clean my house

If you don’t remember the last time you cleaned your dishrack (including the bottom, the counter, and that hidden spot behind the faucets) it’s time.

This is something I rarely get a chance to do, since the rack seems to be perpetually full, but I braved it today.

I also thoroughly cleaned the microwave and as far as I could go under the fridge/stove area. (oh, and the toilet. It smells like lavender now.)

I felt like I should be in a robot suit screaming “Get AWAY from her, you BITCH!” It was frightening, but I won the battle and all is shiny and white.

For a bit, just because the house needs a kick in the basement.

List of what I did today:

Kitchen

Wash dishes
Put away dishes
Shine sink
Clean counters
Clean stovetop
Recycling
Garbage
Clear tables
Clean bin tops
Clear out old food
Sort mail

Hall

Sweep
Clean up shoe/coat rack

Bathroom

Wash sink
Clean toilet
Clean & tidy glass shelves
Clean around wall/floor edges
Clean candle racks

Bedroom

Fold laundry
Put away laundry
Make bed
Dust
Tidy dresser tops

Office/Nursery

Vacuum
Clear off desk
Organize boxes
Put away baby clothes
Dust
Put up painting
Move altar boxes
Store extra CD’s
Consolidate pens, notebooks, art supplies
Put away photos

Living Room

Clean up toys, books, cars
Vacuum
Dust
Clean off table
Clear off dresser tops
Tidy bookshelf knick-knacks
Clean up movies
Clean up & box CD’s
Check under furniture for monsters
Tidy up loose change
Store boxes
Wipe surfaces
Clean high-chair
Sort cards

Most of that was whilst juggling a toddler. The place looks fantastic. I didn’t get to everything, but I spent most of my day making a HUGE difference.

The tidying up I did in the Office/Nursery in particular has opened up the whole room in a number of ways.

I still want to wash the floors, tidy up papers on my desk, and wash the tub, but NOT TODAY. I kept trying to come up with a haiku about cleaning the toilet, but to no avail. Oh well.

I’m tired. My back hurts. But the house is now giving me whatever the opposite of a headache is. I deserve a Caesar and a bath bomb.

I decided recently that I’d mark this as done the next time I did my top 10 house-cleaning things in a single day. Well, today I did the following:

Dishes
Trash
Garbage
Recycling
Counters
Stovetop
Declutter top of fridge
Clean top of fridge
Throw away old food
Clean microwave
Laundry
Clear out lint trap/softener container
Put away all clothes
Clear off kitchen table
Clear off living room table
Sweep
Wash floors
Vacuume
Clean catbox
Tub
Toilet
Behind toilet (ew)
Bathroom shelves
Clean spilled bubblebath gunk
Sinks
Mirrors
Clean glass
Dusting
Make beds
Pick up and organize toys
General tidying

And a number of other things I’ve neglected to mention, so way past – above and beyond my mere 10. I’m so tired, and I may not have done much of anything else, but I think I’m finally justified in marking this one as done. Although I know there’ll be more to come – I’ll “do it again”.

The whole day was chock a block with gumption. Hours and hours worth. Maybe it was because the sun finally came out and it felt more like Spring.

Floors were swept and washed. Load after load of laundry and dishes were done and put away. The grass has been cut and raked. There was decluttering. There was dusting. There was vacuuming. Tables were cleared. Desks were tidied. Counters were polished. Sinks were shined. Cupboards were organized. Closets were weeded. Weeds were whacked.

There was recycling and cat box cleaning and garbage removal. Things were evicted from the refrigerator. Little molehills of papers all over the house were sorted and filed. Diaper boxes a mile high were put into storage. Markus got home early and pitched right in, which meant twice as much got done.

I can’t believe how much cleaning happened here today. The place looks amazing. If only every day was like this…

I got the usual exhausting clean, tidy, clothes, dishes, counters, sink, garbage, poop, recycle business done.

Then I wiped out the microwave, cleared and sponged the table under the plant (it attracts mess and clutter like magic) and then swept, rinsed and washed the floors. Even the seldom seen parts that I usually ignore.

Oh it was awful. Cat tufts and muck and escaped food crumbles and hard little noodles and godknows what. So gross. Hairy stinkwater. Bllleachh. But I feel doubly good about cleaning it.

Not just a lot, but with the fast-forward button pressed.
This girl needs a bath. With a shot of cognac.

I had some catch-up cleaning to do today: a wall-o-cheerios was building up, the toys were scattered, the dishes were a stacked, the laundry was piled, the catbox was ripe, the feather-duster was cold, the broom was feeling neglected, there were a few AWOL dust bunnies running amok, the recycling and garbage needed to be set free… you know, the same old same old that builds up when Life happens.

I jumped in and got myself dirty getting things clean. The house has re-relinquished control to me. Whew.

Today I had the art of multitasking down. I had the coffee brewing while I put away last night’s dishes. I had the new dishes soaking while I started the laundry. I folded the laundry while the dishes were drying. I baby-wiped bathroom spots every time I walked past. I vacuumed while lunch was on, and de-cluttered between cleaning frenzies.

Every now and then I stopped to have a cup of coffee, knit a few rows, or play with Isak (he thought the cleaning was fun anyhow – running around with his corn-popper while I vacuumed or helping me dust). I feel very productive. And the house looks great. Whew!

This morning I got up early and started cleaning up a bit while I was waiting for the coffee to brew.

By nine I’d gone on to do the dishes (oooh, shiny sink!), clean up the kitchen, do a load of laundry (and fold yesterday’s – still in the dryer. And put it all away), sweep the hall, empty all the trash/garbage, knit a fine sweater out of dryer lint (okay, maybe not that, but perhaps I’ll add it to my list), and sit back down here with a steaming cup of coffee and delete all my spam.

Maybe I can manage to wash the floors before Isak wakes up…?

Today I made a list of the top 10 things I wanted to get done, then spent at least 20 minutes in each room, cleaning as much as I could. It worked well. The kitchen and bathroom in particular look noticeably shinier. Everything (and then some) got checked off. Wow.