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Lakshmi Likes A Clean Home

Lakshmi Likes A Clean Home

Last updated on: July 27, 2015 at 6:38 am by Ambaa Choate

Lakshmi Likes A Clean Home 2015-07-26T10:40:51-04:00 Ambaa Choate

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I’ve always had a vision of myself as a homemaker. I dreamed of creating a beautiful cozy little nest of a house. I pictured myself baking biscuits surrounded by lots of children. I saw a garden and a basket of knitting. I read lots of Christian housewife blogs (why are they all Christian? I don’t know!)

Despite all this, I’ve never been very good about housework.

I have no one to blame but myself for this. Some people understand that they need to do things that they don’t particularly like sometimes but I never internalized that lesson. Whenever the possibility of tidying or putting things away comes up, there’s always so many other things I’d rather be doing!

Luckily my husband is like me. We both can survive living in a ton of clutter and both of us know that we much prefer a clear and clean space. We sympathize with each other about how hard it is to stay on top of clutter and dishes and vacuuming, etc.

I always aspire to do better but then I find myself sitting in a room full of old dishes and junk mail and craft supplies and magazines and more and more and more.

But now I feel as though my subconscious doesn’t really trust that we are capable of creating a safe and clean home for a baby. I need to prove to myself that I am capable of being a good homemaker. That, I believe, will help clear out some unconscious trepidation that may be standing in the way of us having a child.

It is also said that Lakshmi blesses those who have a tidy home so our cluttered lifestyle could also be standing in the way of better economic stability.

So how am I going to do this?

With the FlyLady.

I first discovered FlyLady about thirteen years ago and she’s still going strong. The site is so old that it is at .net! She has a system of cleaning that focuses on not overwhelming yourself, taking baby steps, and getting lots of support. There are emails to remind you of every task for each day.

There are 31 baby steps to do one day at a time to build up to taking care of your home. It’s really important not to jump ahead and try to do more than one step a day. At least for me. I know that when I do that it ends up just like any other “cleaning diet” where I’m gung-ho for a short time and then burn out or I make lots of lists but don’t actually do anything!

There are just a couple of modifications that I make to her system. For example, I disagree with her about getting dressed to the lace-up shoes. She believes that getting fully dressed including shoes makes you take your work within the home more seriously. I don’t wear shoes indoors. She says, well now you do. I say, nope.

I could get some indoor slippers and I may do that because it would be good for the arch problems I’ve been having in my feet. But I will not be wearing lace up shoes or professional shoes. I don’t feel comfortable at all with having shoes on indoors.

Another problem is that my sink doesn’t shine. I agree with her on this principle. Shining your sink is the foundation of the whole system but I have a pretty awful sink in the kitchen and it needs to be replaced. For now I’m shining my stovetop for the same type of effect.

This is my sink clean

I think I am finally ready to make good on my childhood dream of being a great housewife. Let’s see if I can really do it!

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