10 Spring Cleaning Tips For Home Management | Christian Homemaking

Hi there, friend! Happy Spring!!! The day that I post this video and blog is the first day of Spring, and I just couldn’t be happier! I suppose this video and blog go right along with Spring cleaning, as we navigate new systems that work well within our home. As a homemaker, we’re constantly doing our best to find the routines and rhythms that work well for our family, and in the specific season that we’re in. Sometimes, we feel like we just don’t even know the best way to run our home. Do we need to purchase an organizing tote? Do we need to clean differently? Do we need to wake up earlier, or go to bed earlier? There are so many things that we wives and mamas need to navigate, and it can be so debilitating when we just don’t even know what the next right step is. Today, I’m sharing with you ten tips that I am learning that truly do help me in my homemaking, and to thrive while doing so. Grab a coffee, and maybe even a pen and paper, and let’s work together in creating fruitful homes!

Stay until the end, because the last tip is truly the most important and helpful one!

Welcome to Mama’s Fruitful Home! My YouTube channel and blog is inspired from Titus 2:3-5 and Psalms 128:3. Titus 2:3-5 says, “Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is Good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, homemakers, kind and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s Word will not be slandered.” Psalms 128:3 says, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your home, your children, like young olive trees around your table.” My hope and prayer here is to grow in sweet sisterhood, that we may flourish together in Christ-likeness as daughters of The King, always encouraging with Scripture. I will share tips on homemaking, ways to care for our over-all health in our God-given design and cooking and baking from scratch. Whether you are a brand new homemaker, or you’ve been homemaking for years, my hope and prayer is that God may use me to encourage you in your journey of creating a fruitful home. I am so blessed to have you here!

1) A load of laundry every day

This does not include the load of diapers if using cloth diapers. This is one regular load of laundry a day- towels, clothes, bed sheets, whatever needs done. Here are some helpful ways we do this in our home. We have a cute wicker basket in our kitchen, right next to the basement door, which leads down to the washer and dryer. In our master bedroom, we have two cute wicker laundry baskets- one for clothes and one for towels. Everyone in our home uses one of these three baskets for laundry. If no basket is fully full on a particular day, I will grab some or all of it and start it together. I used to be very particular with certain fabrics and colors and never towels with clothes, however, in some seasons, that just isn’t how I roll, and I have grace with myself in that. I haven’t noticed any clothing ruined, and I’m okay with doing laundry this way for a season, or for forever, if that’s what works best for us.

2) Make leftovers for lunch and even dinner for the following day

I recently heard someone say, “We’re not making dinner every night, are we?” and that seriously struck me. Why in the world are we making dinner every night? I know how to batch cook, how to freeze, how to pressure can- why in the world am I thinking I need to make dinner every night? I already make sure I cook enough for dinner to have enough for lunch the following day- why not make a bit extra to last us to dinner the following evening as well? I don’t know about you, but that blew my mind. I think we just get so used to what we grew up with or what we were told is the best way to do things by someone who has a completely different family, that we forget to think for ourselves and do what makes the most sense for our family in this very season that we are in. So make extra, pressure can some chili, make a double batch and freeze it. Let’s work smarter, not harder.

3) Clean up after each meal

Do the dishes, clean the table, wipe down the high chairs and vacuum around the table after each meal. It really isn’t crazy of me to not want to step on crumbs all throughout the day and not drag them all throughout our home, making a much larger mess for me to clean up later on. When I spend the few minutes putting the dishes in the sink and scrubbing them immediately to put in the dishwasher, do a quick wipe down of the high chairs, clean the table and vacuum just around the table, I feel the immense difference in my day and how I feel around meal time. It doesn’t have to be this daunting task. Truthfully, I find myself more burdened when I leave the mess for lunch or dinner, and then by that point, I’m serving dinner late because I just can’t stand to eat on a sticky table while stepping on half-chewed egg yolks, so I’m letting our dinner get cold just so that I can clean the mess that really should’ve been tidied up right after lunch, or even from breakfast. Just clean up after each meal. You’ll thank yourself when meal time rolls around.

4) Start The dishwasher every evening

You may have heard it this way- “Put the kitchen to bed.” When I leave dishes in the sink with a countertop not wiped down, I wake up the next morning already feeling behind. Truthfully, I struggle even falling asleep the night before. Something in me just knows that it isn’t right. When I put the kitchen to bed before I go to bed, I thank myself big time come morning. I truly start my day being on the right foot and starting fresh. Why bring yesterday's dirtiness into today? It’s a new day that The Lord has made, and I want to rejoice and be glad in it! Now Biblically speaking, we are called to rejoice no matter what our circumstances are. However, practically speaking, a clean kitchen is a great way to practice implementing that.

5) If it takes less than two minutes, do it now

I keep hearing this phrase. This week, I more intentionally started practicing this and actually paying attention to the fruit it bears. I am astounded at the tasks I wait to do, when in the moment, it literally takes me two or less minutes to accomplish and remove from my brain. Most things take that little bit of time if we do it right then and there, rather than waiting a week from now and then taking fifteen minutes to do it- like cleaning the top of the stovetop or wiping down the bathroom counters or cleaning the shower while we’re in there. I recently heard someone share this idea with a piece of clothing that needs to be hung up. We all have that laundry basket filled with clean clothes, or the chair in the master bedroom filled with the clothes that need to be hung up, right? Well how often do those clean clothes stay there? To hang up a piece of clothing on a hanger takes but a couple seconds, and then it’s done. We may think that putting it straight on the chair is faster in the moment because we’re in a hurry to leave for Church, but that one garment leads to another garment and soon enough we’ve got a whole chair with a clothes mountain on top with nowhere to sit and overhwhelmed just at the sight. Not to mention, trying to find something you’re looking for and spending more time to find it than it would’ve taken to simply put the clean laundry away in the first place. Put things away in the right place the first time, and clean as we go. For example, put ingredients away right after using them, rather than piling them up on the baking counter, or, washing baking dishes immediately after putting dessert in the oven to bake, so that the dishes aren’t stuck with gunk and take longer later on- they’ll take a couple minutes to do it right away.

6) Delegate tasks to children and husband

We cannot do it all, and we need to remove our pride with the thought that we can. Yes, the home is Mama’s domain, however, we all live here, and the home is a family chore. This is not an excuse to not get things done well while our husband is at work. This is a real life learning of working together as a family for a peaceful home. Our children love learning and get excited to help. Let us not discourage them helping us when they ask, or one day they won’t want to ask and they’ll look at us and say, “That’s Mama’s job. I’m gonna go play.” Children need structure and daily rhythms, and we all thrive this way. Our children start helping with appropriate chores beginning at one-year-old, usually when they start walking. They love helping fold laundry, us handing them the utensils to put in the dishwasher, vacuuming under the table with the vacuum hose- I can create a whole video and blog post on how our children help and truly do enjoy learning to tend to home well. If that’s something that interests you, please leave a comment below letting me know, and I will definitely work on that! As far as our husbands, our husband cannot read our mind and know what we want done by a specific time. A way I like to approach this with my husband is, “_____*task(s)* still needs done before _____*this time*. If you have extra time, can you please help me?” Our husband wants the best for us. He loves being asked for help. He loves serving us. He loves being let know what needs done, rather than us annoyed that he isn’t helping even when we never even asked him.

7) Have a place for everything

If it doesn’t have a spot, get a basket, put up a shelf, or get rid of it if it’s simply creating clutter and stress in our mind and doesn’t have a use. Keep things minimal and practical. We don’t need all the things to simply take up space to fill that wall or this counter top. If it’s not practical and beautiful, toss it- I’m sure someone else will love it and use it, but that doesn’t mean that we will.

8) Take our time

I was doing dishes recently, and my husband came in the kitchen and said, “Wow, Honey! You’ve really gotten a lot done already!” I literally said, “That is so weird that you just come in and say that, because I was just thinking the same thing! What’s interesting is that I’m actually taking my sweet time and enjoying myself.” We just kind of stood there together puzzled, and also thinking about other instances where we took our time and noticed that things went so much more quickly. I don’t know what it is, but it works. I catch myself often times dropping and even breaking dishes when I’m hurrying so quickly to accomplish cleaning, or stubbing my toe on a chair when I’m hurrying to vacuum. I truly believe this is God reminding us of Colossians 3:23, which says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for The Lord, not for human masters.” I notice myself hurrying when I’m just trying to get to the next task, rather than simply cutting the carrots while I’m cutting the carrots, and being present with what is set before me, not hurrying on to the next thing.

9) Rest throughout the day, and get a good night’s sleep

We need to learn to rest in order to thrive, not the other way around- most of us are living go go go and then resting only once we’re burnt out. We need to have times throughout the day when we rest from our work to do something life-giving, such as walk outside for a moment. Not gravitating towards our phone or isolation. But doing something we enjoy for even five minutes, allowing ourselves that time to truly take a break and enjoy life for a moment, even if it’s simply sitting and doing nothing intentional other than sitting on the couch and looking out the window. Something calm. Something not stimulating. It doesn’t have to be alone- it could be watching your children laugh and play in the living room while you just stand there in the kitchen sipping your hot coffee before it gets lukewarm from running around to task-to-task. Choose your joy.

10) Spend time with God

This is the most important one. Let us let Him lead us in what is important for the day, and let’s not get upset if our plans don’t go as planned, because He has a purpose and plan and knows how He wants to use us today, for His glory and our good. When I seek first God in my morning, my day immediately feels refreshed and prepared for whatever my day holds. Renewing our minds and hearts with God’s Perfect Word of Truth blesses us with fruit- fruit that our husband and our children and those at Church and everyone around us notice and are in turn refreshed and filled with joy. If I am not spending quality time in God’s Word, I am doing my work in vain. Yes, being a wife, Mama and homemaker is what He has called me to, however, it is not my identity. My identity is in Christ, and I must first seek The Kingdom of God before I can fruitfully create my home and be a blessing in the relationships that dwell here alongside me.

What daily habits help you thrive in your day as you go about homemaking? I would love to know in the comments below! Your encouraging engagement in the comments strengthens me in my walk with God as He leads me in encouraging you to create a fruitful home. It also blesses those who may be craving sisterhood community and encouragement in homemaking. I would love for this to be a safe place filled with righteous conversation. Please consider subscribing and liking as well- it helps my channel grow and reach other like-minded women who are seeking encouragement in creating a fruitful home. I’ll see ya next Friday! Bye, friend.