A wise woman builds her home, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Proverbs 14:1
I think I tend to be on the foolish side when it comes to matters of my home. It's not that I want to be foolish or that I don't care; in fact, I probably want nothing more than to get this house in tip top, wise-woman shape. But listen friends; I have a LONG way to go.
Let me start with the elephant in the laundry room--our clothes. They are all, always, dirty. Some days, it feels like I wash load after load of teeny tiny socks, tank tops, shorts, pajamas, whatever, whatever, whatever. Right now, I have enough clothes folded in piles on my dining room table to fully stock our local Goodwill store, and the laundry room is still literally spilling over with dirties. Where do they come from? I'm not sure, but I think it might be the internet. The scenario goes something like this: all the clothes are dirty, then I wash them, then I fold them, then I HATE them, then I buy something new because the sale is just too good to pass up. When the new clothes arrive, I am so excited that I give them to the kids immediately. They wear them once, put them in the dirty clothes, and add to the elephant. My husband is so patient with this process, but eventually he gets really prima donna-ish and insists on having clean underwear . Excuse you, Joel. So he does a load of his own clothes and faces my wrath for "messing up my system." Pretty much the opposite of laundry wisdom, I know.
Next up, the kitchen. I actually have improved and prayed for kitchen wisdom since we've been married. When we lived in our first little house in Michigan with no dishwasher and an oven so old it had to be lit with a match, I would literally stare at the dishes in the sink and cry instead of washing them. I look back now and wonder what in the world I thought was so hard about keeping a 900 square foot cottage with no kids clean. Anyway, I would cry and think about how hard it was to be married and let the dishes pile up, up, up, until I wanted to throw them away. I thought we were too poor to buy paper plates, and I was too tired to wash dishes (tired--hahahahahahahahaha!!!); so I would convince Joel to take me out to eat. Talk about wisdom. Eventually I prayed enough for motivation to keep a clean kitchen and learn to cook, and God answered me. I slowly learned that you can get a whole heck of a lot of dishes done in ten minutes, and I can do anything for ten minutes. And I learned that clean doesn't mean absolutely perfect; it just means livable. And thank the Lord for that, because seven people in a household all day long make TONS of dirty dishes.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. I am not a gifted homemaker, and yet it is a worthy endeavor to at least try. I posted that verse over my sink to remind myself that this momentary trial of housework is worth trudging through in order to build up my household. It is worth it to keep up with the dishes, plan my menus, freeze my casseroles, and wash and wash and wash so that we can actually live here and not go broke. I would love to hear other people's input on building up our homes...are you great at homemaking? If not, what are your tricks to keep you motivated?
I think I tend to be on the foolish side when it comes to matters of my home. It's not that I want to be foolish or that I don't care; in fact, I probably want nothing more than to get this house in tip top, wise-woman shape. But listen friends; I have a LONG way to go.
Let me start with the elephant in the laundry room--our clothes. They are all, always, dirty. Some days, it feels like I wash load after load of teeny tiny socks, tank tops, shorts, pajamas, whatever, whatever, whatever. Right now, I have enough clothes folded in piles on my dining room table to fully stock our local Goodwill store, and the laundry room is still literally spilling over with dirties. Where do they come from? I'm not sure, but I think it might be the internet. The scenario goes something like this: all the clothes are dirty, then I wash them, then I fold them, then I HATE them, then I buy something new because the sale is just too good to pass up. When the new clothes arrive, I am so excited that I give them to the kids immediately. They wear them once, put them in the dirty clothes, and add to the elephant. My husband is so patient with this process, but eventually he gets really prima donna-ish and insists on having clean underwear . Excuse you, Joel. So he does a load of his own clothes and faces my wrath for "messing up my system." Pretty much the opposite of laundry wisdom, I know.
Next up, the kitchen. I actually have improved and prayed for kitchen wisdom since we've been married. When we lived in our first little house in Michigan with no dishwasher and an oven so old it had to be lit with a match, I would literally stare at the dishes in the sink and cry instead of washing them. I look back now and wonder what in the world I thought was so hard about keeping a 900 square foot cottage with no kids clean. Anyway, I would cry and think about how hard it was to be married and let the dishes pile up, up, up, until I wanted to throw them away. I thought we were too poor to buy paper plates, and I was too tired to wash dishes (tired--hahahahahahahahaha!!!); so I would convince Joel to take me out to eat. Talk about wisdom. Eventually I prayed enough for motivation to keep a clean kitchen and learn to cook, and God answered me. I slowly learned that you can get a whole heck of a lot of dishes done in ten minutes, and I can do anything for ten minutes. And I learned that clean doesn't mean absolutely perfect; it just means livable. And thank the Lord for that, because seven people in a household all day long make TONS of dirty dishes.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. I am not a gifted homemaker, and yet it is a worthy endeavor to at least try. I posted that verse over my sink to remind myself that this momentary trial of housework is worth trudging through in order to build up my household. It is worth it to keep up with the dishes, plan my menus, freeze my casseroles, and wash and wash and wash so that we can actually live here and not go broke. I would love to hear other people's input on building up our homes...are you great at homemaking? If not, what are your tricks to keep you motivated?