Cleaning Day

First, let me say that I was inspired by my friend the treat girl, who blogged about window washing yesterday.

It's a sad state of affairs when cleaning day starts with cleaning the cleaning bucket! What is all of the stuff? I am the marketing professionals dream when it comes to cleaning, if you say it works, then I'll try it. Well, No more, I'm convinced that very few cleaning products actually do anything, so I pared down my bucket to just the basics: windex, toilet bowl cleaner, bleach scrub, and my good friend, Mr. Clean.

I have many Cleaning Day Routines/Tips/Tricks which I will share here:

1.) Pick a day of the week to clean and commit to it. Do it all in one day. Otherwise, You'll do a bathroom here and there, and it never really looks like you did anything. Plus, it's never done if you clean here and there. My rule is, it gets done once a week. Then, I'm done. The cleaning supplies will not be brought out again this week unless there is an oatmeal spill on the couch or a pitcher of lemonade dumped on the floor.

2.) Wear something that you really don't care about. Even if you are ever so careful, a small spot of bleach will ruin a perfectly good t-shirt.

3.) If you are really strapped for time and can only do a very small portion of the chore, Start in the bathroom...the one guests would use. This is the only place that a guest will be alone in your house, with time to scrutinize the dusty baseboards.

4.) I once read a book (yes, about cleaning) that pleaded: Don't get it wet unless you have to. Think about it: Water acts as cement when mixed with dust and seeps into the seams of your baseboards. Dry cleans first and always, this means: sweeping and dusting.

5.) Gather all of the miscellaneous clutter and re-distribute. I always pile the stuff that's going upstairs on the steps, so that when I go upstairs to clean, I just have to grab it all and distribute it upstairs.
Here's a picture of today's pile-O-Stuff.

6.) Make sure that you dust and clean the TV and the cabinet/surface that it's on. Your husband will not notice that the house is clean...He'll notice that the TV is pristine, and therefore the whole house must be.

7.) The female version of this analogy is: If the window above the kitchen sink is clean, then the whole house must be spotless!

8.) Use cleaning supplies that smell nice. It's a bonus for you, and it smells like you've accomplished something when you walk into a sweet smelling bathroom.