Cleaning

[blas87]

Back in late August or early September, I did a really thorough de-cluttering and cleaning of my apartment. I mean, it was really gross. Up until then, I'd done the bare minimum to keep the place clean. I'm not one to live like a slob, the worst I do is leave my clean air dry laundry all over my bed (neatly laying out to dry without wrinkles, though) and I never have stuff on the floor or laying about because that's always bothered me. But I had a lot of crap on my old stereo, my vanity was covered in hair/makeup tools/products, my caddy by by bed was full of almost empty perfumes and more hair/makeup crap and I had an entire drawer full of receipts and clothing tags. My spare bedroom had 4 years worth of mail, shoeboxes, boxes from clothing at Christmas, etc. But I rarely if ever vaccuumed or dusted. I mean, it was GROSS.

My spare bedroom is still odd, because I have extra chairs, old boxes from moving that I want to use again, and extra sheets and pillowcases folded up, but the floor is now clean and there's no more mail or junk.

But as I said, I did a thorough cleaning. Borrowed my parents' vaccuum and their carpet cleaner machine and my parents bought me a Swiffer Wet Jet beginner kit (but I have to pay for the replacement stuff, ouch. I already have a regular Swiffer too). They bought me a bunch of Clorox wipes (already have lots of them but use so many, can always use more), toilet cleaners, shower cleaners, etc etc etc etc.

Now I'm just a freak. With more time off of work and a boyfriend working opposite shift of me, I now clean on my days off. I usually mop/sweep the floors every other weekend, and use a Clorox wipe on the floor every other day or so when I get twitchy. I constantly wipe off the microwave and kitchen counter.

Every day when I'm done using the bathroom to get ready, I wipe down the sink (I do use messy makeup) and I have a fan pointed at the shower so it dries and doesn't get moldy or sit there wet. I have no idea what I will do when it gets cold and I can't have that cold fan in there for an hour after I use the shower. I take everything out of the bathroom and clean the shower and tub and sink and toilet at least once a week, but spiff with Clorox wipes every few days at least.

It NEVER stays clean! All I have to do is take a poop and the bathroom smells. Take a shower, and there's dried up water on the walls of the shower and dried up soap. Not that it's obvious with how often I clean, but it drives me crazy! All I have to do is wash my makeup off and the sink is dirty again.

I cleaned the floors today and the kitchen smelled so great. Then of course I HAD to make a pizza tonight, and now my kitchen wreeks like an Italian restaurant. I was so proud of my work and how clean the kitchen was and how the sink was empty and how with it being the weekend and getting Subway and whatnot, not having to dirty it up again.

And I'm always Febreezing the furniture and the clothes in my closet, and the smell never seems to last. I use fabric softener and dryer sheets, and I can't smell the lovely smell it had when I first did my laundry.

Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth cleaning.

[Boozy]

You might consider using a squeegee instead of the fan for the winter. It only takes a minute and prevents the hard water build-up.

I used to spend half of my day off cleaning the house, but I got sick of it. Now, instead of spending 3 hours straight cleaning on a Saturday morning, I spend about 15 minutes cleaning in the morning before work and 15 minutes after I get home from work. That takes care of most things, so when Saturday rolls around, all I have to do is one or two things and the rest of the day is mine.

[HYHYBT]

You know, both the poop and the pizza smells will go away without cleaning. Just wait, especially if you have an exhaust fan. Besides, pizza smells better than cleanser any day

[blas87]

I forgot to add, after I'm done showering, I quickly use a sponge and wipe anywhere that shaving cream or excess shampoo or soap would gather, just a quick swipe with water along the sides of the tub and wall and around the curtain.

I'm pretty good during the week about keeping up with dishes and keeping the bathroom and floors decently clean, and I usually do most of my heavy cleaning on Sunday night, unless I absolutely need it to be daytime, I'll do it Saturday afternoon.

It was so hot this weekend, and with the Asian Beetle threat, I can't have my windows open, so it was just a chore having to sweat my ass off doing the floors.

[Seshat]

I'm wondering if you're being perfectionist.

Your home is to live in, not to be a showpiece. It will, therefore, smell and look lived in, fairly often. It's supposed to.

Yes, it's worth getting it squeaky clean once a week or so, and ensuring that kitchen counters are hygenic in the meantime.

No, it's not worth fretting over soap scum and hard water marks on the shower tiles in between the weekly cleans.

[blas87]

OCD, you mean?

I would imagine perfectionist if I always had people over. Not many people come by, but that's because it's ungodly hot and small in here.

I think I've gotten carried away. I just enjoy the smell of clean (not bleach or strong fumes, just the nice smell of clean floors and whatnot) and seeing a beautifully made bed and fluffed pillows and neatly arranged shoes and no dirt on the floor.

In spring/summer I sleep on the couch because the A/C doesn't reach that far into my bedroom. The rest of the year, I sleep on the couch because I don't want to make my bed.

[tropicsgoddess]

I hate cleaning (especially the bathroom) but the end result of seeing and smelling a clean house makes it worthwhile.

[insertNameHere]

I hate cleaning, I have been in the process of it for months but have been motivated more recently because I see how bad of a hoarder my dad is becoming and I just want to declutter shit. And in a month I will leave for military training for 10months, so I won't be around. I have plenty of shelves and bins in my room that were crammed full of useless crap that I had no idea why I was keeping it. Articles about jobs/local events I intended to read or eventually get to that I finally decided obviously was never going to happen. I try to keep from collecting random things so I don't seem to want to keep it only because I have had it for so long. I finally decided to dust only after constantly noticing dust on my laptop screen and keyboard. It also helps to have my gf come over and look at me and go "Honestly WTF is the use of this". Sure I moved a decent amount of things to the basement like old game systems I want to keep but don't use very often, so there isn't much point to keeping them setup. And hopefully this week I will finally get enough stuff off my floor permanently so i could sweep more than the path from my door to my chair.

My dad has been complaining of how wasteful we are.... to the point when the dogs tieout cable broke he spent about 30min to cut the steel cable to retrieve the clasps so.... you know in a year or two when some random use might come up we have them, instead of spending the $2 it would take to buy one he would already have it. And my mom is the type to want to have a garage sale which I'm sorry during the last one we sold all the "big ticket" items and just nick nacks that nobody wants are left, it doesn't matter that you paid $100 for it nobody is going to give $2 donate it or throw it out. Old computer software that won't run on even XP at this point is certainly not going to work on Windows 7 64bit. That old versa pack drill is useless without batteries that cost $20 a piece and still don't have shit for power. Not to mention that I have all those same tools from ridgid at a much higher quality.

[telecom_goddess]

I really don't see the problem here. I love having my place clean too and taking those extra steps you do keeps it from being a more difficult job later. Preventing mildew/mold/scum/soap/water stains is a GOOD thing.

[insertNameHere]

I really don't see the problem here. I love having my place clean too and taking those extra steps you do keeps it from being a more difficult job later. Preventing mildew/mold/scum/soap/water stains is a GOOD thing.

Agreed, when i was away at college me and my 3 roommates switched off cleaning. Compared to my friend and his other 7 roommates. which if you can imagine how bad a house full of 8 guys plus their friends and gfs would be if nobody cleaned you might begin to have an idea.

[Greenday]

Ugh, I hate cleaning. And by cleaning, I mean sweeping, dusting, etc. I don't mind wiping doing the sink after using it, spraying the shower down to prevent mold, taking out trash, washing dishes. Those are easy. Cleaning stuff up and and dusting actually takes a lot of effort and sucks because you keep having to do it all the freaking time over and over.

And blas, if I had a friend whose kitchen smelled like an Italian restaurant, I'd be over all the time. That smell is freaking amazing.

[Android Kaeli]

Cleaning stuff up and and dusting actually takes a lot of effort and sucks because you keep having to do it all the freaking time over and over.

This is EXACTLY why I hate cleaning, because it is a process that needs to be repeated again and again. I know it needs to be done but I don't have that many people visiting on even a yearly basis.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, I'm sitting here in a mess of camping and SCA gear that needs to be put away and laundry needing to be done and I'm stalling.

And I do get frustrated sometimes that cleaning is a never ending cycle. But as has been said, you live there. I live here. Living is a messy affair. And it's much easier to clean up a house that is simply mildly messy than it is to clean one that's straight up nasty. So you keep up a level of cleanliness.

I actually plan my home and whatnot with easy cleaning in mind. I don't have carpet, and sweeping is easier than vacuuming. (and carpet holds dirt and odors no amount of cleaning eliminates). All my linens are white, so I can bleach them if I have to, and I can wash them all together in the load with borox. I keep cleaning supplies where I use them so I can grab stuff spontaneously instead of going to get cleaning stuff. My kitchen is solid surface with an integrated sink....no crevices to trap gunk anywhere. This was all deliberate.

Thinking ahead like this really makes it a lot easier to get ahead with cleaning and picking up.

[blas87]

Well, I did a lot of it to myself. It took a few weekends in a row (splitting it up around the decluttering time) to even get the place decent. I hadn't dusted in four years. Hadn't vaccuumed in over 6 months. Don't do much for sweeping or mopping. Now I do.

But it irritates me that it never, ever ends or stays clean.

Hell, I just cleaned the floors, live alone, and my feet still are getting dirty.

Mom is letting me borrow her mop/bucket and white vinegar and letting me try using that and seeing how clean it'll get the floors.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Listen, I live with a husband who has a very, very different idea about what "clean" means and a six year old.

And we're all art type people.

So...yeah.

Vinegar is very good at getting up grime. If I breathe a lot of fumes, they make me sick, so a lot of my cleaning supplies are home made. Gallon of hot water, a cup of vinegar, and about half a cup of borox will strip some serious funk.

You want to make your floor situation easier, go to the store and pick up a Swifter damp mop and a box of wet pads. A once over with these makes the whole house smell clean and the fumes for this short time don't bother me. It's not strong. Don't get Wet Jet pads, make sure they're the ones for the damp mop and not the Wet Jet. Swifter products make cleaning very easy and quick. I'm not trying to sound like an ad, but if your routine is easy, you'll keep up with it. I have every product they own, except for the carpet thing, and if I only HAD carpet, I'd own that, too. Pick up some dusters while you're at it, they're awesome.

The Wet Jet is nice, but the cleaning fluid is expensive and you have to put batteries in it. So to me, that's extra hassle.

If you want motivation for cleaning, watch a few episodes of "How Clean Is Your House". Especially the part where they take cultures in the kitchen.