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For numberless years I have struggled to keep my house clean, tidy and 'at a moments notice' presentable.
Two of the most effective tools I have used to great advantage have been changing my attitude towards housework and developing a methodical and disciplined assault plan to housework; not unlike a general invading an unsuspecting county.
My goal, to achieve the appealing and charming home I knew I could have.
Like so many people, I viewed housekeeping as too much of a drudgery to go beyond the basic hit and run style of cleaning.
Especially if a full time job is involved and a family has to be taken care of, the state of the home can become a real point of contention.
As a result, laundry piles up until dressers become devoid of clothing, dishes crawl from the sink to put themselves into the dishwasher because you don't seem to have the time to do anything more than the most immediate basics.
Where does one start! I beg the heavens with up-raised arms.
Since housecleaning is a necessary chore for most of us and not one we generally take much pleasure in doing, I began by re-naming the alarming word 'housekeeping' to Home Blessing.
At first, I really did not notice much difference as I looked at the mess my house was in and attempted to implement my new strategy; after repeating the magical two words over and over and after practising my latest approach for a month, I began to see results.
It had the effect of creating the desire to clean my home so it was presentable and well-kept.
Now my attitude was that my house was my home and blessing it by cleaning it became my personal hallmark to developing a simple, straight-forward plan that has kept my home orderly, clean and uncluttered ever since.
Considering I own three, no four egg timers, I decided one day, when I had little time to clean, to time myself with one of these handy gadgets as I ran about the house in one of my usual hit and run cleanings.
Twenty minutes in the kitchen and twenty minutes in the living room was all I had time for but I astonished myself with how quickly and efficiently I cleaned each room by targeting the most laborious places first.
If I could to do that much proper cleaning in twenty minutes by means of a simple egg timer, imagine what I could accomplish in an hour - using the same egg timer! My home was manageable again and I owed it all to my egg timer.
I soon developed my plan around my trusty egg timer, a dust buster and portable vacuum cleaner.
I pick a day in the week to do certain cleaning tasks, so each Monday is kitchen and living room cleaning day which includes the floors, the rugs and the dusting.
Tuesday,the laundry and panoptic tidying gets done.
Wednesday's are my middle-of-the-road days where all paperwork and paper-junk, everywhere I find it, gets organized, chucked or filed.
Thursday is my bedrooms and bathrooms day, this includes everything in those rooms, making Friday a free-for-all general pick-up and purge day.
By weeks' end, I have a clean house and I have, once more, achieved my objective for a presentable home.
I reserve the weekends for rest and play and if I do things according to my plan, I end up ahead of myself.
I have also planned certain set times for special home blessings which involve 'deep' cleanings.
You know, the ones where you dig out everything under the kitchen sink and organize it properly or move the furniture and appliances for a more thorough and sanitary cleaning.
Its a process that usually ends with rearranging each room a little bit to make them more user friendly and convenient.
These I do once every three months, like Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter cleanings.
What sounds like a lot of hassle and complicated work to start with, soon becomes an easy to follow routine and the results are undeniably a well-organized and attractive home.
No more envying the beauty of someone else's home for me, I now have the home that I have always craved.
With a simple attitude change and an equally simple plan to follow, one that can be adapted to your lifestyle and schedule, anyone can transform their house into a comfortable, warm and welcoming home.
That is something we all deserve to come home to at the end of the day.
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