Make My Life Simple. Rachel Balducci

the sink, scrubbing the little line that can gather grime and mildew. And then I rinse and wipe one more time. Then I have a shiny, clean, empty sink. And I work my way out from there.

      Even if it takes hours for the rest of the house to get tackled, I can come back to my made bed and the clean sink and have that sense of satisfaction. This thing — this bed, this sink — is orderly. What a nice feeling!

      Start small, and train your children to do the same.

      The best way to teach your children the value of a clean home is to slowly begin to show them how to be a part of it. Learning to make a bed will help your children be a part of keeping the home clean, and it will also begin to ingrain in them that same sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

      start a family blitz

      Everybody wants to save the Earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.

      — P. J. O’Rourke, All the Trouble in the World

      The next step in practical peace and organization is a focus on keeping one room clean. For us, the room that always get the most attention is the family room. Even if I run out of steam by the end of the night and have to leave a pile of laundry in the upstairs hallway or a bathroom in need of attention (not unusual), we always make sure the family room gets tidied.

      In our family, we have something called the “twenty-minute blitz.” It’s simple, and it gets the job done. In addition to that, it has trained my kids to work and to understand the scope of a home-cleaning project. It’s not enough to say “Go clean that room.” You have to explain how to do that. And if you want your kids to be able to (eventually) tackle this on their own, you have to keep it simple.

      Of our six children, the first five are boys. We had a new baby boy every twenty-one months for a while, which meant at one point we had four boys, ages five and under. Life was very crazy then and continues to be so (in all honesty). Our last baby was a girl, and now that she’s in elementary school I’m blown away by how intuitive she is when it comes to knowing what I’m asking. She’s not like her brothers in that regard.

      In other words, if you have sons, be kind. They very rarely are able to read your mind. I’m actually grateful that I had Isabel at the end of the string of boys, because if she had been around to compare to the brothers, that would have been a struggle. I continue to be shocked and amazed by the small ways she gets what I’m saying.

      With my boys, however, I learned that they need me to clearly explain what I want from them when I say, “Let’s clean up.” And it’s important for them to learn this. At the end of every evening, instead of sending the boys to bed and leaving a messy house for mama to tackle, we would do this cleanup “blitz” together. Paul and I would divide and conquer.

      Keep in mind that the best way to get this kind of job done is to have the mantra K.I.S.S. — Keep It Simple, Sister. Less is more when it comes to directing lots of little (or big) children to make family life peaceful.

      Here are the steps to cleaning your home by tidying each room. Start with just one!

      First, assign each member of the family a room or an area of the house. Then, within that area, be it a room or a space or even a corner, tell the person assigned to that space exactly what needs to be done. It’s a little like the board game Clue! It’s a person, in a room, with a specific task. “Elliott, you have the front room. I want you to straighten the throw pillows, throw away all trash that is left in there, and anything that does not belong in that room take to the room it does belong in. After that, please wipe down the coffee table and any sticky spots on the furniture.”

      This way, Elliott knows he’s not required to vacuum (someone else does all the vacuuming), nor do I expect him to wipe the blinds or clean the TV. I’ve spelled it out pedantically — maybe even obnoxiously (not in tone, but in the specific nature of my directions). But in the midst of this, the job gets done to my satisfaction, and my child learns how to “clean the front room.” Also, this is a win-win because your worker bees don’t get frustrated when they don’t live up to your expectations. There are matched expectations, and everyone walks away happy.

      This method is surprisingly effective and crazy quick. We now call our blitz the Seven-Minute Blitz, because everyone knows what is required. When you streamline the work, it’s a lot easier to get your kids ready to come in and get going already, because they understand (1) we work until the job is done, and (2) it doesn’t take that long to get the job done.

      The Family Blitz can include other approaches. Try a blitz that focuses on picking up toys — the key here is to have bins that aren’t so specifically organized (“all the new-classical Star Wars figures go in this jar, red Legos in this bucket …”) that the task is a nightmare. Keep It Simple, Sister. Also use this method for wiping down a bathroom. Arm that worker with a container of cleaning wipes and send him on his way. The deep scrub can be for another time. In the Family Blitz it’s about maintenance, and having a freshened sink and toilet.

      straighten the bedrooms, and the kitchen

      If you can organize your kitchen, you can organize your life.

      — Louis Parrish

      I’m a big believer in helping my children keep their rooms clean. I don’t mean I’m always in there cleaning up for them; but in the training stages it’s important for them not only to hear that they need to clean their room but also to see how it can be done.