10 Minutes From Clean

10 Minutes From Clean

Tami and I realized pretty early on that with our big family it would be virtually impossible for us to keep a clean house all of the time. So, we held conversations with our children and made it a rule that we will stay at least 10 minutes from clean at all times. What that means for us, is that we never want to be so cluttered or dirty in our house that we cannot clean it up in about 10 minutes. When we all pitch in and do our part we can clean the house to an acceptable state in about 10 or 15 minutes.

Another reason why we want to stay 10 or 15 minutes from clean, is that is about the amount of time we have found "drop in" guest will give us when they decide they want to pay us a visit.  They call or text to let us know they want to swing bye and we get to work.

Many Hands Make The Work Light: Each night after we put the littlest children to bed I asked my older children to spend about 10 to 15 minutes helping me pick up and get things set and ready for the next day. We do not do any real deep cleaning.  We mostly just focus on getting things back in their proper places.  We have found that it takes about an hour or two for one person to do what all six of us can do in about 10 to 15 minutes!  One thing that I have found about asking children to participate with joy is that they do it more cheerfully when we are all doing together then they do when I asked them to do a chore separately by themselves. When we all work together there is always a sense of family and teamwork. 

P.S. Our deeper cleaning moment is always on Fridays when Todd is off from his work at the church.