The Intentional Home, Week Four: Tuesday

For an Introduction and Table of Contents for The Intentional Home, click Here.

Week Four: Tuesday

She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family...
Proverbs 31:14-15

Today, I want you to continue to work on getting the clutter out of your kitchen cabinets and drawers along with your daily chores. We will get to your pantry tomorrow, so for now just focus on cabinets not food storage areas. Remember, as you begin to put items back into the cabinets and drawers, I want you to consider what you use the most. Items that are used frequently need to be in the front of the cabinet and those specialty items that you don’t use often can be placed in the back. 

Perhaps, you need to add some organizing tools to make your kitchen function more efficiently. I have some little metal shelves from Ikea that work great to give me more surface space for bowls and plates. I also have some plastic utensil organizers and some other little drawer dividers to help with measuring cups and various things. If you have ample counter space, then a canister to hold cooking utensils might work well for you. 

I thought I would share something with you today that I wrote awhile back, just so you know that I wasn’t always so good at cleaning. Many times in life we have to learn things that don’t come natural for us. If I figured it out, then there’s hope for anyone! Enjoy:

When I married my man eight (now ten) years ago here are a few things I didn't know:

How to run the dishwasher. That's right, I had no clue. I called Matt at work and he gave me step-by-step instructions on how to make it work. Someone at his work overheard this conversation and asked, "Did you just tell someone how to run a dishwasher?" His response was "Yes, that is the woman I just married." I'm sure he was so proud!

How to boil water. I know, pretty bad, right! Well, I decided to call my sister on this one. I'm sure she got a good laugh, but proceeded to walk me through the process of making water boil.

How to do laundry. Well, I figured out the laundry thing pretty well, but I had no idea that you have to empty the dryer lint regularly. You should have seen Matt's face as he pulled the lint trap out after probably months of not being cleaned, picture a small blanket, pretty funny.

How to cook. Let's just say my first attempt at cooking left the house smelling like burnt rubber and me quickly telling Matt we should go out for dinner. The burnt rubber was supposed to be orange chicken from the easy four ingredient cookbook. Perhaps, more instructions were needed.

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't know any of these things. Well, I either lived in the dorm or the sorority house in college. Right after college I went straight on tour playing golf professionally, basically living in a hotel room or at my parents' house. My sweet mom who exemplifies a "servant's heart" took care of everything for me, so I could live my dream.

Pretty ironic that I am now writing a blog (eBook) about home managing, don't you think? You've gotta love this life; you never know where God is gonna take you!

Daily Chores: 

One load of laundry from start to finish

Make your bed

Unload the dishwasher in the morning, load and run it at night

Wipe down the kitchen counters and sink

Tuesday’s chore of cleaning mirrors and glass