I love the idea of a clean house. I love the idea of an organized house. We make time for the things we want to do, so it’s pretty clear where my priorities have not been all my life. I have always strived for the idea of those lofty goals, but for most of my life, I had a really hard time with the implementation. I guess I just wished someone else would do it for me.
But years ago, I had an epiphany that transformed our home. What if I didn’t expect myself to do everything on my housekeeping list? What if I only had to do a few important things every day? What if I chose tasks that offered immediate rewards? These questions helped me to recognize that I’d have to let some things go in order to save my sanity and to focus on what I could do consistently.
Out of that season of questions, I came up with plan for how to keep my house clean enough — four simple daily routines. Not ten, not fifteen. Not a binder packed with color-coded options. Not a different routine for every day of the week.
Pretending we don’t care about housekeeping is trendy, but most of us really do care. Still, we swing back and forth between the two perspectives.
We live here — therefore our house is a mess.
We live here — therefore we don’t want it to be a mess.
The trick is to find simple ways to reduce the mess so our homes can be pleasant places to live. My daily routines keep me from dipping into the lonely abyss of despair when I’m insanely busy! I’m certain consistent routines will do the same for you.
I have followed my routines now most days for the past fifteen years (you can read more about my daily routines and the simple joys of bed-making, clutter-busting, housekeeping, and decorating in my book Love the Home You Have and my daily habits and decluttering new book Make Room For What You Love). My morning routine literally changed everything for me and our home. Once I figured out how to control my mornings, I became a new woman and our house became a tidier place.
Do you have an effective morning housekeeping routine? If not, today would be a great day to start one!
Here are two essentials I suggest to help you create your own successful morning habits:
1. Make a list of the minimum tasks you need to complete every morning to feel productive, pulled together, energized, and ready to dive into the day’s work (for example, brush your teeth, make the bed, shower, get dressed, unload the dishwasher, have some quiet time).
2. Throw in an activity or two you enjoy, or that will inspire your morning (such as having coffee, playing music, journaling, reading the Bible, praying, or walking). These simple pleasures will make your morning routine something to look forward to, so do them every morning as a treat to yourself.
If you ask me, I think starting out your morning with Jesus is always a good idea, so even if you need to do your quiet time later in the day, I think selecting a verse you can meditate on while you go about your morning routine can make every task a more joyful experience.
As you create your own morning routine, resist the temptation to make it overly complicated, that’s what tends to overwhelm and eventually derail us! Yes, there is always more you could do, but a few simple tasks practiced every day will lead to success and more delight in caring for your home (or at least more sanity amidst the morning chaos, right?).
Is clutter and disorder in your home threatening to overwhelm you? What morning routine could you commit to this year to get your days started on a more productive note?
Find more encouragement for the home on Melissa’s blog The Inspired Room and her books Love the Home You Have and Make Room for What You Love. This article adapted from Love the Home You Have (Harvest House Publishers, 2015).
[linebreak]
Melissa,
Starting my day with Jesus is not only a good idea – for me it’s essential. I find that on the days when I don’t spend time in His presence, the day is much more likely to go down the drain. Also, when my children were tiny, somehow if nothing else was accomplished but I got the bed made, I felt the day was not a total loss. To this day, making my bed is my one saving grace if the whole day goes sideways. At least at the end of a busy day, I can drag my weary body into a freshly made bed. But even if nothing gets accomplished, God still loves me just for being me…just for being His. And, that is something to hang my hat on…
Blessings,
Bev
Amen! I’m with you 100% Bev, thank you for sharing. Have a great day!
HA! Over the weekend I kept saying how I need to dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms etc…I mean no joke the dust is noticeable and the animal hair is worse in spots.
I was tired. I didn’t have the energy for cleaning….and the kids said….who cares, it seems fine and you complain too much about the house not being clean enough. WELL! ha!
I sat and left the cleaning. (I guess you know what I’ll be doing next weekend)
Your housekeeping philosophy mirror’s that of the Flylady, who has kept many a homemaker sane and happy!
I love Flylady! Although I can’t keep up with her, ha! My mom was the best at keeping her sinks clean everyday while I was growing up. But even when we know what to do, we have to put it into practice to get the same results. Took me awhile to learn that lesson!
Wow Bev sounds like me. I have a list though. I look at what can be accomplished off it every day. My bed making is not on the list but I do every morning or my husband does. I like thanking God every more He blesses me with another day since I have experienced days where I might not have. However, God saved me each time. I guess He has plans for me too. It might be in the form of a list as well. I’m just grateful I get another chance to tackle that list and when it’s completed, I start a new one after thanking God. 🙂
I love your pause for gratitude! <3
Very early in our marriage, my husband and I established the habit of making the bed as soon as we got up. I always feel better, and our bedroom looks so much nicer with a made bed! As my kids grow older, I’ve experimented with my morning routine. Right now, I get up, do a couple care-for-me essentials and have my quiet time before the boys are out of bed. They’re up by 6:00 on school mornings. We have breakfast together, and I do my make up while they get ready. After I get home from dropping them off, I clean the kitchen and set to work on other tasks. I can’t work without a clean kitchen. 😉
One other thing I’ve done on and off to deal with piles/clutter is to spend 10 minutes a day working on one trouble spot. It’s a slow process, but I’m seeing progress, and it makes me feel HAPPY. 🙂
Loved your post. I plan to evaluate how I can implement your suggestions into my mornings and my days. 🙂
Thanks Jeanne, those are such good ideas. I’m with you, I can’t work without a clean kitchen! 🙂
YAAAS!!! This was so what I needed. Thank you! I have read at least a few blogs and books about organizing your home and routines and I get so overwhelmed at all of the detailed information and complexity of it all every time (partially because I am also exhausted). But this…I can do this. I’ll check out your blog!
One step at a time is all I can handle too :). You’ve got this! Thanks, Rose.
Here is the morning routine I’m working on implementing. It takes an hour and a half, which is still doable with an 8am job.
Stretch/make bed (5 min)
Jesus (30 min)
breakfast, pack lunch (10 min)
shower, makeup, hair (45 min)
Super minimal, because I don’t have time for much beyond the essentials!
Sounds good to me!
Yes. Jesus time is essential. I make the bed, get myself ready and make sure during the day all the clutter is put away. I find the less I have the easier it is to keep the house clean!
I like you suggestions, but I find it hard to apply to myself to a point. I work in downtown Chicago, my husband and I get up at 5:45 a.m. and we’re out the door at 7:10 a.m., don’t get back home till 6:20 p.m. — I make us dinner, my sweetie helps me clean up the kitchen and by the time it’s said and done, I just want to collapse for the night. We go up to our loft and relax the last hour or so of the evening and it’s off to bed. I find it hard to do any chores when I get home from work, that’s the last think I want to do, but then I don’t want to be doing chores over the weekend, especially in the summer because I don’t want to be in all weekend cleaning. I wish I had a made…ha, ha. Not happening. There are so many chores/projects that we need to do, but I need a week at home to do them. Any suggestions.