Laine's Letters. The Rest of the Housekeeping.

 Dear Sisters,

I love being almost 60 years old. 

By this stage of my life, I realize what works and what doesn't work in my homemaking. I guess you could say I've developed my own personal homekeeping style. Probably because I've tried so many different ways of doing things in my home over the past almost 40 years, (much like my Menu Unplanning), that now I've settled on what works the best for me. I'm still learning, please don't get me wrong, but it's like when you have that perfect recipe for risotto, and you are done looking for another risotto recipe. It's like that. Only with keeping my home in many areas. Here are some of my "homekeeping recipes" in case they might be of help to you.

~ I love doing my five minute room cleaning/tidying early in the morning in my pyjamas. I've tried other outfits, but I really love being in my comfy pyjamas and then changing into my clothes for the day once the house is all clean. I have several changes of comfy pyjamas, slippers, and bathrobes, so I switch them out often after my early morning "workout".  

~ I love cleaning alone in the early morning. When my husband leaves for work and while Lucy is still asleep, that is when I get the most done. In the summer I am beating the heat. In the winter, I am warming up. 😊

~ I love to clean while it is quiet. I know some like to put on podcasts, or YouTube videos, or loud motivating music when they clean. I am the opposite. I like to clean in the stillness of the early morning when it is so quiet. I pray a lot as I clean and kind of plan my day or what I will defrost from the freezer. 

~ I love a weekly plan, so that by just the name of the day I know what I am doing.

Mondays - I try to do a Home Blessing ( which I explained in another letter.) Lucy scrubs our tub on this day, too. 

Tuesdays - I wash my sheets and towels and change the bedding. 

Wednesdays - We take Lucy to her piano lesson, and it's our food shop day. 

Thursdays- I do something out-of-the-ordinary.  The something out-of-the-ordinary is something unusual I've noticed that needs to be done in the house. For example, last week it was vacuuming the ceiling fan and lamp shades.

Fridays - I have named our family fun day! I love telling my husband when he gets home on Friday that we are on vacation for the weekend.  We often have a movie night and eat in the living room. So kind of a dine in theater.🙂

Saturdays - They are for hanging out with my husband.♥️ We might run errands on this day. Often we might have a grandkid or two hanging out with us. Sometimes we'll have all of the nine older grandkids over for a really fabulous sleepover. 

Sundays - They are for church, and then hanging out with my husband. ♥️

~ I love Sundays! Sunday I really try to take a break and have a rest. Now this is the strange part, I do a full 5 minute per room clean/work out on the house before we leave for church (or if quarantined - watching church). I love coming home to a clean house. And I still keep up with the dishes all day. But I relax with my husband and have a really good rest. It's  such a refreshing day. Maybe it's because we have no school and no schedules. We like to cook together, too, which is always fun. And especially church, it is the best blessing of the whole day and of the new week to begin. 

~ I love having a cleaning plan, but if something is clean then I don't clean it. For example, if my hallway floor looks good, even though it's my home blessing day, I won't mop it. I might just mop only the kitchen. On the other hand, if something is dirty and needs vacuuming ( aka I have to pull out The Big Vacuum),  I'll clean it. As today, my kitchen carpet needs vacuuming, and it's Wednesday.

~ I love my easy laundry method. The way I do laundry is when the laundry basket gets full, I put on a load. A cold water wash. Half the amount of soap required on the bottle. When done, I hang the load of clothes on my clothing racks. When dry, I separate each person's clothes from the racks and immediately fold as I put it in each person's chest of drawers or closet. Lucy puts away her clothes.

~ I love keeping a box going for anything that is decluttered in the house. Decluttering is a constant thing, so I keep a box where I put things as we outgrow them or no longer use them. When the box is full my husband takes it to the thrift shop for me, unless someone in the family wants something from it.

~ I love to wipe down the inside of the fridge before we go food shopping, if needed. I keep wax paper on the bottom of the drawers, so it is fast to change those papers out if needed.

~  I love tidying our patio, which is like our outside room. So whenever I go outside I'll do a quick tidy of my granddaughter's toys and shoes which find their way to my patio. 🙂 And I'll just sweep and spruce the space up. It's the first place someone sees when they come to our door, so I try to keep it tidy.

~ I love putting on the kettle for afternoon tea and seeing what I can get done by the time the water is hot. I can often get more done than I thought. Sometimes it's scrubbing my sink, doing the dishes, filling the bird baths, or watering my outside plants. There's always a quick task I can complete before tea time. ♥️

~ I love setting up our coffee the night before, so that I can just flick a switch when I come into the kitchen early in the morning. Everything is ready to pour. Yesterday Lucy made a spice cake for one of my granddaughter's birthday, so her dad has a small piece by his coffee cup. He will love that!

~ I love to pray and ask the LORD for help if there is something I am dreading to do or feel inadequate in doing. Like cleaning the oven or organizing the pantry. He always helps me! He has helped me so much in my housekeeping. I am so thankful!

 I will celebrate forty years of being a homemaker in April. It has been quite a journey. I am not naturally organized, if anything I am quite the opposite. I've learned a lot over the years through much prayer and practice. I wish I could say I've figured it all out, but there are more recipes to learn. 

I may have "risotto" figured out, but then there's those...

Closets.

Love, 

Laine