Cleaning Up—Peacefully
Summer is the time for graduation celebrations, Independence Day barbecues, and pool parties. Cleaning your entire house for guests sounds daunting, but don't fret -- it's possible to clean your house without stress and irritation plaguing you. Here, some tips, from us and our friends at Dollar Tree on fixing up your place in preparation.
1. Start with clutter. Organize your mess into boxes -- Trash, Storage, Put Away, or Give Away. You need cardboard boxes and a marker for this task.
2. Don't go crazy about the dust that hides behind your couch -- focus on the big picture. After you've put away your clutter, clean all the surfaces. Make sure you like what you're seeing when you step away. Then, get down and dirty with the details to make the rooms really shine.
3. Multi-task. Clean your kitchen floor while waiting for your apple pie to cook. Purchase cleaners that work on different surfaces and in different rooms to save bucks. Finally, keep all your supplies in a caddy or another container and carry it around from room to room instead of darting back and forth from underneath the kitchen sink.
4. Definitely take breaks! Don't attempt to tackle your living space in one hour. Sit down and drink some lemonade, take a breath, and daydream about how much fun you'll have at your party.
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Comments
This sounds oh so easy,,,I’m still looking for the ‘get up and go’ that has ‘got up and went’!!!*L* My main issue is clutter!! No matter how hard I try, it seems like I’m just moving it from one spot to another; any pointers?
I take the fact that I have clutter as a sign that I have too much stuff.
So what I do is make a pile of stuff I need, another pile of stuff I don’t, and a pile of stuff I need but is broken/needs to be fixed.
The stuff I don’t need I let go (to goodwill/salvation army, etc for tax deductions or if it’s something good to a family member/friend so i can “visit” it), the stuff that needs to be repaired I look through to see if I really need to keep and if it’s worth paying the repair fee.
The stuff I need to keep I move into the correct area of the house (ie shoes in the bedroom or coat closet) and then organize by room.
Also, Purchasing bins from target ( I find that the bins at Walmart can actually be more expensive), and dumping things in them is also a great way to put the clutter in it’s place. Once the bins are full, then you know it’s time to clean them out!