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!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
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!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Kamikaze Bugs
This morning I made a to-do list, and on it was the following item: clean all light fixtures in the house.
I started out so well with my cleaning spree, but it's been easy to skip over the things that no one will notice, and light fixtures have been a challenge for me. I don't know why; it's like I forget they are even there until I'm done cleaning and have put away my supplies and am tired. Theoretically, I should tackle them first, but that just hasn't been happening. So I had ended up with multiple rooms that were clean but contained light fixtures that were not (laundry room, hallway, dining room, office, master bath part b, kitchen, and master closet).
At first, if you remember, I had worried about climbing up to reach the lights. As it turns out, the only one I had any trouble with ended up being the one in the vaulted ceiling in the office, which My Love will have to take care of. The rest were pretty straightforward and involved standing on a dining chair. The girls wandered over to see what I was doing at one point, but didn't seem to have any desire to replicate my actions.
I cleaned all the fixtures with apple cider vinegar, and the entire process was quick, painless, and entirely uneventful. Except...
I was appalled at the number of bugs I found cooked to the bottom surfaces of the enclosed bulbs I cleaned today! Everything from flies to spiders to moths had found their ways inside the glass covers, and every one of them met a dramatic end. I understand that moths aren't examples of the most intelligent of God's creatures, but is it really worth it to them to actively struggle to get inside a burning glass ball that's going to roast them alive? (I literally had to scrub some of the insects and spiders from the glass with a textured sponge; they had been seared on by the lights' heat.)
My Love used to tease me about my loathing of spiders. "Oh, but they're good, Honey. They kill all the bugs that come inside!" I retort that I don't WANT bugs inside -- which is why we pay for pest control -- and that spiders relinquish all right to life when they come inside my home. With that knowledge, these bugs literally seem suicidal. Life is grand in the great outdoors, but they risk their lives just to chase a bright spot of light that ultimately leads to their demise.
I started out so well with my cleaning spree, but it's been easy to skip over the things that no one will notice, and light fixtures have been a challenge for me. I don't know why; it's like I forget they are even there until I'm done cleaning and have put away my supplies and am tired. Theoretically, I should tackle them first, but that just hasn't been happening. So I had ended up with multiple rooms that were clean but contained light fixtures that were not (laundry room, hallway, dining room, office, master bath part b, kitchen, and master closet).
At first, if you remember, I had worried about climbing up to reach the lights. As it turns out, the only one I had any trouble with ended up being the one in the vaulted ceiling in the office, which My Love will have to take care of. The rest were pretty straightforward and involved standing on a dining chair. The girls wandered over to see what I was doing at one point, but didn't seem to have any desire to replicate my actions.
I cleaned all the fixtures with apple cider vinegar, and the entire process was quick, painless, and entirely uneventful. Except...
I was appalled at the number of bugs I found cooked to the bottom surfaces of the enclosed bulbs I cleaned today! Everything from flies to spiders to moths had found their ways inside the glass covers, and every one of them met a dramatic end. I understand that moths aren't examples of the most intelligent of God's creatures, but is it really worth it to them to actively struggle to get inside a burning glass ball that's going to roast them alive? (I literally had to scrub some of the insects and spiders from the glass with a textured sponge; they had been seared on by the lights' heat.)
My Love used to tease me about my loathing of spiders. "Oh, but they're good, Honey. They kill all the bugs that come inside!" I retort that I don't WANT bugs inside -- which is why we pay for pest control -- and that spiders relinquish all right to life when they come inside my home. With that knowledge, these bugs literally seem suicidal. Life is grand in the great outdoors, but they risk their lives just to chase a bright spot of light that ultimately leads to their demise.
Monday, May 14, 2012
It works!
I said earlier that I would experiment with alternative uses for dryer sheets, among them cleaning soap scum from a shower door. The results are in: it works beautifully! It took two dryer sheets to clean our shower door. It does take a bit of elbow grease, but no more than it would take to scrub it with a bathroom cleaner and sponge. Also, the technique only works if the door is dry; otherwise, the dryer sheets just get soggy. Supposedly, dryer sheets also sort of coat the door's surface with something that keeps them clean a bit longer, so my next task is to see whether that one's true as well.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Preventative Maintenance
Cuddles turned two on Monday. It's been difficult for me to adjust; I've been identifying her age in months for...well...24 months now. I can't believe I have a two-year-old!
On Monday, we celebrated ourselves; Mini-me and I sang her "Happy Birthday" in the morning, and I made brownie cupcakes for a special treat after dinner. Her party, though, is today. All grandparents, aunts, and uncles are invited, and that means I'll have about ten people in the house. Time to clean!
Saturday morning, My Love took the girls to the park so that I could get some work done. I started the washing machine, then got busy. I assumed I had several hours' work ahead of me; that's been the description of most of my cleaning sprees thus far. However (I timed it), I had the house shining in an hour and eight minutes. Pretty impressive! And I can identify exactly why the job was so quick and easy: the house wasn't dirty...at least not dirty enough that I normally would have said it "needed" cleaning. There was no visible dust and no debris on the carpet. Still, I dusted all surfaces in all the common areas, swept the hallway and kitchen (I DID turn up a pretty respectable pile of crumbs there), and ran the vacuum. By the time my family swept back into the house at 10:38, I was emptying the dust pan into the garbage can and looking with pride at a clean house!
All members of our family have seen the home at its worst (specifically, when there was a newborn in the house), so there's no real need to impress them. However, it does make me feel good to hone my hostessing abilities and set a nice backdrop for Cuddles's party. She won't remember it, of course, and I hope that our guests will care more about the event itself than the clean carpets. I guess, in the end, today' activities were mostly for my own satisfaction, and I'm proud to report that housekeeping is fast becoming a habit!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
One Down
I mentioned all the conspirators who contribute to the constant mess in the house...but I want to be clear that I love each of them, and cleaning up after each of them is more than worth their company.
This week, we lost our dog. The Beast wandered out of the yard, and has last been seen several miles from our house. We've looked for her for several days now, and it's like she's vanished. Despite ads online, phone calls to local vets and animal control, and the combined strength of Facebook friends, we have yet to find her.
It's pretty sad; Mini-me, especially, is asking where she is and is saying that she misses her. Yesterday she started coloring a picture and said it was for The Beast when she came home. I had to stop myself from sniffling.
The house IS cleaner without her. There are no trails of water drops across the linoleum in the kitchen; there are no dog food crumbs in the middle of the kitchen carpet; there is no dog hair on the base of the couch. But you know what? I wish there was. The house feels eerily quiet and sterile without her in it. Sometimes I glance around and find myself wondering, "Where's the dog?" I wonder how long it will take me to get used to the idea that she's not here? I wonder if I'll even need to? I am still holding out hope that she'll show back up, but I don't know how long to do so; I also don't know at what point I should start gently telling the kids that she might not be coming back.
This week, we lost our dog. The Beast wandered out of the yard, and has last been seen several miles from our house. We've looked for her for several days now, and it's like she's vanished. Despite ads online, phone calls to local vets and animal control, and the combined strength of Facebook friends, we have yet to find her.
It's pretty sad; Mini-me, especially, is asking where she is and is saying that she misses her. Yesterday she started coloring a picture and said it was for The Beast when she came home. I had to stop myself from sniffling.
The house IS cleaner without her. There are no trails of water drops across the linoleum in the kitchen; there are no dog food crumbs in the middle of the kitchen carpet; there is no dog hair on the base of the couch. But you know what? I wish there was. The house feels eerily quiet and sterile without her in it. Sometimes I glance around and find myself wondering, "Where's the dog?" I wonder how long it will take me to get used to the idea that she's not here? I wonder if I'll even need to? I am still holding out hope that she'll show back up, but I don't know how long to do so; I also don't know at what point I should start gently telling the kids that she might not be coming back.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Sterile sheets?
I think I have a dim memory that we washed sheets about once a week as I was growing up...I think I recall that my mother would ask us to take the sheets off our beds periodically and bring them to the laundry room. These days, a visit to my parents' house on a Saturday often finds the sheets washing and my mother making beds before nap time. In our house, though, sheets get washed when they are visibly dirty or when I can't recall the last time they were washed. I think I can justify this to an extent; I literally wash at least one load of clothes every day, and more like five on the weekends. For the first few months of Baby Boy's life we used cloth diapers, and I'm shocked that anyone ever had clean clothes to wear! But, again, that season of life has passed, and I am adding "frequent and consistent sheet-washing" to my cleaning list.
Washing sheets is pretty simple, but I very seldom do anything with pillows or the mattress. On a tip from my mother, I sprayed Lysol disinfectant spray on the pillows and bare mattresses while the sheets were washing. That created a nice, fresh smell that hope also contributed to their cleanliness. I found this page a few weeks ago that suggests cleaning the mattress with baking soda and lavender essential oil. I never made it that far today, but it's on the to-do list.
We use a down comforter on the master bed all year long, and we keep it covered with a duvet cover. (The comforter itself is purple -- I think it was on sale! -- but looks beautiful inside our blue and brown cover.) We've had it since we got married, which is six years this month, and it's never been washed. I did a little research on washing a down comforter, and found a lot of sources, all of which pretty much say the same thing: wash it infrequently, in a front-loading washing machine, in cold water. Then dry it with tennis balls/tennis shoes (clean) to fluff it, which will take several hours. I don't have a front-loading washing machine, so our comforter has been sitting on the cedar chest waiting for a trip to my parents' house to take advantage of theirs.
My sources also say that I can wash my down pillows the same way, which is great news...I was pretty shocked at how dirty the pillows themselves looked once I removed the covers! (And I'm religious about removing my makeup every night, so that means the yellowish stains on the pillows are just body residue...yuck!)
Even though cleaning the pillows, comforter, and mattress is still on my to-do list (which I will probably post later so that I don't forget it) I was really pleased with the way the clean sheets looked, smelled, and felt. I'm going to try -- really, really try -- to do this once a week!
On that note, as soon as I get the rest of the house at least touched (all that's left is the kids' rooms!), I think I may go back to some sort of schedule. I have a few ideas, and I may try them out and let you know which one(s) work most effectively for my busy-yet-hyper-organized personality.
Washing sheets is pretty simple, but I very seldom do anything with pillows or the mattress. On a tip from my mother, I sprayed Lysol disinfectant spray on the pillows and bare mattresses while the sheets were washing. That created a nice, fresh smell that hope also contributed to their cleanliness. I found this page a few weeks ago that suggests cleaning the mattress with baking soda and lavender essential oil. I never made it that far today, but it's on the to-do list.
We use a down comforter on the master bed all year long, and we keep it covered with a duvet cover. (The comforter itself is purple -- I think it was on sale! -- but looks beautiful inside our blue and brown cover.) We've had it since we got married, which is six years this month, and it's never been washed. I did a little research on washing a down comforter, and found a lot of sources, all of which pretty much say the same thing: wash it infrequently, in a front-loading washing machine, in cold water. Then dry it with tennis balls/tennis shoes (clean) to fluff it, which will take several hours. I don't have a front-loading washing machine, so our comforter has been sitting on the cedar chest waiting for a trip to my parents' house to take advantage of theirs.
My sources also say that I can wash my down pillows the same way, which is great news...I was pretty shocked at how dirty the pillows themselves looked once I removed the covers! (And I'm religious about removing my makeup every night, so that means the yellowish stains on the pillows are just body residue...yuck!)
Even though cleaning the pillows, comforter, and mattress is still on my to-do list (which I will probably post later so that I don't forget it) I was really pleased with the way the clean sheets looked, smelled, and felt. I'm going to try -- really, really try -- to do this once a week!
On that note, as soon as I get the rest of the house at least touched (all that's left is the kids' rooms!), I think I may go back to some sort of schedule. I have a few ideas, and I may try them out and let you know which one(s) work most effectively for my busy-yet-hyper-organized personality.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
My apologies
If anyone other than immediate family has used our "guest" (front) bathroom within the past month...I owe you a sincere apology.
I had no idea there was a spider living behind the door, subsisting quite comfortably on the fat crop of bugs in his web. (We're working on getting Mini-me to close the door when she uses the bathroom, so he'd had complete privacy for a while.)
It's news to me that, if you don't wash the storage bag for the bath toys, it will leave a soap scum silhouette on the bathtub wall. (Duly noted; this is a new monthly chore!)
Who'd have guessed that Cuddles enjoys chewing on toothbrushes, and that there were three half-digested toothbrushes stored under the sink on top of the stack of fresh towels? (In the future, they will be stored in a secure location.)
In short...this bathroom needed a lot of attention, and it finally got it tonight after the kiddos went to sleep.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean mirror
3. Clean sink
4. Clean toilet
5. Clean tub
6. Wash all bath toys, rugs, and towels
7. Wipe down baseboards and mop floor
The light fixture was the same kind as the one in the master bath, but smaller, so I made short work of that. After cleaning and re-installing the bulbs and shining the mirror behind them, the light in the bathroom was almost blinding. The bathroom is painted bright orange -- the kids love it! -- and it was sort of like working in a giant highlighter.
Cleaning the sink was no special chore, but I did take a moment to marvel at the amount of pink toothpaste two small girls can manage to affix to a bathroom sink.
It was when I started tackling the toilet that I noticed the full extent of the bathroom's need for attention. The toilet itself wasn't bad; I take pride in cleaning out the bowl and the surface about once a week. However, the floor around it was in rough shape. Here's the thing: the wasted space in the master bath seems to have appeared at the cost of space in the front bath, and it's a tight little room. There's not really room to mop or sweep, so...I just let it go. I'll be brutally honest when I say I can't remember the last time I mopped this bathroom. On the floor and in the corners around the toilet were dust, dog hair, toothpaste drops, dead bugs, tiny rubber bands, toddler hair, sand...the list goes on. Honestly, I was so appalled at my lack of effort in keeping the floor at least moderately clean that I scrubbed it with renewed vigor on my hands and knees. I made three passes: once with ammonia while cleaning the toilet, once with apple cider vinegar, and once with a Lysol wipe for good measure. By golly, that floor sparkled when I was done with it!
I took a break from the floor to address the bathtub. It wasn't horrendously dirty, but it's easy to skip cleaning the tub: if company's coming, I just pull the curtain and save it for later. That said, the scrubbing bubbles did their job well, and after a quick wipe-down (and removal of all toys for a run through the dishwasher) I felt content with my results.
On that note, though, I have a verdict on the scrubbing bubbles: they work, and I'll finish using the can, but I doubt I'll buy any more. After yet another evening enduring a headache caused by the fumes from cleaning, I don't think it's worth it, and I do feel a bit "safer" breathing in vinegar rather than unidentified chemical fumes.
My last task was to wipe out the crevices above and on the door, just as I have in the rest of the house. It was while I was doing that, though, that I happened to glance down and notice the fingerprints and smudges at the three-foot mark. Thinking back to yesterday's experience in the laundry room, I guess I've learned yet another lesson: to get the house really, really clean I need to examine it from the level of a four-year-old. When I knelt down to clean the smudges, I noticed a pretty consistent ring of them around the hallway, which also happens to be one of very few unpainted areas in the house. Another item to add to My Love's to-do list? Or maybe a "vacation" while the kids stay with their grandparents and we spent the weekend painting. It sounds romantic...
I had no idea there was a spider living behind the door, subsisting quite comfortably on the fat crop of bugs in his web. (We're working on getting Mini-me to close the door when she uses the bathroom, so he'd had complete privacy for a while.)
It's news to me that, if you don't wash the storage bag for the bath toys, it will leave a soap scum silhouette on the bathtub wall. (Duly noted; this is a new monthly chore!)
Who'd have guessed that Cuddles enjoys chewing on toothbrushes, and that there were three half-digested toothbrushes stored under the sink on top of the stack of fresh towels? (In the future, they will be stored in a secure location.)
In short...this bathroom needed a lot of attention, and it finally got it tonight after the kiddos went to sleep.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean mirror
3. Clean sink
4. Clean toilet
5. Clean tub
6. Wash all bath toys, rugs, and towels
7. Wipe down baseboards and mop floor
The light fixture was the same kind as the one in the master bath, but smaller, so I made short work of that. After cleaning and re-installing the bulbs and shining the mirror behind them, the light in the bathroom was almost blinding. The bathroom is painted bright orange -- the kids love it! -- and it was sort of like working in a giant highlighter.
Cleaning the sink was no special chore, but I did take a moment to marvel at the amount of pink toothpaste two small girls can manage to affix to a bathroom sink.
It was when I started tackling the toilet that I noticed the full extent of the bathroom's need for attention. The toilet itself wasn't bad; I take pride in cleaning out the bowl and the surface about once a week. However, the floor around it was in rough shape. Here's the thing: the wasted space in the master bath seems to have appeared at the cost of space in the front bath, and it's a tight little room. There's not really room to mop or sweep, so...I just let it go. I'll be brutally honest when I say I can't remember the last time I mopped this bathroom. On the floor and in the corners around the toilet were dust, dog hair, toothpaste drops, dead bugs, tiny rubber bands, toddler hair, sand...the list goes on. Honestly, I was so appalled at my lack of effort in keeping the floor at least moderately clean that I scrubbed it with renewed vigor on my hands and knees. I made three passes: once with ammonia while cleaning the toilet, once with apple cider vinegar, and once with a Lysol wipe for good measure. By golly, that floor sparkled when I was done with it!
I took a break from the floor to address the bathtub. It wasn't horrendously dirty, but it's easy to skip cleaning the tub: if company's coming, I just pull the curtain and save it for later. That said, the scrubbing bubbles did their job well, and after a quick wipe-down (and removal of all toys for a run through the dishwasher) I felt content with my results.
On that note, though, I have a verdict on the scrubbing bubbles: they work, and I'll finish using the can, but I doubt I'll buy any more. After yet another evening enduring a headache caused by the fumes from cleaning, I don't think it's worth it, and I do feel a bit "safer" breathing in vinegar rather than unidentified chemical fumes.
My last task was to wipe out the crevices above and on the door, just as I have in the rest of the house. It was while I was doing that, though, that I happened to glance down and notice the fingerprints and smudges at the three-foot mark. Thinking back to yesterday's experience in the laundry room, I guess I've learned yet another lesson: to get the house really, really clean I need to examine it from the level of a four-year-old. When I knelt down to clean the smudges, I noticed a pretty consistent ring of them around the hallway, which also happens to be one of very few unpainted areas in the house. Another item to add to My Love's to-do list? Or maybe a "vacation" while the kids stay with their grandparents and we spent the weekend painting. It sounds romantic...
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Dust in the laundry room
At first I was a bit reluctant to call the laundry room a "room" in the house. It's tiny, and so I was positive that it couldn't be too dirty or take too long to clean. I fully intended to lump my cleaning of it in with something else, like the hall closet. If I'm learning anything about myself during this cleaning frenzy, it's that I'm wrong...a whole lot. (Isn't it healthy to admit that every now and then?)
Our laundry room is small and doubles as a mud room; we have our access to the garage through it. We have a side-by-side washer and dryer (not the fancy front-loading kind) with a wire shelf above it. There's a laundry hamper against the wall, we store our mop and broom behind the door, and there's also a high door opening to our A/C unit.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Rearrange/purge cleaning supplies
3. Wipe down washer and dryer
4. Wipe down all doors
5. Clean baseboards and floor
It's becoming a trend, but...I did not, in fact, clean the light fixture. I actually had a talk with My Love about this one. Basically, I'm uncomfortable scaling a ladder when he's not home, especially with the kids running around at the base of it. I'm all for cleaning the light fixtures that I can easily reach, but I petitioned him to take down all the high ones for me, and...he said yes (because he's fantastic like that). So at some point in the near future he's going to get all the lights I've missed -- the office, hallway, and laundry room -- and I'm going to give them a good scrub.
I honestly think that rearranging and ordering household items is my single favorite household chore. Some people like vacuum lines in their carpet; I like seeing neat, orderly rows of "whatever", be it books toys, clothes, or household chemicals. I removed everything from the shelves and placed it in a logical order; the supplies needed to clean similar rooms went together (i.e., the ammonia, toilet bowl cleaner, and Lysol spray); the things we don't use very often (carpet cleaning solution) went toward the back. Nearly-empty bottles were used and tossed. Voila, we magically have space on the "cluttered, too-small" shelving!
Wiping down the washer and dryer proved to be the most difficult and tedious task of the day. For appliances whose entire job is to clean things, they certainly were a mess. They were mostly coated with an admirable layer of dust, but there was also a significant amount of lint and dog hair in the mix, as well as some drops of laundry detergent from all those times Mini-me has "helped" me do the laundry. True to form, I started at the top, with a Lysol wipe, and started cleaning. It's amazing how many nooks and crannies there are in those things, and it's also shocking how many Lysol wipes it took to get them clean. After cleaning the lint screen (which I do, regularly) and wiping down the outer area, it also occurred to me that I should ask My Love to clean the dryer vent outside. His to-do list is growing...
When I turned to the garage door, I made good progress until I came to the spot about three feet from the floor where small hands and big, wet noses (from the children and The Beast, respectively) regularly come into contact with it. There, I encountered smudges, colored spots of all varieties -- likely made by an assortment of unidentifiable food items -- and a few streaks made by eager fingers attempting to open the door to great Daddy as he returns from work. Again, it was much more trouble than I anticipated, and I ended up scrubbing the door quite vigorously; in fact, I had broken a sweat when I was done with that small area and I needed to take a water break.
My "dirtiest spot in the room" moment happened when I addressed the door leading to the A/C unit. As I wiped down the surface, I noticed some dust clinging to the top seams; when I opened the door, I found what looked like caterpillars made of dust lining the door and the door frame. Now, I DO change my air filter, and I wipe down the opening in front of it periodically; I know it's one area of the house that is frequently getting dirty. However, I obviously don't know much about how an air conditioning system works, and I therefore had no idea that, for some reason, the unit itself sucks in dust and cakes it around all nearby surfaces. In hindsight, I probably would have done well to clean the door and frame with apple cider vinegar, but the kids were all asleep and I just wanted to have the laundry room DONE, so I made do with my Lysol wipes.
Finally, I swept and was rewarded with a pile of dust, lint, and dog hair. Next on the agenda should have been to mop and wipe down the base boards, but Baby Boy started to cry about the time I put the broom away. As I finished changing his diaper, Cuddles started knocking on her door (she can't turn the knob yet) and calling for a "nack" (snack). While I was holding Baby Boy with one hand and pouring animal crackers with another, Mini-me appeared and asked if it was time to get up. Sigh. Yes, everyone can get up. I'm glad you had a good nap. I'll finish cleaning the floor after you go to bed...and then I can sleep, too!
Our laundry room is small and doubles as a mud room; we have our access to the garage through it. We have a side-by-side washer and dryer (not the fancy front-loading kind) with a wire shelf above it. There's a laundry hamper against the wall, we store our mop and broom behind the door, and there's also a high door opening to our A/C unit.
Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Rearrange/purge cleaning supplies
3. Wipe down washer and dryer
4. Wipe down all doors
5. Clean baseboards and floor
It's becoming a trend, but...I did not, in fact, clean the light fixture. I actually had a talk with My Love about this one. Basically, I'm uncomfortable scaling a ladder when he's not home, especially with the kids running around at the base of it. I'm all for cleaning the light fixtures that I can easily reach, but I petitioned him to take down all the high ones for me, and...he said yes (because he's fantastic like that). So at some point in the near future he's going to get all the lights I've missed -- the office, hallway, and laundry room -- and I'm going to give them a good scrub.
I honestly think that rearranging and ordering household items is my single favorite household chore. Some people like vacuum lines in their carpet; I like seeing neat, orderly rows of "whatever", be it books toys, clothes, or household chemicals. I removed everything from the shelves and placed it in a logical order; the supplies needed to clean similar rooms went together (i.e., the ammonia, toilet bowl cleaner, and Lysol spray); the things we don't use very often (carpet cleaning solution) went toward the back. Nearly-empty bottles were used and tossed. Voila, we magically have space on the "cluttered, too-small" shelving!
Wiping down the washer and dryer proved to be the most difficult and tedious task of the day. For appliances whose entire job is to clean things, they certainly were a mess. They were mostly coated with an admirable layer of dust, but there was also a significant amount of lint and dog hair in the mix, as well as some drops of laundry detergent from all those times Mini-me has "helped" me do the laundry. True to form, I started at the top, with a Lysol wipe, and started cleaning. It's amazing how many nooks and crannies there are in those things, and it's also shocking how many Lysol wipes it took to get them clean. After cleaning the lint screen (which I do, regularly) and wiping down the outer area, it also occurred to me that I should ask My Love to clean the dryer vent outside. His to-do list is growing...
When I turned to the garage door, I made good progress until I came to the spot about three feet from the floor where small hands and big, wet noses (from the children and The Beast, respectively) regularly come into contact with it. There, I encountered smudges, colored spots of all varieties -- likely made by an assortment of unidentifiable food items -- and a few streaks made by eager fingers attempting to open the door to great Daddy as he returns from work. Again, it was much more trouble than I anticipated, and I ended up scrubbing the door quite vigorously; in fact, I had broken a sweat when I was done with that small area and I needed to take a water break.
My "dirtiest spot in the room" moment happened when I addressed the door leading to the A/C unit. As I wiped down the surface, I noticed some dust clinging to the top seams; when I opened the door, I found what looked like caterpillars made of dust lining the door and the door frame. Now, I DO change my air filter, and I wipe down the opening in front of it periodically; I know it's one area of the house that is frequently getting dirty. However, I obviously don't know much about how an air conditioning system works, and I therefore had no idea that, for some reason, the unit itself sucks in dust and cakes it around all nearby surfaces. In hindsight, I probably would have done well to clean the door and frame with apple cider vinegar, but the kids were all asleep and I just wanted to have the laundry room DONE, so I made do with my Lysol wipes.
Finally, I swept and was rewarded with a pile of dust, lint, and dog hair. Next on the agenda should have been to mop and wipe down the base boards, but Baby Boy started to cry about the time I put the broom away. As I finished changing his diaper, Cuddles started knocking on her door (she can't turn the knob yet) and calling for a "nack" (snack). While I was holding Baby Boy with one hand and pouring animal crackers with another, Mini-me appeared and asked if it was time to get up. Sigh. Yes, everyone can get up. I'm glad you had a good nap. I'll finish cleaning the floor after you go to bed...and then I can sleep, too!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Master Bath: Part B
In addition to having a particularly large bathroom and being exposed to heavy chemical smells, I recognized another reason cleaning this room is taking so long: since it's in a far-removed part of the house, I can't clean and watch/entertain my kids at the same time. Yesterday (and today) I spent lots of time cleaning part of something, then checking on the kids, then running back to finish. I also did the bulk of my cleaning while Baby Boy was sleeping, since I don't like to leave him in a room alone with his well-meaning but rough-loving sisters for more than a moment at a time.
Day 2 Action Plan:
1. Clean shower
2. Clean garden tub
3. Clean door
4. File loose papers
5. Sweep and mop and clean baseboards
Our shower has been a source of frustration for me ever since we moved into this house. Seriously...when we first looked at it a few years ago, I told My Love that I hated the back yard (which has a steep incline and is therefore nearly unusable as a back yard) and that I hated the stand-up shower. The price was right, though, so we figured that the two areas I disliked could be amended later. As it turns out, those fixes are costly and time-consuming, and it's been much easier to simply live with things the way they are. But I digress.
This shower...it's small. It's not a luxury stand-up shower, with a seat. It barely leaves room for me to shave my legs. It's just the right size for ONE person. There is no shelf space for shampoos, shaving creams, soaps, gels, and all the other things women store in their shower. And on top of that, it's very difficult to clean. You basically have to assume that you WILL get wet while leaning across the water stream to reach the far wall, so I've found that a sound technique is to clean the shower immediately before I plan to get in it. Today, this meant cleaning it at 6:00 in the morning after returning from my a.m. run. I doused it with the scrubbing bubble spray and left to have a glass of water. When I returned ten minutes later, I was able to simply wipe down the majority of the unsightly gunk that had accumulated. Really, I am consistently amazed by how dirty a shower can get when its entire purpose is to clean someone. Between the dirt that washes off after My Love mows the lawn (which sticks to the floor), my hair clogging the drain (it's coming out in wads postpartum), soap scum (which is strange in and of itself), and dust along the top edges, our shower always seems dirty. After I scrub it, I always want to scrub myself! Today, though, the scrubbing bubbles did the job quickly, except that I had to go over some particularly tough soap scum a second time. I also heard that you can use a dryer sheet to get soap scum off of shower doors, but I forgot to try it this time until after the cleaning was done. Next time I'll give it a shot.
Next came the huge garden tub. It's nice for a bubble bath, but I don't have the time for that very often. I cleaned this with my scrubbing bubble cleaner too, and I learned a hard lesson: it has bleach in it. In order to reach the back side of the tub, I had to sit on the front side...and, apparently, the scrubbing bubbles hadn't been completely removed when I did. I ended up with a few little white polka dots on my lavender (yep, you read that right) shorts. (I think I can salvage them; apparently you can paint with bleach and make it look like you meant for that to happen. I may try it in all my spare time.) The biggest issue I had with cleaning the tub, though, is that when My Love painted the bathroom a few years ago, he left lots of tiny (pin-head-sized) flecks of paint on the tub. It always looks dirty now, but I can't figure out a way to get them off. Then again, I haven't tried mineral spirits...that is sort of out of my league, and we don't have any in the house.
We store our file cabinet in this random corner of our oversized bathroom that's not good for anything else. It's a closet-sized nook in the bathroom behind the door, and it's got a small window in it. Basically, that means that it's always either ten degrees hotter or colder than the rest of the room. Because it's out of the way, it has been a convenient place to store my Sam's Club purchases (36-roll package of toilet paper, anyone?) and the file cabinet. But...since no one sees the file cabinet, it's been easy to just pile papers on top of it until I feel like filing. And the last time I felt like it was back before David was born. So I took a break from the heady fragrance of the bathroom and sorted all my papers to file on the bed, then found them a permanent home. Again, the visible lack of clutter and sense of order gave me a big boost that allowed me to keep on with my cleaning.
And finally...the floor. One more set of baseboards gone over with a Lysol wipe; one more application of my fantastic Libman broom and mop, paired with ACV. (I've got this down to an art.) After two days of effort, the master bathroom smelled, looked, and felt cleaner than it has in months!
Our shower has been a source of frustration for me ever since we moved into this house. Seriously...when we first looked at it a few years ago, I told My Love that I hated the back yard (which has a steep incline and is therefore nearly unusable as a back yard) and that I hated the stand-up shower. The price was right, though, so we figured that the two areas I disliked could be amended later. As it turns out, those fixes are costly and time-consuming, and it's been much easier to simply live with things the way they are. But I digress.
This shower...it's small. It's not a luxury stand-up shower, with a seat. It barely leaves room for me to shave my legs. It's just the right size for ONE person. There is no shelf space for shampoos, shaving creams, soaps, gels, and all the other things women store in their shower. And on top of that, it's very difficult to clean. You basically have to assume that you WILL get wet while leaning across the water stream to reach the far wall, so I've found that a sound technique is to clean the shower immediately before I plan to get in it. Today, this meant cleaning it at 6:00 in the morning after returning from my a.m. run. I doused it with the scrubbing bubble spray and left to have a glass of water. When I returned ten minutes later, I was able to simply wipe down the majority of the unsightly gunk that had accumulated. Really, I am consistently amazed by how dirty a shower can get when its entire purpose is to clean someone. Between the dirt that washes off after My Love mows the lawn (which sticks to the floor), my hair clogging the drain (it's coming out in wads postpartum), soap scum (which is strange in and of itself), and dust along the top edges, our shower always seems dirty. After I scrub it, I always want to scrub myself! Today, though, the scrubbing bubbles did the job quickly, except that I had to go over some particularly tough soap scum a second time. I also heard that you can use a dryer sheet to get soap scum off of shower doors, but I forgot to try it this time until after the cleaning was done. Next time I'll give it a shot.
Next came the huge garden tub. It's nice for a bubble bath, but I don't have the time for that very often. I cleaned this with my scrubbing bubble cleaner too, and I learned a hard lesson: it has bleach in it. In order to reach the back side of the tub, I had to sit on the front side...and, apparently, the scrubbing bubbles hadn't been completely removed when I did. I ended up with a few little white polka dots on my lavender (yep, you read that right) shorts. (I think I can salvage them; apparently you can paint with bleach and make it look like you meant for that to happen. I may try it in all my spare time.) The biggest issue I had with cleaning the tub, though, is that when My Love painted the bathroom a few years ago, he left lots of tiny (pin-head-sized) flecks of paint on the tub. It always looks dirty now, but I can't figure out a way to get them off. Then again, I haven't tried mineral spirits...that is sort of out of my league, and we don't have any in the house.
We store our file cabinet in this random corner of our oversized bathroom that's not good for anything else. It's a closet-sized nook in the bathroom behind the door, and it's got a small window in it. Basically, that means that it's always either ten degrees hotter or colder than the rest of the room. Because it's out of the way, it has been a convenient place to store my Sam's Club purchases (36-roll package of toilet paper, anyone?) and the file cabinet. But...since no one sees the file cabinet, it's been easy to just pile papers on top of it until I feel like filing. And the last time I felt like it was back before David was born. So I took a break from the heady fragrance of the bathroom and sorted all my papers to file on the bed, then found them a permanent home. Again, the visible lack of clutter and sense of order gave me a big boost that allowed me to keep on with my cleaning.
And finally...the floor. One more set of baseboards gone over with a Lysol wipe; one more application of my fantastic Libman broom and mop, paired with ACV. (I've got this down to an art.) After two days of effort, the master bathroom smelled, looked, and felt cleaner than it has in months!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Master Bath: Part A
Our master bathroom is much bigger than is really necessary. Don't take that as a complaint; it just seems to sort of spread in all directions, meaning both that there is plenty of elbow room when My Love and I are both trying to get ready in the morning AND that it took me two days of work to clean it.
We have a double sink, a stand-up shower and large garden tub, a small area that we use like a closet (with no door), and, of course, the toilet. Basically, I divided the bathroom in half and cleaned the east-facing wall on day one and the west-facing wall on day two.
Day 1 Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean sinks, mirror, and counter tops
3. Clean out under sinks and in drawers and wipe down cabinet and drawer fronts
4. Clean toilet
5. Wipe down all exposed surfaces (toilet paper holder, towel rack)
I don't think I ever noticed the wide assortment of light fixtures in our house until I started on my cleaning spree. Really, it's kind of entertaining to examine each one and figure out how to remove each piece of it. The one in the master bath was particularly engaging. It was a long, think mirror with eight exposed light bulbs on it. Each had to be removed, wiped with ACV, and then replaced. The mirror itself needed cleaning with Windex, but it was difficult to clean around the light sockets. The process took a while, because I had to wait until the bulbs were cool to start; then, I had to wait until they were dry again to re-install them. (I had visions of electrocuting myself with a damp lightbulb...yet another occupational hazard that might pop up during housekeeping.) Also, the edges of the mirror were sharp; My Love had cut his finger once while installing a light bulb a few years ago. Despite the trouble, I got the instant gratification I needed to feel like it was a job well done. The bulbs seemed to have black, burnt spots on them; as it turned out, it was just flambeed dust. Once the dust was removed and the mirror was shined, the bathroom was noticeably brighter.
Cleaning the mirror over our sink is nothing exceptional, except that it's huge. I remember an old Windex commercial; the woman in it said something like, "The more you need to clean, the faster you have to clean." I think she was trying to demonstrate how runny the off-brand was as opposed to the Windex brand, which actually coated the glass surface and didn't run. Well, I AM using generic Windex, and it DOES run all over the mirror as soon as I spray it on. The top of the mirror ends up dry, while liquid puddles along the bottom edge. It eventually gets cleaned, though, and I'm not using any techniques that are different than what my mama taught me, so it's not much to complain about.
Funny story: My Love and I have been married six years this month. For a (very creative) wedding gift, some friends of ours gave us a little plastic tote full of cleaning products. In hindsight, it was inexpensive and useful; I also think it's interesting that I remember exactly who gave it to us, while I have no idea who gave us our toaster or bath towels. Anyway, in that plastic box was an aerosol can of scrubbing-bubbles-type cleaning product. I've never used this type of thing before; I've always been a Comet girl, followed by the spray version after it came out, so this scrubbing bubble can has sat in our laundry room (and the laundry room of our previous home) for years. When I inventoried my cleaning supplies before beginning this endeavor, I found it again, and I figured it really needed to be put to use. The bathroom sinks and countertop were the first thing I used it on, and I was really impressed. This stuff is POWERFUL. I sprayed it on, and literally just had to wipe away the bubbles after a few minutes to reveal a sparkling clean surface. Spoiler: I also used it on our shower, and it worked like a charm there as well. The only drawback I discovered is that it also had a nearly overwhelming smell. Our bathroom is a closed-in space, and the countertops take up a large part of it. I found that I had to spray, then leave the room for a few minutes, then come back to wipe down the surfaces, then leave again while the smell dissipated. I also ended up with a headache, so I had to take another break at the halfway point of Day 1.
I got a great deal of satisfaction out of organizing and purging the drawers and cabinets under the sink. As I mentioned when I cleaned my closet, I'm a very structured, order-loving person, and it was edifying to see neat rows of makeup, hair products, and eyeglass cases. I also threw away a lot of things that were expired. The two biggest culprits for hanging around indefinitely were makeup and sunscreen, both of which, I learned, should technically be replaced every 12 months or so.
About the time I moved to clean the toilet, Mini-me showed up and asked to help. She really has perfect timing; I gave her a Lysol wipe and let her wipe off the fronts of the drawers and cabinets for me.
The last step in today's process was to clean our toilet. Cleaning toilets is one of those tasks that doesn't really bother me. Truth be told, I'd rather clean a toilet than fold laundry any day. Also, when a toilet starts to look visibly dirty, I feel like it's a decent thermometer to indicate that the rest of the bathroom is likely dirty too, so I clean the toilet more often than the rest of the house. I'm a pretty faithful user of Clorox cling or Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, whichever happens to be cheaper; they both do the job.
A quick dusting of the toilet paper roller, the toilet paper holder, and the towel rack, and 50% of my bathroom sparkled; it also smelled clean enough to make up for the other half!
We have a double sink, a stand-up shower and large garden tub, a small area that we use like a closet (with no door), and, of course, the toilet. Basically, I divided the bathroom in half and cleaned the east-facing wall on day one and the west-facing wall on day two.
Day 1 Action Plan:
1. Clean light fixture
2. Clean sinks, mirror, and counter tops
3. Clean out under sinks and in drawers and wipe down cabinet and drawer fronts
4. Clean toilet
5. Wipe down all exposed surfaces (toilet paper holder, towel rack)
I don't think I ever noticed the wide assortment of light fixtures in our house until I started on my cleaning spree. Really, it's kind of entertaining to examine each one and figure out how to remove each piece of it. The one in the master bath was particularly engaging. It was a long, think mirror with eight exposed light bulbs on it. Each had to be removed, wiped with ACV, and then replaced. The mirror itself needed cleaning with Windex, but it was difficult to clean around the light sockets. The process took a while, because I had to wait until the bulbs were cool to start; then, I had to wait until they were dry again to re-install them. (I had visions of electrocuting myself with a damp lightbulb...yet another occupational hazard that might pop up during housekeeping.) Also, the edges of the mirror were sharp; My Love had cut his finger once while installing a light bulb a few years ago. Despite the trouble, I got the instant gratification I needed to feel like it was a job well done. The bulbs seemed to have black, burnt spots on them; as it turned out, it was just flambeed dust. Once the dust was removed and the mirror was shined, the bathroom was noticeably brighter.
Cleaning the mirror over our sink is nothing exceptional, except that it's huge. I remember an old Windex commercial; the woman in it said something like, "The more you need to clean, the faster you have to clean." I think she was trying to demonstrate how runny the off-brand was as opposed to the Windex brand, which actually coated the glass surface and didn't run. Well, I AM using generic Windex, and it DOES run all over the mirror as soon as I spray it on. The top of the mirror ends up dry, while liquid puddles along the bottom edge. It eventually gets cleaned, though, and I'm not using any techniques that are different than what my mama taught me, so it's not much to complain about.
Funny story: My Love and I have been married six years this month. For a (very creative) wedding gift, some friends of ours gave us a little plastic tote full of cleaning products. In hindsight, it was inexpensive and useful; I also think it's interesting that I remember exactly who gave it to us, while I have no idea who gave us our toaster or bath towels. Anyway, in that plastic box was an aerosol can of scrubbing-bubbles-type cleaning product. I've never used this type of thing before; I've always been a Comet girl, followed by the spray version after it came out, so this scrubbing bubble can has sat in our laundry room (and the laundry room of our previous home) for years. When I inventoried my cleaning supplies before beginning this endeavor, I found it again, and I figured it really needed to be put to use. The bathroom sinks and countertop were the first thing I used it on, and I was really impressed. This stuff is POWERFUL. I sprayed it on, and literally just had to wipe away the bubbles after a few minutes to reveal a sparkling clean surface. Spoiler: I also used it on our shower, and it worked like a charm there as well. The only drawback I discovered is that it also had a nearly overwhelming smell. Our bathroom is a closed-in space, and the countertops take up a large part of it. I found that I had to spray, then leave the room for a few minutes, then come back to wipe down the surfaces, then leave again while the smell dissipated. I also ended up with a headache, so I had to take another break at the halfway point of Day 1.
I got a great deal of satisfaction out of organizing and purging the drawers and cabinets under the sink. As I mentioned when I cleaned my closet, I'm a very structured, order-loving person, and it was edifying to see neat rows of makeup, hair products, and eyeglass cases. I also threw away a lot of things that were expired. The two biggest culprits for hanging around indefinitely were makeup and sunscreen, both of which, I learned, should technically be replaced every 12 months or so.
About the time I moved to clean the toilet, Mini-me showed up and asked to help. She really has perfect timing; I gave her a Lysol wipe and let her wipe off the fronts of the drawers and cabinets for me.
The last step in today's process was to clean our toilet. Cleaning toilets is one of those tasks that doesn't really bother me. Truth be told, I'd rather clean a toilet than fold laundry any day. Also, when a toilet starts to look visibly dirty, I feel like it's a decent thermometer to indicate that the rest of the bathroom is likely dirty too, so I clean the toilet more often than the rest of the house. I'm a pretty faithful user of Clorox cling or Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, whichever happens to be cheaper; they both do the job.
A quick dusting of the toilet paper roller, the toilet paper holder, and the towel rack, and 50% of my bathroom sparkled; it also smelled clean enough to make up for the other half!
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