Day 11:        Cleaning The House/Yard Work

 

I love a clean house.  I just hate cleaning it. 

    I have a friend who is one of the nicest people in the world and her house is always a wreck.  She has four kids and a husband.  The kids range in age from 20 down to 12.  She would complain that she just couldn’t get her housework done.  I asked, “Why don’t you make the kids do the chores?  They’re certainly old enough.”  “Oh,” she replied, “I can’t get the kids to do anything.”  And I said, as only a person who has never had children would do, “I’m sorry.  You tell them to do the chores.  You are the parent.”  Frankly, what is the sense of having kids if you can’t make them do your work?????  

    You do have to train kids to do household chores from an early age.  It may have been too late for hers.  My mom worked full time but she had a crew of five kids at home who were fairly well-trained.  We all had chores that were divided evenly and we rotated every week.  When the boys got old enough, mowing the lawn got added to the list.  We all raked leaves.  We all shoveled snow.  And we got a weekly allowance in return for our service. 

    Now maybe you don’t have kids.  There is no one to order around, but, on the plus side, there is a heck of a lot less to clean up. 

    Housekeeping is basic.  Keeping it up on a daily basis will make the weekly cleaning a heck of a lot easier.  When I worked on cruise ships, the stewards went into the cabins every day, cleaned the bathroom thoroughly, vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the mirrors, wiped the baseboards every couple of days.  Some of the cruise staff, who had the luxury of having their cabin cleaned by their steward tried to make it easier on their steward by telling her she didn’t have to clean their cabin every day.  The steward replied, “I need to get in there every day.  If I keep it clean all week, then on turn-around day (the day when the passengers disembark and the new passengers come on), I can get my work done faster.  It makes it easier if I clean every day because I never need to do a deep cleaning.”  And that makes sense.  Once something is clean, it is much easier to keep it clean than to let it go and have it become a project. 

    I am not going to tell you how to clean your house.  I will tell you to take advantage of things like the shower cleaner that you hit the button on every day and it sprays cleaner all over your shower.  Yeah, it might miss a few spots, but once a week you can hit those spots and not worry about the rest.  I am a big fan of Swiffer™ products.  I dry Swiffer™ during the week and wet Swiffer™ once a week or so. 

    The big thing is to keep on top of it.  I refuse to spend an entire Saturday cleaning my house.  I clean out the fridge and do a quick wipe-down of the shelves the night before I do my weekly shopping.  I clean the kitchen sink almost daily – it takes less than five minutes, makes the kitchen look good and I don’t get stuck scrubbing built-up soap scum.  I can clean two bathrooms in under half an hour, including the floors.  When I put the clean linens away, I straighten up the linen closet.  I open my mail over the trash barrel.  I shred as I go.  I vacuum the big areas once a week and I vac the edges once a month.  My friends are kind enough not to look too closely.  I don’t dust as often as I should.  But I have learned not to have too many knick-knacks sitting out on shelves.  They just have to be moved when you dust.  And they have to be dusted themselves.  If you have collectibles, put them in an enclosed china cabinet so you minimize dusting time.

    Look into getting a cleaning service, even if it is just once a month for the heavy stuff.  My mom is getting older and she can do the day to day cleaning, but she really can’t do the deep cleaning.  (Though we did get her that little Roomba™ vacuum for Christmas one year and it is GREAT!  We love to set it down and watch it go.  Mom has named it Matilda.)  A cleaning service once or twice a month can make it a lot easier for you to keep it looking good in between visits.  How?  I don’t know about you, but I am always embarrassed and end up cleaning the house before the cleaning lady comes!  How expensive is a cleaning service?  Call several and find out.  Then multiply the amount of time that you would spend doing it by how much you are worth an hour.  If the cleaning service comes out cheaper, go for it.

    Keeping up with the outside depends on you.  I have a lawn guy (I live in Florida – it is too hot to get out there with a lawn mower).  He comes every week, cuts the grass, edges it and from time to time trims back bushes (especially in the winter when the grass grows more slowly).  He is worth every cent.  My brother and his wife have a big yard.  They have a riding mower and it takes half the time to cut as it would with a regular mower.  They would rather spend time with their kids than mowing the lawn. 

    If you have a pool, either have a pool company service it or learn how to keep it balanced.  Once a pool is balanced, it is very easy to maintain.  If you like to garden, then garden.  If you don’t, don’t have flowers or hire a gardener.  Plant perennials or flowering bushes that don’t take a lot of upkeep.  Or find a friend who loves to garden but doesn’t have the room to do so. 

    Outsource as much as you can (or can afford).  Balance your time value against the cost of outsourcing.  My hourly rate is much more than that of a cleaning service or lawn guy.