Crisis Cleaning

Every weekend, without fail, I blink and a tornado sweeps through my home, disrupting every room and leaving  piles of laundry and dirty dishes in its trail. I don’t know how I miss it every time or fail to prepare for its arrival, but every Sunday morning, like a scene from a horror movie, I leave the secure bedroom bomb shelter and weep at the damage before me.

            The same question runs through my mind, “how can three people make this much of a mess in two days?”

            I still haven’t found an answer, but I have found somewhat of a solution: crisis cleaning. What is crisis cleaning you ask?

            Ah, crisis cleaning is how I regain my sanity. Depending on how much time I have, I set my handy-dandy timer for ten minutes per room or ten minutes total and try to get as many items picked up as possible.

            I usually only have about ten minutes total, so I just tackle as many things as I can.  First, I gather all dirty dishes and put them in the sink; I make my bed, fold blankets, pick up toys off of the floor. (I now keep a basket in the living room especially for toys so I have an easy fix for the strewn toys).  I  straighten books on the coffee table. I don’t know about your family, but my family reads a lot of books, and we require several different books all day long, e.g. my bible, my journal, whichever devotional I’m reading, my “fun” book, and, of course, my husband has the biggest book on John Milton you’ve probably ever seen, all of which reside on our coffee table for easy access throughout the day. So, I straighten all of those books, move things that don’t belong in the living room to where they belong. With whatever time I have left I either load the dishwasher or sweep. This usually gets my house to a place where I can breathe and be okay with a relaxed, family day. 

I hope this tip helps you find a solution to insanity.

*I wrote this post several days ago (our internet has been down explaining my lack of posts this week), but last night my husband commented on my new "crisis" cleaning method. He said that our house has never looked better and I seem to be more relaxed as well. I say that sells it!