You all know I love things clean and tidy. Fridays are my days to clean to start the weekend off nice and organized. Every night before the girls go to bed, they have to clean up their spaces to get it ready for the next day. I walk around the house and put things back in their place, so the next day we all start with a clean space.

With kids, there’s a lot of happy chaos, but if we don’t keep up with it, it can get overwhelming quickly (then the chaos isn’t so happy). Thus, I try to manage it, instead of the chaos overwhelming me. I don’t handle mess stress well.

A few years ago, during the craziness of my book writing, Ben and I started budgeting for a cleaning lady to come. Let me tell you how that has helped my sanity so much. She only comes once a month, so we still do a lot of our own cleaning, but having someone to do all the deep cleaning stuff, and things I don’t have time to think about like baseboards and dusting window sills, is such a blessing. With the four, homeschooling, and all the things we are involved in, this is a little splurge that I really cherish. Everyone says cleaning day is mine and Soul’s favorite day of the month. There’s truth to that. We aren’t here when she cleans, but when we come home, Soul and I are the first to enter, and we breathed deep and exclaim, “We love it!” We are silly.

While we do know this is a splurge we budget for, we still want the kids to learn how to clean and take responsibility for our home. We aren’t believers in giving an allowance (that’s not how real life works), so they are all given chore charts. There are some things they have to do daily/weekly because it’s their responsibility (they are consequences if things don’t get done), and there are other things they can do to earn money (this is how real life works). They sweep, vacuum, fold and put away laundry, clean out the dishwasher, and take care of their own spaces. I’m getting ready to teach Brave and True how to start cleaning bathrooms too. I started cleaning bathrooms in fourth grade, so it’s about time they learned too.

Saturday mornings are our big chore days. They eat breakfast, then clean the inside of the car, put away laundry, pick up leaves in the yard, and when all is done … the Saturday play commences.

When it comes to cleaning, Brave takes the longest because she dances and sings while she does her work (as seen in the photo above). It’s cute and funny, but I feel kind of bad when she’s been sweeping for two hours. Oye!