I don't intend to blame my mother for my being slack in keeping floors clean, but it makes me wonder if part of my neglect is because I wasn't trained to think about it much. My husband literally has to point it out to me! He's quite embarrassed about it when people drop by unexpectedly. Sorry Dear!
Living in the country means your floors are going to have dirt. Not just a little. A lot of dirt! I don't think there's any way to get around this. Especially out west where there is less green grass and plenty of dry ground! If I could show you what I get when I do sweep, I'm sure you all would be appalled.
It's not that it doesn't bother me. I hate dirty floors! I wear shoes constantly in the house because I can't stand even a little of it on my feet - unless I'm outside playing or gardening. That's different. But in the house, I want it clean. Dust bunnies, leaves inside the door, gravel tracked into the kitchen, wood bark and chips around the wood stove, bits of food from cooking, dog hair, and plain old dirt, just to name some of the stuff that makes it way into my home.
Often I must remind myself what Sarah had to endure living in a tent and submissively following Abraham around all those years while traveling to the Promised Land and roaming around Egypt. I'm positive she never had anything but dirt to contend with and plenty of it! Can you imagine? I do. A lot. It keeps me from becoming so discontent with all the grime on my own beautiful floors. How did she handle it? Did she even know anything different? Think of the sand storms as they blew through the tent and got grit in everything.
I've experienced a few of these while living in "civilization", but until I was camping in a tent in the Tecate desert of Mexico on a mission trip and one of these blew through our camp area for about half an hour, I had no idea just how bad this could be! Nothing was left untouched by dirt!
Suddenly, my floors don't look so bad. Perhaps if I swept them just a bit more often I could keep them under control better. Maybe I need to don my apron and sing like Snow White, "Whistle While You Work". An attitude change can make a world of difference!
Sweeping Tips for Your Floors!
• Did you know that a 140 pound women can burn nearly 37 calories just by sweeping 10 minutes? Click here to calculate your own calorie reduction plan by sweeping.
• Turn on some good music that has a faster beat to create some energy!
• To prevent dust from flying around, spray the end of your broom with a commercial dust mop spray or make your own. Just be sure to lightly spray the broom; you don't want it "wet".
• Select a broom with thin straw set close together. A thin strawed broom will pick up the smaller particles on the floor better then a large strawed broom.
• Use long strokes, keeping the bristles on the floor as much as possible.
• Instead of picking up the pile with a dust pan, try using your hose attachment on the vacuum. It will help pick up the fine dust left behind at the end.
• Set a regular time to sweep the entire house twice a week. In high traffic areas, sweep daily.
• Train little ones early to sweep floors! They love this! And there are child size booms on the market.
