I have never been the world’s greatest housekeeper and my home has never been the cleanest on the block. I’m not saying that my house is a disaster, it just isn’t usually squeaky clean. I doubt I would pass Mary Poppin’s white glove test, if you know what I mean. This doesn’t bother me very much though. I mean, people live here. They live here. A toddler lives here, and boy does he live here! My point is I don’t feel the need to drive myself crazy making sure there is never a toy out of place or a streak on a window.

    This doesn’t mean that I don’t want or need to take care of my home. I mean, we have to live here after all. And I don’t want my family and guests to just live here, I want them to enjoy themselves and be comfortable. I want my husband to be proud of our home and enjoy being here and relaxing here.

    This home is my job. Titus 2 says that wives are to be “workers at home” and Proverbs 31 says that the excellent wife “looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” And so my challenge is to gain dominion over this home of ours because it is my responsibility, it is my workplace.

    One of the greatest struggles I face on my journey toward being an excellent homemaker is consistency. Sure, everything might get done by the day’s end, but rarely in an organized, calm and productive manner. This leads me to a recent resolution. To encourage growth in the area of consistency in my housekeeping I have decided to wage war against my two greatest foes. Their names? Mr. Dishes and Mr. Laundry.

    1.) Mr. Dishes: Every day this foe has to be dealt with. Plates and glasses pile up until they are put into the dishwasher and then they must be put away at some point to make room for another load. It is a never ending cycle... a very demoralizing cycle. However, I have made it my goal to keep the sink free from dirty dishes and the dishwasher free from clean dishes. This makes the process slightly less horrendous as I am not coming to a sink full of dishes and much worse having to unload the dishwasher before I even get started.

    2.) Mr. Laundry: If there is anything that “piles up” it is laundry. Looking at a huge heap of laundry (especially if you use cloth diapers and have a pail of dirty ones that also need to be washed) can be very discouraging. So I have made it another goal of mine to do at least one full load of laundry a day. By full load I mean from beginning to end; from washing to putting away the clean clothes. By having an entire load of laundry done I am not left with that nagging feeling that keeps saying, “you know you have Mr. Laundry to deal with still... those clothes are just getting more and more wrinkled sitting in that dryer!”

    I realize that these two foes of mine are common to all homemakers and might not seem very impressive, but they represent something much more important: productivity; the ability to take care of things when they need to be taken care of. Laundry and dishes are things that I desperately want to have under control during the day, but also things that I like to put off. In her book Totally Organized, Bonnie McCullough talks about this problem when explaining the closure principle:

“The ‘closure principle’ is a psychological term that has to do with a person’s intrinsic drive to finish things. It’s the urgency to get the library books back and the promptings to finish the ironing or balance a checkbook. It’s a desire to get the dishes done or to keep a room tidy. Why? Because people like to be done with something; it makes them feel relieved to check it off. Organized people have this trait; disorganized people can learn it. Setting goals and working with a to-do list can help you finish things until you feel that compulsion on your own.”

    So I am seeking to learn this trait and so far it has been a wonderful blessing! It is amazing how motivating a clean, empty sink and folded, put away laundry can be. Without those “weights” around my neck I am able to get a lot more done during the day. The consistency of these two chores makes it possible to be consistent in many other areas. So, here’s to Mr. Dishes and Mr. Laundry-my two greatest foes and my two greatest incentives to be a better housekeeper.