As every loving concerned parent has come to know over time, one of the most irksome habits children will undoubtedly incur is the habit to be like they are a miniature tornado. Always seemingly one step behind their mother, another with their hands picking up one toy after another, and forgetting to put them away, thus creating mounds of toys that seem to appear from nowhere only moments after a mother has made efforts to clean up.

At times, a moment is taken to teach the child where things go, and how to clean up, but bad habits are often hard to break. In our house we have spent time quietly sitting down, and even labeling small plastic boxes, and even arranging toys by the type or size. If they are soft they would be placed up higher, and the hard plastic toys would be on the shelves.

It is even tougher, when the parents themselves were not taught how to clean up. Often the habit of organization is not emphasized during their own childhoods, so it is as though they are learning an entirely new way of doing things as they are an adult.

As a many Muslims know, we are expected to keep our homes organized, and clutter free. I will be the first to tell you that this has been an ongoing struggle for me. In our household, there are not many places to neatly put things away, we have books stacked up near the doorway, as we do not have a bookshelf, and have used plastic containers to try to maintain the vast amount of schoolwork creations.

But how do we make this process easier? I am going to try to take on the flylady methodologies and integrate that into my own household. It does not help that we do not have a vacuum. This is on my wish list at the moment. Insha’allah, when we are able we will head off to the store and pick one up, and will probably end up spending the week cleaning the home from top to bottom.

In reading the flylady website, and she recommends taking everything in baby steps. Well, I can do that. Our house is not a complete disaster, but I would like to be one of those Muslimah women who somehow manages to have three or more children and her house is spotless.

Step 1: The sink – She recommends just drying the sink after the dishes have been done. Ok. I can do that. Easy peasy. I do the dishes anyways and always make dua’a for my husband.

Step 2: Clutter free kitchen – This one I am recommending as it seems to go well with drying the sink. Maybe each night I can take out the trash, dry the sink, and make sure the top of the stove is spotless?