Friday, November 03, 2006

Starting from scratch

Yeay! I finally got the dishes done, and in time to write a little here :-)
I've recieved comments on this blog that say something to the affect of "have you tried flylady?" I have been to her website but I didn't stick around. Because the basic assumption of so many organizational tools is that we should live our lives on a routine and by a list, but I just can't live like that! I don't do 5-minutes a day housecleaning. I do it all in a day so I'll have other days completely free to write or do whatever.
If you are like that too - if you don't like routine, if you have trouble doing a little every day, but get depressed about the pile of laundry that develops - I ask you. What do you do? How have you come to terms with your abstract little self? How do you honor the Lord in your homemaking anyhow?

2 comments:

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

A month is a long time to spend on the dishes...

My wife does the laundry and cooking, but we share cleaning the apartment and taking out garbage, trash, recycling, and papers.

I find that a routine works best, but if I don't stick to it, things pile up in a depressing way, which makes doing the job not only manually taxing but psychologically debilitating as well.

So ... I try to stick to a routine.

I'm not sure about God's position on my method. Probably He'd tell me to do it promptly so that I don't get depressed. Maybe mild depression is that still, small voice of God in the guise of conscience...

Jeffery Hodges

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Deeapaulitan said...

My kids are older, so it is easier for me now than when they were little. I have always tried to do some basics daily:
*Make my bed every morning
*run a broom over the floors
*pick up dirty laundry
At the end of each day I try to make sure there are no dishes for me to wake up to.

Then once a week I:
*clean the toilet,
*do all the laundry (or at least what can get washed and dried in a day)
*mop the kitchen
*dust
*scour the tub and sinks
*vaccuum (sp?)

As needed I:
take out garbage
grocery shop

None of them are set in concrete :o) I do best if I take one day and do everything, then I can relax for the remainder of the week. The daily things USUALLY get done, but not ALWAYS.
'Grace' has become a treasured and valued friend over the years. I am happy with my "little abstract self". The scripture about the outside of the cup being shiny but the inside being dirty and unfit to drink from began my road to grace. I came to the realization that God was much more interested in my heart than He was in my clean house. My children growing in love for their God and their Parents is more important than keeping order and routine.
That being said, I do love order. I thrive in it. I find, though, that taking just enough time to spread up my covers, pick up the stray sock (and add it to the pile), etc... brings enough order for my day to day. Then work day is like a purging! One big push and then bliss! :o)