Home Helper, Home Maker

Book review today – Aunt Minnie McGranahan, by Mary Skillings Prigger.

 
We found this book in the library about a year ago; I love it!  If you see it around, please check it out.

Aunt Minnie McGranahan is a little old lady who is very neat and tidy, and keeps a very strict system – on certain days she did only certain things, and she always was ready for company.  Unfortunately, her nieces and nephews are suddenly left orphaned and she is their closest relative – it’s all on the mothers’ side, you see.  Her neighbors think it’s impossible.  Aunt Minnie pays them no mind and adopts them, and immediately adjusts her system so that they help her with the chores.  Her system was simply this: – the oldest looks after the youngest, the middle ones look after each other, and Aunt Minnie looks after them all.

“Many hands make light work, and fun makes work lighter” is what she believed – and she put it into action.  No idle hands were there on her farm, but lots of happy bodies – making the jobs into races, games, and competitions. 

There is heaps in this book to learn from – flexibility, discipline, joyfulness and diligence.  In our house, we have four character traits Mum and Dad want our home to reflect: Orderliness, Creativity, Peace and Wisdom.  Aunt Minnie’s home and life reflects all of those traits.  Have a think about these traits and what they all mean – honestly now, is your life in line with these traits?  I know I have room for improvement!   Just like I was saying last week, a lot of these traits below have something to do with orderliness, if you think about it.

Orderliness – Arranging myself and my surroundings to achieve the greatest efficiency.

Flexibility – Not becoming attached to ideas or plans which could be changed by my authorities.

Enthusiasm – Expressing joy in each task as I give it my best effort.

Diligence - Investing all my energy to complete the tasks assigned to me.

Creativity – Approaching a need, a task, or an idea from a new perspective.

Wisdom – Making practical applications of truth in daily decisions.

 Patience – accepting a difficult situation without giving a deadline to remove it.

Determination – Purposing to accomplish right goals at the right time, regardless of the opposition.

Responsibility – Knowing and doing what is expected of me.

Resourcefulness – Making wise use of what others might overlook or discard.

Initiative – Recognizing and doing what needs to be done before I’m asked.

What trait do you have to work on – in all areas of your life?  I think someone once said that life is just one big ball of string, not lots of little pieces.  Character and orderliness are joined on the same string, aren’t they?

Read last week's article: Why Orderliness is Important

Is organization important?  Can’t we just get by with a messy house?

If someone was to ask me those questions, I’d probably respond, ‘Well, you could, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Why not?  I’ll explain why.

Initially, we are made in God’s image, with characteristics of him.  In Job 25:2, it says: "Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.”  If we are made in God’s image, I think there’s some part of us that can be orderly.

I’m currently reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, and the one thing that keeps popping up is: it’s all for the glory of God.  When we are surrounded by clutter and junk, we aren’t able to be all God wants us to be because we are constantly just trying to get the basics of our lives in order instead of being on hand to do what God wants us to do.  As I wrote a couple of years back:

"When you are orderly, you show that you are being responsible to your things and being a good steward.  You are using your time wisely, and can be available to others because you know where everything is.  When in the process of being orderly, of actually doing it, you can be diligent and show the initiative.  People can depend on you to do things, all because you are orderly."

Orderliness enhances creativity.  The two are a pair, hand in hand.  Orderliness doesn’t mean your cupboard has to look like a professional office, it just means your area is functioning in a way that is the most efficient for you.  Resourcefulness works in perfectly with creativity also, because it allows you to be thrifty with a large dose of originality mixed in.

Orderliness is the Atmosphere for Hospitality.   When we have people coming over, I can feel all the difference in the house if I’ve given it a good blitz, compared to me just doing the very basics.  Although hospitality is more than just everything looking perfect, it adds to a peaceful atmosphere and spirit.

Can you think of other characteristics that fit into orderliness?  How do they fit with orderliness?

I suppose character and God really do have a lot to do with being orderly, don’t they?

(Originally posted at the Joys of Blitzing)

1. Have a place for everything.  If everything has a place, then things will be where you want it when you want it.
2. Store like items together.  Keep as much of one ‘sort’ of item together.  Try keeping all different coloured papers together, drawing or painting supplies in the same box, and school books in one place.  We have a drawer for all our coloured paper, and shelves for hot, cool and neutral coloured card.
3. Put things back where they belong.  That means 24/7, day in, day out, whenever and where ever, you deal with whatever you were doing and put it back! You’d be surprised how much space you’ll obtain!
4. Don’t get bogged down with the details.  When you organize, be thorough, but don’t become obsessed with all that little ‘stuff’.
5. If you don’t like it, don’t keep it.  Simple.
6. If you do like it, keep it!  Duh.
7. Stay focused. If you are putting away that enormous pile of stuff in your room, don’t decide to sort your clothes in colour-code now.  You can do that after your room is in order!
8. Don’t bite of more than you can chew.  If organizing your cupboard, under the bed, and all the boxes in one day is too much for you, then don’t do it!  Decide that for every day for the week, you will sort out one area.
9. Use containers to help out.  I find using a washing basket is a great help when doing a big clean, either in my room, cleaning craft supplies, or blitzing the living area and family room.  When cleaning a cupboard, I like to use boxes or plastic baskets to store it all, instead of it being loose.  I love the idea of plastic containers after plastic containers, stacked up upon one another, but reality is you can use any sort of box; be creative!

And last but not least…

10. Be yourself!  Don’t organize from the outside in, find a system from the inside out!  If you a really short, don’t store your Bible on the tipity-top of your bedroom cupboard!  When I was about seven, I had a little whistle I loved.  One day I sat in the middle of my bedroom floor, closed my eyes, and, outstreaching my arm, threw it in the bin, telling myself, “I don’t really need it, I don’t really need it!” I was trying to get rid of stuff so I’d be organized (an unnecessary job, if I may say so myself), but I was trying to force THE way of organizing into myself, and as a result, lost a cool toy.  There is more than one way to organize, and getting rid of stuff doesn’t necessarily counts as one of them.