Cleaning and organizing Thread - July 2018

[midtnmama]

Week of July 1: The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room

Spend 15 min per day on the daily tasks , then work on the detailed cleaning list if you have time.

Mon: Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door.
Tues: Put away the things that are piling up like shoes at the door.
Wed: Clean the windows in these rooms and any smudges on the walls.
Thurs: Clean the hotspots in these areas of things that need to be put away.
Fri:Using a feather duster or dust rag get the window sills, the light fixtures, the dusties in the corners and the ceiling fan.

Entrance Detailed Cleaning List

Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.



Clean cobwebs

Dust window sills and front door

Clean switch plate of hand prints and walls if needed

Put plants in to the shower and give them a good rinse. Let them set there until you are finished.

Dust furniture

Dust baseboards

Straighten the coat closest

Sweep vacuum or mop the floor

Put back the plants. You would hate for DH to walk into a jungle tomorrow morning.

Add your own personal touches to make it more welcoming.

Dining Room Detailed Cleaning List

Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.



Clean the cobwebs

Dust window sills

Clean the window

Clean doors of china cabinet after you straighten dishes if they need done. Dust.

Clean and straighten any drawer

Clean off top of dining table and polish

Rinse plants in the shower

Dust the bottoms of the chairs.

Dust the baseboards

Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet). I turned mine over one time. It was not funny.

Add your own personal touches to the table (table cloth, pretty bowl, flowers)

Front Porch Detailed cleaning

Sweep down cobweb and spider webs (In the summer, I leave them. I feed the spiders, too, LOL.)

Sweep off porch furniture.

Sweep the porch.

Throw away any dead plants.

Prune back unruly bushes from the entrance.

Repot planters if necessary (in summer)

Refill bird feeders.

Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.

Get rid of unwanted items.

Add your own personal touches to welcome friends and family (wreath, welcome mat, bell)

[midtnmama]

I don't buy a lot of cleaners. I just fill a spray bottle almost all the way and then add a glug of ammonia and a squirt of dish soap. Works very well and if you just put in a bucket, you can throw that bucket of water on the garden--terrific fertilizer.
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I started a thorough clean of the bathroom, which had a lot of boxes staged to go elsewhere in it. I'm trying to swish and swipe every day but you need tidy surfaces to do that. By end of day, that shall be done.I refilled the scubbers I use in the shower that are 1/2 and 1/2 dawn dish detergent and vinegar. Works wonderfully on mold. If you do a 30 second swish and swipe after each shower, you have conquered it.
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I started, but didn't finish the front porch because of wasps. Must see where they are coming from.

What are you getting done this week?

[lindy]

I had a forced cleaning zone this week. My condo maintenance had to check some wiring in everyones apartment starting tomorrow (Thursday). That panel is in the laundry alcove,behind a shelving unit. Sigh. My laundry space is pretty compact so I had to remove the shelving unit, into my kitchen. I decided to take the opportunity to do a thorough cleaning of that space. I washed down the stacked washer and dryer, I vacuumed and dusted the walls and floor and even cleaned out the dryer lint trap located in the ceiling. I washed the floor as far back as I could on either side of the washer/dryer.
I store pretty much everything on the shelving unit in storage containers,all with lids. Now that it's all sitting in my kitchen until tomorrow night I've been emptying the containers one by one, washing them and then reorganizing the contents. It'll look good once everythings back in place and I feel very virtuous knowing that area is almost sparkling clean. You'd think that a small space, used for getting cloths clean wouldn't get so dusty, but it sure does.
After all that I'm just continuing with my three 15 minute a day cleaning "spurts" this week.

[midtnmama]

Welcome lindy , Sometimes we are forced to tidy up and we are better for it! We are having company today, so the whole house will be shiny!

I save large shopping bags to use for Goodwill donations and store them in the corner of my closet where I put items that are being culled.

I'm starting the day with Yoga, because the stretches really help me not be sore after hours of cleaning.

What's everyone getting done?

[susannah]

I think I need to be forced to clean. In winter it's not usually a problem, but in summer - providing the weather is nice - the call of the outdoors is just too strong. Plus summer is so short up here, we have a million things that need doing outside, I'm not indoors enough to get too bothered by general untidiness, I love being outside...well, those are both reasons and excuses.

No company coming for the rest of this month, which is highly unusual for June. midtnmama , having company (which due to our location generally means overnight/more than one overnight guests) does really make me get cleaning, too.

I did get both main level bathrooms scrubbed down yesterday. And as I'm patting myself on the back, I realize the lower level powder room was totally overlooked (mainly because I rarely use it). Guess that will be on today's cleaning list.

[susannah]

Okay, I got the powder room totally scrubbed down, so that's one item to check off my list.

Reading that Week 1 (okay, I'm running late here) included the entrance, I decided to work on the mudroom and hall leading in from the attached garage. The mudroom being, of course, the area formerly known as the useless hallway. 22 feet by 9 feet in some parts, 7 feet in others, it was an area of wasted space until we had to lose the coat closet to steal room to turn the workshop into a master suite (our house really was poorly/strangely designed, at least for our needs). Then the useless hallway became a much needed mudroom to replace the coat closet.

What I did yesterday:

The long hall leading in from the garage has what I call the "laundry cubby" -basically a recessed area that holds the stacked washer and dryer, and a movable shelf unit that holds laundry products, iron, clothespins, etc. I washed down the outside of the washer and dryer, then ran a hot water/bleach empty load to sanitize the washing machine. Wiped that down thoroughly after it was done. Pulled out the shelf unit, removed everything, and washed the unit down, as well as wiped down the laundry soap bottles that always have streaks of soap on them. Took the two rugs out onto the deck and beat the heck out of them with Grandma's rug beater (which I like better than a vacuum cleaner for small area rugs). Swept and washed the floors, then replaced the rugs. Hallway done.

Onto the mudroom. Took those area rugs outside and beat them as well. Deck is covered with dust in that area now. Also removed the cushions from the 3 storage benches I have in there and beat those. Dusted the benches, peg racks, corner table and shelves. Swept what seemed like a pound of sand and dust out of mudroom, then washed that floor. Let floor dry and replaced the now dust-free rugs. Hallways/mudroom look amazing.

I think I'll tackle the kitchen next. Might not be today, but this week for sure.

[midtnmama]

susannah,--you are inspiring me! As for beating rugs, I have brick posts on the house that are great for that! I'd like to move everything and clean behind and underneath. I know there are spiders hiding in those places!

[midtnmama]

Fly Lady cleaning tasks week of 7/15/18 Bathroom and home office.

15 minute Daily missions:
Monday:Clean cobwebs on the ceiling and clean vents. In the office, clean off the pile next to the printer.
Tues: wash these dirty spots off the door facings, switch plates and door knobs.
Wed: Clean the front of your vanity. Clean the computer screen in your home office
Thurs:Make an inventory of what needs to be replaced in the bathroom. Clean off the office desk
Fri:Clean the baseboards in the bathroom. Make a list of needed items in the office.

If you have time after the 15 minute missions, spend time on the detailed tasks:
Bathroom detailed cleaning list
Wash area rugs
Scrub/wax floor
Straighten drawers/ cabinets
Clean shower stall/ wax (not the floor!)
Wash shower door
Clean medicine cabinet
Clean scale
Throw away empty bottles
Extra bedroom detailed cleaning list
Polish furniture
Straighten drawers/closet
Clean cobwebs
Wash mattress pad/dust rug
Flip mattress
Wash curtains
Wash windows
Clean window
Clean bath tub
Clean top of sewing machine
Straighten bookcase
Straighten computer desk
Clean out the closet
Put away stray items
Fertilize plants
Children’s bathroom detailed cleaning list
Wash area rugs
Sweep/scrub/wax floor
Straighten drawers/cabinets
Clean shower/tub stall
Wash shower door
Scrub bath toys
Wash down outside of toilet
Throw away empty bottles
Children’s bedrooms detailed cleaning list
Polish furniture
Straighten drawers/closet
Clean cobwebs
Wash mattress pad/dust rug
Flip mattresses
Wash curtains
Clean window
Straighten toy shelves
Clean under the bed
Clean out the closet
Put away stray items
Sort out-grown clothes
Vacuum under bed/closets
Dust baseboards
Clean fingerprints off door/walls
Rearrange videos/games/books
Office detailed cleaning list
Clear off the surface of your desk
Throw away pens that don’t work
Sharpen pencils
Throw out all the trash
Put items to keep in a pending file for Wednesday (desk day)
Do not stop to pay bills
Straighten one drawer at a time
Toss out old receipts from over 7 years
Clean off the monitor screen
Fill printer caddy with paper
Establish a place for current bills
Vacuum under desk and the whole room
Dust furniture
Clean windows
Remove cobwebs
Check supplies of paper and printer cartridges
Stamps and envelopes
Laundry room detailed cleaning list
Wipe down the top of the washer and dryer
Clean the gunk from under the washer lid
Throw out empty bottles and boxes
Empty the garbage can
Check supplies of laundry detergent, softener, spot remover
Sweep and mop the floor
Remove the cobwebs
Put away all clothes
Look behind appliances for odd socks

[susannah]

Oh my goodness, that's quite a list, midtnmama ! I did wash the area rugs in the master bathroom last week, and this week I was thinking I really should wash the rugs in the guest bathroom. Oh, and the powder room - before I forget that room again. I'm thinking Wednesday would be a good day to do that. Hopefully I'll remember.

"Wash the shower door" - so timely, but what happened at our house was probably a little more than what was expected on the list. We have clear glass doors in the master bathroom shower. I'd heard awful things about how hard they are to keep clean, so we made sure to have an expensive coating put on when we decided we liked the look of clear glass better than frosted. But even with that special coating - and with the obsessive use of a squeegee on those doors every day - part of one of the doors was cloudy. Using the special cleaning solution we were given made it streaky. I told dh it was an improvement since you could now see clear streaks in the cloudiness. He was not amused. I said before I make a warranty call (the special coating has a 10 year warranty) I was going to make darn sure that it really was a problem - I mean I would probably be mortified if someone came out and told me that it was just a cleaning issue.

I googled around and found lots of references to using Magic Erasers to clean shower doors - and some You Tube videos. Dh was intrigued and decided to try it out (and I certainly wasn't going to discourage him from cleaning...) Some quality time with a magic eraser, then one more use of the cleaner and the door was once again crystal clear and sparkling. Which was a relief and made us happy, but did get dh wondering what's in our water...

[midtnmama]

Jul 24, 2018 1:50:35 GMT susannah said:

 I was going to make darn sure that it really was a problem - I mean I would probably be mortified if someone came out and told me that it was just a cleaning issue.

That is hilarious!

I have a number of nice cottton rugs in the bathroom and toilet. I wash one of them with every load.

I have heard that if you switch from bars of soap to liquid body wash, you have less streaking.

My issues with the shower ( I don't have a glass door for exactly the problem you describe) went away when I started to keep a scrubby filled with 1/2 dawn dish detergent and 1/2 vinegar in the shower. After every shower I scrub a different area. This really works.

Magic erasers really are magic!  I like them for getting the scum around doorknobs and knobs on cabinetry.  My inlaws cannot see so well now, so I always take a magic eraser to their house to work a little on the cabinets. Lots of things we normally wipe away, are not seen by them anymore and become harder to clean when they are dried on.