A New Year – Refresh and Organize

1. Prepare an habitation for the Lord and ask Him to direct your steps. We cannot do this unless we know Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. He alone is the way, the truth and the life. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
2. Plan your method of organization and stick with it. However, if plans need to change, don't stress over it, but accept it as God's divine intervention. His way is best! Psalms 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
3. Put your husband and children before your home. Don't be so focused on organization and decluttering that you neglect your wonderful family that God has given you. They will vanish quickly. Pay attention and ask God to show you what/who is important. He can help you to set your priorities. Proverbs 31:27-28 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
4. Pay Attention to God's Word and meditate upon it. Here are some Scriptures to think upon:

• Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

• Psalms 71:3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

• Psalms 132:3-5 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

5. Place a song in your heart. Consider some of the following songs regarding God's Guidance and your devotional life.

•   Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah

•   Lead Me, Guide Me

•   All The Way My Savior Leads Me

•   He Leadeth Me

•   In the Secret of His Presence

•   Day by Day

•   My Father Planned It All

•   Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Summary: Do you want to be refreshed this year? According to Webster's Dictionary this means to give new strength to; to invigorate; to relieve after fatigue; as, to refresh the body. As we give our day to God He will strengthen and invigorate us for the day. Do you want to be organized this year? Psalms 71:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Trust the Lord to direct your day. He is ever faithful and will never leave or forsake you. May you have a refreshing and organized 2013!

15 Minute Tasks for the Week

This week was incredibly full.  Full of unforeseen events, that is!  The older kids were sick all week, and the baby was teething, and I was doing good to even get a shower much less do any organizing or cleaning projects.  When they started feeling a little better, and I began to put the house back in order, we had last-minute overnight guests for the weekend.  So, with my head hung in shame, I have to report to you that I didn't do any of last week's assignments.

On the bright side, however,  I did do a whole lot of other deep cleaning projects.  You see, when my kids are sick, I get frantic about ridding the house of any possible germs.  I spent any free moments scrubbing their bedrooms and the bathroom floor to ceiling with disinfectant, and washing all their bed linens, curtains, and furniture.  Did it help them get better any faster?  I have no idea.  They did stay sick with runny noses and coughs all week, but they didn't get any worse than that.  I've heard plenty of stories from others in my church, and even from my Facebook friends in different states, how nasty the viruses are that are going around this year, and how long it's been taking people to recover.  Would my family have gotten to that point had I not tried to stop the germs in their tracks and boost their immune systems at the first signs of any sickness?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I didn't want to find out.

Anyway, now that I'm done rambling, I'm going to assign you some of the same tasks this week.  These are things that will need to be done at some point in the year anyway, so you might as well do them during cold and flu season!

Monday

Take down and wash curtains and bed linens in the bedroom(s) of your choice.

Tuesday

Clean ceiling fans in all bedrooms and knock down any cobwebs from the ceiling.

*Helpful tips for cleaning ceiling fans*

1. Use an old pillowcase to clean the fan blades.  Just slip it over the blade, grip it tightly, and slide it back off of the blade.  The dust will be contained inside the pillowcase instead of floating around in the air.
2. Clean the rest of the fan with a swiffer duster or a damp rag.
3. Keep a spray bottle of water handy, and spray the air around the fan as you dust.  The mist will help the dust particles fall to the floor instead of floating around in your face and making you sneeze.  (I tried this for the first time this week, and was amazed that I had no problems with sneezing, itchy eyes, sore throat, etc. like I almost always do when I'm around dust.)

Wednesday

Mist bedroom walls with a non-toxic disinfectant.  Scrub any smudges, crayon drawings, etc. off with a rag.

Thursday 

Move bedroom furniture out from the wall.  Dust the baseboards and spray with disinfectant.  Vacuum the entire floor, including underneath of the furniture.  If you have a wood floor, sweep and spray the entire floor with disinfectant.

Friday

Spray all bedroom furniture (dressers, bed frames, etc.) with a non-toxic disinfectant and wipe down with a rag.  Empty trash cans and spray with disinfectant before replacing the liner.

Saturday

Move quickly through all bedrooms and remove any items that do not belong there.  Place them in the correct places in the house, throw away trash, and get rid of things you no longer use.

*I am happy to post the recipe for my homemade non-toxic disinfectant if anyone is interested.  Just leave me a comment if you would like it.

How did you do on last week's assignments?  Whether you got them all done or had a week like mine where it just didn't happen, I'd love to hear about it!

15 Minute Tasks for the Week

Well, it's time for the first week of organizing and cleaning your home in 15 minutes a day!  Set your timer for 15 minutes each day, and do your best to finish the job before the timer goes off!

Monday

Coat closet/Entryway

Purge any unnecessary articles from your coat closet and/or entryway.  Place them in a bag to donate or put them in storage for a future yard sale (only if you’re completely sure you will have a yard sale!)  Throw away any trash.  Think ahead to how you want to organize this room.  Gather your supplies and place them in the room to be used on Tuesday.  If you need to purchase any items, add them to your shopping list.

Ideas for organizing the coat closet and entryway

–          Use baskets for holding miscellaneous articles.

–          Over-the-door shoe holders also work great for gloves and scarves.

–          Use baskets, cubbies, or a shoe tilt-out to contain shoes.

–          Umbrellas can be stored in an umbrella holder or hung on hooks.

–          Hooks are also good for purses and backpacks.

–          Coats can be hung in a coat closet or on a coat rack.

Tuesday

Coat closet/Entryway

Organize the coat closet and entryway.  (If you still have supplies that you need to purchase, move on to another day and come back to this job after you have obtained the needed supplies.)  Designate places for shoes, hats, gloves, scarves, purses, coats, umbrellas, and backpacks.

Wednesday

            Porch

Deep clean the porch.  Sweep the porch and stairs, vacuum or beat the rug, knock down cobwebs, dust the porch light and any decorations.

Thursday

Living Room

Purge any items that you don’t love or use often.  Place them in a bag to donate or put them in storage for a future yard sale.  Throw away any trash.  Think ahead to how you want to organize this room.  Gather your supplies and place them in the room to be used on Friday.  If you need to purchase any items, add them to your shopping list.

Ideas for organizing the living room:

– Use baskets to store like items together

– An ottoman or trunk is great for out-of-sight storage

– A pretty magazine rack keeps magazines and books from getting strewn about the room

Friday

Living Room

Organize the living room.  (If you still have supplies that you need to purchase, either work on Saturday's job or finish another job from earlier in the week that you didn't quite complete in 15 minutes.  Come back to this job after you have obtained the needed supplies.)  Place like items together into bins or baskets.  Store little used items out of sight in a trunk or cabinet.  Place books and magazines into a magazine rack.

Saturday

Living Room

Vacuum or sweep underneath the living room furniture.  Move furniture away from the wall if possible; otherwise reach under the best you can.

I'll be back next Monday with pictures of my progress!  If you're joining in, feel free to take your own photos and post them on our Facebook page!

2013 Goals and Plans

Whew!  It's January 3rd, and I'm finally finding a few minutes to sit down and make some goals and plans for this year.

I was glad my husband had a couple days off for both Christmas and New Year's, but it threw my routine way off for both of those weeks.

For my personal goals this year, I'm planning to sit down later this afternoon and re-read Tell Your Time.  (By the way, it's priced at only $2.99 right now, and is well worth the money.)  When I read it the first time, it really helped me determine what my priorities are and to successfully plan my schedule based on those priorities.  There are so many things I would enjoy doing, and so many good things I could be doing, yet there are only 24 hours in each day, and only 8,766 hours in each year.  (Boy, that sure doesn't seem like very many hours, especially when  you consider that about 1/3 of those hours will be spent sleeping!)

It's impossible to do everything I'd like to do, no matter how good those things are.  I would be stretched too thin, and although I may try to do a lot of things, I'll never be able to do all of them well.

So, I hope to be able to spend some time re-evaluating what my priorities are (i.e. what the LORD wants me to do) and plan my schedule in a way that will help me carry out those things in the most efficient way.

What are my goals and plans for Imperfect Homemaker?

Well,  first let me tell you what my goals are not.

My goal is not  to gain a specific number of followers.  (I want to have the readers here that God wants here.  I want to have the correct balance between making folks aware of my blog without catering to anybody and everybody just so that I can gain readers.)

My goal is not to be popular.  (It is my prayer that I will never get caught up in pride.  Whether I have ten readers or ten million, I want the focus here to be on Jesus Christ, not on me.)

My goal is not to make lots of money. (Although yes, I do have ad space here.  I'm not opposed to earning money as long as that doesn't become a driving force.  And, by the way, I don't earn lots of money and probably never will. 🙂 )

So what are my goals for Imperfect Homemaker?

1. To bring glory to God.

2. To encourage Christian women in their walk with the Lord and to show those who do not know Jesus that they can have a thriving relationship with Him.

That's it.  That's what this is all about.  The methods for reaching those goals will be varied, but the reasons behind what is done here will, by God's grace, always remain the same.

Some plans for 2013

I am excited to be adding 7 contributors to Imperfect Homemaker this year!  I have asked several of my blogging friends to come on board and contribute a post about once a month.  These ladies all have different talents, interests, and life experiences, and I am looking forward to being able to post (and read myself) the things that they're taking time to share each month.

I hope to be more organized about blogging this year.  I have lots of ideas for monthly themes and post series, and hopefully those will actually come to fruition!

Finally, I'll have a theme for the entire year like I did last year with Anti-Procrastination (an update on how last year went is coming soon).  This year I'll be focusing on 15 Minutes a Day to a Clean and Organized Home.  Every Monday I'll be posting a 15-minute organizing or deep cleaning task for each day of the week, along with an update on the previous week.  Hopefully at the end of the year our houses will be well-organized and clean without spending a lot of time or effort to get them that way!

Well, this post has gone on long enough, so I'll spare you any more details for now.

If you want to keep up with 15 Minutes to a Clean and Organized Home or anything else that will be going on around here, then you'll want to subscribe to email updates or follow me on Facebook so you won’t miss it!

Printable Scripture Art for Winter

I've been taking down the Christmas stuff and switching it over to winter decor. Of course I needed to switch out the printable in the frame that holds my seasonal prints, but I couldn't find a winter one that was Scripture.  So, I did what I always do and made one.

Click the picture or the link below it to download an 8×10 print.

Click here to download.

Free Christmas Printable

I was over at my mom's house and I saw she had this print framed. I asked her where she got it, and she told me that she made it.

I asked her if she would be willing to offer it as a download on my blog, so here you go!

This is a two-page download – one picture with the tan background and one with a white background.

Click Here to Download

Be sure to leave a comment and tell my mom thanks for making this available!