Cleaning the Heart of Your Home, Part 1

Tonight, I spent some time looking for articles about the heart of the home.  I wanted to know what room the majority considered the central home of a family.  I finally stopped, because as most of you know, you could spend many tiring and wasteful hours searching the internet for information.

However, this is what I gleaned after thinking that I would probably find most articles mentioned the kitchen as the heart of the home.  And for some homes, this is a correct assumption.  Depending on the where the kitchen is and the size of it, it may very well be the heart of some  homes.  The family gathers there to eat, surf the net, play games, do homework, talk, and of course, cook. However, some  people see the heart of the home as the master bedroom, because it defines the start of the day and the end of the day.  This is where the leaders of the home (parents, grandparents, single moms, single dads) set the pace for their day.  The main point is that the heart of the home involves the people who live there.  A house is just a house without its people.  There is no heart without the living that goes on there.

Maybe, you are wondering what started me on this search.  For those of you that know my age, you know I have been a grandma for a while now.  I have 2 daughters and 10 grandchildren.  Before I went back to college and after I graduated, I have always considered my primary job to be a homemaker.  Surely, after forty-two years of marriage this woman knows what the heart of the home is.  However, I now believe there are several answers.  And, much of this depends on your circumstances;  which can include everything from your religion, the stage of your life (young married, child rearing, empty nest), the arrangement of the rooms in your house, and even your personal preferences at this particular time.

What started this quest?  My kitchen counters and my rolling cart in the kitchen were looking unkempt.  I didn't want to cook until I cleaned the kitchen.  Also, I have been thinking about reorganization;  however, there is no point in crossing that bridge until  the kitchen is clean.  So even though the whole family cannot gather in my kitchen comfortably, I feel that if my kitchen is clean and organized, it will increase the probability the rest of my house will follow.  Therefore, my focus this week will be on the kitchen.  I actually think it will not take me long to wrap up  this job, and it will boost my enthusiasm to work on other areas.

If you would like to follow along I will be posting jobs to do in the kitchen on my facebook page "Chronic Fatigue and Creative Decluttering."  

Food for Thought:

1. Have you ever thought about what or where the heart of your home is?
2. Is there a room in your house that seems to affect your moods more if it is messy?
3. Think about a time your home has been fairly uncluttered.  Which room seems to set the   tone for how you feel when you enter the house.
4. Is there a room in your house that irritates you more than any other if it is cluttered or dirty?
5. Spend 5 to 15 minutes in that room today:  1) throw away trash and 2) put objects where they belong.  Do not try to clean the room in one day.  You need to take time to rest and continue keeping the areas clean you have already been working on. 

 Remember, you can accomplish much with baby steps.