Below I am sharing our “spring cleaning” for Passover. It’s more detailed than your average home’s deep clean. While the focus of the common understanding of Spring Cleaning is to rid ourselves of the dust, dirt and clutter…cleaning for Passover is a bit different. One is dedicated to remove, from all areas, leaven. This type of cleaning often begins weeks before the day of Preparation resulting in the closing of rooms from all things food just to keep them holiday-ready. Working in that manner, keeps the kitchen for last…which is really where the bulk of the work is anyway. I say this toungue in cheek, because one of the truer focueses is on the removal of leaven from our own lives. And by that, I mean, to look at our unregenerative selves, to seek out that which destroys, puffs up, disunifies…and what is our standard for recognizing such? God’s Law of course. His standard, His Word, His plan for our lives, the ability to be in His presence. If one believes that the Law has been done away with, then that statement will necessarily only hold a thimble of meaning…but for those who know, there is a nodding of heads, a heart response to what they’ve been given. It means something, well…different from our brothers and sisters who don’t recognize…and that’s ok…it is our hope and our prayer that all will come to this knowledge rather than to look upon them as if they were less or as if we were more.
For a moment, though, can we just address upkeep? I’m going to be kinder about sharing expectations. When I have received requests in the past, I have listed a (true) list of what I clean…and I itemize every single thing…and believe me, when you print out a “to-do” list five or more pages long, it’s been enough for most to reply, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Honestly, I do this on purpose because this isn’t something one should undertake because to mimic a Passover from front to end is not something that should be done because it may seem “neat” to do so. When I was very young and attended church around the Easter season there was something called the Stations of the Cross. For those not following the link, it is a practice that is somewhat academic in nature, but meant as a spiritual exercise to help one focus, regarding the final moments of Messiah’s walk and death upon the cross. It can be a moving exercise, and I know it has for some implications rippling through their own testimonies. For most, it is something “neat” to do and really doesn’t resonate much further than the Easter season itself. No matter their intention, it was done as a mimic…something simply walking through, reading and praying. Much less committed than, say, these individuals (ouch!! and how foolish)…and while I would never every say that those individuals are what the Station of the Crossers should really mimic, I’m saying that the Law is not something to be taken likely. It is not a mere shadow, as the church likes to reduce it to….The Word is LIVING, The Word is TORAH. If one is going to mimic, then one should take on the full weight to actually gain anything…to learn that it isn’t something light, something as easy as housekeeping…the lesson is to know on Whom you must rely…and to learn that at a deeper level and for certain, and for a longer time than a holiday season.
There are a couple of individuals, however, who have contacted me via off-blog who are awakening to this – and (if they haven’t dropped off from my non-issue postings) I’m posting something a bit more real for them so that they aren’t under the weight and condemnation. They are approaching this a bit different than those who are interested in the construction, so while it doesn’t relieve the duty, it doesn’t become a burden either. There is no reason to emphasise that point for them. For them, I’m sharing the following:
This isn’t a FlyLady or OrganizedHome type clean. Adding their goals, you can have one pretty ship-shape house for any inspector…those sites really do help with little pep talks, motivations and how tos for cleaning like your mama taught you (or your MIL expects, LOL). But they can also be user-unfriendly when it comes to cleaning while life is going on, and sometimes crashing, around you. And there is a redundancy built in so that the user can build habits. But lets face it, cleaning is actually very simple – simpler than most really understand. Flylady and Organized home is for those who have trouble restarting, to work their way back to a maintenance level…and that can be difficult and time consuming. But, once those skills are learned, once they are put into play (and often once an individual stops with the procrastination or personal burnout), it can be done.
So, here’s your stations in cleaning…not just for this year, but for the year ahead so that, if necessary, you’ll have the upkeep down next season:
UPKEEP
1-Arrange your home the way you know you will live your life. Address everything from style to placement of furniture (no, not fung sheui) to storing items in places that make sense not necessarily traditional.
- Practicle Examples: In the kitchen, store pots and pans near the stove, microwaveable pots near the microwave, and glasswear near the refridgerator. Store all baking food products in one area, dedicate a shelf in the fridge to kid friendly & sized snacks that are “ok” for them to graze, dedicate a shelf in the fridge for leftovers so nothing is “lost” behind mayonaise and pickle jars. Keep a bowl or key rack near the door by which you most frequently enter and exit your home. Don’t make your dresser “junk” drawer a true “junk” drawer. Keep in it things only you treasure or use, but use infrequently (your earphones for days you jog, for example). Precious things that are small which you won’t use (say, your grandfather’s old wallet or your husband’s old love letters to you) should be given a place more meaningful than a junk drawer. Buy some attractive photoboxes, for example, and store keepsakes in them…grouped together, solid color photoboxes look stunning in a bookshelf…which also makes it more likely you’ll look through the items, too.
- Personal/Spiritual Examples: So many people extol starting the day off with reading scripture. More power to them, but perhaps your schedule doesn’t work that way…place a bible by your bed and read a little at night instead…or keep it by your remote control to remind you to pick it up when sitting in your living room rather than mindlessly flipping through channels. It’s ok to find a church that is further away from home if it is where you are feeling called. If your main goal is to find a church who teaches the truth, it is ok to meet with the pastor/priest/m-rabbi and dig a little. If your main goal is to learn what scripture says, do not choose a church based on youth programs and the like. If your goal is to have children to raise them, it’s ok (and right) to actually raise them. You are under no obligation to grandparents, nurseries, babysitters, government or private schools, youth groups, etc.
2- Build an attack plan. With my OCD, I have to clean from the 11 o’clock position and back again in a room. (If you have OCD you’ll get exactly what I’m saying, even if you don’t clean this way.) If your floor space is clean/picked up, your home will automatically look cleaner than it really is. After attacking the floor, sweep the surfaces. Having little to nothing on counters and other surfaces really makes the whole thing visually bigger. Following those steps, attack the counters, dust, windows and floor (sweep/wash vacuum).
- Practicle Examples: Find a routine. I hate, hate, hate laundry. My own mother found it a theraputic and welcome part of her day. Growing up we had clean sheets almost every day, and very little in the way of overflowing laundry hampers. I am not my mother and laundry could very easily slip into chaos if I follow my procrastination leanings. So, I’ve purposely addressed an attack plan to make my life simpler. I’m fortunate to have my own washer and dryer…and every morning, every afternoon (at lunch), every afternoon (after homeschool wraps up) and every evening (before bed) laundry is done. Each of the kids, along with myself, take shifts…and each is responsible for folding/putting things away immediately from the dryer (who ever puts anything into the washer, folds whatever was in the dryer). I keep spot cleaners, laundry detergent, etc. in a mini tote for the laundry area…and keep a deep but small plastic bowl to place found “pocket” items. Money belongs to whomever is doing the wash…this encourages *both* the checking of pockets by the individual before they sort their dirty clothes…and encourages the *washer* on duty to double check pockets in search for treasure. If one person forgets, certainly the other does not.
- Personal/Spiritual Examples: I’ve thought about this…I don’t know what strong hold is before you, spiritually. I’m hesitant to add more than: Slain from the foundation of the world, the great sacrifice was made. This sacrifice was made and has made you, believer, more perfect. Yet, we stare towards these things in our lives which seem and quite possibly are insurmountable. It is a difficult thing, believe me I know, to have planned and labored, to fought and bled for something, someone, some life…and to find an army against us, spiritually. The spiritual realm is hidden from us, but everything here, in our life, has something in the spiritual. Sometimes it is us that needs to sacrifice, to let go of that something, someone, some life…and we must do so willingly so that the spiritual battle can be won. It looks like and feels like failure. Uncertain, we know that whatever it was that we threw our whole lives into, our energies, our love, our hope and schemes…we know that it is vanishing, dying…and there may be the longing to nurse this back, but how are we to find contentment with this loss? Unbearable, and still, we are asked to come to contentment with our loss, with the dying of our plans and hopes. Your plan of attack must be God’s and not our own. We are to live our broken lives knowing that there is a life given to us that can not be yielded, will not be broken, and that the breaking of our strongholds will cause casualties in our selves…but in that conquering, the purging of our leaven, you are walking the stations of your own cross…and in so will be found within His Divine plan.
Passover Clean (my short, less scarier list)
1- Priority: Kitchen and other areas around the home where food is consumed. Includes inside cupboards, under cushions, inside pockets, bookshelves, refridgerator seal and drawers and corners of the floor.
2- Sanatizing surfaces where food will be consumed, including tables and high-chairs. Boiling hot water and a good soap scrubbing!
3- Washing the dishes we’ll use throughout the holiday. (Just as some have special dishes for Thanksgiving or Christmas, many have dishes set aside specifically for use during Passover.)
4- Defrosting Freezers and deep cleaning the fridge – Doing this a few times a year really helps keep the leaven from building up. Plus, it is healthier without all the crumbs and whatnots.
5- Cleaning the oven. Best done overnight if your city is already in a heat wave, LOL.
6- Scour all appliances with hot water and a good scrubbing. Just wiping down won’t do.
7- Washing laundry – it’s all to be done: baskets wiped down, interior of dryer cleaned and the lint trap emptied.
8- And finally, the complete scrubbing of the house…windows, floors, walls (ceiling fans and vents, don’t forget)
9- Now, go wash your car – including dusting, vacuuming (including trunk space)….then do yourself a favor, and attack your purse…just in case.
