Is Your House Guest Ready? Is It a Realistic Goal?
/
Is your house guest ready? Is it a realistic goal? These were two questions I was asked recently. Is it a realistic goal to keep a guest ready house? YES! It may not be easy for everyone, but it is realistic. Guest ready is not the same for everyone, it depends on what an individual calls guest ready. For example what I see as a mess, someone else may not see it as anything but a few books and toys lying around.
- Naval Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command
IS YOUR HOUSE GUEST READY?
Ask yourself this question, “How would you feel if you walked into someone’s house and saw what they would see upon entering your house?” Would you feel comfortable in that scene or would you rather run for the hills?
I was invited to a home for a luncheon where I had to fight the urge to turn around and leave. The large piles of matted dog hair lying around on the floor, the thick coating of dust everywhere along with piles of stuff here and there; I was sickened at what I saw. Thankfully, I knew who brought what food and ate from a good friend’s bowl along with what I took. The hostess showed no shame in how her house looked. She laughed it off and said she was too busy to clean, although she was a homeschooling mom of two teen daughters. I thought to myself, “What a shame, God provided a beautiful home for your family and you can’t keep it clean to honor Him?”
I was invited to a home for a luncheon where I had to fight the urge to turn around and leave. The large piles of matted dog hair lying around on the floor, the thick coating of dust everywhere along with piles of stuff here and there; I was sickened at what I saw. Thankfully, I knew who brought what food and ate from a good friend’s bowl along with what I took. The hostess showed no shame in how her house looked. She laughed it off and said she was too busy to clean, although she was a homeschooling mom of two teen daughters. I thought to myself, “What a shame, God provided a beautiful home for your family and you can’t keep it clean to honor Him?”
A CLEAN HOUSE IS GOD HONORING
Right this minute, my house is not guest ready to my preference. We have a very small house. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all together and small. My kitchen is clean; the dining room table where I’m sitting is ready for school to start. The living room has some of A Pocketful O’ Posies’ stock lying about where I was brainstorming earlier this morning.
Keeping our house guest ready is not difficult. It takes discipline in everyone to help keep our houses ready for guests.
6 TIPS ON KEEPING A GUEST READY HOME
- Make Your Bed Daily – with a made bed no matter what has gone on during the day it brings peace and comfort to you and your husband. It’s easier to keep a tidy room when the bed is made.
- Create a Cleaning Routine that Works for You – my cleaning routine is not going to work for others. Find what works for you and stick with it.
- Speed Clean – spend five minutes in each room tidying up. Before your husband comes home from work, send out a Search and Recover team to do a last moment clean up. Let him come home to peace and harmony.
- Teach Your Children to Clean – children need to be taught from an early age to clean up their mess. It takes discipline from you to train them to clean. You will have to remind them and often to pick up their rooms and toys. Don’t allow them free range of the toys; keep them confound to one room. If our children see we don’t have any discipline, they are not going to take us seriously. LET THEM SEE DISCIPLINE IN YOU!
- Acknowledge Your Responsibility – If you are at home full-time, don’t send your husband off to work to have to return home to cook and clean. When my husband and I agreed for me to be at home full-time, I accepted the fact I would be caring for our son and our home. That means on top of all my motherly duties, cleaning the house would be my job.
- Don’t Procrastinate – for several years we have been without a dishwasher. I am the dishwasher! That is the one chore I dislike the most. I’d rather clean the bathroom than wash dishes, it’s that bad. When I am cooking or baking I wash dishes as I go. I don’t leave a huge mountain of dishes in the sink or on the counter until after dinner. I would literally have a conniption fit if I was faced with all those dishes. Also, when dinner is finished, I immediately start the clean up process. I dislike the thought of leaving everything until almost bedtime. I want to enjoy my evening without the stress of something to clean up hanging over me.
Time management and discipline are keys to keeping our house guest ready. If we don’t spend our time wisely and use some discipline throughout the day, then we are bound to have a house that could be shown on an episode of How Clean Is Your House.
"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed."
- Naval Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command
