7 Minute Race to clean house

We are moving to a different home and different city.  Really a different culture.

My kids have learned a new skill, we like to call it the “7 minute race.”

We have it as a drill twice a day. Once in the morning and one around noon.

Even when we move and our house is not for sale, I think we will still have this because it has been so beneficial to our entire family.

What is the 7 minute race?

We set the kitchen timer and RACE to clean the house to make it “show-worthy.”

AND, yesterday we had to do it in 5 minutes – for real.  The real estate agency called and said they were in the area and had a client who wanted to see our house.

I had just got home from the grocery store.  Groceries were all over the kitchen.

I told the Real Estate Agency – “No problem.”  Laughing on the outside – feeling stressed on the inside.

Then I YELLED  – “5 MINUTES and THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”
I’m really not a drill Sargent.  My parenting style is very relaxed so my kids just laughed but knew I was serious.

My 5 children were awesome with handling their areas.

Here is the gist of the 7 Minute Race to Clean House to make it “show ready”:

• Youngest boy cleans out the wastebaskets and turns on ALL the lights.
• Youngest girl gets all the dirty dishes from around the house and dusts living room.
• Oldest girl puts dishes in dishwasher or microwave.  She also straightens all the beds, grabs all the stuff we take with us when we have to leave i.e. schoolwork, water, and dogs.
• Middle son puts all dog stuff in garage, cleans counters, wipes all mirrors, and sweeps/vacuums main areas.
• Eldest son picks up dog stuff from backyard, hides valuables, and is my 2nd in command.  He is awesome at seeing something I may have forgotten.

Our house has only been on the market for two weeks and my kids have mentioned many times how much they love our house being spotless.  Honestly, I can not wait to leave my shoes out or to be able to leave my crafts everywhere.  We weren’t slobs before but we did leave our books on the dining room table overnight and we NEVER turned on all the lights when we left the house.

This has actually been a FUN activity that I really will still do when we move to our new home, hopefully soon.

So many times in the past I had wanted to hire someone to “help” me clean – but honestly this has become a new free sport.  The only complaint that I have about this new race – is that we didn’t start sooner.

Blessings to you!  You are loved!

My name is LANA (like banana).
Our blog is about loving Jesus, loving kids, loving others, loving food, loving DIY projects, loving travel and just loving life!  Find me over at iLoveMy5Kids.com.