March 7th, 2020 Home Blessing with a Cleaning Routine
A recent Simple Life Tip of the Day was to take a few moments each day to sweep and clean the dust and dirt from entry ways. By doing this small cleaning routine, you can prevent dirt from being tracked around the house. This keeps the rest of the house cleaner and saves time by reducing the need to clean tracked in dirt.
I recently visited a site – Flylady.net – that had a related version of this tip. It was part of a house cleaning routine called the Weekly Home Blessing. I love that name and the thought of blessing your home by cleaning and caring for it.
The Flylady suggests taking 10 minutes and sweeping or vacuuming all the main pathways of your home. She emphasizes that you don’t move out furniture or micro-clean corners; you just give a good quick vacuuming or sweeping down the middle or main area of each room.
10 Minutes and No More!
The rest of the Home Blessing follows the same theme. 10 timed minutes – no more! – for each of a total of 7 routines. All work simply on the main and visible areas of your home. She has Zone Cleaning routines for deeper cleaning. The Home Blessing is a sort of weekly maintenance for keeping your home always in a respectable and relatively clean state.
Other parts of the home cleaning routine include 10 minutes each for dusting/polishing, cleaning mirrors and door frames, purging all junk mail and old magazines.
This set of routines can be done in 10 minute daily segments over the course of the week or all at once in a weekly one hour or so block .
A Clean, Tidy House
The idea is that your house has a fresh, tidy appearance most of the time. As you keep up with the routine, it becomes much easier to maintain and you will accomplish more each time.
Now don’t worry, the FlyLady has routines for regular deeper cleaning. She calls it Zone Cleaning and as you work your way around your house zones, it is like a continual spring cleaning.
I’ve started the Home Blessing routines and I like the idea of a 10 minute cleaning task each night. It is easy to fit in my schedule and as a bonus it is a way to practice discipline. I try to clear my mind and give full focus on the task as a form of meditation.
I also like the rotating task concept. You don’t start over on the cleaning routine until you have completed each task. It helps to keep me from continually skipping one … like dusting.
Start With These Cleaning Routines
If you are interested in starting your own home cleaning routine, here is how to start:
First start with the 7 recommended 10 minute routines.
- Vacuum main pathways and areas
- Dust visible surfaces
- Quick Mop floors
- Polish Mirrors and Doors
- Throw away magazines/catalogs/junk mail
- Change Sheets
- Empty Trash Cans
Print these on a sheet of paper with a checkbox for each one. Put the sheet of paper in a clear 3-punched sheet protector. Then work your way through them, 10 minutes each. Set a timer – 10 minutes. Use a dry erase pen and check off each one as you finish it. Do them all at once or one or two a day. You should complete a cycle each week. When you finish a full cycle, wipe off the check marks and start fresh.
The above is a photo of my Home Blessing routine. I labeled it House Blessing because it sounds more like the prayer “Bless this House, O Lord I pray…” You may also note that, as usual, I saved the dusting for last.
Now, as you begin to work this routine, you will likely find that the list needs some tweaks to fit your style and your home. Do it! Work with the list until you have 10 minute routines that hit the spots that keep your house clean and looking good most of the time.
The 10 minute limit is important because it keeps you focused. There is no time to get sidetracked. It also is easier to work into your schedule. Ten minutes does not seem so daunting that you don’t want to start.
While you complete your routines, feel the love you have for your home. Express it in the way you dust, sweep, straighten up. Make the routine truly a home blessing. It is amazing how this transforms you and your home.
The FlyLady has written a book about her methods – Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley – The FlyLady. She apparently has a whole tribe of followers and a long line of cleaning products. Her website is www.flylady.net.
You might also be interested in another Simple Life article Will A Housekeeper Simplify Your Life?
How about you? Have you tried the FlyLady methods? Or do you have a cleaning routine that really works for you? Leave a comment!
