Home Blessing Hour

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I grew up knowing that "Saturday is special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday." (from the song written by Rita S. Robinson) Saturday was always the day my mother vacuumed and dusted and mopped and scrubbed, and all of us kids were to change the sheets on our beds, clean our rooms, and take our turns helping with the other chores.  So, of course, when I married and began my family, Saturday was naturally the day that I chose to do most of the major cleaning.  The problem was, DH usually had other ideas of how we should spend our Saturdays, and didn't want to be home all day cleaning or waiting for me to clean.  I'm not a naturally clean and tidy housekeeper, so this has always been a struggle for me.  As the years passed and I became a stay at home Mom, I read many books on cleaning and organizing, developed many different versions of job assignments and job charts, and tried to teach the kids to do their part and help out.   Our kids were often involved in Saturday sports activities,  there was the grocery shopping to be done, and we often only had one car.  I did try to divide the tasks up all during the week, but what is a busy Mom of six kids supposed to do?   Just the best that she can, which often ended up with Mom staying up until the wee hours of Sunday morning trying to get the kitchen floor mopped at last, especially when I started working part time again.

Several years ago a dear cousin introduced me to FlyLady.  FlyLady has a whole website full of cleaning and organizing tips and routines.  She encourages you to take baby steps, and to start with the simple task of shining your kitchen sink.  Fly Lady's Weekly Home Blessing Hour is a list of several tasks that can quickly be done once a week in about an hour.  Her suggested day for the home blessing hour is Monday, but you can choose any day that you would like to do the tasks, even breaking them up to do on different days of the week.  (I still try to do most of my Home Blessing Hour on Saturday.) You can sign up to receive encouraging emails with Fly Lady's Daily Flight Plan that gives suggestions of simple tasks to do each day to keep your home a pleasant place to be.   The tasks focus on a different area of the house each week, so no area is ever totally neglected.  There are also fun ways to get the kids involved.  Most of all, FlyLady is always encouraging, reminding you to not get down on yourself, to just take baby steps, and that you're not behind.  Just jump right in and start where you are.  Even just fifteen quick minutes of cleaning blesses your home and your family!

I almost never get everything done on the Daily Flight Plan and the Weekly Home Blessing list, but I love having the suggestions and encouragement, and they never make me feel guilty for what I haven't done. You may already have your home carefully organized and in tip top shape, but if you by some chance have been looking for a bit of help, you might just want to give FlyLady a try.