I am trying this whole cleanliness is next to Godliness path. I have mentioned many times in the last 2 weeks how I am getting rid of things. I am also washing throws and quilts and pillows because of my whole dust mite issue. And, I am dusting and using the vac more. My new cleaning trick is using peppermint oil and water to keep stovetop and counters clean as well as sink fixtures. To clean our kitchen floor, I sweep all of the gunk on to living room carpet and Hoover it up and then mop the floor to make sure to get all of the little particles instead of having dust fly everywhere. I would normally try repeatedly to get every stray piece of lint into a useless dust pan, but dustpan days are over unless I am sweeping up cat litter.

After cleaning today, I go to take a shower in my daughter’s bathroom and lo and behold, I notice little dust bunnies in the corner of her bathroom. Also, errant beads from an old necklace in 2 corners. I have tried so hard to not let the cleaning chores get out of hand. I’ll explain a bit. I am a neat freak when it comes to everything having a place. But when it comes to deep cleaning, I suck at it. It has a lot to do with the fact that when I was in my 20’s I cleaned houses for over 5 years because I had a cleaning business during college. After that business, I haven’t felt like deep cleaning things on a regular basis.

So, though my house is not dirty. It is not ‘eat off of the kitchen floor clean’ like my mom’s place. Everyday she is doing chores and there is nothing in her place that needs to be clean. It’s just her and 2 cats. Maybe that is it. Perfectly clean homes look so perfect because people are banging their heads up against the wall every single day to keep them up. I just don’t care to strive that hard for a never-ending task, except perhaps being a better Christian. Beyond that, I can’t be all in for something that brings no real satisfaction.

Yes, I love it when my home smells clean and things shine and sparkle. But, I don’t want to miss out on fun moments with my daughter because I am constantly cleaning. Today, we were supposed to watch a movie, and I watched it. About 50 percent of it. The rest of the time I was tidying up because her friend was on her way over, which of course meant her friend’s mom would come in and chat. So I lit candles and wiped things down and put things away but missed that quality time with the best kid in the world.

Maybe the answer to what lies behind all of this perfection is that these moms I know make their kids clean it all! Yeah right. Or, they hire a secret housekeeper like Alice from the Brady Bunch, but she is hidden away in another room or only cleans late at night. Then, when I go visit friends that have multiple kids, the house is perfect and my friend isn’t disheveled because “Alice” the cleaning fairy swept in and saved the day? I need to hire an Alice. Perhaps when I have money to pay all of my bills without crunching numbers repeatedly that can happen. Since the powerball thing didn’t go as planned for me, I may have to wait on that. Until then, I guess I will take it one dust bunny at a time.

Do any of you guys have any cleaning secrets or tips to help an ex-cleaner like me?

simply~

Dee