If the house is always chaotic and messy for a long time, then the spirit of each member in it is affected. Of course, everyone must acknowledge that the living space plays an important role, not only for mental health but also for the career of the whole family; a clean and tidy home is something everyone desires. However, in the hustle and bustle of life, we often overlook this, and many people compromise by saying: "It's okay to clean up tomorrow," but then how many tomorrows pass, and the house becomes increasingly messy and dirty, gradually becoming a habit, making the home look shabby, and no one wants to return. Is there any wealthy family whose home is messy and dirty? It doesn't even need to be a large house with expensive furniture; a bright and tidy room is already a blessing.
The more blessings there are, the more wealth naturally comes, which is why since ancient times, our ancestors have advised their descendants to always keep the house tidy and clean, firstly to inspire the enthusiasm of each family member, and secondly to lead to success and happiness. Especially, these three places must be cleaned regularly if you want wealth to come:
Clean altar
In Eastern culture, ancestor worship is always highly valued, regardless of the era, but the customs of worship vary from place to place. In some places, the altar combines everything from deities, Buddhas, ancestors, to the Kitchen Gods, with a large incense burner for offerings; in others, it is still combined but divided into three incense burners: on the left for the King, the spirits of the deceased, and on the right for the ancestors, while the central burner is for the communal spirits and deities. Some households have separate altars for Buddha and ancestors, with the Kitchen Gods placed near the entrance to welcome wealth into the house. The correctness of these practices is not the focus here, as it depends on each family's circumstances, traditions, and beliefs.
Many people may ask how big the altar should be, how high or low it should be. Many feng shui masters use the Lu Ban ruler to measure, but in reality, this is just a way to reassure the homeowner. Worship does not depend on form but on the sincerity of the descendants. After passing away, ancestors exist in a spiritual form and can only be sensed through subtle waves; they resonate with purity and lightness, not with material things anymore, as they no longer have a physical body, so they cannot enjoy the food and drink that descendants prepare. Ancestors value moral and spiritual values.
While the living place importance on material aspects and forms, ancestors value harmony and internal unity, while the living prioritize wealth and status. To receive blessings from ancestors, the altar must first be appropriately positioned to be tidy and clean; it is not necessary to display exquisite food offerings, but a cold altar with no incense is also not good. Many people only light incense on holidays, the full moon, or the first day of the month, and only clean the altar on those days; some families even wait until Tet to clean everything at once for convenience. However, this is not correct at all; the altar is a sacred place, a connection between ancestors and descendants. If descendants do not take care of it regularly, how can the deities and ancestors above be moved to bless them with good fortune and happiness?
Therefore, regardless of the day, whenever the altar is messy or dirty, it must be tidied up immediately. Another note is that before cleaning the altar, the person performing the task should keep themselves pure, so they should bathe and dress neatly, and the cleaning tools for the altar must be used exclusively; absolutely do not use kitchen or house cleaning tools to clean the altar. All these actions show respect for the worship place and also allow the deities, Buddhas, and ancestors to witness and bless the household.
Clean main door
A beggar was given the last rose from a flower girl on the street. Seeing the beautiful flower, the beggar decided to find a vase. When he got home, he put the flower in the vase, then placed it on the table and admired it. After a while, he felt that such a beautiful flower could not be placed in a dirty bottle, so he decided to clean the bottle. After that, he admired the flower again and felt that the table was too dirty, not suitable for the vase, so he started to clean the table. He then realized that the room was too messy; with a clean vase and table, he continued to tidy up, organizing things neatly and clearing out the trash, making the room brighter and warmer.
However, when he looked in the mirror, he saw a scruffy young man in disheveled clothes. He told himself, "Is this kind of person worthy of being in such a clean and beautiful room?" After thinking, he went to take a shower, shaved, changed into clean clothes, and when he looked in the mirror again, he was surprised to see a youthful and handsome face. He felt more optimistic, and then the man decided not to beg anymore but to look for a job. With continuous effort, that man later became very successful.
Cleaning the house truly has such magic; cleaning may seem like a simple manual labor task, but in reality, it contains wisdom. In life, a dirty and chaotic environment represents the accumulation of negative energy within, while a clean environment allows positive energy to flow naturally, making people happier and more optimistic, thus resolving difficulties more quickly. The eight trigrams represent three directions, each direction has a source of energy that affects your home; if any direction is messy or unclean, it will create negative energy affecting health or wealth and honor. Especially, the main door is where most of the homeowner's energy enters and exits; this is where energy gathers before spreading to the rooms. It doesn't matter if the main door is truly beautiful or not, but if it is messy and disorganized, it will create a feeling of confinement and lack of flow.
Moreover, the main door is the first place you enter the house; if the first sight is chaotic, it certainly cannot evoke positive feelings. Therefore, not keeping the main door tidy will cause people's moods to be unstable, leading to frequent arguments and constant unease.
Clean kitchen
No one can deny that the kitchen is one of the most important places when building a house, especially for Eastern people in general and Vietnamese people in particular. People need to eat to live, and to eat, they must go into the kitchen. The direction of the kitchen is the most important; it must face the direction of blessings for the homeowner to be healthy and prosperous. Not only do Vietnamese people pay attention to the kitchen's direction, but they also worship the Kitchen God, also known as Mr. Tao.
Keeping the kitchen clean is equally important. The kitchen is where daily cooking takes place; if it is allowed to become dirty, it will breed many harmful bacteria. These bacteria will cling to food, entering the homeowner's body and causing illness. Furthermore, a kitchen that is often cluttered and disorganized makes it time-consuming to find cooking utensils, leading to discomfort for the cook, and prolonged discomfort can cause conflicts within the family. A family with many conflicts cannot live happily, and work will lack smoothness, making it difficult for wealth to come.
Therefore, the kitchen's feng shui helps the homeowner receive much wealth, which can be explained scientifically. Besides diligently worshiping the Kitchen God on special occasions, we need to take care to keep the kitchen clean, with items arranged neatly and reasonably for convenient cooking and cleaning, thus creating a comfortable atmosphere for the cook and fostering harmony in the family. Additionally, the kitchen is a source of heat corresponding to the fire element, so the kitchen space must be arranged to be airy, preventing heat from accumulating too high in one place, allowing it to spread evenly throughout the house, creating warmth and facilitating the flow of energy. If these things are done, what wealth would not come?
In life, regardless of people's different personalities and appearances, everyone has the ability to spread love and help others. Kindness is never forgotten; it can change your life and make the world a warmer place. A home is a reflection of its owner; the state of the home reflects the character of the owner. How a person treats their home is also how they think about everything. If the owner takes care to keep it tidy and decorates the house beautifully, it shows that they have a good heart, willpower, and diligence. These qualities are very beneficial for success; wealth does not come to a person naturally but must be achieved through effort and dedication to what they are doing. A house does not need to be too spacious, luxurious, or filled with expensive furniture; as long as the owner pays attention to arranging and regularly cleaning and caring for it, it will first create enthusiasm among the members to return home and then foster a harmonious and happy atmosphere, which is the foundation for generating wealth.