Lack of cleanliness.

Confession, I am a horrible housekeeper! I pile things put things in drawers and leave things out. I forget to put the wash into the dryer and have to wash the load more than once. Often I am happy to live so far out of town because I don’t have drop in guests. I have plenty of time to clean before the guests arrive. While I would call CPS because my house is so dirty it isn’t healthy it would be embarrassing if I did have drop in guests. I am one of those people who takes a picture then won’t post it on facebook out of fear of the criticism. Yep that is me. I am the lady who leaves the dishes in the sink overnight. The mom that has a pile of laundry on the couch or a chair. I am not proud of my housekeeping skills and honestly, when I just slept here, it didn’t bother me. I could say I work all the time; I don’t want to spend the rest of the time cleaning the house. Now that I am home I find the mess plain stressful.
What I am finding is that we have too much stuff and it has overrun the house. My husband works in the tech field. We have multiple computers in different states of disrepair waiting for his time. We have a good deal of clothing never worn. My oldest prefers to keep everything so she can give it to her sister. It wouldn’t be an issue but they are nine years apart. My two-year old has no use for a size 10 shirt at this time. Also, I can’t see her reading Anne of Green Gables in the next few years. I have files for clients, too many shoes and a good deal of clothes that don’t fit. Plus we have two of almost everything, as we got married later in life and both brought a life time full of stuff. The biggest problem I have is that I don’t know where to start. I know they say you eat an elephant on bite at a time but where do you place the first bite. How do I go from being a messy to a clean freak?
I have heard that cleanliness is next to Godliness. If that is true, I have a lot of work! I know that sometimes, God puts us in a place to come to terms with ourselves. Let us be honest there is an entire book of the Bible that speaks a lot of cleanliness. It was imperative for the Jewish people. There were animals that were clean and unclean. There were set ways to wash before preparing meals. There were rules for women on their menstrual cycle and rules for dealing with the dead. If you read the book of Leviticus, there is a lot of mention of the word clean. My point is that the Bible seems to take the stance that being clean is a good thing. Even if we aren’t required to follow those laws now, I can’t imagine that it is unimportant now.
So I am going to start working on getting this house in order. I have come up with some basic daily, weekly and monthly tasks. I am going to sweep and pick up the floors , counters and tables in the living and dining room every day. Then I am then I am going to have a daily organizational task like, that chair with all the clothes or the drawer that has all the junk, or that bookshelf with all the piles! Hopefully soon I will have a house that I won’t be embarrassed if I have drop in company!