Do you ever find yourself struggling to find the motivation to keep your house up? It’s for this reason that I created a game. This game that truly gives me a ready for anyone cleaning plan.
Giving My Cleaning Notice
I have a strange thing that I do from time to time. I get sick of cleaning my house.
Although let me add I do keep it up still for the most part, it’s just not ‘perfect’. You know the kind of perfect that is fully ready for anyone who walks in the door and it looks as though you live in a hotel. Let me add that with two little kids this is a tough thing to accomplish.
In desperate need to get some motivation I did the only logical thing. I made it a game.
Wanna Play My Game?
Let me introduce you to my friend Luke Bryan. You may have heard of him (who hasn’t really). Occasionally we run into him around town-like this one time at Cabela’s (it was a cardboard cut out but the boys loved it).
Luke does not come around our area of Minnesota too often, unless he has a concert up in the cities-which he will on July 2nd this year.
Unfortunately, with baby on the way I am not allowed to travel more than an hour from home at that time. Factoring in traffic for his concert I couldn’t promise my doctor I would make it back. (Just another issue of having weird pregnancies.) So we will be staying home.
Sir Swine was sure bummed we will be missing his concert though.
Being that I’m a fan I was thinking one day how difficult it was to keep myself inspired to keep the house up. It can really be a battle on a farm and with little people running in and out wearing rubber boots all the time.
One day it struck me. “I just need to prepare for Luke Byran to stop over.”
I’m sure his wife keeps their home nice and tidy for Luke and their boys. I would not want to feel embarrassed if they stopped by and found our home a mess when they came to visit.
I placed this rather odd, but very effective, thought into my head and got to work. I even dusted! And let me tell you friends, I am not a dusting woman.
Sir Swine came home and asked me who was coming over. I casually said “Oh, just Luke Bryan and his family.” Sir Swine looked at me as though I had lost my marbles (oh Peter Pan) and then I explained my new way of thinking. He laughed but agreed that it was effective.
Really we should all try something like this. Why is it that we decide to only do the nicest things for ourselves and our families when we feel the pressure of other people? My husband is extremely deserving of a wonderfully kept home, a hot dinner and all of my attention when he gets home at the end of a hard day.
The day I started this little ‘Luke Bryan Ready’ cleaning plan was a key moment in determining what I wanted to set as my quality of home care and homemaking. (I know homemaking sounds old fashioned but some arts should stay alive.) Sir Swine and I are always more at ease. We never have the ‘oh crap, someone just pulled in the driveway’ moments that we used to have.
There are still parts of our home that are not ready for company. For example, I do not fully clean my children’s bedroom. They are 6 and 4, and blessed to have working hands and feet so they can help to clean up what they mess up. The key here is that the main places where company stay in your home are well kept.
My nice clean kitchen encourages me to bake at least twice a week and to make a homemade meal for my family every night. (Well, almost since lately this little one that is growing does not like some foods.) We can relax and not worry quite so much. The biggest thing it provides us with is peace. Having a clean home has set us free from the clutter that had once surrounded us.
We may never get to have Luke Bryan and his family over for a barbecue but at least I have the peace of mind that if he stops by we are ready.
Do you do anything to encourage yourself to keep your home nice? If you had a celeb to clean your home for, who would it be?