Helpful Household Hints

My perfectionism has mellowed through the years (I no longer touch up walls with paint before company comes!) Seriously. I discovered this flaw in myself when my daughter was three and a half and was proudly escorting guests to see her very own bedroom. I realized I could be overdoing things a bit when I heard her say, "Take you shoes off." Then her sweet little voice drifted down the stairs with further instructions, "Don't put you hands on the wall..."

Yeah. So I've eased off the whole hyper-cleanliness thing - but I still found myself in a bit of a panic when I got a call that I had unexpected company coming.

I know I've complained about my lack of affection for housework before but I hate even more the anxiety I feel when I'm unprepared. So I got a real kick out of these helpful household hints I found.

1. Shut the doors! Simple and straight forward (not to mention easy!) Just be sure to give your hubby a heads up not to show off your master bedroom or other parts of the house that are 'off limits' for your guests.

2. Pick up, straighten up, (or as my mother-in-law used to say, 'redd up') Your house will look cleaner if there's less clutter. (By the way, I always found that closets and under the bed were great catch alls when I was pressed for time!)

3. Dirty floors? Take a damp rag and wipe up just the spots (you know, the spilled drinks, tracks of dirt and mud, sticky juice spots, etc.) not the whole floor. This is what's known as 'a lick and a promise'!

4. Clean sinks and toilets and forget the shower (just pull the curtain!)

5. For overnight guests, make sure you have clean sheets and fresh towels and they won't notice the dust!

And I especially loved this last one -

6. Don't apologize! If you don't point it out, most people won't see your dirt.

My problem through the years, not that I wanted to admit it, was that I focused more on what I imagined people would think rather than on my visitors themselves. My fussiness made entertaining 'without grudging' (as 1 Peter 4:9 puts it) difficult to do!

Romans 12:13 tells us we need to 'practice' hospitality - meaning it takes some work! Perhaps the hardest thing for me was to relax and forget about all I didn't get done and put my attention on the people who came to see me. I found that when I welcomed my guests with warm hospitality, my house fell into place where it belonged - way down the list of importance.

Perhaps the writer of Hebrews put's it all in perspective...

"Remember to welcome strangers, because some who have done this have welcomed angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2

All for Him,

Missy