As we wrap up this two-week Spring Cleaning Festival, I want to say thank you to my special guests:   Dana White, Sarah Mae, Mandy at Biblical Homemaking, Courtney Joseph, Heather & Vanessa from At the Picket Fence, Marla Cilley aka Flylady,  and Karen Ehman.   Plus a special thanks to my sweet friend and new assistant (a few hours a week), Natalie Longoria, who organized all the details.

Before I get into the final post in this series, I want to announce two winners.  The first winner is of the home decor basket donated by Heather and Vanessa from At the Picket Fence.  Congratulations to:  Amie Mc. who left a comment at 10:44 AM.  Please email me at editor@Proverbs31.org with your mailing address.

The second winner is for Karen Ehman’s book “The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized” and a Wal-mart gift card.  Congratulations to Colleen Loerzel.   I’ve sent you an email, so please watch for it.

Thank you to everyone who entered and all the lovely comments.  You blessed our socks off!

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I don’t often write about my husband due to respecting his privacy and wishes. But there is a Mr. Whitwer!   He’s a private sort of guy, but he’s really amazing.  In addition to being committed to our family and mission work (he travels to Uganda to help oversee an orphanage of 450 children) he’s also an environmental engineer.  He’s an expert at cleaning up contaminated stuff.  And he inspires me to be much more aware of the products we use and the choices we make at home.

Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I decided to devote today’s post to ways we can honor God’s creation through wise and caring choices.   Psalm 24:1 says, “THE EARTH is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.”  We are just caretakers of what the Lord has given us.  And I believe we should do our part.

I know there is LOTS more I could be doing to be environmentally aware.  I’m kind of tip-toing into this area, and every month I try to increase my wise choices.  So while I’m not a model for completely green living, for now, here are some of the small things we do to help:

1)  Cloth shopping bags.  These are kept in the back of my vehicle, and used as often as I remember to take them in to the store (just being real here!)   I love the sign at my local Trader Joe’s which reminds me to get my shopping bags.  Plus, since most places also give me a 5 cent credit, I’m saving money too.

2)  Use micro-fiber cloths to clean.   I use very few chemicals in day-to-day cleaning.  For most cleaning jobs, I have two blue micro-fiber clothes I’ve used for years and all they need is water.  I do all my dusting, mirrors and windows with a rung-out cloth.

3) Eco-friendly laundry and dish soap.  It’s isn’t difficult to find products these days that are eco-friendly.  And the price is comparable to the name brands.  You might sacrifice some of the scent, but it’s worth it.

4)  Water conservation.  I live in the desert Southwest and grew up conserving water.  This is the one area that I am a bit extreme.  I collect all run-off water (without soap) and leftover ice cubes from glasses, and pour it into house plants or outside.

5) We are active recyclers.

I’d love to hear your comments.  Do you make your own cleaning products?  Is there a brand name you love?  What creative ideas do you have?  To leave a comment, please click here to be taken to my blog.

While I don’t consider myself an environmentalist, I do consider myself a steward of God’s resources.  And I think Christians need to reclaim the care of the earth in the name of the Lord!  Amen?

Grace & peace,

Glynnis

Does the title of this post seem odd in a Spring Cleaning series?  I had to laugh when my guest, Marla Cilley (otherwise known as the Flylady) submitted her article.  Don’t spring clean on a spring cleaning series?  LOL.

But there’s an important message in here for those of us who have ever been frustrated with another person’s attempt at cleaning.  It also might explain why some women have trouble getting motivated to clean.  There’s fabulous insight in here – both a warning and a promise.

Remember, no matter what’s been done to you, or what you have done in the past, today is a brand new day.  With God’s power and healing, we are new creations with fresh potential every morning.  We can submit our perfectionist tendencies to the Lord and rest in His mercy.  We don’t have to be good enough because He is already enough.

So with that said, please welcome the Flylady!  First a bit about her:

Marla Cilley, aka “The FlyLady,” is the bestselling author of “Sink Reflections” and “Body Clutter,” and founder and host of the popular website www.FlyLady.net.  With her southern charm and inspirational emails, FlyLady has become a mentor to those living in CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and clutter. Over 1 million women around the globe follow her on a daily basis for her homespun practical advice and encouragement. The FlyLady weekly syndicated newspaper column appears in over 270 newspapers.

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Were you forced to Spring Clean as a child? With our FlyLady habits, zone and routines, we will never have to Spring Clean again.  I don’t know about you but Spring Cleaning was a painful time for me when I was growing up. I remember lots of yelling and perfectionism.

What were the lessons we learned through osmosis as we were growing up? We are definitely not stupid and we do learn from our mistakes. We knew what to say and what not to say. We may have learned the hard way when we allowed a few simple words to come from our mouth in a no-win situation.

Another lesson we learned came from the grades we made and the rooms we cleaned. If those things were not “perfect” we got scolded. With the rooms we were forced to redo them or worse yet your mother came in and did it after you because it was not good enough!

This taught us that we were not good enough unless we were performing to their standards. Why couldn’t we just be loved and not have that love tethered to whether we were doing a good job or not? The sad part is that we were forced to live up to those perfectionist standards and not given a chance to develop our own skills.

When I think back to my childhood I can see how perfectionism was subliminally pushed down my throat. The only time I was ever complimented was when I cleaned something to those perfectionistic standards. Our only bathroom would get so filthy and it was my job to clean it; especially if Granny was coming. I knew how to hyper-focus to get this done. When I grew up I hated to clean bathrooms because who was going to notice. When I did clean it; I would go searching for those compliments from my first husband. Why did I need them? That was how I was taught. Why could I not clean a little every single day? Why did I have to wait till it even disgusted me? The simple habit of Swish and Swipe can get rid of the disgust.

We don’t have to allow our perfectionism to play havoc with our lives another day. The simple habits we establish can help us to never see dirt again. This is why Spring Cleaning becomes a thing of the past. We will never have to spend all day cleaning to get ready for company. We are living in our homes and loving each other and ourselves. Just establishing one little habit is the first baby step on your journey of peace. As each habit becomes part of your auto-pilot, the stress of your home goes away and you can spread your wings to FLY! These habits are powerful tools. No habit is insignificant.

Just try FLYing! What have you got to lose? A week of Spring Cleaning!

For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out her website and join her free mentoring group at  www.FlyLady.net or her book, “Sink Reflections” published by Random House and her New York Times Best Selling book, “Body Clutter” published by Simon and Schuster. Copyright 2012 Marla Cilley Used by permission in this publication.

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I read this three times to catch all she has to say in this short post.  And I really like how she breaks it down into baby steps.  Oh how I need that some days.  I need to remind myself that every big project is just a group of little baby steps.  It makes it sound so do-able.  Who can’t take a baby step?  And then take a baby snack.  And a baby rest?  How sweet is that? 

Thanks for joining me today.  And please check back tomorrow when I feature my friend Karen Ehman.

Grace & Peace,

Glynnis