If you've been reading you know I am working my way through the book "The House That Cleans Itself". Loving it, but man is it some serious leg work to get to where I want to be! At any given time right now you may walk into my house and see hoards of "things" in one room or the other. Tackeling every square inch of my house, while ridding of some, and reorganizing of others makes for a bit messy looking home. It's temporary I keep telling myself. I know all this hassle right now is going to be worth it once I get things in a functionable order for our living arrangements here and now.
So, here it is... tip #1 I want to pass on! Set up "cleaning stations" in every main living area of your home. A cleaning station consists of Windex easy wipes and Clorox or off brand wipes. So far I have 5 stations. Upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom/laundry room, living room, family room, and kitchen/dining room. When I have 5 mintes to clean a room my basic supplies for a quick clean are right at my fingertips tucked away in cute baskets unseen to the human eye. And lets not kid ourselves...5 minutes is pushing it for time I have to clean rooms most days! For example, I sneak away into the bathroom to do my morning deeds and without my kids even noticing I'm really gone yet, I quick clean the mirror, wipe down the counter, toilet seat area, and bathtub. It's not "deep cleaning", but it is maintaining until I take advantage of my main cleaning time scheduled on it's own bathroom day. 5 minutes tops and I'm back playing Candyland and painting choo choo trains. Easy enough!
What I like about it? I don't spend those first few minutes walking over to get my cleaning tub with all my supplies, cleaning, and the putting everything away back in the downstairs closet. It's quick, simple, and done! So far the only negative I've noticed is buying the wipes can add to cleaning expenses, but it seems to be worth my sanity for this season of life. My family room has never stayed so clean since I added it's own cleaning station!!
Try it out! Set up a few stations and let me know how it goes! More time for playing with our kids! Whoo-hoo!
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my problem will be storing them somewhere that my child does not get into them- and then hide in a corner, doing something with them or wiping them or spraying stuff. hmmm....:)
ReplyDeleteI would have to think about where to hide these stations too!! I tend to clean when Autumn is asleep and then her room never gets cleaned especially while she's in to the DON'T leave me stage!
ReplyDeleteI bought the book a couple weeks ago and hope to read it, too! I have stations in my bathrooms already and LOVE it! I do the quick 5-minute clean, too! Great idea for the family room, etc. I did buy an extra swiffer to store in the basement a few weeks ago- that helps me get some dusting done while the kiddos play. I'm with you on not liking the bit of extra expense, but it is so nice to grab stuff quick!
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