My mom has a theory that people in this life are either "cooks" or "cleaners." Now, I am not saying that people can't be both, but they usually have one that they are naturally more proficient at. Perhaps, like me, you didn't come from the home of a "cleaner." My mom was a "cook" and I grew up watching her do that. My childhood home was never immaculate. It wasn't a biohazard, but cleaning just wasn't a priority for my mom. I think cleaning, like anything else, needs to kind of be taught by example and observation.
I am definitely more of a "cook." I just have a "feeling" for how things should go together. I love putting together a meal, or baking a cake, spending time researching how to make the "perfect" something. I rarely use recipes, I use them more as a guideline, tweaking things here and there. I love finding new cooking sites and blogs and cooking magazines and watching the Food Network.
Honestly, I am not as much of a "cleaner." That doesn't mean that I just give up and don't clean my house. It's just that it doesn't come naturally to me. I have no love for cleaning, it doesn't soothe me, and I know there are people out there that actually enjoy it. Now, in a perfect world, I would just cook for those people who could clean for me, but it doesn't work that way.
So, since I don't love cleaning, but it must be done, I'd like to do it more easily. I know that people have secrets to cleaning, much as I have little tricks I love with cooking and baking. What cleaners float your boat? How do you scrub your bathroom tile? What makes cleaning easier and more efficient? What tips do you not mind sharing to make me, a natural non-cleaner, a better housekeeper?
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scrub bathroom tile? we are supposed to do this? ;) girl, I just use a swiffer wet jet mop. It's awesome. I have been using a lot of green products because I can't handle the smell of things like comets. I use lysol wipes for basically everything from the kitchen to the bathrooms. It's just easier.
:) Jackie
I am a cooker, not a cleaner. I use Lysol wipes in the kitchen, flushable scrubbing bubble wipes in the bathroom. I use Kaboom- toilet cleaner that you hook up to the toilet and it cleans for me- I haven't had to scrub the toilet in a month. I also use Kaboom color change cleaner- it sprays blue and turns white when it's finished- for tubs, sinks, and shower. All I do is wipe down with a cloth and rinse.
Now if I could find something that gets rid of pet hair with out all the work :)
My mother was neither, alas. And if either, I am a cook, as I am certainly not a cleaner. These days, I don't have enough time for either. I look forward to reading others' suggestions, as I could certainly use pointers in the cleaning arena.
I am a cleaner, and I am grateful for my crockpot!
I do light cleaning during the week, and a good, deep clean about 1-2 x a month on a weekend when I have more time (and I'm not lazy!) and hubby is home to help with the kids. Sometimes hubby helps with the deep clean.
I do things in "groups" - i.e. change ALL of the household sheets on one day, dust & vacuum bedrooms on another day, etc. Usually if I try to do everything all on the same day, I burn myself out.
I clean the bathroom while the kids take a bath.
I dust while they watch a few moments of PBS, and vacuum while they eat lunch (we have a ranch, so it's easy to see them in the kitchen while I'm vacuuming the living room). I also have them help pick up their toys prior to the vacuum and/or prior to going to bed, so they take some responsibility AND I don't feel like I'm always doing it!
No special cleaning agents here ~ I try to make my own cleaners (vinegar & bleach; baking soda - there are lots of recipes online you can use) to save some bucks here and there. I also don't use a lot of papertowels, but instead use old t-shirts or old dish cloths to scrub & dust with or clean mirrors and windows. But, we also use paper plates when I cannot do one more dish (we don't have a dishwasher...gasp!)
FYI - We are clean but not necessarily "tidy". This most definitely comes from my mother!!
Laundry is being done all the time, but I can't say it always gets folded in a timely manner ~ sometimes the baskets sit in the living room for days!
And sometimes...I just get good at letting things go :) That is, until I see dustbunnies on my kitchen floor. Haha...
A system, with everything broken down. I don't like to spend days and days cleaning, so I try to clean in little tiny bursts during my actual life so that everything just stays clean all the time. For example, when I am getting ready in the mornings, I clean a little bit of the bathroom so that I never have to CLEAN the bathroom. I have a little system worked out. On Mondays, I clean the toilet. Tuesdays- mirror and countertops, Wednesdays- tub or shower, Thursdays- baseboards (basically that is just mopping up the grossness around the edges), Friday- mop the floor. I have a little Swiffer dry vacuum I keep in the bathroom that I run over the floor every morning.
I do things like that kind of all over the house. My main best advice is to decide what you want your house to look like, get it like that (no matter how much work it takes the first time), take pictures, and then make sure you get it back like that at least once every day. I try to do it before I go to bed at night. That way things never get out of control. Alas, sometimes I slack off and then have to spend the whole weekend cleaning, but my life is easier when I work on maintenance instead of cleaning.
Um, get yourself a once a month housekeeper dude..I am a great cook and cleaner but really I would rather spend the time with my kids And trust me, with 2 kids keeping up with all the cleaning will drive you INSANE... so I do the "surface" stuff throughout the month and then my ladies come and do the deep stuff once. Sometimes every 2 weeks. Depends. I got them for SUPER cheap and I know someone in Seatown could do it for the same. I know, your a SAHM you can do it yourself for free is what people will tell you. For me, it's how much is your time worth? I know that my girls come and clean for 2 hours and I pay them $40!!! That's with tip.....do the math... Anyway, there may be flames after this post but trust, if anyone on here had a housekeeper for cheap once a month, they would NEVER regret it and the "lift" it gives you is priceless!! Good luck!
Hmmm, I am definitely NOT the cook in the house (thank God). I get on cleaning jags when I am stressed out, and need to put some order back in my life.
I find it easiest to fold laundry when Lil Pumpkin is watching t.v. Then I am in the same room with her, she is occupied, and I don't feel like a bad mom nor a sh*tty housekeeper. She is at age where she likes "to help" (ugh) so I have her dig out all of the socks, and then I tell her which pile to put each one in (Mummy sock, Daddy sock, LP sock), though increasingly she can tell the difference I just have to remind her to stick to the piles.
She also likes to put her pajamas away. So if I fold laundry up on our bed, I pull out one pair of her pajamas at a time, and she runs them to her room and puts them in the bottom drawer we use. It's messy, but who cares?! These are two ways to involved her in the chores of the house, that are life-shattering if messed up, right?!
Is there a "multi-tasker" category?!
Beth: Good tips. I guess I would say that I am kind of the same. I am cluttery and yet my house is presentable and clean (most of the time).
Jen: You amaze me. And remind me that I am not A) organized or B) a cleaner AT ALL! LOL! You keep me humble.
A: I miss you, sweetcheeks. We haven't talked in forEVER. I blame your job. Gosh darn you career women! :) And you are right, it's worth every single penny, but I can't find someone here to do it for that cheap. Do your peeps have any fam or friends in Everett?
Ms. J: I'll have to make a third category, but I'll just BET you are more of a cleaner/organizer that you even want to admit!
i used to think i was both, but lately with grayson into things more and more,and with working outside of home too, the cleaning is slacking for sure. i find myself just getting irritated when I come in the door at how messy things are. I used to do a 1 day a week big clean, and loved that. I'd tackle it all on monday mornings (my day off) and there was something so satisfying about having it look perfect when I was done. I'm thinking of switching now to the 1 thing a day thing like others have mentioned. My mom, who is most definitely a cleaner, has always done this and her house is always perfect. She even puts a chart on her fridge of what she does each day.
As for cleaning products - i love anything that makes things easy - swiffer floor sweepers, wet jet and dusters. Scrubbing bubbles disposable toilet cleaners, and for cleaning the tub and shower, I love the scotch brite tub and tile scrubber. Also the automatic shower cleaner by scrubbing bubbles is the best. really cuts down on having to clean shower tile grout. But when you do, a good thing to do is get the clorox bleach pens and scrub the crevices with that. Steel wool scrub pads also work really well with just about any cleaner.
In the past I have had a cleaner come through 1x a month which is glorious. they just get all the nooks and crannies so much better. But we dropped that a while back cuz of money. I couldn't justify the expense (about $100 each visit). I totally intend to pick that one back up one day though. Having a break now and then is lovely....just not always realistic.
i used to think i was both, but lately with grayson into things more and more,and with working outside of home too, the cleaning is slacking for sure. i find myself just getting irritated when I come in the door at how messy things are. I used to do a 1 day a week big clean, and loved that. I'd tackle it all on monday mornings (my day off) and there was something so satisfying about having it look perfect when I was done. I'm thinking of switching now to the 1 thing a day thing like others have mentioned. My mom, who is most definitely a cleaner, has always done this and her house is always perfect. She even puts a chart on her fridge of what she does each day.
As for cleaning products - i love anything that makes things easy - swiffer floor sweepers, wet jet and dusters. Scrubbing bubbles disposable toilet cleaners, and for cleaning the tub and shower, I love the scotch brite tub and tile scrubber. Also the automatic shower cleaner by scrubbing bubbles is the best. really cuts down on having to clean shower tile grout. But when you do, a good thing to do is get the clorox bleach pens and scrub the crevices with that. Steel wool scrub pads also work really well with just about any cleaner.
In the past I have had a cleaner come through 1x a month which is glorious. they just get all the nooks and crannies so much better. But we dropped that a while back cuz of money. I couldn't justify the expense (about $100 each visit). I totally intend to pick that one back up one day though. Having a break now and then is lovely....just not always realistic.
I used to do the 1x a week clean, too, before Will was born- Saturday mornings and then we could enjoy our weekend. But now, well, Saturday mornings are pretty busy! :)
And then, before I was pregnant, I did Friday night cleans - again, so I could enjoy a clean house before the weekend. But I am too exhausted to stay up late cleaning now.
I wish I was a cleaner but my Mom missed too many fun times cleaning, so I am the opposite, I am a cooker also. I wish I was a cleaner it'd be heathier to avoid the food and the house would be clean!
I got a shark steam cleaner for xmas and love it cause it's chemical free with all the kids around.
I'm totally a cook and my mom is totally a cleaner!
Katie - I'm both. But if I have free time, I'll cook ANY day. Love that.
I would say that I don't have a system. I use Saturday mornings during my daughter's nap as my overall house cleaning time. I know she sleeps 2 hours, and so it works like a motivator for me. Do I want time for myself? Then get everything I can done as fast as I can. I almost never do. But still, those 2 hours are usually all I need to clean the 2 bathrooms, sweep/mop, and vacuum. Whatever I don't finish, just has to wait. I will ask my husband to help vacuum sometimes.
As for other chores (deep cleaning kitchen, dusting, washing windows, changing sheets) I just do those during the week in the afternoons or evenings if I get time. I don't stress about it.
I always have laundry going. Especially with cloth diapers, when I do loads for those every 3 days.
I rarely iron.
I believe two areas should always be "tidy": the living room, because it's where we are most our relaxation time. And our bedroom, because I want that to be a haven of order and neatness for us.
Would you mind creating a "tag" for all your recipes? I find myself coming back to your blog and looking over a bunch of old issues trying to dig up recipes I remember your posting sometime in the past...
Thanks for the conversation starter!
Good idea on the "tag" for recipes. I sure will! :)
I am feeling like a huge loser because I am neither a cook nor a cleaner. Basically, I do both to a passable level. I don't like my house to be cluttered, but I too rarely pull out the heavy-duty cleaners. And cooking... I can follow a recipe, but I only do it because otherwise we'd starve.
*le sigh*
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