CUTTING HOUSEWORK DOWN TO SIZE – Part 4

SPRING CLEANING

There are still a few chores that aren’t on our list, things like washing windows and cleaning baseboards.  I like to treat these as projects to be done each spring and fall.

Wash windows (I love mild soapy water and a squeegee for this!) 

        Clean baseboards, banisters, and tops of door frames 

        Dust books and book shelves 

        Vacuum behind refrigerators and freezers 

        Clean oven 

        Clean out pantry shelves 

        Have carpets cleaned professionally (2-4 times per year)

        Tidy and sweep out garage 

        Touch-up paint throughout house

        Wash blinds and/or drapes

        Change furnace filters (every other month or so)

        Flip mattresses

Pick one Saturday per month for one of these projects.  Don’t give up all your Saturdays for them.  Don’t let them haunt you or make you feel guilty.  Work them into your calendar.

When you notice something that needs to be cleaned (like the chandeliers or light fixtures), put it on that rotating list for that one project day.  Don’t beat yourself up about it being dirty.  This stuff has to be done in everyone’s house.  Trees lose their leaves, birds lose their feathers.  It’s the second law of thermodynamics.  Things proceed from a state of lesser to greater disorder.  It even happens in the universe.

Then you can sit back and relax on your deck or at your fireplace, enjoying your lovely, orderly home.