Spring Cleaning
Does anyone do an actual "spring cleaning" anymore? My mom did one every single year, and when I say "spring cleaning" I mean spring cleaning. She polished and waxed all the wood floors, moved all the furniture and inspected behind and underneath each piece, flipped the mattresses, aired out the house, cleaned all the windows inside and out, swapped out the linens, scrubbed/dusted/washed/scoured/polished/buffed everything else. When she was done the house sparkled. Of course my mom was so dedicated to cleaning that the house sparkled all the time anyway. She also did a "fall cleaning" but as far as I can tell the concept never caught on past our house.
Sadly I did not inherit my mother's penchant for cleaning. Truth be told I'm a less than enthusiastic housekeeper. I keep up with the dirt well enough, but my philosphy is if I can't see it, it doesn't exist. Move the dresser to look for dirt? I think not. Any dirt that escapes behind the dresser deserves to live there in peace and harmony. Who am I to disturb the dresser dirt colony? Don't get me wrong...if I find a rebel dust bunny, I am more than happy to suck it up with my Swiffer Vac, but I don't go on search and destroy missions. They come after me? I fight back, but I prefer to live peacfully with my dirt. I'm sure my dirt wishes to live peacefully with me.
In fact, if all those dirt colonies ever got together and staged a coup, I'm sure they'd win. Heck, I know they'd win. And I'm okay with that.
posted by yvonne at Sunday, March 12, 2006
24 Comments:
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I hate cleaning, so the thought of cleaning everything scares the bejeesus out of me! Besides, I never have time in the Spring. Midterms are upon us and when Spring break comes, I need to veg out.
Oops. I used real names up there so I copied my post and edited out the real names and moved it down here. (Real names are reserved for emails only)
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Augie, a clean house is a clean mind, for Cod's sake.
*smack upside the head*
I like to think that like your mom, I stay on top of things but I guess I cheat a little too becuase I have a cleaning lady come once a week. But I am very much anti-clutter (I think you are too, in fact) so I make her job all that much easier.
I refuse to have her clean Mr. Monstah's office (AKA his cave) becuase Mr. Monstah is like 20 teenage boys in one when it comes to picking up after himself. So, with that being said, Mr. Monstah usually does do a BIG spring cleaning-- at my behest, naturally. It is usually the only cleaning of the year for him. Sometimes when All Stah is sleeping and the blog world is slow, I will go downstairs to his cave and throw away things I know he will never miss. (For example, crap give aways from Microsoft conferences. I am not proud of this fact, but in the end it is what is best for all of us.)
Monsty, the house is clean, just not "eat off the floor" clean. But really, who wants to eat off the floor? Not me!
ANd? My mind is clean. For the most part.
Nutzy, I'm with you. Cleaning everything is quite scary. *shudder*
I do, but not with the gusto of your mom, and certainly not all in one shot. It usually takes me about two good weekends to accomplish it all. This weekend I scrubbed down the kitchen. The only thing I didn't move was the stove and I know I need to desperately. I also took apart the couch cushions and washed them and let them air dry outside. I also did a thorough dusting in the living room. I had every intention of doing our room, but got side tracked by my girlfriend.
I don't like to clean. *sigh*
For years, I moved every 4 months to a new place. We would clean when we left.
It was disturbing when we lived in a place for a couple years how everything got grubby. I'd never lived in one place long enough to let large amounts of grime accumulate. It just hadn't occured to me.
I really, really want a cleaning person. We could probebely afford one now. It would just feel odd to hire someone to clean a place that is such a dingy apartment.
Hire a cleaning lady, Bob! I miss mine terribly. When I stopped working full time the cleaning lady got cut. I was going to get her back a few years ago but then I wound up investing a bunch of money in my daughter's business so she got put on hold again. I miss her.
I keep the kitchen, the living room and the master bedroom fairly clean. The rest of the house not so much. Our office is a bombshell mess to the eye. It is organized but we have so many papers and files we have to keep in it! DH and I discuss covering, containing and concealing the clutter regularly but nothing ever happens because it is so hard to figure out what we should do.
I do a lackadaisical spring cleaning compared to you. But I am so happy when it is finally warm enough to throw open every window and let the wind air the house!
Bob should hire me a cleaning lady when she gets herself one. And while she is at it, she needs to get Swami one too.
Augie <---- ever helpful
What if it is cheesecake? Would eat cheesecake off of the floor?
You know how I feel about cleaning, spring or otherwise.
If cheesecake fell on the floor, I would eat all the parts that were not actually touching the floor. Especially if it was the *shudder* last piece.
Hi Breezy1
My parents always did spring cleaning and I really enjoy the IDEA of it. I just take like 2 months to get it all done.
This is the first year since we built the house that I'll have a full on spring cleaning. Pressure wash the siding, re-stain the deck, shampoo the carpet & all.
I'm still fantasising about a cleaning person. Especially after looking at the kitchen this morning.
My aunt and uncle a a cleaning guy. His name was Bob. He was very chatty.
Bob <--- Not related to chatty, tidy Bob.
Oooh! Sign me up for one of those cleaning lady persons!
*gets in line*
I want to hire augie to be my cleaning lady.
I have the same philosophy about dust bunnies. I am terrified about what will happen when I eventually move out of my apartment.
I had a whole big comment about spring cleaning...and blogger ate it. So lets just say yes, I spring clean, three times a year.
I honestly don't know how people with children keep up with housecleaning. It's just DH & I and I can't keep up with the dirt. If I decide to steam clean the carpets one weekend, then nothing else gets done. If I decide to give our bathroom a really good cleaning, then nothing else gets done. I tend to let things go until we are having guests. Then it's a full on panic to get everything clean.
We are in the process of preparing our house to be put on the market for sale. Every time I think about what needs to be done, as far as cleaning goes, I just about lose my mind. I really really really want a house cleaner. *sigh*
Wow. Your mom sounds really dedicated. Personally, I only clean behind stuff when I get it in my head to do that. I do a behind-everything cleaning about once a year, but it's not usually inspired by spring.
My house is very cluttered, but my bathroom and kitchen are always clean. The thought of either of those rooms being dirty icks me out.
*lol* I think the word "dedicated" is Canadian polite for "out of her frickin mind" .
I ate too much tonight, Augie Girl.
KEITH IS GOOBER.
Cleaning..what's that? I think I'll have to hire someone to do my spring cleaning this year so I can have the house all pretty and ready for the wife and baby. Of course, then I'll have to move out so it will stay clean.
Cleaning isn't an obsession of mine. My Dad was a janitor and he instilled pretty good habits in me but I don't spend a lot of time worrying about being able to eat off the floor. Holly eats off it all the time and she hasn't died yet. *grin*
My house is normally tidy, there's just two of us and I'm usually able to keep up to following Dave around picking up behind him. We battle dust constantly because we burn wood to heat our house. The black entertainment centre beside the fireplace was NOT a good idea.
As far as spring cleaning goes, I like to wash the curtains and valances, Dave does the windows. He doesn't mind doing them so who am I to argue. I wash walls when I see they need it, not necessarily in the spring. Same with carpets. They're due now.
I want to hire Supes as my cleaning lady. With all his super powers the spring cleaning wouldn't take long and that's a good thing for me if I'm paying by the hour.
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