Tag Archives: Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning: A Woman on a Mission

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I know. Enough with the spring cleaning posts already. But seriously. Have you ever REALLY spring cleaned? It’s totally addicting and feels SO GOOD. And cleaning is pretty much all I’ve been doing since February when I went home to South Carolina help my mom with her house and then when my grandma died in the middle of that, it was on to her house next. Only to come home to Utah and dive right into my own house. (Wow. My English teachers would not be pleased with any of those sentences.)

But in all honesty. It’s been so theraputic to my little lost heart. As I’ve begun healing this New Year, the cleaning has given me purpose. I know what to do and how to do it. And organizing things–whether a party or a junk drawer–has always been a talent of mine. When my world spun out of control last year, going into hibernation mode was all I could do. But now, with every wall I wash, I feel like the shadows are dissipating. With every bookshelf I put in order, I can feel my own life righting itself and realigning on its axis.

So bear with me friends. I’m almost done. Well with the house cleaning at least. After that we’re on to decluttering the heart.

This weekend (in addition to attending a veritable spiritual feast) I finished the bathrooms and began my bedroom. Here are the checklists:

BATHROOM

1. Wash walls and cabinet fronts.

2. Empty drawers, shelves, and cabinets. Organize. Toss what you don’t use. Buy bins or plastic drawers to group like items.

3. Clean fan vent.

4. Disinfect tub/shower. Use Lime Away for rust or hard water stains built up on walls, doors, or spouts. Shine up faucets.

5. Get a new shower curtain liner (if applicable).

6. Wash and dry any rugs or mats.

7. Disinfect sink and counter.

8. Scrub toilet bowl and base.

9. Scrub floor.

BEDROOMS

1. Wash, dry, & iron window treatments.

2. Wipe window blinds.

3. Clean windows and sills.

4. Wash walls, baseboards, and doors.

5. Dust and Windex mirrors and picture frames.

6. Remove all bedding (sheets, mattress pads, pillow cases, shams, dust ruffles, etc.) and wash, dry, iron.

7. While bedding is being washed, move bed and vacuum underneath. Also vacuum mattress top and rotate or flip.

8. Replace any pillows that are flat or old.

9. Dust shelves, dressers, and tables.

10. Empty drawers and organize. Don’t forget to nicely refold clothes, getting rid of items you no longer wear/use. Drawer bins are helpful for scarves, belts, socks, etc.

11. Donate any books you don’t need/read and dust the tops and spines. Replace on shelves alphabetically & topically.

12. Empty closet. Donate items you don’t wear/want. Vacuum floor and wipe down walls before replacing clothes/shoes. Hang clothes systematically by type and color. I’m also partial to matching hangers. Purchase floor shelves, over the door organizers, hooks, or shoe racks as needed.

13. Go through jewelry box/drawer. Get rid of anything broken or out of style.

14. Vacuum rest of floor, moving furntiture like dressers and tables as needed.

15. Lastly, “fix” anything that doesn’t feel right. i.e. change out pictures in frames. Recover an old throw pillow. Redecorate a corner that needs refreshing. etc.

Spring Cleaning, Still…

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On Sunday, Frit came home with the best-story-ever from Primary (children’s class at Church)  …

So each month a new theme, based on a scripture, is introduced to the class. They usually have one of the children come up to read the scripture to the whole group cadence style, i.e. the child reads one line, the group repeats. Well, if the child can’t read, then one of the teachers whispers a line in the child’s ear, the child repeats, and then the group repeats until the whole scripture is read.

This month’s scripture reads, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself. And though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled. whether by mine own voice, or the voice of my servants, it is the same.” And it was one of the 3-year-olds’ turn to read. So the teacher whispered in his ear: What I the Lord have spoken. He repeats: What I the Lord have smokin’! The children repeat: What I the Lord have smokin’! The teacher goes on: I have spoken. He repeats: I am smokin’. The group repeats: I am smokin’.

Frit said she looked around the room and the teachers were dying trying to hold in their laughter. Shoulders were bouncing and tears were streaming. So. If your child came home from our Primary class having learned the Lord was “smokin’,” now you know why. :) We’ve been giggling about it for two days now.

And speaking of smoking … yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to burn all the info-sensitive documents we’ve gathered from our spring cleaning efforts. It seemed like it’d be a lot faster than shredding them all–it was a BIG pile. So I pulled the fire pit out of the shed and lit them. Things were going fine till I needed to add another batch of pages so I lifted the cover to toss them in. Stupid me forgot that the handle is metal and is often covered in flames depending on how high the fire is burning. Thus, it’s VERY hot. And I burned my thumb, index, and middle fingers. Badly. Like blisters-formed-within-seconds-can’t-see-my-fingerprints-felt-like-my-whole-hand-was-on-fire-for-6-hours badly. =Not good.

Do you KNOW how much you use those three fingers?

Executive decision: We’re shredding the rest of the papers.

Though I was useless for the rest of the day, we did get a lot more done on the house this weekend. Here’s a checklist if you’re cleaning with us (and a link to the KITCHEN Checklist if you missed it) …

SPRING CLEANING: LIVING ROOMS (We have a formal and a family so this checklist is combined)

1. Wash walls (don’t forget the baseboards and light switch plates) and window blinds.

2. Wash insides of windows.

3. Take down curtains and wash, dry, iron, and rehang.

4. Clean vents (use Q-tips if necessary … and it is).

5. Empty bookshelves and dust. Donate books you don’t need/read.

6. Replace books. Group by topic and alphabetize.

7. Dust any picture frames, plants, or other do-dads on shelves.

8. Dust TV, end tables, coffee tables, armoires, lamps, and lamp shades.

9. Go through DVD collection. Donate any you don’t watch. Alphabetize the rest. (We also decided to just chuck all our VHS’s.)

10. Wash, dry, fold any blankets and pillows.

11. Spot treat and vacuum upholstery.

12. Dust piano.

13. Go through music. Toss what you don’t use/need. Group by type. Alphabetize.

14. Dust banister.

15. Beat entryway rug.

16. Scrub entryway floor.

17. Move furniture. Vacuum.

We also finished the HALL CLOSET and TOY ROOM this weekend …

1. Go through coats. Donate what you don’t need/use.

2. Organize hats, scarves, gloves. (We got plastic drawers to put ours in. Tip: scarves are stored easiest when rolled.)

3. Toss old phone books.

4. Organize board games. (Check to make sure you have all the pieces for each game. Toss games with missing pieces.)

5. Go through decks of cards. Toss any decks with missing cards. (We organized by suit/ascending order. We also might have color-coded the Phase10 cards. We also might have problems.)

6. Sweep out closet floor and wash walls before replacing items.

7. Go through toy/dress up bins. Toss anything that’s broken or torn. Donate what you don’t need/use.

8. Group like items together. We also picked up new/matching plastic and fabric bins for the shelves.

Our toy bins are in the closet under the stairs (we call it the Harry Potter room). It had become a catch all of sorts so we also moved the food storage to the garage, organized the wrapping paper and stored it in a plastic bin and added battery powered wall lights so it’s not as dark for the children.

Twas a busy weekend! How’s your Spring cleaning coming?

Spring Cleaning: Kitchen Checklist

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Frit’s home this week from work. And we’re Spring cleaning. Cuz…the first day of Spring was this week! Yay for changing seasons! You wouldn’t know it though ’round these parts. We’re still freezing and getting rain/snow. But the cleaning feels good.

I’ve been on a kick lately. A toss-this-crap-I-don’t-need-all-this-stuff-simplify-my-life/surroundings-purge-till-my heart-has-room-again-to-breathe kick. I just want to get rid of things. Physically, emotionally, symbolically. The hair was perhaps the first step.

We live in a world that encourages “acquisition.” And I think we sometimes accumulate to cushion fears or insecurities rather than because we “need.” Mentally we do the same. We harbour thoughts, ideas, hopes–both to our success and detriment.

But the stuff we don’t “need” needs to go. The stuff we don’t use has to be eliminated. The things that clutter our homes and minds and hearts will push in on us and suffocate until we push back and give ourselves the space we need–to grow.

So.

We started with the kitchen. It’s now the end of the day and we’re plum tuckered with two oh-my-achin’-backs but we’ve got three big boxes to take to the Good Will and a sparkling, shiney, organized kitchen to show for it. And oh does it feel so good. Here’s the list of things we accomplished today, in case you’d like to tackle your home too.

SPRING CLEANING: KITCHEN CHECKLIST

1. Wipe down window blinds with warm soapy water.

2. Take down any window treatments/curtains and wash, dry, iron.

3. Wash the insides of windows. (We used Windex, but vinegar and water works fantastic too.)

4. Wash walls with warm soapy water.

5. Wipe down any doors and door frames.

6. Pull refrigerator away from wall and wipe down all sides, the floor, walls, and coils (if applicable).

7. Pull oven away from wall and wipe down top, sides, front, floor, and wall.

8. Clean inside of oven.

9. Empty all cabinets and wipe down shelves.

10. Empty all drawers and wipe out.

11. Go through all the items from cabinets and drawers. Donate anything you haven’t used in the last couple years.

12. Wipe out any containers or utensil holders.

13. Replace cabinet/drawer items. Make sure all items are facing the same way.

14. Wipe down cabinetry and drawer fronts with warm soapy water.

15. Wipe down vent covers.

16. Wipe down all appliances.

17. Disinfect countertops.

18. Remove light fixture covers and clean out. Wipe with warm wash cloth.

19. Clean out microwave. Inside and out.

20. Empty trash and wipe down can with disinfectant.

21. Beat/vacuum rugs.

22. Sweep floor.

23. Srub floor.

Happy cleaning!