Speed Cleaning

Sometimes I write articles that sound like they are about cleaning but actually I'm trying to convey some deeper spiritual truth...not this time. This article is straight up about fighting back the tornado of three children and their various toys, papers, clothing items etc. We try to do a little picking up each day but occasionally the house is so overwhelmingly cluttered that it's too much for one child (or mom) to tackle alone - enter Speed Cleaning.

Taking a cue from the much loved Mary Poppins, we try to make cleaning a bit of a game. We call it Speed Cleaning and this is how it works.

I call out the following chant:

Hey, hey James team

Time to start a speed clean

Meet me in the "play room"

Let's show this mess what's up!

Upon hearing that call to action (especially if they have been prepped for this earlier in the morning), they drop whatever they are doing and we all congregate in whatever room I specified. I then set our time timer for 5 or 10 minutes (depending on the level of crazy) and we race around cleaning and sorting and reorganizing until the timer beeps and they are free to return to their play. An hour or two later I call out that same war chant and we tackle another room.

The beauty of this system is that:

1. It's not too overwhelming

2. We work together as a team

3. I can give guidance as we work about how to clean a room properly

4. It's short and fast and doesn't usually illicit tears or moans from anyone involved

After this long weekend, if your house is looking like ours, round up your troops and give this method a try!

Col. 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,