This is episode 62, and I’m actually super excited to talk about spring cleaning! I thought it would be fun to do a little spring-cleaning challenge that you can join me for this week or save it for a week when you’re feeling springy! We’re going to set up a few little things that will make it easier before we get started, then I’ll share 10, 30, and 60-minute challenges you can do each day of the week to get your house ready for a new season!

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Episode 62- Spring Cleaning Challenge

Hi friends, this is Self-Care and Soul Care for the Caregiver, and I’m your host Sandra Peoples. To us, self-care isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. We need to take better care of ourselves so we can care for those God has entrusted to us.

This is episode 62, and I’m actually super excited to talk about spring cleaning! I know spring comes earlier to the Houston area than it does for most of the rest of the country, so I thought it would be fun to do a little spring-cleaning challenge that you can join me for this week or save it for a week when you’re feeling springy! We’re going to set up a few little things that will make it easier before we get started, then I’ll share 10, 30, and 60-minute challenges you can do each day of the week to get your house ready for a new season!

First: recruit help or share clear expectations, get a donation box ready, evaluate the effectiveness of each space, create a playlist or download a podcast or audiobook

Ok, now for our timed challenges! I’m going to break it up to hit one room each day and share what you can get done in 10, 30, and 60 minutes. If you’re working 30 minutes, you’ll get the tasks done from the 10 minute challenge and the 30 minute tasks. If you’re doing it the full hour, you’ll do everything on the list. You don’t have to remember it all as you listen. I’ll put the lists on my website in the shownotes at sandrapeoples.com/thepodcast under episode 62. And, if you are only home on the weekends and that’s when you clean, you can take a day to work through them over the next 5 weeks!

Remember, I’m sharing what works for me in my context and season of parenting. This isn’t a “should” list to make you feel guilty. This is just my way of organizing what I want to do/need to do. And it feels more fun if I think us doing it together!

Monday: main living area

10- set a timer so everyone can help clean for 10 minutes, taking their stuff out of the room bags, shoes (I took 10 pairs of shoes out), mail, toys, books, blankets

30- dust surfaces and clean the floor

60- quiet the room, move the furniture, dust the baseboards, find solutions

Tuesday: kitchen

10- clear the counters, moving left to right, up to down – Go Clean Co

30- clean out the fridge, the junk drawer, and one problem area (like tupperware)

60- take out everything and put it back

Wednesday: bathrooms

10- throw the towels and rugs in the washer, sweep the floor, and dust all the surfaces

30- scrub the tub/shower, clean the toilet, clean the sink – barkeepers friend

60- organize the storage spaces, replace or clean the shower curtain liner, medicine cabinet, extra towels and sheets

Thursday: bedrooms

10- get stuff off the floor and surfaces

30- dust, vacuum, wash sheets and blankets

60- clean out drawers, seasonal clothes change over, closet

Friday: storage areas

10- pantry, entry way, coat closet, pet area – small spaces that don’t get much attention until they hold big messes

30- laundry room, household good storage (paper goods, bottled water, batteries, snacks we can’t live without), playroom, digital storage

60- garage, shed, patio spaces, cars

As we wrap up, I wanted to share this: There was a post at Desiring God over the weekend entitled The Hidden Ministry of Homemaking: What I Learned from Elisabeth Elliot that I really loved. The author Michele Morin wrote this, speaking of Elisabeth Elliot, who was a missionary and author:

She helped me see housekeeping as an analogy for our spiritual life in general. Just as the swiping of crumbs off the dining room table will never be a once-and-done affair (at least at my house!), neither are the practices of spiritual formation. In tending to the health and wholeness of our souls, every day there will be “crumbs” that need brushing away, and this is a good thing, for it keeps us mindful of our creaturely dependence on God.

I love this reminder that like our homes, caring for our souls is also a consistent practice. We sweep crumbs and confess sins. We make beds and give thanks. We wash dishes and show love. The Holy Spirit is at work in us as we are at work in our homes. Spring cleaning feels like a burden, but as abiding caregivers, we know that our Savior gives us strength and we can have joy even as we work.

As inspiration for our closing prayer, I got out the book Every Moment Holy, a book of prayers and liturgies for common tasks. Here are some lines from their prayer for domestic days:

Oh God, grant that my heart
might be ordered aright,
knowing that all good service
faithfully rendered
is first a service rendered unto you.

Receive then this my service,
that even in the midst of labors that
hold no happiness in themselves,
I might have increasing joy.

Amen.

Thanks for listening, friends! I hope talking through all the ideas inspired a few for you! All week in our Abiding Caregivers Facebook group I’ll be sharing updates on my cleaning projects around the house. If you haven’t joined us there yet, the link is in the shownotes. Again, as a reminder, all the 10, 30, and 60 minutes ideas I mentioned are listed under episode 62 at sandrapeoples.com/thepodcast

I’m praying for you this week as you live out your calling as an abiding caregiver! Thanks for spending time with me today and I’ll meet you back here next week!

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