Does Your Home Look Loved?

Does Your Home Look Loved?

There’s an old home we walk past every day. It is not in good shape. The yard isn’t either and the whole placed appears completely unloved. A few weeks ago, there were a lot of trucks in the driveway. After a week or so, it was empty and I told Ken I thought that they had probably been evicted from the way they left it.

One day, we walked by and the garage door was left open so while Ken went to close it, I peered into the windows. There was no carpet on the cement floor in the living room and it was dirty and ugly. We finally met the man who owned this home and he said his mother used to live there but it was a rental now and the renters had destroyed it. He said there was an inch of mold in the refrigerator, they stole some of the carpet, and left the home a wreck. He told us that they were drug and alcohol addicts. Sin and Satan does this. They make things ugly and ruined. 

God makes things beautiful and orderly. He makes us into new creatures and clothes us with white robes of righteousness. It’s our responsibility, women, to make our homes places of beauty and order. We are called to be “industrious in our homes.” If we work hard in our homes, as we are called to do, we will have clean and tidy homes. Yes, children will mess it up but for the most part, it will be a place of beauty and order no matter how little money we have. I have been in large, expensive homes that were filthy so money isn’t the issue.

I have a cousin whose parents owned a very old, small trailer. (Yes, this is what they called it.) Once her parents died, she took it over and clean and decluttered that place to make it look great! I even peeked into the drawers once and they were all neat and organized. With some elbow grease and hard work, she transformed that trailer into a pretty place. She always had flowers out in front and food for the birds.

We won’t like our homes or being in them if they are dirty and messy. They will never be beautiful if we aren’t willing to work hard to make them this way for our family. It just takes a willingness to work. We are the queens in our home and it’s up to us to make them places where our families want to be. Work on creating a home that you love!

Make sure you make your bed every morning and train your children to do the same. Fluff up the pillows and make your covers as wrinkle free as possible. Take time to do it right! Make sure all of your clothes are put away and everything is off of the floor. I hang all of my shirts since this is easier than storing them in drawers. Neatly arrange things on your dressers and remember that the fewer things you have on them, the easier they are to keep clean and tidy.

Keep up with the work in the kitchen before it gets overwhelming. Learn to clean as you go. Put a bowl of ammonia in the oven at night, close the door, and let it sit in there all night with the racks and any thing made of metal that has hard stuff caked on it. In the morning, it will all come off easily. Just make sure you open the windows and have fresh air when cleaning around ammonia. Wipe off your stove top often so food doesn’t become hardened on it.

Use Bar Keepers Friend on your sinks to keep them shiny and clean. I use a Norwex kitchen cloth to keep my counters clean and the Norwex window cloth to keep the windows clean. Wipe out the frig whenever you see something that needs to be cleaned. Put the dishes in the dishwasher soon after using if you have one. The kitchen floor needs to be swept almost daily in my experience. None of this takes long at all but is so worth having clean kitchen.

In the bathrooms, make sure the sinks are continually wiped out and clean. Teach your children to clean up after themselves. I visited a friend years ago and she had two teenage daughters. I had to use the restroom and there were globs of toothpaste still in the sink and stuff strewn all over the counters. The mirror was splattered and the toilet was dirty. No, this should not be. We should never be embarrassed to have a visitor use any of our bathrooms. Toilets need to be cleaned often and the floor in front of them, especially if you have boys.

In your living and/or family room, make sure the furniture is dusted, the picture frames aren’t crooked, and everything is off the floor when you go to bed since most children love to play in the room closest to the kitchen where mother usually is working. Learn to feather your nest each night! Keep all of their toys in one basket and make sure they help pick them up. The earlier you teach them to work, the easier it will be for them when they get older.

Plant some flowers in your yard and use them to decorate your home in the warmer months. Fresh flowers always add beauty to any home! You can also plant some fresh herbs to spice up your meals and make your food more nutritious and tasty.

If you’re creative and have the time, paint pictures for your home, sew pillows and curtains, frame your windows with hardwood (I did this years ago for very little money!), paint the walls, and rearrange the decorations. Look around your home and figure out ways to make it more beautiful and orderly. Sometimes it helps to have a friend who has a good eye for organization and decorating to come and help you figure out new ideas and solutions.

Be constantly searching for new ways to be more efficient in your home and learn to love serving your family with joy! Make sure all those who live in your home and visit can see that you have a well-loved home, and as the queen of your home this is your job.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Psalm 128:3

24 thoughts on “Does Your Home Look Loved?

  1. Thank you for this encouraging post! I like when you give tips on cleaning. I need to start Fall cleaning so it is fresh for winter. It does take a lot of time to have a decluttered home. I think summer it gets cluttered because of more things to do outside and garden work. I don’t have as much time to clean. Even though I don’t have a job and home all the time the garden work is sometimes too much to get it all done in a week.

    Once a week tips with cleaning or clutter free posts would be great! Always room to learn in this area!

  2. I agree,Lori. Our homes should be a sweet haven and refuge from the world. I am so appreciative of the high calling to make my home a little bit like heaven on earth. I enjoyed working out in my flower beds yesterday. I love the beauty flowers can bring, but it’s my job to pull out the weeds so they can keep looking lovely! May you enjoy the fruit of your hands today,Lori. Thank you for your post.?

  3. A beautiful post! I love my home to be neat and tidy and strive to keep it this way. I have been training my children in this (and they are pretty good) but I don’t think they see the *need* to always have things clean as I do. 🙂

    It is very important to me that my husband comes home to a clean house. :o)

  4. Even if they don’t see the “need” it’s important to train them as you are doing, Katy, for we are instructed to train our children in the way they are to go!

  5. Clean up after him, Tabi! Do it cheerfully as if you were cleaning up after the Lord, for we are commanded to submit to our husbands as unto the Lord.

  6. Hello Lori, I am so grateful for the home the Lord has blessed us with. We raised our children here and there are many memories here. I enjoy my flower garden, my edible garden and the house. Thanks for your post. Have a good weekend!

  7. Thank you Lori for these specifics!! I find the detailed examples, stories, hints and guidance so motivating. Your work is very much appreciated!

  8. Ha ha…kidding of course, but my husband wears a beard and moustache. Every time he trims it, the sink is a mess. After almost 40 years of marriage, I have finally learned to “just clean it up”. I have also learned that there are things that I do that most likely aggravate him. Like most things, it is give and take..with a whole lot of love, and forgiveness with understanding!

  9. This is where my biggest problem lies. I end up getting resentful when I have to constantly pick up after my husband. I don’t mind doing all of the housework, but I feel that people that make careless messes and expect others to just throw their garbage away or pick their dirty clothes up off of the floor are totally inconsiderate. Surely we don’t want to enable this behavior and have to end up feeling exhausted and resentful in our efforts.

  10. God, the Creator of the universe, came to earth to suffer and die for your sins so you can live eternally but you grumble about picking up after your husband? Remember, you were created to be his help meet and a keeper at home! Praise the Lord that you have a husband to pick up after.

  11. I love this post! Ever since finding your blog, Lori, I have been trying to be much more diligent about my duty as the keeper of my home and remembering to thank God for it and the opportunity to be its keeper. It’s a small rancher, but it’s plenty for our family of 5 (4 people, now 1 dog). The efforts leave me exhausted but it’s such a sweet exhaustion when I look around and everything is in order and clean! Recently I’ve gotten into the practice of, when putting my 7-yr-old to bed at night, we each list some things we’re thankful for. The other night she said she was thankful for “living in a nice home.” I was ready to cry for joy! Sometimes it seems that we mothers hardly ever get any credit for the work we put in to the home, but that was a lovely reminder to me that even if my family doesn’t always articulate it, they do notice and feel the difference when there is care put into their surroundings.

    And I second whoever mentioned about getting some more tips on cleaning and de-cluttering! Thank you, Lori, for all your wisdom and no-nonsense approach, I personally find it so inspiring. God Bless!

  12. No, it could look better. However i just took a big load of trash down to the local tip to help clean things up. Felt amazing to get rid of it all. So im working towards it. Lots more to get rid of but its a start. : -)

  13. There are matters of degree and attitude here. How much time do you spend daily picking up after your husband? 20-30 minutes a day is normal for a person who just fails to notice mess he makes. It’s no more inconsiderate than driving off in a car with some problem you failed to notice and causing damage or need of rescue. More than that could be inconsiderate and can me met in kind to awake notice. You could nicely ask him to start dinner as you are still picking up or apologize for peanut butter sandwiches for dinner but you were picking up. You could wave to him wIting in car to leave and say you will be out as soon as you pick up. He will note the time it takes certainly.
    If he says that he married you to pick up after him you do have a bigger problem. I’d make upkeep easier and earn money to hire help.

  14. A husband who goes out into the world to work hard to provide for his family is serving his family. It’s great that your husband has time to help around the home and especially since you need him to help but many husbands come home wiped out after long days at work and it should be the wives’ privilege to serve and care for their husbands.

  15. I just stumbled onto this post. It’s very encouraging and sweet. I’m married to a type A, perfectionist, post military officer. He tends to only see the undone things. I have friends And family who come into our home and always comment on how immaculate/perfect it looks but I only hear negative from my husband. I think it’s just been harder since we are quarantined and he’s working from home. Usually I have the days end time to get the kids to pick up toys and pretty the house but now it’s constant straightening and I want my boys to play with their toys. I appreciate that he’s raised my standard but it does feel defeating when anything less than perfection is failure.

  16. Do the best that you can, Liz, and leave the rest with the Lord. Ping all of those critical comments from your husband straight up to the Lord off of your shield of faith!

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