How to Get a Perfectly Clean and Organized Home

Do you have one of those friends whose house you go to and everything looks absolutely perfect - every knick knack placed perfectly, every cupboard perfectly organized, every nook and cranny is sparkling clean?

I had someone comment to me once about how my house was always immaculate. The appearance to her was that I spent hours a day cleaning, organizing and keeping it looking perfect. Well, folks, I hate to burst your bubble - or hers - but that's SO far from the truth.

The fact is, I HATE cleaning. Yes, I hate it. I don't like cleaning. I never have liked it. I do it, but I don't like it.

I love to organize and I don't like clutter. So often people think that must mean I like to clean. People think I have a perfectly clean and organized home, but that's not real life. All the pictures we bloggers take of our home projects -- that's staged. If you pointed the camera over about ten feet, you'd see the huge pile of clutter we shoved over so you couldn't see it in the picture - or we crop it out.

Out of my desperation to have a clean and organized home, especially when my kids were little, I found that cleaning for just 15 minutes a day was enough to keep my house clean. Perfectly clean? No, but clean enough, yes!

How in the world do you have a clean house in just 15 minutes a day??? It's easy - remember, I'm talking CLEANING, not general picking up after yourself or putting things away.

I broke down my home into days of the week - Monday, dusting; Tuesdays, vacuuming; Wednesdays, cleaning one bathroom; Thursday, cleaning the other bathroom; Fridays, cleaning the kitchen. That's it! Why is it so simple? Because it IS - I cleaned this way for years in our first home and the kids were little.

If you want a printable for my simple 15 minutes a day schedule, go here.

There IS more to it than just cleaning. You have to get into the habit of teaching your children to clean up after themselves, help you keep your home neat, periodically clean up the clutter, put things away and more. I go into more depth here about that.

In a Pinterest world, it's easy to get caught up with being discontent with your home's current condition and just give up. The reality is, there is no perfectly clean and organized home. And when you find one that you think is that way, it's probably only been that way a few minutes before you arrived to that person's home.

Having a home that's warm and welcoming sometimes means we have homes that are not-so perfect.We need to let go of the idea that ever nook and cranny of our homes must be clean or give up - the perfectionist in some of us can really cause the sin of discontent. I urge you today, if you are feeling this way, to stop trying to dream about a perfectly organized and clean home.  Start living, doing a little each day, and serving your family by teaching them the same thing. Have you been feeling like your home isn't good enough, not clean enough, or not organized enough? What are you going to do today to keep from feeling discontent in this area?

Blessings, Becky B., Organizing Made Fun

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