Tired of a Filthy Home?

Tired of a Filthy Home?

Ken and I love to walk along the beach. On Sunday night, we walked along the beach to our favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where we sat outside on the patio with the late afternoon sun on our faces and we watched one of the waitresses tidying up the patio by fluffing and arranging the pillows. She worked on making it look clean and tidy. We eventually struck up a conversation with her and she told us that she is an immaculate housekeeper. She loves cleanliness and tidiness. I asked her if her mom was like this and she said she indeed was so she was blessed to be trained by a mother who worked hard in her home since few women do these days.

Men build houses but women make them into homes. Bernard O’reilly wrote this about a woman who loves making her house into a home:“There will be loveliness in the home where true love causes order and comfort to reign. For the poorest room can be made lovely by a woman’s cunning hand. She can have flowers at her window, and flowers on her mantel and table. And the curtains of windows and bed may be beautified by some simple ornament devised by a woman’s taste and executed in spare moments by the hand of even the busiest.”

If your home is a mess and you’re just sick of it, I have a great verse for you to memorize and meditate upon. The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat (Proverbs 13:4). In order to have a clean and tidy home, you must learn to be diligent and willing to work hard as the Lord has commanded for us to do.

Diligent means “constant in effort or exertion to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduous; attentive; industrious; not idle or negligent; applied to persons.” Laying around and being lazy isn’t going to give you a clean and tidy home. You must discipline your flesh and make it your slave!

Gill’s Commentary puts it this way: “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing,…. He desires knowledge, but does not care to be at any pains to get it, and so has it not; he desires riches, but chooses not to make use of the means, to be diligent and industrious, and so he is without them; he desires to wear good clothes and rich raiment, but is unwilling to labour for them, and therefore is clothed with rags; he desires food, and plenty of it, but refuses to work for it; and he that will not work should not eat, and therefore he has it not, but starves and famishes: and, in spiritual things, the sluggard desires heaven and happiness, but does not care to do the duties of religion; he would die the death of the righteous, but is unwilling to live his life; to abstain from sin, and live soberly and righteously, is too hard service for him; he does not choose to do or suffer anything for the cause of Christ and true religion.”

Many in our culture are lazy, refuse to work, and want handouts. Train yourself and your children to work hard. You won’t accomplish anything good in this life by being lazy. As Gill wrote, you won’t grow in the wisdom and knowledge of Him if you don’t spend time in His Word. Laziness is a terrible sin and must be dealt with. The best way to deal with it is to confess it and find ways to fight against it.

Join flylady and begin to make baby steps by cleaning up your kitchen and shining your sink at least once a day. Make your bed every single day. Go around your home each day and fluff up pillows, put them in order, and feather your nest! Read a chapter in the Bible every single day. Clean the toilet after you use it if it looks like it needs to be cleaned. Rinse out the sink after using it and use the towel to wipe down the counter top. Pick things up off the floor when you see them and put them away. Get rid of clutter and things you don’t use! Teach your children to help. Commit to doing these small things for 30 days and they will begin to be a habit, then you will no longer have a filthy home.

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.
Colossians 3:23

27 thoughts on “Tired of a Filthy Home?

  1. Great post, Lori! I have learned several excellent habits/routines from flylady. I also wanted to mention a blog that I think you have mentioned before. It is called “A Slob Comes Clean”. It is full of practical, inspirational ideas, especially for a lady who feels overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start. Now I’m off to tackle my house! Blessings on your day, Lori!

  2. Thanks, Tam! I have never heard of that blog but it sounds great and will hopefully motivate many women to want to work hard and keep their homes clean.

  3. Great tips, Lori! I think the key to a clean home is to tidy, frequently. It’s amazing what 5-10 minutes a day in each room of your house can do. The difference between tidying and cleaning is when you tidy, you are just cleaning up mess/clutter, not the whole room. When you tidy on a regular basis, it makes cleaning a breeze.

  4. Great, inspiration and motivation,Lori. May it encourage us and the next generation to love homemaking and keep the home fires burning.

  5. Amen! Beautifully said! I have always stood by the words: “If something needs done, do it!”….so I do! If something needs picked up…I do it (unless one of the children needs to do it because it belongs to them and was neglected). I am far from perfect but I definitely take pride in keeping my home tidy and neat! I love to reorganize things to make them more useful and neat! :o) It gives me joy when I know other women who keep their homes tidy…who enjoy their role as homemaker/home-manager/helpmeet to her husband!

  6. You’re right, Nora. This is why we must be keepers at home (be home mostly) because it takes a lot of work and time to keep a clean and tidy home, plus care for our children and husband.

  7. I love visiting friends’ homes who are clean and tidy because they are beautiful! It sounds like yours is one of them, Katy! Blessings as you work hard in your home.

  8. I recently discovered “How Jen Does It”. I love Jen’s videos and cleaning tips! She really motivates me, but what I love most is she has a very cheerful and sunny disposition. A positive attitude makes the housework kind of fun 🙂

  9. Having a messy home gives me deep anxiety. I can’t handle it. Some of my friends laugh at me for how “OCD” I am for having a clean organized home. Regardless of the fact that it’s my “job”, for the sake of my sanity I have to keep it in order!

    I admit, some days when I am on the run, it gets behind. Hate those days. Wish there were two of me to keep things in order when I’m super busy.

    And other seldom days, my husband has to give me a word of correction: “you went to breakfast this morning, but didn’t clean up breakfast at home. That’s why you’re stressing!”

    He’s right! I do it to myself!

  10. It’s amazing how little time it takes to clean up and tidy a room, Tamra. I timed emptying the dishwasher once and it only took a few minutes. I would be stressed out living in a filthy and messy home, that’s for sure. God is a God of beauty and order, so we should be too!

  11. I also learned a lot from flylady. I love taking care of my home and I agree about keeping it tidy too; makes a big difference. Love this post Lori!

  12. Thank you Lori. I’m a Flybaby and I appreciate the Flylady routine. I think I needed this post today because I got a tab behind in my routine so this was very timely.

  13. Yes! Also, the FlyLady’s book (Sink Reflections) is a great one to read/check out from the library if you get easily confused by websites–I do. 😉 Decluttering and routines are the key to a neat and clean home, in my experience.

    Today I’ve been weeding, mulching, washing siding, and cleaning our patio. I was thinking while washing siding about how hard I work. Whether it’s inside keeping things neat and clean, cooking food, washing laundry, working in the flower beds and porch to try to keep them clean–it’s a lot of work. Today my daughter was helping me wash siding (with breaks to go check on a frog in the flower bed!) and I thought of how glad I am that our children see me working hard and *enjoying it*. Both the work and the results are enjoyable and rewarding!

  14. Dear Lori.
    I have very much enjoyed your videos on the You Tube. I think it would be very helpful to your younger readers if you made one describing your cleaning schedule. I used to clean my whole house in one day. Now that I am older, though, I clean one or two rooms a day. My place is also small enough now that I have no cleaning to do on Fridays, which gives me time to run a few errands or watch an old movie. Do you have a set cleaning routine you could share with us?
    I so enjoy reading your blog and discussing your words with my friends. Thank you.

  15. You’re welcome, Mary Esther! I don’t really have a schedule. I just clean what needs to be cleaned. I have tried schedules before but found myself cleaning things that didn’t need cleaning so it seemed like a waste of time. Blessings!

  16. Oh how wordy I can get on this post but I already typed more than I inteded on another post of yours lol I love this, I love the concept of keeping a home and cleaning schedules and just seriously feel so feminine when cleaning, like I’m taking care of everything God has provided toilets and all lol When my home is a mess I am stressed and worried but when it’s cleanest I feel calm and at ease like another commenter said! It’s not always perfect but I do try and remember that I loved cleaning house as a little girl and now I love my dream so I should do it joyfully and thankfully!

  17. Beautiful Lori! It is so good to have the truth being spoken. I find myself at times feeling discouraged because a lot of Christian mothers I know are messy and not keepers of their homes. They say “no stress” and are involved in a lot of ministry outside the home reaching non believers. I find my true calling in the home, with my husband and children. Raising the next generation. I thank you Lori for speaking the truth.

  18. I have always been one of those mothers that just does it all herself. But now with 9 children and a big house the physical, mental and emotional toll it has taken has been unbelieveable. Its also a massive cause of arguing in our home. so I told the children enough is enough, they need to help because i cant do it anymore and i took waay too long to do it that way. so hopefully it all goes well. And i am consistent.

  19. Hello, Anon! I just wanted to encourage you. Even if it causes upset at first, you are giving your children and their future spouses a great gift by requiring that they help around the house and yard. Without you training them up that way, they’d never know how to make it on their own as adults. They may not appreciate you now, but when they are able to leave your nest at a reasonable age and thrive, they’ll appreciate you then. You’ll have much more peace in your home once everyone learns their responsibilities. Praying for you!

  20. Hi, I’m 15 and I have four brothers and one sister. I am my mothers oldest daughter. I find it really hard to clean my room and other places sometimes. I just feel so stressed and overwhelmed when something is messy. But when I try to keep my room clean I can’t keep up with it (I share a room with my sister) and I feel like a bad example when I don’t do anything but I don’t have the energy or the motivation to do anything. A word of advice would really be encouraging 🙂

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