A Saturday from my childhood.
I have nothing but happy memories of Saturdays growing up.
Saturdays were cleaning days, and although I’m sure I did my fair share of groaning with the rest of my siblings, I seem to only remember enjoying the activity.
My mom was the very best at making it as enjoyable as possible and giving good incentives.
Breakfast would be cleared away only to be replaced by yellow post-it notes, each with a name and a list of duties. We’d grab our post-it notes along with a bucket and a few rags and get to work.
Generally, we were rewarded with Ice Cream at the end of the day. A suburb job could get you a waffle cone with two scoops (I seem to recall very few of those servings actually being earned let alone finished). If your work (or attitude) was very, very bad, you had the pleasure of accompanying the family and forgoing the treat.
My mom would always play the same kind of music or, if we started at the right time, a favorite radio program would blast from the living room stereo for us all to enjoy while we scrubbed.
The windows were always open, except in the very dead of winter. We soon learned to quit telling Mom we were chilly, for she would only respond that we only needed to put more clothes on.
Now as a mom myself, I feel like I can understand. There really isn’t anything better than a crisp breeze of fresh air blowing through a clean house. I’d put a sweater on for that.
Being that I only have children old enough to make great messes and just pretend to be helpful occasionally, I long for the day when I can write out my Post-it notes and have an army of helpers bringing the needed transformation to our home. And I’d be lying if I pretended that the cleaning is done on a weekly basis.
But I’m leaning into the joy of caring for my home and striving to show up better in this area. This book has certainly given me the needed motivation as of late.
Here is what I’m using for my current cleaning routine:
Dusting
Windows
Floors
Bathrooms
Spots cleaning walls
Showers
Tough-to-clean areas
I also adore this Laundry Soap and this Dishwasher detergent!
I do find that natural cleaning sprays don’t quite bring the strong “clean” smell that I love to enjoy at the end of the day. This oil in a diffuser brings it perfectly for me.
And if you’d like a little help developing a daily rhythm of tidying I created this for myself, but sharing it with you as well.
Here’s to finding joy in the transformation a little soap and water can bring!
Happy Saturday!
Amanda