Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Home Keeping: Summer Cleaning

I don't know about you, but I feel like we've been on the run since the beginning of May when we finished our school year.  It can't possibly be true, can it?  We have no official schedule during the summer at all, and the cleaning schedule falls by the wayside. 

Not that I really have a cleaning schedule, I am no slave to my house.  What I mean is that I like my house to be clean and tidy but we make people a priority, spending time with them or helping others comes before vacuuming.  Usually we manage to keep up with it.

We have had a lot going on between family visiting, my dad falling, planning a wedding for September, and Tim starting his own business.  These are all fun things, but I noticed that our house was starting to get a bit cluttery and dirty.  

The floors in particular needed some attention so today I did the vacuuming, and I had Rachel follow with the mop!  We use Murphy's Oil Soap on our pine floors and always add a few drops of essential oils in it as well.  Today she chose lemon - it smelled great when she was done!

Our floors need to be refinished, but we are waiting until we do our addition before we tackle this project.


My cleaning goals are simple; I like to have the house stay at a level where the house can be company ready in about 15 minutes or so.  Now, this does not mean that my closet is tidy, or even all the bedrooms are organized.  After all, a nearly 10 year old, Lego addicted boy lives in this house!  You WILL find Legos in every room!  But the house is company ready when the living room and kitchen and the bathrooms are clean!

We keep up with the dishes throughout the day, and we treat laundry the same way.  The kids are happy to fold clothes while they watch a movie!  We keep our bedrooms tidy, so we never have to spend much time cleaning them! Win!

What about you?  What kind of plan do you have for keeping things clean during busy times?





5 comments:

  1. I can relate to that...Moving from school-busy to summer-busy!! There is so much around the house that I want to do, but haven't had time to tackle. I love to reorganize during the summer. It so helps to start the school year with an organized house...clean closets, orderly drawers, organized school spaces for school supplies, a laundry room that you can walk in!!

    I like your thoughts about people being more important than a perfect house. You are absolutely right! It is wisdom to choose people over things.

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  2. I happen to be cleaning today. I admit I'm more of a tidy house person than a clean house. It's all visual to me. If our spaces look calm and serene and picked up, I'm happy. I don't need that in someone's house I visit, just where I live.

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  3. Summer cleaning is basic like yours, keep the house clean and tidy...and there's only hubby, the dog and I! Spring and fall I do a more thorough cleaning and I too use Murphy's oil to clean our hardwood floors. I never thought about adding an essential oil but will remember the next time the mop and bucket come out.

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  4. advance care is always a good thing .. putting things away after use, tidying as you go. i follow a loose 'schedule' t/o the week. monday is laundry, tuesday is dust and vacume, wednesday is bathrooms, etc. but every day is tidy day. i try to keep things up so i don't have to do any major cleaning on saturday ..

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  5. Summertime is busy! When The kids were home, they signed up for their chores. I had a list that didn't vary of things that needed doing...probably about twenty...vaccuming, dusting, dishes, laundry, wiping down the staircases, windows, emptying trash, sweeping floor, mopping. The flip of a coin would determine who could select first. I cleaned the bathroom, though I should have put it on the list because they were like me and didn't know how to clean a bathroom. There is a correct procedure and a lot of folks just don't know. Now I follow FlyLady methods and it keeps me from cleaning all the time, which is something I can do. Not good. I love that you put people first, house second. And I love that you have a happy crew!

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