We have a wipe-off board hanging in our hallway that has been blank for months (To be precise, it's been blank since we discovered Cozi, a family organizational tool.). Today I put it to good use, planning the chores I think I need to do on a regular basis in order to keep my house in working condition:
Monday
Vacuum entire house
Sweep kitchen
Tuesday
Sweep and mop kitchen and foyer
Wednesday
Clean front and master baths (including floors)
Sweep kitchen
Thursday
Dust entire house (including picture frames)
Friday
Balance checkbook
Menu plan
Sweep kitchen
Saturday
Wash clothes, sheets, and towels
Sunday
Rest...really.
Maybe if it's posted for all to see (not only me, but My Love and all house guests) I'll be more committed to the schedule I've set than I was the first time I gave this thing a whirl. Even though, when I first made my list, it seemed like I lot, I honestly believe it's only 30 minutes to an hour's worth of work every day (except for the laundry, which is pretty much never-ending, and I can't get around that with three kids). That's much better than spending my days working for two to three hours each day and feeling depressed because I simply keep turning up new areas that need work!
I've also spent some time thinking about the areas of the house that got shockingly dirty; while they don't need cleaning all the time, they need tackling periodically. I've heard it suggested that I do things like clean under the stove and clean the windows' tracks twice a year, so that's what I'll do: a winter cleaning and a spring cleaning. Maybe if I keep it up consistently, those spots won't be as bad again.
And then there are some chores that should be done "as needed", but that I'm more likely to keep up with if I write them down. Among them: clean the refrigerator and stove and wipe down baseboards; clean fans and wipe down door frames and surfaces. I'm thinking that once every 2-3 months should be sufficient.
I'm tempted to say that I'll re-visit my blog in a year and give some sort of report on how I'm doing with those goals. but I'm not sure whether it'll happen. I think a better test of my cleaning prowess is going to be my house itself rather than my report on it. But I do need to add one more area to serve as proof: the peace and joy of the people living in the house. In the end, if I miss sweeping the kitchen one day and we need to deal with some stray Rice Krispies, we'll all survive...and maybe even thrive!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
It's Finally Done!
There was an old commercial that I remember seeing when I was little; I'm pretty sure it was for Rice Krispies. It had a young girl showing her younger sister/brother how their mother made Rice Krispy Treats, and when the task was done, she wiped her brow in mock frustration and said, in the sweetest little high-pitched voice, "They're finally done!"
That's about how I felt today: a scant (?) two months after starting this great project, I've finally finished...and it's a really fantastic feeling. I think I've grown a great deal as a homemaker; I've learned a lot about how to clean, how often to clean, and when cleaning can wait. Yes, I ended up with a cleaner house, but I also feel like I ended up stronger, wiser, and more patient. I think that's a pretty good set of results, considering I was armed with cleaning supplies and a broom for the past eight weeks and I STILL managed to keep my family fed, clothed, and entertained.
I think my next step is to come up with some sort of schedule for consistent cleaning, so that I don't end up with this kind of overwhelming and drawn-out task before me again (or at least, not in the near future), so I guess that means one more post. Otherwise, friends, thanks for your attention and support for the past few weeks; it's been really fun!
That's about how I felt today: a scant (?) two months after starting this great project, I've finally finished...and it's a really fantastic feeling. I think I've grown a great deal as a homemaker; I've learned a lot about how to clean, how often to clean, and when cleaning can wait. Yes, I ended up with a cleaner house, but I also feel like I ended up stronger, wiser, and more patient. I think that's a pretty good set of results, considering I was armed with cleaning supplies and a broom for the past eight weeks and I STILL managed to keep my family fed, clothed, and entertained.
I think my next step is to come up with some sort of schedule for consistent cleaning, so that I don't end up with this kind of overwhelming and drawn-out task before me again (or at least, not in the near future), so I guess that means one more post. Otherwise, friends, thanks for your attention and support for the past few weeks; it's been really fun!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Baby Boy's Room
I put off cleaning Baby Boy's room until almost the very end of my great endeavor. I really did have a logical reason: it's easiest for me to clean while kids are sleeping, and he sleeps the most often, but I can't clean while he's asleep in his room. Basically, today I took advantage of a rare opportunity: he was awake, but content to play alone in his infant bouncer; the girls were both asleep. Also, it was pretty incredible to see that, once I finally got started, this may have been the lightest cleaning job I've had yet!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan
2. Clean windows and blinds
3. Clean door frames
4. Dust furniture
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
As I started at the top, I realized that Baby Boy's room was probably the cleanest in the house. Why? We painted it right before we moved him in there, which was a short six months ago (only I would call six months "short" in regards to cleaning). Before we painted, we cleaned the entire room, so it was in pretty good shape. I started, as I always do, by washing the light fixture globes and wiping down the fan blades (which I cleaned with ACV).
I moved from there to Windexing the only window in the room and cleaning out the window tracks. Again, it was reasonably clean, which surprised me; I'm not an expert here, but it seems to me that the east/west facing windows have been significantly less dirty than the north/south facing ones. Also, the windows that face the neighbors' house are cleaner, and this particular window fit both criteria. There were no dog nose-prints, no dead spiders or frogs in the tracks, and even minimal outside dirt. Another happy surprise was that the blinds didn't need cleaning at all; Mini-me used to be in that room, and had pulled down her blinds a few months before. We bought new ones (more specifically, she did), and they have been closed and hidden behind light-blocking curtains ever since then.
The dirtiest place in the room ended up being the outside lower surface of the bedroom door. Years' worth of grimy fingerprints had definitely taken their toll, and it took a cloth with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe, followed by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to clean the door to my satisfaction. After that chore, the dust that I wiped off the surface of the frame seemed like nothing.
Again, the furniture was relatively dust-free, and I am seeing a pattern in Baby Boy's room and the girls' room: they have less surface area and less clutter ON the surface area, so there's less dust. It was really quick to clean all his furniture -- like, less than five minutes. Hmm...maybe I should reduce display items in other areas of the house as well, if it's this easy to clean. On second thought, that would mean doing yet another purge of my books, and I don't think I've got the stomach for it...
I finished up by quickly wiping down the baseboards, which, again, were much cleaner than other baseboards in the house have been. I moved all the furniture to do a thorough vacuuming, used the hose attachment to get a few stubborn bugs in a corner, and was done with the entire project in less than an hour (about the time, incidentally, that Baby Boy decided he was tired of being alone and was ready for dinner).
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan
2. Clean windows and blinds
3. Clean door frames
4. Dust furniture
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
As I started at the top, I realized that Baby Boy's room was probably the cleanest in the house. Why? We painted it right before we moved him in there, which was a short six months ago (only I would call six months "short" in regards to cleaning). Before we painted, we cleaned the entire room, so it was in pretty good shape. I started, as I always do, by washing the light fixture globes and wiping down the fan blades (which I cleaned with ACV).
I moved from there to Windexing the only window in the room and cleaning out the window tracks. Again, it was reasonably clean, which surprised me; I'm not an expert here, but it seems to me that the east/west facing windows have been significantly less dirty than the north/south facing ones. Also, the windows that face the neighbors' house are cleaner, and this particular window fit both criteria. There were no dog nose-prints, no dead spiders or frogs in the tracks, and even minimal outside dirt. Another happy surprise was that the blinds didn't need cleaning at all; Mini-me used to be in that room, and had pulled down her blinds a few months before. We bought new ones (more specifically, she did), and they have been closed and hidden behind light-blocking curtains ever since then.
The dirtiest place in the room ended up being the outside lower surface of the bedroom door. Years' worth of grimy fingerprints had definitely taken their toll, and it took a cloth with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe, followed by a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, to clean the door to my satisfaction. After that chore, the dust that I wiped off the surface of the frame seemed like nothing.
Again, the furniture was relatively dust-free, and I am seeing a pattern in Baby Boy's room and the girls' room: they have less surface area and less clutter ON the surface area, so there's less dust. It was really quick to clean all his furniture -- like, less than five minutes. Hmm...maybe I should reduce display items in other areas of the house as well, if it's this easy to clean. On second thought, that would mean doing yet another purge of my books, and I don't think I've got the stomach for it...
I finished up by quickly wiping down the baseboards, which, again, were much cleaner than other baseboards in the house have been. I moved all the furniture to do a thorough vacuuming, used the hose attachment to get a few stubborn bugs in a corner, and was done with the entire project in less than an hour (about the time, incidentally, that Baby Boy decided he was tired of being alone and was ready for dinner).
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Our Nest
Weeks after I cleaned out my closet and scoured our bathroom, I was finally ready to return to finished cleaning the master bedroom. I mentioned before that this would probably be the case; I was much more likely to make the rest of the house presentable. After all, no one sees our little nest but My Love and I.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan blades
2. Clean doors and door frames
3. Clean windows
4. Dust furniture
5. Wipe down baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
I had been a bit reluctant to clean the fan blades because our fan is directly over the bed; I assumed that when I cleaned the blades, showers of dust were going to fall on our comforter and be impossible to remove. When I finally started the job, however, I was again pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the accumulated dust was. I certainly hadn't cleaned it in the past month, but definitely within the past year. A quick wipe with ACV and a trip through some soapy water for the bulbs, and the fixture was done.
When I started to clean the high areas of the room, like the tops of the door frames, Mini-me wandered in and asked to help. Since I was cleaning with ACV, I let her get a washcloth and start wiping down the baseboards for me. It wasn't a very thorough job, but it was certainly a start, and I appreciated that she wanted to be involved!
The door frames were no more or less dusty than I expected, but I again encountered dirty door surfaces. At toddler-level I found crayon marks, fingerprints, scuffs, and discolored flecks. After scrubbing at the particularly stubborn spots for a while, I reached for my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, though, part of the way it works is to actually remove a tiny layer of the paint...or something. Because I stopped scrubbing to discover several places where the stain was gone, but where I could also see the raw wood of the door peeking through the white paint. Oops. I put the scrubber away and hoped for the best when My Love came home; repainting is his department.
There was nothing more shocking in the windows than I found in any other part of the house; it's a little sad that it no longer surprises me to find a dead frog trapped between the panes of glass. The blinds were particularly dusty, but my current cleaning technique seems to be to buy a new set, so there was nothing to do about them at the moment.
Mini-me had done an admirable job with the baseboards, but her commitment to the job lasted about ten minutes (pretty good for a four-year-old), and I had to finish up for her.
Why is it that I vacuum the bedroom less than any other room in the house? Again, I suppose it's that no one knows except My Love and I. But every time I DO vacuum, I an so enamored of the results that I vow to do it more often. Maybe this time it will stick!
This room also had a special project, which has been in the works for over a week. I wanted to do a thorough cleaning of our queen-sized bed. I removed all the sheets, turned the mattress, sprayed it with a disinfectant (I still haven't tried the baking soda idea I found), washed all the sheets and the dust ruffle, and re-assembled. I was stumped on our down comforter, though. Apparently, they can be washed, but my washing machine was too small, and it seems like an all-day job that would take lots of quarters at a laundry mat. So I decided to splurge and have the thing professionally cleaned...until I discovered it would cost $40! At that point My Love assured me that the comforter was clean enough for his taste, so (after having no blanket on the bed for a week) I caved in and put it back on the bed. Today, my mother brought me a comforter that she and my dad no longer use, and I'm looking forward to updating our bedroom with it.
I'm really enjoying how pleasant it is to have a clean, sweet-smelling bedroom (not that it usually stinks; it just SMELLS clean now!); I wonder how I can make it a priority for the future?
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture and fan blades
2. Clean doors and door frames
3. Clean windows
4. Dust furniture
5. Wipe down baseboards
6. Vacuum floor
I had been a bit reluctant to clean the fan blades because our fan is directly over the bed; I assumed that when I cleaned the blades, showers of dust were going to fall on our comforter and be impossible to remove. When I finally started the job, however, I was again pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the accumulated dust was. I certainly hadn't cleaned it in the past month, but definitely within the past year. A quick wipe with ACV and a trip through some soapy water for the bulbs, and the fixture was done.
When I started to clean the high areas of the room, like the tops of the door frames, Mini-me wandered in and asked to help. Since I was cleaning with ACV, I let her get a washcloth and start wiping down the baseboards for me. It wasn't a very thorough job, but it was certainly a start, and I appreciated that she wanted to be involved!
The door frames were no more or less dusty than I expected, but I again encountered dirty door surfaces. At toddler-level I found crayon marks, fingerprints, scuffs, and discolored flecks. After scrubbing at the particularly stubborn spots for a while, I reached for my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, though, part of the way it works is to actually remove a tiny layer of the paint...or something. Because I stopped scrubbing to discover several places where the stain was gone, but where I could also see the raw wood of the door peeking through the white paint. Oops. I put the scrubber away and hoped for the best when My Love came home; repainting is his department.
There was nothing more shocking in the windows than I found in any other part of the house; it's a little sad that it no longer surprises me to find a dead frog trapped between the panes of glass. The blinds were particularly dusty, but my current cleaning technique seems to be to buy a new set, so there was nothing to do about them at the moment.
Mini-me had done an admirable job with the baseboards, but her commitment to the job lasted about ten minutes (pretty good for a four-year-old), and I had to finish up for her.
Why is it that I vacuum the bedroom less than any other room in the house? Again, I suppose it's that no one knows except My Love and I. But every time I DO vacuum, I an so enamored of the results that I vow to do it more often. Maybe this time it will stick!
This room also had a special project, which has been in the works for over a week. I wanted to do a thorough cleaning of our queen-sized bed. I removed all the sheets, turned the mattress, sprayed it with a disinfectant (I still haven't tried the baking soda idea I found), washed all the sheets and the dust ruffle, and re-assembled. I was stumped on our down comforter, though. Apparently, they can be washed, but my washing machine was too small, and it seems like an all-day job that would take lots of quarters at a laundry mat. So I decided to splurge and have the thing professionally cleaned...until I discovered it would cost $40! At that point My Love assured me that the comforter was clean enough for his taste, so (after having no blanket on the bed for a week) I caved in and put it back on the bed. Today, my mother brought me a comforter that she and my dad no longer use, and I'm looking forward to updating our bedroom with it.
I'm really enjoying how pleasant it is to have a clean, sweet-smelling bedroom (not that it usually stinks; it just SMELLS clean now!); I wonder how I can make it a priority for the future?
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The Beast is Back!
After being gone for almost three weeks...the Beast just showed up in our yard last night! Everyone, especially the kids, is incredibly happy to have her home. So we again have short grey hair on the carpet, dog food crumbs in the living room floor, and trails of water around the kitchen...and it's completely worth it!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Counting my Blessings
I found myself "laboring" over a lengthy series of chores this past weekend. I'm still short of having the entire house cleaned through once, but I have a never-ending list of things that I need to take care of on a daily basis: laundry, cooking, dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms...etc. Don't get me wrong; I'm taking a great deal of pride in the way the house looks now, and I am experiencing a greater level of confidence in my homemaking abilities. It's just that I felt a little overwhelmed by the fact that these tasks are never going to end.
Then I remembered something I read a few weeks ago, suggesting a technique that will help us homemakers avoid thinking about our daily work as drudgery. We should think of it, instead, as a blessing.
I had to clean TWO toilets. How incredibly blessed I am that I have TWO toilets in my house! There are millions of people in the world who have none. There are millions more who have one, but not two. And look at the products I have at my fingertips to keep the toilets sanitary and shining; I have no worries that my children are going to come into contact with some terrible disease because they used an unsanitary toilet.
I had to wash an entire sink full of dishes. Wow, we have dishes! How many people out there don't? How many people in the world only wish that they had enough food to cook and serve on dishes in the first place? How many more don't have the water to clean themselves or their plates with -- or, if they do have water, had to walk three miles to get it in a bucket?
I had to clean out two bathtubs and a stand-up shower. Suddenly, that seems like an extraordinary privilege more than it does a chore. I take a bath -- every single day -- in clean, hot, running water. I don't have to share my tub with anyone except my own family.
When I ran the vacuum, I thought about the comfort our rug brought the family and the convenience of electricity that allowed me to do so in the first place. When I folded my kids' clothes, I considered how fortunate they were to have beautiful, comfortable, serviceable clothes (more than they will ever need) provided by people who love them dearly. When I swept Cheerios off the kitchen floor, I thanked God that I had two arms and two legs and the strength and health to keep my house tidy. As I did each task, I earnestly considered the many ways in which I had been blessed.
Here's the thing: I have heard "count your blessings" all my life, and I have done it so many times when it comes to the people and things in my life (husband, kids, friends, home, job, etc.). But I don't think that I have ever once honestly considered how even that which I think of as hard work or an undesirable chore is still evidence of the many, many gifts in my life. It was the strangest thing to find myself grinning and close to tears as I scrubbed toilets and floors and folded burp cloths, but it was also the most joy I've ever gotten from housework.
Then I remembered something I read a few weeks ago, suggesting a technique that will help us homemakers avoid thinking about our daily work as drudgery. We should think of it, instead, as a blessing.
I had to clean TWO toilets. How incredibly blessed I am that I have TWO toilets in my house! There are millions of people in the world who have none. There are millions more who have one, but not two. And look at the products I have at my fingertips to keep the toilets sanitary and shining; I have no worries that my children are going to come into contact with some terrible disease because they used an unsanitary toilet.
I had to wash an entire sink full of dishes. Wow, we have dishes! How many people out there don't? How many people in the world only wish that they had enough food to cook and serve on dishes in the first place? How many more don't have the water to clean themselves or their plates with -- or, if they do have water, had to walk three miles to get it in a bucket?
I had to clean out two bathtubs and a stand-up shower. Suddenly, that seems like an extraordinary privilege more than it does a chore. I take a bath -- every single day -- in clean, hot, running water. I don't have to share my tub with anyone except my own family.
When I ran the vacuum, I thought about the comfort our rug brought the family and the convenience of electricity that allowed me to do so in the first place. When I folded my kids' clothes, I considered how fortunate they were to have beautiful, comfortable, serviceable clothes (more than they will ever need) provided by people who love them dearly. When I swept Cheerios off the kitchen floor, I thanked God that I had two arms and two legs and the strength and health to keep my house tidy. As I did each task, I earnestly considered the many ways in which I had been blessed.
Here's the thing: I have heard "count your blessings" all my life, and I have done it so many times when it comes to the people and things in my life (husband, kids, friends, home, job, etc.). But I don't think that I have ever once honestly considered how even that which I think of as hard work or an undesirable chore is still evidence of the many, many gifts in my life. It was the strangest thing to find myself grinning and close to tears as I scrubbed toilets and floors and folded burp cloths, but it was also the most joy I've ever gotten from housework.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...right?
In the old nursery rhyme, little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, today I deep-cleaned the girls' room, and let me tell you...there was not a bit of any of that in sight. What DID I find? Spiders, snails, and puppy dog [hair]. I think the writer of the nursery rhyme was confused.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Dust all surfaces
3. Clean window
4. Wipe down doors
5. Clean baseboards
6. Vacuum
First of all: the light fixture was done immediately, so I had no excuse to say later that I forgot about it.
I dusted the room, and it seemed like it was more dusty than other parts of the house. It also seems to be the warmest room in the house because of a large window, so I wonder whether that has something to do with the air conditioning unit's attempt to work in overdrive.
The window took more scrubbing than the ones in other rooms have. The Best likes (liked?) to sit with her head propped on the window sill and her nose pressed to the glass, which meant a lot of dirt and smudges to deal with. It was when I opened the window to clean the tracks, though, that I got my biggest surprise. The girls' window sits just over our "garden" -- a small patch of mulched dirt with a few sago palms and flowers growing in it. My theory is that the bugs, frogs, and grime I found in the window originated in the garden. The window track was coated with some sort of green slime that probably came from the sprinkler. I know that we have lots of little frogs around, especially in the summer; several met their ends stuck between the window glass and the screen of the girls' bedroom. And, yes, there were dead spiders and a snail. (I have no idea how the snail got there; however, I have seen one in the garden before, so my theory is that s/he somehow climbed the brick and entered in at a crevice.)
I pulled out a new tool when wiping down the doors today: my Up & Up "magic eraser" from Target. Those things are fantastic for removing fingerprints, pencil and crayon marks, and muddy streaks from both doors and walls.
Cleaning the baseboards was uneventful, but things got interesting again when it was time to vacuum. Cuddles and Mini-me entered the room, and they both wanted to help me vacuum the floor. There was almost a fight over it. This is the documentation: when they are teenagers and try to shirk their chores, I will remind them that there once was a day when they fought for the privilege of doing them!
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