheets in this handout as a guideline. Customize them for your home.
- Day One in a Zone is a good day to declutter and tidy the rooms you are working in that week.
- Use a timer to keep yourself on task.
10 Habits for an {almost} Always Clean Home:
- Start your morning off with a specific task to get your day moving in a forward direction. An example would be make your bed or start a load of laundry.
- Always try to make your bed daily.
- Keep up with dishes after every meal. Try to go to bed without dishes in the sink.
- Put things away where they belong when you’re done using them. Teach your children this one too.
- Never let clothes pile up. Put laundry away before the end of the day. No piles of clothes in the bedroom.
- Take the time to figure out a home filing system so paperwork doesn’t build up. (See My Simple Home Filing System).
- Have a spot at your backdoor where family members can easily remove shoes and coats with a place to put everything.
- Clean as you go about your day. Spot on the counter? Wipe it. Crumbs on the floor? Vacuum them up. It is much easier to do it as you go along instead of waiting until these messes become overwhelming. (See Where to Begin When You’re Overwhelmed).
- Continually declutter as you are tidying areas. Remember clutter can’t be organized.
- Have some sort of cleaning system in place.
Bonus tip – Before you leave a room, take two minutes to tidy it up.
“This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.” ~ Elisabeth Elliot
Helpful Book Links:
More Hours in My Day by Emilie Barnes
Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley
The Christian Homemaker’s Handbook by Dorothy Patterson
Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaffer
Blog Post Links:
Organize, Declutter and Beautify Your Home Series
10 Simple Habits to an {almost} Always Clean Home
Marci's Home Management Binder
Kids Chore List https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Kids+Chore+List+Ideas+and+5+Minute+Chore+List.docx
Monthly Tasks https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Monthly+Tasks.docx
Weekly Home Blessing https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Weekly+Home+Blessing.docx
Zone 1 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+1+Detailed+Cleaning+List.docx
Zone 2 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+2+Detailed+Cleaning+Schedule.docx
Zone 3 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+3+Detailed+Cleaning+List.docx
Zone 4 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+4+Detailed+Cleaning+List.docx
Zone 5 https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+5+Detailed+Cleaning+List.docx
Zone Cleaning Schedule https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/homemakingministriesonlineconference2015/Marci%27s+Home+Management+Binder/Zone+Cleaning+Schedule.docx
About Marci Ferrell
Marci is a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, married to her husband Doug for over 29 years, mother, and grandmother. She is here by God’s grace and overwhelmed by His kindness in redeeming her as His daughter. You can find her blogging about loving her husband, children and grandchildren, bible study, reading, sharing her faith, home keeping, cooking, sidewalk counseling, and making lists at Thankful Homemaker.
