A new way to clean

Joyce Meyer says in her book, Starting and Ending your Day Devotional, "Expect God to show you something new today.  If we do the same thing over and over, we get burned out on it.  God will keep our lives exciting if we seek Him every day."

Ephesians 4: 23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).

I've finally been inspired!  I have a problem and that is sometimes I get into a cleaning rut.  I love a clean house, I love having "everything in it's place," but around the holidays and having two toddlers sometimes keeps you from doing every thing you want to do.

And sometimes you get tired of the same old cleaning routine...BUT...I love crossing things off lists, actually the more things I cross off the better (some times I even add things to the list just to cross them off, don't laugh).

Here is my new way to clean, at least until the holidays are over, and sometimes you need to switch up your cleaning routine just so that you like the old one again!

First, as you are going through the house carry a pad and paper and just start jotting down random things you want to get to... (Here was my random list on Wednesday)

1. The dust ball under the coffee table
2. The hair ball in the bathroom
3. vacuum the floor of the pantry
4. clean off toothpaste on the mirror
5. wipe down washer and dryer
6. vacuum basement steps
7. vacuum basement rug
8. empty all garbage pails and put garbage out
9. organize fourth shelf of pantry
10. clean top shelf of fridge

(I actually got to everything except the dusting the picture in the bathroom, because I never made it upstairs, and the vacuuming in the basement because John came home early, and let's be honest, I can vacuum tomorrow!)

What I did find though, was that my kids actually slept from 1pm til 3:45 (always an added bonus) and I was able to do most of the tasks on my lists and do a bit extra!  My pantry got a makeover and with my dust buster I got a lot done around the house in the hard to reach spots!

Okay, that was my list, and my goal is that by the end of the day I get to all those little things that annoyed me throughout the week but that I never had a chance to get to because I was doing laundry, making beds, folding clothes, picking up toys, making a meal, etc...and as you and the kids are going through your day try to do these little things whenever there is a free moment or two!  See how much you can accomplish and start a new list tomorrow, and add more or less, but try to cross off all your goals for that day!

I find that as I go into each room of my house there are always 3 or 4 things I see right away that I want to get to and things that won't take too long, maybe 3-5 minute tasks, but these tasks add up and sometimes become overwhelming.  So for me, keeping an ongoing list keeps me motivated and excited because each time I can cross off my list I feel a little better.  I feel freer to do the things I HAVE to do, as opposed to getting so overwhelmed I just don't do anything.