The Science of Homemaking

What Concerns You The Most

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1

Last week, we covered Step 1- Format a Schedule, in “The Science of Homemaking.” Were you able to initiate this first step? If not, then I encourage you to do so before you move onto Step 2. If you enjoy exercising with lead-weighted shoes, then by all means, skip Step 1. We resist change, whether it be beneficial or not. Try setting your alarm clock a half-hour-earlier tomorrow morning, and your flesh will reveal the very DNA of our “path of least resistance.”

These lessons are structured into bite-sized pieces of information to fit your schedule. I will address the many areas of life that create stress and clutter--both mental and physical; if you're stressed and you don't know where to begin in carving out the uncluttered life you'd like to be living; or if you'd like to be handling money better, enjoying stronger relationships, living in a healthier body, or be surrounded by less clutter in your home – I will work through all of these concerns with you - step-by-step.

Disorder is daily uncontrollable change in our lives. Order is daily controllable change introduced to our lives - Deborah Choma 2008

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1 “Buildeth?” – How do I build my home? The Hebrew translation for buildeth is banah; to obtain children, make, repair, set up. This is the same translation used in Genesis 2:22, when God introduced woman as an helpmeet - isn’t that awesome?

“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made [banah] he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”

The principle of building a home was created by God – this is our purpose; we will never find joy, until we fulfill our purpose. These are eternal, enduring values and principles! Our Creator is also Our Teacher.

How Do I Build My Home? There are steps in building your home; practically, we will start with this question; “What Concerns you The Most?”

When I make a decision based on the need to adjust areas in my life that have moved out of alignment from the usual cadence that has been tried and tested, I always pray and ask God to give me wisdom. I remind Him of how I need Him to direct my ways, and bring about the necessary resolve for me to apply myself diligently to the task at hand – and complete it!

De-Clutter

I follow the philosophy of “Everything almost in its place;”

1. You do not need to be perfect - In our home, we were taught; “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” Try not to confuse this with unrealistic perfection, and unachievable standards - that will sabotage your goal, and lead you to be more like a machine instead of a compassionate, nice-to-be with woman.
2. You do not need to do everything on your list - What a relief, since no human being could possibly complete my “to do list.” Set realistic, achievable goals, and feel great about what you DO get through.
3. You do not need to do everything yourself - delegation should not make you feel guilty. It is a necessity! It helped me to reinforce the need for team work rather than me doing all the work. In addition, it trains up hard-working children.

Kitchen Chaos

Shine your Sink – If you make this a daily goal, you will never have dishes in the sink, and it will clear a path for further de-cluttering. It’s a bit like laying new carpet in a home; then you paint, change the drapes, re-arrange the furniture, and create a fresh ambiance. If your sink doesn’t shine after the Windex, use the SOS pad. I shine my sink daily with the dishtowel, and I give it the SOS treatment once-a-week.

Sort and Separate – Decide what cupboards you would like to start with. I aim for the Tupperware; a jumbo-sized garbage bag comes in handy at this point. Empty the cupboard of all contents. Decide what goes to the Thrift Store, and place these items into a labeled garbage bag. Then, decide what gets minimal use, and place it toward the back of the cupboard. I stack similar sized containers inside each other, with all the lids underneath. This is a space-saving technique. Arrange your plastics in ascending order of importance; most used ones toward the front – least used, toward the back. This saves time, and keeps the future de-cluttering to a minimum. What you don’t use over the next 12-months, get rid of it! Use this principle for all your cupboards and closets.

Simplify your System – Often, the placement of kitchen items into the cupboards can be a source of ineffectiveness. Plan your kitchen to be “user-friendly,” ensuring that what you use the most is accessible the quickest. For instance, it would not be advantageous to place all the items you use to cook with, on opposites sides of the room to your stove-top or oven. A useful tip is to line the base of your shelves with rubberized matting you can purchase on a roll. It’s nice to have “Cushy Cupboards” and the liner protects your stainless steel wear from scratching. The cheapest place to purchase this is at the Dollar Store, Costco, or Menards.

Yes, you CAN have a pig-pen to paradise in just a few steps. Keep in mind that your home did not get this way overnight and it is not going to get clean in a day.

Because you have scheduled a time to begin your de-cluttering process, you can start with the room that concerns you the most, and break your goal into achievable increments. Don’t empty all the closets, and resolve yourself to clearing and cleaning all of them within a limited time-frame. You won’t look at what you DO achieve, because the mountain of mess will be arranged in piles all over the house when your sweetheart returns home after a hard day of work – not a pretty sight! But it gets uglier; your flustered face because you have stuff all over the house in sizeable piles, dinner is burning on the stove, while you try to organize your quiver of children who have just returned home from school. It’s all happening, and you’ve created a source of anxiety, and an excuse to throw your arms up in despair. You are less likely to revisit your goals the next day, and more likely to resolve yourself to a condition of life-long clutter.

This is a lie from the devil. He likes us to be defeated in our goals, and he loves it when we throw a pity-party. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” 1 Corinthians 14:33

Peace regulates our home, and with discipline and consistency, we can bring order back into our lives!

‘Happy Women – Happy Homes’

And…my scheduled blog time is up! I will continue with Kitchen Chaos at another time this week. Don’t forget to yield yourself to the Holy Spirit, for He is able to gird you up with the strength to build character and overcome those areas in your life that concern you the most. Give Him the glory, for we all follow the path of least resistance.

Dear Father,

Thank you for your inspiration. You never teach me to neglect my duties, and I now seek your strength and guidance to address those areas in my life that concern me the most. Forgive me for the unnecessary pressure, and the unhappy spirit I have placed on my family because of my lack of discipline, and enable me to overcome those areas in my life that are not pleasing to you. Amen

I Love You,
Deborah