Spring Cleaning – The Fun Stuff

As you know, February is the month for Spring cleaning. Even if the job is too big for one month, February is the month to begin. Traditionally, the house cleaning should be completed by the first of May.

That’s a bit more reasonable than one rather short month, even if we get an extra day this year. But it is still a big task, no matter how small your home is.

So is changing the world, but either way it all starts at home with a plan and a little team work.

Wait – what? Yep, teamwork. As a Homemaker you are the boss of getting it all done, but no one said you must do it alone. Okay, if you live alone you might have to, but you’d be surprised how folks will help if you ask them nicely, respecting their time and effort.

If a friend is helping be sure to say thank you with a lunch during the day and treat them to another outing just to share their company soon afterward. If you hire the job out to a cleaning service, remember to tip the folks doing the work. No one wants to feel used and everyone likes to be appreciated!

If you have little ones, this is a great time to get them involved. Be sure to engage both boys and girls in the process of keeping their rooms and household common areas tidy and clean. Spring cleaning is a great time to take inventory of outgrown clothes and toys.

Share a joyful gratitude with your child for the item even as you let it go to a new home or elsewhere. Teach them age appropriate ways to contribute, and never ever shoo a child away from helping you unless it is physically unsafe for them to do so.

I know you are busy, but think about it… you are training kids to be grown-ups. The attitudes they bring into the world regarding Homemaking will shape the next generation. You support your kids in so many ways. Don’t squish the desire to help when they are little, accept the challenge to have fun with it, and foster this attitude when ever you can as they get older.

The ability to enjoy a mindful attitude in the home and contribute to household maintenance without feeling overwhelmed or unfairly burdened is a huge gift we can give our children. The more we do to eliminate the second shift burden on moms working outside the home too, the sooner we will see wage equity in the long run.

Right now, the World Economic Forum estimates 170 years before wage parity  is a global standard. I have seen another estimate at 275 years. When I think about the generations of little girls and boys who will have to live through this, either estimate is waaaaaaayyyy too long.

Change, it is said, begins at home. The attitudes our kids have toward contributing at home have a good deal to do with our own. As they grow up, our children subconsciously follow the examples we set for them while they were little. If we can share an attitude of mindful gratitude for our homes while we (both boys and girls) contribute to their upkeep it will go a long way toward normalizing a more balanced division of labor in the home.

However, it seems Finland may have the answer to parity with extended leave for both parents when a new child is born. That country has a wage parity rate of 91%. Almost more importantly, can you imagine what that generation of moms, dads and children gain in empathy and bonding? As a mom, to be able to nurse your child for at least 6 months. As a dad to be there for those magical first words, first steps… If both parents have the same time off for a new baby, then any young adult hire, regardless of gender, would have the same potential to become a parent, in the employer’s eyes. The wage gap… vanished.

Obviously, there is more to the subject of gender parity than cleaning the bathroom and taking care of the children (or is there?) Regardless, let’s get back to the task at hand… a good Spring Cleaning. We’ve already tackled the rooms that aren’t kitchens or bathrooms in our last article, so get the kids started on their rooms, and get your partner to work in the living-room… while we focus on the Bathroom today. Note: if your partner doesn’t like this plan, offer to trade rooms. 😊

Remember to set yourself a time limit. How long do you think it would take for a professional cleaning service to do the job? Give yourself that much time – and that is it. (You can always come back later.) Use the heavy gloves, and the goggles. Don’t wear your good clothes – and be sure to spoil yourself with a home-spa treatment after all this effort.

 Using the same top-down principle as previously, we will start with cobweb clearing and a quick sponge mop of the ceiling. Oh yes, wear safety goggles for this. In fact, some of the chemicals sold for use to clean the bathroom should only be used one at a time, with proper ventilation and/or a chemical safe mask. With a little research, the details of this are truly terrifying, so gloves and goggles are really a good idea when it comes time for a deep-cleaning of this room.

Now for the walls… if it has been a year, then yes, they definitely need wiping down also. If you don’t believe me buy yourself an ultra-violet flashlight and take a look-see. You will soon find every trouble spot, plus a few you didn’t know about. (This trick is especially helpful if you have pets. Or teenagers.)

By the way, baking soda and white vinegar will do just fine to clean this room. You don’t need to spend a bunch of money on fancy cleaning products with these two in your supplies. Use a diluted vinegar solution everywhere you might use a spray surface cleaner (like mirrors and doorknobs), and baking soda makes a good match for cleansing powder, especially at the base of the commode. Re-purpose an old toothbrush to clean into the corners and crevices as you work.

Using highly toxic anti-bacterial products only make any surviving bad “bugs” stronger. Since adding more poison to the eco-system is not going to help anywhere, I am grateful to know about less toxic alternatives. Now, I can put the fume mask away.

At this point, we’ve done the ceiling and walls, including door jambs and handles. It is time to look at the sink, shower/tub, and dreaded commode (aka toilet). Clean them in this order, especially if you are using a single washable rag for the scrubbing.

If you haven’t tried a steamer, this is another way to clean without noxious chemicals. Water boils at 210 degrees, but steam gets much hotter – usually around 400. That will easily destroy any germs and removes most stains too.

Being so hot, steam builds some pressure and can be very dangerous.  Overall, I am not happy with the design of the handheld unit I use despite its efficacy. If I hold it just so, the hose attachments won’t blow off the unit while I’m using it. Then I must be careful about the amount of water in the reservoir, since there is no gauge, just a small light to tell me the unit is steaming hot (sigh). It is for grownups only.

On the upside, the handheld steamer has a squeegee attachment which makes the shower stall walls go quickly. A different attachment scrubs grout and tile while another gets into corners and crevices. I encourage you to research these only if you are ready to handle the element of Water at high pressure and steaming hot.

I have two steamers. In contrast to the hand-held, the upright floor steamer is a Gift from the Divine to the Domestic Goddess, probably for Valentine’s Day. Initially I tried a combo hand held & upright, but neither function was ideal. Then I tried the upright single function unit. … hearts and flowers… is all I can say.  Zippy-do and the floor is clean enough for a toddler to play on and with the water being so hot, it dries quickly too. With training and supervision, a teenager could use this upright device safely.

Alright – sink, shower and commode… Congrats – you’ve finished the bathroom! (This room should be cleaned weekly.)

Do you have a better way? Let us know in the comments, please. Now it’s time for that mani-pedi you promised yourself earlier. Heck, why not invite a friend?

Next time we’ll discuss the hardest/easiest room in the house to keep clean… the Kitchen!