Galatians 6:14

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Friday, October 8, 2010

On Your Mark, Get Set, Clean!

So how DO you clean a house? Cleaning a house can be a very daunting task for people, but even the most amateur cleaner can be victorious by following these three steps: preparation, tidying up, and upkeep. 
  
  However, before you start, there are a few suggestions that aren’t necessary to do but will make your time cleaning go by much faster. First off, invite a buddy to help. Inviting a friend to help provides camaraderie and an extra set of hands to get the job done quicker. Next, put on some good working music. Putting on music increases your level of motivation, stimulates the senses, and gets your mind in gear for manual labor. One hint of caution though concerning good working music. If you want to get a lot done, don’t turn on classical music. Classical music has an effect that is very relaxing, which is definitely not what you want before you start cleaning! Last but not least of the suggestions is, dust before you vacuum. This suggestion makes it so that you don’t do double work by vacuuming, dusting, and vacuuming again.   

  There are many preparations that you have to make. First off, you must have the right supplies. Some of the essential materials will include: a broom, vacuum, mop, dust rag, and warm water. If you don’t have the right materials, then you must make time to go out and buy them. 
  The next step of preparing for the job is setting aside time to clean. Many people say that they will clean this day, or that day, but never get around to it because of the negligence of this very important step. The adherence to the set day is half the battle! 

  Now comes the time to actually start cleaning. Make sure you go to bed early the night before and eat a good breakfast for plenty of energy during the day. (This is sounding like instructions for a test!) So get ready to clean! You want to start cleaning from one end of the house to the other, because it will help you stay focused. If you decide to clean on the weekend, and have accumulated a lot of tension during the week, this is a wonderful activity to do as a stress reliever. 

  Good job, you have completed your task. It is crucial that once you are finished cleaning, that you put up your supplies so that when you want to clean your house the next time the supplies will be readily available to you. Be sure to put the materials out of the reach of children. The chemicals can be very fatal and you don’t want your little one getting into them. 
  Lastly comes the hard part, or the easy part, depending on the way you look at it and deal with it. You must try your best to keep areas clean on a daily basis. It’s paramount that you don’t overlook this tiny but time costing step. I know that many people lead busy lives, so sometimes it’s not possible to straighten up before heading out for the day, but grab any and every opportunity that you have to do a quick clean up and be sure that you do it. Make every effort to not neglect this step! 

  After the job is totally finished, you deserve a day off for some fun. Go to the movie store and pick up a good movie, go out to eat, or something of that sort, but reward yourself, you have stuck through a grueling day of manual labor, you deserve the time off.