I hate to be the bearer of bad news. BUT. My “30 day” (ha… ha) Spring Cleaning challenge has kind of fallen by the wayside. I have not been able to make it my top priority on a daily basis, because as you know from weeks 1-3, most of the tasks from the original list take waaaaayyyyyyy longer than the 20ish minutes that I was hoping would be doable. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve made some good progress and am glad I’ve done some deep cleaning that I’ve never done in the 2.5 years that we’ve had our house. Then again, as it turns out, cleaning is not that fun or interesting! So. This will be the last time I torture you with the details of what I’ve been doing to freshen up the house. I’ll make it quick.
Day something (I’ve lost track): Clean living room and dining room chairs
Total time: 20 minutes
Gave all of the chairs and couch a good wipe-down with my favorite, Method all purpose cleaner
Next day: Clean living room windows, blinds, and curtains
Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Dusting blinds is a pain in the ass. We have some nice wide wooden blinds, which I dusted awhile back with a swiffer duster. Not super effective, actually wiping them down with a paper towel and Method worked much better!
Also, wiped down windows, sills, frames, and the tops of the window trim and curtain rods, places which never get looked at or cleaned. Finally, threw the curtains in the wash, and hung them back up to dry.
A different day: Living and Dining Room De-clutter, clean tables, shelves, and surfaces.
Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
This was good timing, because I was home to visit the ‘rents a couple of weeks ago and my mom sent me home with some tupperware boxes of “Kelly’s stuff” that she had cleaned out of my old bedroom and/or attic storage. The boxes didn’t make it past the living room, so I needed to go through them and trash or put away. Hello ghosts of adolescent past. Turns out, one of the boxes was actually my sister’s stuff. The other one did contain a couple of keepsake items (awkward homecoming photos, etc) that I stashed away in a photo box, and a cuckoo clock that my grandparents brought me from Germany. Then of course there were some real treasures, like this masterpiece from junior high:
…and some other junk which promptly took a trip to the trash bin. After getting that out of the way, I wiped everything down, including the tops of shelves which usually get skipped.
FINAL DAY (you’re welcome): Clean living room baseboards
Total time: 45 minutes
I deviated from the task list I started out with by skipping the walls, because to me, it’s all about that base. (board. sorry. I had to). I also moved the couch and bench out of the way and cleaned behind those. Exciting stuff.
So I did make some good progress on the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. I have yet to tackle the office and bedrooms. My new plan is to try to spend about 20 minutes a day cleaning, rather than trying to complete a larger set task. I think constant maintenance can go a long way, and will help me create a habit, rather than causing burn-out.
How did you do with Spring Cleaning? Any tips to help manage your task list?
Linked up at: Share the Wealth Sunday, Motivational Monday
