Living Clean

It pays to live clean. I've come to discover that knowing how to clean and living clean are two different things. Most people know how to clean well enough when their house gets dirty and messy but not very many people live clean in-between.

You can touch stuff in your house with sticky hands never washing and never wiping off. You can spill in the kitchen and leave it. You can get toothpaste all over the sink and counter (and sometimes walls as I've discovered in my house cleaning business) and choose not to wipe it up. You can let dirt and crumbs fall on the floor and not think twice about sweeping them up. You can also not put things away.

OR

You can wash your hands so they aren't sticky and wipe up counters and sinks as you go. You can wipe off cabinets and handles, keep the lid on the toothpaste and even wipe off the toothpaste to keep it clean. You can sweep up the floor and wipe up the spills. You can take the few seconds it requires to put something away when you are done with it. Doing this you will find that you save yourself a ton of time on cleaning day and that your home is maintained better in general.

It's worth training your children to live clean by teaching them to clean up after themselves, wipe off, wash off, and sweep up. How early can you start this? As early as they make messes.

Even with potty training you have an opportunity to teach "living clean". Most parents think of potty training as "teaching my kids to go pee and poop in the toilet". Oh, it is SO much more than that! When I was potty training my kids I taught them the entire process.

Shut the door for privacy.
Go potty or poop.
Use toilet paper (3 squares) and properly wipe (there is a "right" way you know).
Close the lid of the seat.
Flush the toilet.
Wash your hands with soap.
Dry off your hands.
Turn off the light.

I feel sorry for the parent that fails to teach all of these steps. Trying to teach them after the fact is difficult. Don't miss the opportunity to teach at the moment a habit is learned. How often I have had children over to my house who don't flush, leave the lid up, and don't wash. How often I have had adults over who do the same! Living clean in this area can keep a much cleaner bathroom and no surprises in the toilet left for later. Not that we have kept living clean as a strict standard but it sure does help to at least have these habits in general.

Living clean means we respect what God has given us. Being a good steward of everything God has given us is honorable. We are not so lazy that we just spill and leave it. Living clean means that we show favor to the ones that have to live with us. It also means that our home is more ready for hospitality. It also ensures that we don't have a huge mountain of work ahead of us when we do decide to finally clean.