Ideas For My Pocket: a Support Group for Families: Spiff Up Simply!

Years ago, when homes were heated with coal, Spring Cleaning was an absolute necessity! As soon as the heat was no longer needed, there was soot to clean off every wall of the home!

Thankfully, we don’t need to worry about soot these days, but still it feels good to get to the deep cleaning. Kids can be a great help with this, and learn a lot from doing housework. They take better care of a home when they have helped to beautify and keep it clean.

But when do we have time to fit in that huge job? Simplify it, and break it into small pieces.

Ideas Families have Tried:

1. Getting kids to come help.

Although we still call it “Spring Cleaning,” our family does it in the summer, when schools out and schedules are freer. In addition to the regular chores, every summer mid-morning, we take one small section of the house to clean. At breakfast or shortly thereafter, I’ll announce the plan for that day. “Today, we going to tackle the game closet” I might say. But that doesn’t have to mean the whole game closet. Maybe we’ll just do one shelf today. Or maybe just half of it. If we’re all tired from a trip, it may just be a small section. I decide how much is a reasonable piece to tackle that day.

Mid-morning, I’ll tell the kids it’s time. Not everyone has to come at once. However, whoever comes first gets the first choice, and often the easiest job. The ones who come later may have extra to do in order to finish—so there is motivation to come quickly! The kids want to get their portion done quickly and move on to free time and summer goals. But everyone loves a more organized, cleaner house.

2. Taker outers and Putter Inners.

“Who wants to be a ‘taker outer’?” Ellie might ask her kids. Ellie loved having clean kitchen drawers and cupboards. So she would assign “taker outers,” “cleaner uppers,” and “putter inners.” The taker outer would take everything out of a drawer or cupboard—simple enough. The items went on the counter or in a box. The next helper, the cleaner upper used a paper towel or cloth to wipe out the drawer. That was straightforward too. Then, the last one, the putter inner got to organize and arrange things back into the right spots.

Ellie might decide they could take care of three drawers that day, or four cupboards. Or, she’d tackle the refrigerator. Here too, the family could divide again into taker outers, cleaner uppers, and putter inners, or each person can do all three. “I need each person to choose two shelves of the refrigerator to clean, one of which is on the door,” Ellie may require. Again, the first one who came got to have first pick of shelves!

The Boss is the one who breaks up the job into pieces. We call them “Job Pleases,” (stemming from my childhood) so when a child needs a job, he asks, “Job Please?” The current project for the day might take 7 job pleases each (7 times asking “Job Please” which means 7 jobs), or maybe only 5. “Let’s see if we can do it in 4 job pleases this time,” is a good motivator to get the job done. If there is one of the children who struggles to remember how many they’ve done, I have each child call out what number they are on, such as “Job Please Number 1? (which means "Can I have my 1st job, please?") before receiving that assignment, or item to put away, or place to wipe off. “Job Please Number 2?” is next, etc. Everyone knows from the start when they will be done!

Tacy found that it worked well in her household to let each of the children have a turn to be the boss. Tacy would lead them into a room and then say, “OK, Kevin gives out the jobs today.” So the rest of the kids looked to him for their jobs. Kevin would ask one to dust and one to scrub baseboards. He would look around to see what needed doing. Tacy might quietly prompt, “Be sure to get someone to dust up high," or "Don’t forget organizing the music on the piano.” She would direct the deeper cleaning, but he got to assign it. And the other children tended to cooperate better, knowing their turn was coming soon--and they would want to be obeyed too!

We love silk plant day at our house. Everyone takes two silk plants out of their container and out of doors. Placing them on the trampoline or the clean cement, they direct a forceful hose to spray off each leaf. Then, after the sun dries it, they simply put the plant back into its container and put it where it goes.

Kids can also help tackle vinyl blinds this way, washing with a hose and wiping with a rag. The back porch is sure fun to hose off on a summer day as well! Or hosing off the car! These are wet, summer jobs that may lead to water fight fun!

Rinda liked to go through the toy closet at the beginning of each summer. The kids helped her organize the toys. In the process, the kids remembered old favorite toys, and developed new plans or creative ideas using formerly hidden parts! Plus, now that they were organized, they knew where a particular toy was and could find it!

Deep cleaning need not take a huge chunk of time and be a huge effort. A small piece a day works for me! And who cares if it takes all summer, or some waits for later. With a plan in place, it’s all good!

We all want a clean house. Everyone is happier when things are orderly and the Spirit is easier to feel. And we want to raise hard-working kids with a good work ethic. Best of all, the message we are giving our kids is that it is honorable to take care of a home.