Rural Simplicity

My most recent project.  It's hard to believe that April is over. April is one of my favorite months. What once started as a childish love for Birthday gifts and celebration has turned into the love of all things Spring, purple, flowery, and sweet. April means the end of winter (at least for the most part) and gardens, new life, and sweet smells. There is nothing like the feeling of beginning again, starting over and starting fresh. Spring brings us that joy every year. And God brings us that joy every time we come to repent our sins to him. As this Spring starts and everything is fresh and clean I want to be careful what kind of seeds I plant, lest I reap thorns and thistles in my life come fall.  Sowing Temptation As the brambles make their way You fight and pull and tell them nay “My life is mine, you cannot take What took me twenty years to make” The seething, slithering soul of it all Makes no noise, no note, or call, It wraps and winds it’s pr...

Day 30! It's come...your house is clean!! Thanks for joining me on this journey. I have one last challenge for you today. CHALLENGE: Your last challenge today is to vacuum the bedrooms. Move as much furniture as possible and hose the edges, vacuum under everything possible and of course the main traffic areas. EXTRA: If you have the money and the time, consider renting a carpet cleaner and clean all the carpets in your house. It will give a great finishing touch. Sarah

I'm starting to feel the joy of being done! It's right at our fingertips! Tuesday's task is an easy one; we will be doing an ultra fine job at dusting. Hopefully you don't have to spend most of your day preparing to dust (putting dirty laundry in the basket, putting clean laundry in the dresser, removing piles to their original homes, etc...) CHALLENGE: Give everything a good wipe down in each bedroom. This includes furniture and knick, knacks. Do all touchable sides of furniture and pick up each lamp and book while dusting. Wash any mirrors, and wipe down picture frames, etc... Keep chugging along! Tomorrow is the last day! Sarah

Happy Monday to all! I hope Monday's aren't laundry day for you, because we are about to make a lot of extra laundry! Today we will be stripping down every bed and washing everything. Wash as much as you have time for. CHALLENGE: If you are able, you should wash the sheets, pillowcases, pillow shams, blankets, comforter, and mattress pad. Do you have a bedskirt? Wash it! You get the point, everything removable, and cloth should be cleaned or at least swacked out. If you don't have time or have more beds than you can manage in one day, consider doing this over the next few days or just the essentials. (sheets and pillowcases, and mattress pads) If you have a clothes line, this is the best way to air out your bedding and/or save money on the dryer. Sarah

Happy Sunday! This is our last Sunday mediation time together, and next Wednesday is the final day of April and of our Spring Cleaning Challenge! I hope you have enjoyed the time and accomplished a lot. I know I've really enjoyed getting my house clean in a calm and easy way. Matthew 23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. How often do you fake a smile, wear an outfit because of the people you will be around and say "I'm fine" to keep yourself looking pristinely spiritual? In Matthew 23 God is addressing just that. You can not have a lovely disposition, if you heart is not lovely. It's a simple basic concept that we will forever struggle to prioritize above man's opinion. Just like our house needs a cleaning, and our dishes a washing, our hearts need a cleansing. Keep your ultimate cleanliness goal on your heart, not your home! Have you spent this month too focused on cleaning yo...

I am breaking loose from the list and combining today and tomorrow's task. They are simple and who doesn't love a long weekend!! Today you will be washing your bathroom rugs and scrubbing the floors as well. If this combining of days doesn't suit you, then feel free to stick with the protocol. CHALLENGE: Shake those bathroom rugs out and throw them in the wash. If you have a line to dry them on it's always better to let them drip dry rather then machine drying the life out of them. Next, go back and move everything possible off of the bathroom floor and sweep! Grab your handy bucket of warm water vinegar and soap, grab a scrub brush and a rag and make it sparkle! You are probably a pro at this now and guess what?! This should be your last floor to scrub. (unless you have wood floors in your bedroom...don't make me drool!) Enjoy your weekend! And don't forget to meet me back here Monday, so we can finish off with the bedrooms! Only 3 days of cleaning next we...

O the porcelain throne! You knew it would come around eventually! You've probably heard it said that your toilet is cleaner then the human mouth...so how bad could it be, right? Spring cleaning was dragging a lot the first week, I was so busy trying to keep up with everything, then something happened and everything fell into place and stuff just happened, the cleaning was getting done. But now I'm hitting that "I just wish I was done" stage. And guess what?! We are almost done! 5 more cleaning days and your house will be sparkling clean and you will have some extra time in your day once again! Keep up the good work! CHALLENGE: Clean the toilet, inside and out. Use whatever cleaning supplies you feel comfortable with. Clean everything you can get to on the toilet, this includes the outside of the bowl, the flat spaces where the toilet bolts into the floor, and of course everything that hinges. There are some really amazing blog posts out there about how to clean yo...

No piece of information is too simple to share. Someone in the world has not heard it yet and think of how it might revolutionize their world . Do you clean your bathroom one way? Well, I clean my bathroom this way. Let me tell you how I do it, then you can tell me how you do it, and then we will compare and join to make the best cleaning list. No one person is smart. It's the community of ideas that makes us wise. CHALLENGE: Wipe out the bathroom cabinets (organize while you go, throw out, condense, etc...) then wipe down the outside cabinets and clean the sink. Shine up the mirror and scrub off all of that toothpaste residue. yuck! We have 7 days left!! You are almost there; keep up the good work! Sarah

I must confess, I've let the bathrooms go while spring cleaning and I'm so glad to have this week dedicated to bathrooms. There is nothing I hate more than a dirty, disgusting bathroom! Today we will be part two-ing yesterdays cleaning the shower by washing the shower curtain and liner. CHALLENGE: If you shower curtain is machine washable, then the quick fix would be to throw it in the wash and let "the maid" do it. If it's plastic, then I would just use a cloth and wipe it down. If your shower liner is moldy, you might consider throwing it away and buying a new one. (It depends on the amount of mold, and your budget!) If the liner isn't bad, then you have a few options: 1) hang it outside and spray it down with a hose, then wipe clean and dry. 2) lay it out on the deck get a bucket of hot soapy water and a scrub brush and scrub away. 3) spot clean it while still hanging with warm soapy water. How many bathrooms do you have? Would you rather clean the kit...

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, celebrating Easter with family and friends. This week we will be focusing on the bathrooms. (I hope you don't have very many) Because I'm not getting this post out till late morning you might consider swapping today's task and tomorrow's. If you get up early and have already taken a shower you might not want to clean the shower today. Instead you can jump ahead to tomorrow and clean the shower curtain and liner. Then tomorrow morning when you take a shower you can clean it. Do whatever works best with your schedule. CHALLENGE: Clean you shower(s) till it sparkles. Here is a link back to the post about shower cleaner. It really does work the best; It makes my shower tiles sparkle! I find that taking a shower while cleaning it is the easiest way. If you have multiple showers, you might consider not getting soaking wet every time, or asking a spouse or child to help you. Take a scrub brush to work on grout mold, and a sponge to wipe ...

Easter Sunday! What a glorious day! A day worth rejoicing about! A day of new beginnings, of fresh starts, and celebration. He Is Not Here, F or He Is Risen!  I hope you are spending this day not only relaxing and being refreshed, but also in celebrating the resurrection of the Lord. The day that marks Christian truth. Without the resurrection, without a living Savior we are doomed to eternal hell. There is no rejoicing. But praise God he conquered death and lives today!  Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. I chose this verse as an endurance verse for cleaning, not realizing that it would fall on Easter. We can all use a little endurance in life, especially when it comes to tedious tasks like spring cleaning. But on Easter Sunday when we feel like life starts fresh and new, what better ver...

Today is the day you will switch over to that minimalist decor you've always dreamed of. Because, today we are going to dust every single knick knack in your living room and dinning room! This is the last day of cleaning in the LV/DR so anything that is left untouched will get a wipe down. CHALLENGE: Get rid of all your knick knacks and extra decor so you don't have to dust it! well, not really, but if you are of a mind to purge it's usually a healthy thing to do! Wipe down all remaining items int he Living Room and Dinning Room. Things like lamps, picture frames, accessories, etc. Make that room shine! are you keeping up this week with all of the Easter preparations? What special things do you for Good Friday and Easter? Sarah

We are nearing the end of our cushion week. I hope you have enjoyed it. Today you might need some help as we will be moving furniture.  We will be vacuuming the living room (and for me the dinning room too) and mopping the dinning room. CHALLENGE: Clean the living room and dinning room floors. I have carpet in my dinning room, so I will be vacuuming everything. Most people will probably be mopping the dinning room and vacuuming the living room. You can mop the dinning the same way you did your kitchen. When you vacuum the living room (and whatever is logically attached to it; wether that be an entry way, hallway, etc...) pull out the furniture against the wall and use the hose to vacuum the edges. Also move smaller objects and vacuum under them. Essentially you are trying to vacuum every square foot of carpet. If you have hard floors all through your living room, give it a good sweep and mop. You will also need to move items to get to all of the floor. Sarah

I've decided the difficulty of the task isn't what drives me away from doing it, it's taking the time to actually start the task. Procrastination...it gets the best of us all at one point or another! Today's task could be very short or extremely time consuming depending on your house size and decoration style.  We will be wiping down all of the furniture in the Living Room and Dinning Room (of course excluding the couch, easy chairs, and dinning room table). There are a few items, like mirrors, and lamps, etc, that could also be categorized as an accessory. We will be cleaning all of the accessories in a few days. It doesn't matter which day you do those middle-of-the-roaders, just so long as you remember to do them. CHALLENGE: Wipe down all remaining furniture in the living room and dinning room. End tables, coffee tables, buffets, pianos, etc.... It's just like dusting, only on overload. I would recommend a rag dipped in warm slightly soapy water; or furni...

It's get rich quick day! We are going to be pulling our couches and chairs apart, vacuuming them out and hopefully finding lost treasures and maybe a little bit of money too! CHALLENGE: Remove all cushions from any couches and easy chairs in the Living room, vacuum it out, and plump the pillows. If you have leather furniture, think about wiping it down with that stuff the manufacturer gave you that you've never used. Wipe down any wooden or metal parts of the furniture and put it all back together! Happy treasure hunting! Sarah

We are continuing to take it easy for a few days. Tomorrow's task starts us into the Living Room/Dinning Room. Use this time to relax and enjoy the warming weather, or maybe you need to catch up or would like to get ahead. Use this time as it best suits your needs. CHALLENGE: Take a moment to give your Dinning room table and chairs a good cleaning. (This could include highchairs, booster seats, and bar stools.) Pull every chair away from the table and wipe down the table. Include every leg and ornate crevice. Then wipe each individual chair down; every spindle and rung. If you have cushions wash them or beat them out. Did you enjoy your extra day of rest? Did you need to catch up? Did you get ahead? Sarah

Happy 25 years of life to me! Today we are all going to celebrate my birthday by having a catch up day/extra rest day! Surprise! Hurray! Tomorrow we will be half way through the month and I thought we all deserved a day of celebration, rest, and time to catch up all the things we haven't had time to do. If you are a real go getter and are done with all of the Spring Cleaning Challenge's up to this point, and are ready to get ahead, I have included the daily checklist, so you can start on tomorrow's task. Make sure you put your day's of rest where they work best for you! My life is not your life, (I'm guessing most people aren't turning 25 today.) so twist this schedule until it fits your needs !  HAPPY MONDAY!  Sarah

Sunday, our day of rest and meditation. Relax your muscles, breath deep and eat healthy! Be refreshed from God's Word. Circle yourself with encouraging friends and family. II Corinthians 10:5 "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; " Jot down a quick list of things that are a priority in your life. (ex. husband, children, work, friends, making healthy meals, etc...) Now look back and decipher wether or not your reasoning for that priority is God-worthy or self-based. Then take each unworthy item and carry it to the top of a high rise and "cast it down"! Toss your money-making husband over the edge, throw your   straight A child, discard your gossiping  best friend.  If you feel this is harsh, we haven't gotten out the shovel yet. Dig a hole down into the mild of your brain, find the area that holds your day dreams, and p...

Wow! Tomorrow your kitchen will be clean! No more grease! No more dried food particles! What a fantastic feeling! My oven is cranked up to 500 degrees as we speak, and It does not smell pretty! I am catching up on yesterday's task and wow, did it ever need it. The oven has been smoking all week, because of something that got spilled in the bottom. I am excited to finish up in the kitchen and move on to more cozy rooms. Tomorrow's challenge  (or if you're like me, and your are catching up and getting ahead...today's challenge!) we will be scrubbing our floors. Now, your age, ability, floor size, and determination will be the deciding factor on how you clean your floor. CHALLENGE: Scrub every nook and cranny of your kitchen floor. If you are feeling strong and amazing today- pull out the refrigerator and clean under it too! I have a very, very small amount of kitchen floor space and my preferred method will  be to get on my hands and knees with a scrub brush and rag an...

We are getting close to the end of week 2! How are you doing? Do you feel discouraged, accomplished, or tired? YES! me too, all of the above! The worst of the kitchen is over, it's standing their clean and sparkling now! Today we are going to give our countertops and sink a good scrub down. CHALLENGE: Step one: take everything off the counter, from around the sink and in the sink and put it in another room (ex. dinning room table). Step two: wipe down the counters, remove all the crumbs and large obstacles. Step three: use a scour pad and scour the counters. Step four: wipe them down again with warm soapy water. Step five scrub the sink, and all around the sink including the faucet. Step six: Put everything back on the counters. Sarah

Depending on what kind of stove/oven you have, this might be a worse chore than the fridge for you. My mother has a self cleaning, glass, flat top stove. Easy peasy! I have an old non- self cleaning, electric stove with pans (that are as black as can be!). For me personally I've, decided after cleaning the pans on my stove this time (because I've cleaned them many times already) to put foil in them. No matter how tacky I think it looks, I'd rather have fingernails! CHALLENGE: Clean your stove inside, out! If you don't have a self-cleaning oven, just turn your broiler or hottest oven setting on for a while, let it cool, and then clean out the inside. If you have pans on your stove top, consider lining them with foil. Don't forget to scrub the back of the stove, and remove the knobs. Also the hood and back splash need a good washing if you didn't catch it with the wall or cabinet washing. I would love to hear your cleaning stories! Disasters and triumphs!  ...

It's time to tackle the Refrigerator! It doesn't have to be hard, it really doesn't! Let's break down how to make it easy! 1) Empty your freezer into another freezer (Let it defrost) 2) Empty Refrigerator (onto the counter or another fridge) 3) Take out all removable parts from the freezer and fridge, wash them in warm water in the sink and let drip dry 4) wipe down the inside of the freezer and fridge 5) replace all parts and food 6) wipe down the outside of the fridge CHALLENGE: Use these 6 steps to defrost, declutter, and clean out your refrigerator.  Take the time to throw out old food, and condiments, repackage items, and maybe eat some leftover's for dinner! EXTRA: If you don't already do this, organize each shelf in your refrigerator by type. Leftover shelf, dairy shelf, or breakfast shelf. Keep all salad dressings together, and sandwich condiments together, etc... Sarah

Week 2! Yet another challenging week ahead. We will focus on the kitchen this week with all of it's grease, dried food particles, and large appliances. I get a little overwhelmed with running all over the house, so I'm glad to be cleaning one room at a time now! How about you? Note: this post is to be done today, I will post a second time for tomorrow's task.  CHALLENGE: Wipe down all of your kitchen cabinets. First pull everything out, and wipe out the old crumbs and dust bunnies from the back of your cabinets, then after you put everything back where it belongs, and maybe rearrange a few things for good measure; wipe down each cabinets door from the outside, don't forget about the hinges and handles too! If you have nice wood cabinets, this would be a good time to oil them up and make them shiny again! Did you have a restful Sunday? Are you excited to have a sparkling clean kitchen?  Sarah

I'm posting again so you will be ready for tomorrow. I too took a day of rest yesterday. Tomorrow should be a slightly easier day. Maybe a good time to catch up or get ahead or just relax. CHALLENGE: Wipe down (or scour!) all of the small appliances on you countertops. These might include: Microwave, mixer, toaster, etc... EXTRA: If you are feeling really in to cleaning try, pulling out some of you stored away appliances and clean them as well. Some these might include: hand mixer, George Forman Grill, waffle iron, popcorn maker, etc... Do you have a cleaning accountability partner? Does your family help you clean? Sarah

Welcome to your first day of rest. Tomorrow is Sunday, a day that should be put aside to worship the Lord and to rest your body from physical activity. Each Sunday we will meditate on a verse that reflects having a clean heart. Because we all know that a spotless house doesn't make us truly happy. Only a clean heart can keep a smile on our faces. Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,  and renew a right spirit within me.  What does a clean heart look like? Who judges wether the heart is clean or not? Who cares about your heart more than anyone else? Just like we have been pulling out our furniture this week looking for dust bunnies, take a moment to pull out the furniture in your life and look for "Me" bunnies. Search out your heart for selfish things you've tucked away, whether it be a secret, a personal pleasure, a blatant sin, or an old heartache.  When you've found them, take them all one by one and lay them out in a straight row in front of...

Welcome to the end of week 1! Tomorrow you will have accomplished a 5th of the months work! Are things getting a little messy and chaotic? My house is definitely getting a little messy as I move things and don't bother cleaning, because I know I'll get to the deep clean soon. (which is probably not the best thing to do.) Don't worry if you're not right on track; these first two weeks are full of some intense cleaning. You will have time to catch up if you need it as the month surges on. CHALLENGE: Wash curtains and blinds. If you are anything like me, you hate washing blinds. Just remember this is Spring cleaning, it only happens once a year, it wouldn't hurt to do a hated job one time...Right? EXTRA: Give yourself a treat for washing the blinds today! Depending on your budget, your time, and your likes, maybe grab some frozen yogurt, get a massage or a manicure. But Enjoy the fact that those blinds are clean!! What did you treat yourself to today? Do hate w...

I am glad to say that I am back on track! How are you doing with this challenge? Only one more post for this week and you will have the overall house part done! Way to go! These can be some of the hardest and longest cleaning jobs.  Stick with me and don't give up! Personal Story: I cleaned my windows yesterday and found out that they have 3 parts to them (Plus a screen) in summary there are 4 sides of glass that I look through each day, but I can only access 1 (the one on the inside) without tearing apart the window. So with much sadness my "clean" windows aren't clean!  CHALLENGE: Wipe down all of the doors in your house. Front and back, sides, and the top. Don't forget about closet doors, outside doors and especially the doorknobs! You can use warm soapy water, just warm water, or wood polish. EXTRA: If you haven't already, wipe down all of the light switches and plate covers. The top ledge gets especially dirty. What is your least favorite Spring...

I still feel a little overwhelmed by this month, but I'm also already seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. (and no it's not a train!) I hope cleaning is going well for all.  Don't be discouraged when your house starts looking messier than when you started. Spring Cleaning is a deep clean, you will be moving a lot of stuff, taking things out of their original places and creating a little bit of chaos. It's got to get a little messy before it gets REALLY clean! CHALLENGE: Wipe down all of the baseboards, crown molding, door trim and any other woodwork in your house. You can use soap and warm water for painted trim and wood polish for unpainted trim. Be sure to move your furniture away from the wall and wipe up all of the dust behind them. How is your cleaning week going so far? Have you started yet? Are you tired or excited to clean? Sarah

I hope window washing is going well for you today. It's 37 degrees and cloudy with a chance of rain here, not a super good day for washing the outside windows. Tomorrow doesn't look much better. But this challenge isn't all about perfection, it's about being flexible too. I don't even have time to wash my windows today, and I wonder if God allowed it to rain so I would't feel so bad about it! Tomorrow's challenge is washing down the walls. This project will differ for each person especially by wall type. If you have glossy walls you might just do a spot cleaning and if you are feeling adventurous maybe even do some paint touchup. But! for people like me who live in a "Spread your money, spread your paint" as far as it goes apartment building...We have some work to do! My walls are painted with the thinest cheapest paint there is. I have to wash lightly or i'll take off most of the paint. I usually spot clean the marks (with a magic eraser, or...