The bottoms of our feet are dingy.
There are dust bunnies under my bed.
There is soap scum in the shower.
There is pet hair on the sofa.
Clutter and me? We’re BFFs!
…and I’m OK with that! Before you cross me off your “must visit” list let me clarify a few things. I work a LOT, I have 2 kids, I have a cat AND a dog, and I also have one of those husband things. I’m sure if you follow me on Instagram you know we don’t stay around home much; karate, gymnastics, baseball, tball, etc. When do normal people find the time to clean their homes? They can’t ALL have maids can they?
Can I tell you something else? I hate cleaning supplies! My husband and I disagree on the types of supplies we need in the house. I would rather use the “all natural” cleaning supplies and he has a hidden arsenal of bleach ridden poisons. I have asthma and using his stash of poison sends me grabbing my inhaler, so I let him clean the bathrooms! It’s his “job” to do the tubs, toilets, and showers. I can take care of everything else with my healthy bucket of supplies. I’m currently using a mix of homemade and store bought cleaning products, like Ecos earth friendly cleaning products. It’s nice to have the products already made up and bottled ready to use. I find myself using the Parsley Plus All Purpose Cleaner in the kitchen after meals.
For weekend cleaning I usually get more creative and make homemade cleaning supplies. My cleaning cabinet if stocked full of vinegar, baking soda, borax, washing soda and essential oils for mixing up a batch of dish washing detergent tablets, for unclogging drains, and for disinfecting cleaners. The fresh smell of lemon and peppermint essential oils really helps put the finishing touches on a clean kitchen! For over 200 pages full of natural recipes check out The Organically Clean Home
Which chores are an absolute must each day? Dishes, trash, shoes, toys, and the dining room! Those are the only chores that I insist upon being complete each day. If I don’t have a somewhat clean kitchen and dining room, I can’t sleep well. If the kids have shoes and toys out, I can’t sleep well. If the trash isn’t taken out for trash day (or if there is stinky food overnight), I can’t sleep well. Aside from that most of the other chores can wait until the weekend.
Oh wait….except for the floors! Our laminate floors show dirt, dust, and pet hair after just one day! I wish I had time (and desire) to vacuum every day because I’m sure it needs it; but it usually only gets done 1-2 times a week (on a good week). I may get a little cranky if I don’t have time to mop after I vacuum because I know it won’t get done until the weekend…maybe! I wish I trusted my kids with my HAAN Multiforce Pro SS25 because this would be their new chore. What’s a HAAN? It’s an awesome scrubbing steam cleaner that doesn’t use any chemicals; just water!!
I usually add a few drops of essential oils to give the water a fresh smell….does that count as cleaning aromatherapy??
It actually gets the floors cleaner than my old reusable spray mop
All this talk of cleaning makes me realize that I really should log off my computer and actually…clean! Please tell me I’m not the only one who procrastinates and puts off cleaning until you have visitors? Leave your dirty little secrets in the comments below!!
Disclosure: Some of the products featured in this article were provided to me for review. The opinions expressed are my own and not those of the companies mentioned. Affiliate links may be present in this article.
Just cleaned all the base boards in our house for the first time in… two years. We are friends indeed.
Lynette – I think I love you more each day!!!
oh my god someone cleaned their baseboards. $h*t you’re supposed to do that? I haven’t done windows in.. oh maybe a year or a year and a half. The time I insisted on moving appliances to clean behind them? the fridge crapped out. The fridge that had just elapsed warranty. I no longer insist on doing that sort of thing.
I have to do crumb sweeping on a regular basis. I hate mopping. It gets done like maybe 3x a year. Birthday party time? Guess I need to mop! You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. We take our shoes off 99% of the time before walking in the house, so we don’t bring dirt IN with us necessarily. It’s just food crumbs. And my kids can spread them across the whole house in .2 seconds. I vacuum as much as I see, typically at least once a week, and more if we’re having company or we have a newly scooting baby (which we do, so I desperately need to vacuum AGAIN)… but it’s a pain in the kiester because of a short cord situation. Typically the only things that get done DAILY are the clearing of major pathways so no one running for a fire exit, barfing kid, or bloody mess hurts themselves along the way. IF the dishwasher is not full of clean dishes, those get put away and the non-machine-able go in or at the sink. Sometimes it takes a few days to get enough to run a full sink of water to wash :/ Diapers and towels are pretty much always washed and dried, but not folded. I try and do that once or twice a week, sitting down with basket after basket… And I have GIRLS. So that means long hair x3 almost 4… oy! it’s everywhere… no pets inside or out so that’s not as big of a deal. I clean the fridge or at least paw through it (not ACTUALLY clean it) Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings to get rid of old leftovers. I get on a trip and do a big clean every now and again but my kids are small and need constant supervision. I hate that my ‘fun’ time with the kids gets swamped with cleaning. I wish we could hire a babysitter once a week and my hubby could help me clean. I’m so not kidding. Clutter bugs the crud out of me, so when we take in our recycling (it’s in a neighboring town, not curbside and only certain days) it’s a huge relief to have the garage cleaned up! Sometimes it takes a month or more to be ‘off’ at the right time and we recycle more than we landfill. So obviously, having an issue with clutter and having a cluttered home.. stinks. But one day? One day the kids will all be in school and I’ll have most of the chores done daily without much issue, and will have a healthier mindset. Woohoo! I tell myself this when it bugs me. It could be a lot worse. Turn on hoarders and then say… well.. at least it’s not THAT bad!
Jill S recently posted..Fun Monday: Word to ya mother
Jill – I could have written this exact same thing!!
I can totally relate! With my busy schedule at work, I would rather spend my time off and all my energy with my kids instead of cleaning! And it looks like a lot of mothers can relate. Great job for cleaning. Makes me feel bad about my windows and my rugs.