Homekeeping Mission Statement

Now that I'm down to two days of work per week, I've been putting concentrated effort into getting our house in order, clutter-free and cleaned up.  A lot of my successes in this can be attributed to the blog Home Sanctuary (www.homesanctuary.com), where I am participating in Rachel Anne's daily "small things," which should slowly over time turn my home into a sanctuary.  (Hence the blog name. :) )

The small thing for today was to write a Homekeeping Mission Statement.  This was a bit of a struggle for me, first because I have a million things I want to achieve in my homekeeping efforts, and second because I tend to be overly wordy and have serious issues with succinctness.  

After a lot of typing, deleting, retyping, redeleting, and borrowing words from others (thanks, others!), this is what I arrived at:

I will work toward cleanliness, order, and simplicity but never perfection. My home will be a sanctuary for those who enter, a place where they can find grace, comfort, and calmness, and above all His love. This will be achieved through consistent daily efforts and routines, not by extreme overexertion or unnecessary demands of others. My house will never take priority over the people abiding within its walls.

I can't say I'm 100% happy with it, but I think it gets the point across. Basically, I want my house to be neat and tidy, but I never want to give the impression that I have unachievably high expectations such that visitors can't kick their shoes off or so that they're scared to invite me to their own less-than-perfect homes.  And of course I never want my family to feel overburdened, unloved, or less important than our house.

It's all about balance, balance, balance!

If you're itching to get your own home in order, maybe you should join in at Home Sanctuary.  Check it out. :)