Work when you don’t have to!

For many years I have prayed and asked God to help me to be a proverbs 31 kind of woman. Although I would try to be the self-disciplined, hard working woman that the Bible talks about I always felt as if I were coming up short. No matter how hard I tried to make sure all my chores, studying ect. was done I found that there was always something left to do. It also didn’t help that I really didn’t want to clean up anything or study which although I tried to go about it with a happy attitude I never was able to fully embrace all the work and therefore I never did my chores or studies to completion. I am sure that some of you may be able to relate to my predicament, that although you want to be like the woman in the Bible your own displeasure for work and, lets just admit it now, laziness sorta gets in the way. Well I finally found out what it means to be a proverbs 31 woman. It’s really quite simple…Work when you don’t have to! Most times we work for a reason, whether that reason be to avoid getting in trouble, or maybe it’s that we want to receive recognition for something we did. Whatever it is we usually work for a REASON. However, I had the fortunate opportunity to work for the best reason…because I didn’t have to. I am sure we have all had those days where we know we should do something but we really don’t feel like it and we are pretty sure this would be one of those times that we could get away with not doing it. Well that was pretty much what happened to me. I knew I had a kitchen, living room, school room, and bedroom to clean but I REALLY did NOT want to do anything because I was tired and it was getting pretty late. Even though I was pretty sure my dad would let me off the hook for that night I decided I should do all that cleaning anyway. To my own great surprise I found that once I started cleaning I couldn’t find my off switch and I ended up cleaning a lot of other places that I wasn’t even “required” to clean. Now this may not seem unusual on the surface I mean come on we have all had those days when we just get in a cleaning spree, but the difference is my cleaning spree hasn’t stopped. So your question right now probably is “what does this have to do with being a proverbs 31 woman?” my answer “A LOT!” When you know you can get away with not doing something that has to be done but you do it anyway that is demonstrating self-discipline. Additionally I found that when you work when you don’t have to you do a better job because that means you’re working because you want to. As long as you have a happy heart work won’t seem like work and it will just be another way to praise the Lord. My challenge to you is that next time you don’t have to do the work do it anyway. Work when you don’t have to and the proverbs 31 woman in you will shine brighter than ever.

A Good Homemaker

From cooking and cleaning to learning how to make a budget, homemaking is a special art that every young Maiden should know how to do. Homemaking is more than just keeping house it is running the house. Now these two things might sound the same but they really aren’t. Keeping house means you keep it neat and tidy, while running a house means you not only keep a house clean but also provide for the people in that house.

Key elements of good homemaking:

1. Start your day with God
2. Have a flexible schedule
3. Keep a list of things to do
4. clean as you go (this key is especially helpful in the kitchen)

The first is the MOST important because it will keep you focused on what’s important and give you the strength to carry out your tasks for the day. Having a flexible schedule is also important because if it’s not flexible and you don’t get everything done for that day you may start feeling like you messed up everything.  Just remember the key words in the list: God, Flexible, list,clean. but if you find that you remembered all the words that’s not a bad thing either.

Keeping your room clean

cleaning is probably everyone’s least favorite thing to do. I know I never enjoy it very much, however if you clean as you go instead of waiting for things to pile up it’s a lot easier and doesn’t take up as much time. I am sure that no matter what other responsibilities you may have keeping your room clean is always on the list. If your anything like me then that probably isn’t really a problem but for those who need a hand in this area here are a few tips to keeping a clean room.

First turn your room into 5 regions one region for every week day.  Assign a certain area of your room to each region, such as your bed, closet, desk, bathroom, and a general area that takes care of all the loose ends.

you can arrange and re-arrange these regions as many times as you want until you find a good solution for you. Here’s a little push for those of you who can’t come up with an idea:

Monday-Bed (this would incorporate emptying your trash cans, de-cluttering your night stand ect.)

Tuesday Bathroom ( clean your toilette,  wipe down the shower, sweep the floor if necessary, and don’t forget the sink and mirror)

Wednesday Closet ( hang up the clothes, and put the dirty clothes and towels in the laundry room or wash them and return them to their proper place)

Thursday-Desk (by now your desk is probably a disaster from all your school work not to mention the pile up of stuff that always seems to accumulate on a desk, so clean it off and put EVERYTHING away where it’s supposed to go.

Friday-general( I recommend saving Friday as your general just because it takes care of all the loose ends of the room, such as the stuff on the floor that keeps walking out of the closet and bathroom or jumping off the desk, after you finish your general area your room should be good to go and you can spend Saturday and Sunday relaxing instead of cleaning)

If anyone has ever heard of Fly lady this will probably sound familiar, but I changed a couple of things that made it seem more sensible in my opinion. But whether you like mine, hers or come up with your own the important thing is that no matter how you do it your room will be CLEAN!!!