Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Cleanliness is Next to...

I basically have one job in our house. Sure sometimes I cook (!!) & I often get groceries. I also mostly handle the finances. And sometimes I mow (but not today because it's raining). But Dr. M helps or is mostly in charge of those things. There's just the one job that is mine alone, and frankly I suck at it!

My relationship with our vacuum cleaner is well documented, but perhaps I've failed to mention my many other attempts to bring order to our house. I've tried the Flylady system. And the Clean Team. And putting reminders on my computer (yes, there's a reminder on there to clean the toilet). And nothing ever works. Because I don't work - I would much rather read blogs than dust or clean the bathroom. Heaven help ever cleaning out the fridge or the microwave (which just needs wiped down for heaven's sake). And those little drip pans under the burners on the stove? I should just throw those away & start over. Except that seems like a waste of money when the new ones will eventually get grungy too...

Am I posting this here so that I can announce some new leaf I'm turning? To get affirmation or commiseration? Nope. This is just a warning that if you should stop by my house for some reason, you need to give me 15 minutes to toss the joint before you can even get in the door. And don't even THINK about looking at my baseboards!

P.S. Our water leaves behind a yellowish residue that hardens to concrete. What the heck is that? Can I remove it from our stainless (ha!) sink or the vanity in the bathroom ? I've tried a variety of toxic things, to no avail. Or should I just consider it part of the design? Sigh.

7 comments:

  1. I think I've tried every cleaning plan & system to no avail... my problem? I have about 30 minutes a day to clean a house... that's all the time I got.. I just need a maid. Screw it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a man, so you can guess mt attitude about house cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never been a great housekeeper, although years ago I read "The Messies Manual" and it helped me at least get rid of some of the clutter. What has helped more than anything I've ever tried is simply moving into a very small space! Since moving into the casita (less than 400 square feet total), I make my bed first thing every morning and stay on top of the dishes... It can still go from clean to chaos in the matter of a day, since it's so small, and I'm occasionally overwhelmed, but for the most part I am able to keep the casita in some semblance of order. I can only stand chaos for so long. Which is kinda weird and I think maybe a by-product of menopause because it didn't use to bother me this much. So there you go, Dana, move into a tiny house and throw in a good dash of menopause :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's a tip: Buy a can of stuff called Barkeeper's Friend. It's over by the Comet and such in the cleaning section of your friendly local grocery store. It's about $1.79 per can. It's a scrubbing powder like Comet, but it has 10% oxalic acid in it. No, the acid won't hurt you. It does wonders with stainless steel (like, bar sinks -- that's where it got its name). AND you can try it on that yellow stuff. If it doesn't just come off, make a paste of the powder and water. Spread it over the nasty places, keep it moist if it dries off, and just let it sit. It takes rust off boat fiberglass, and it might do for you.

    Here's my new system. Every morning, I go into each room and do 25 cleany things.Everything counts. For example, the bathroom: (1) throw away that kleenex, (2) put the hairbrush away, (3) fill the cat's water bowl, etc.

    The key is that when I hit 25, I'm free to stop and go on to the next room. It takes hardly any time, and it's amazing how much more under control things look when I get done. If a room doesn't take 25 things, I have those for another room. It's a gimmick, but it's my gimmick. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like a reasonably clean house and I mostly keep after it by making the bed and keeping the bathroom and kitchen clean on a daily basis. Laundry a few times a week, as needed. Everything else gets done in a two-to-three-hour marathon on Saturday morning. But I'd really like it if I had Saturday mornings available for other stuff (fun stuff). I've done Flylady at times, but these days I get home so late and I'm so beat, I don't want to do anything other than veg in front of the computer. Sigh. I'd like a maid, too. Now checking on the Clean Team link in your post. I'm ALWAYS looking for ideas on how to keep your house clean and shiny in three minutes per day.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

2024 Project 365 – Week Twelve

I woke up not feeling well and skipped church (for the second week in a row - oops), but that doesn’t keep me from being deep in the throes ...