What I've Been Cleaning Lately

 

At the beginning of July it was time to pull out a fresh copy of my quarterly housekeeping checklist.  This is the list I use to do some deeper cleaning than my regular weekly routine.  I have to be honest though, as I was looking over the previous list to review my progress I had only checked off about half of the items because I was playing and enjoying myself last quarter.  That’s completely okay though because my housekeeping lists and routines are very forgiving.  All I have to do is begin again and in no time I’ll be able to get caught up with not a lot of effort.

 

It's a miracle!  I can see! 😂

The very first thing I wanted to do more than anything was to clean my living room window inside and out.  With all of the crazy weather we’d been having this past spring it had gone beyond dirt to mud, I swear.  I took a bucket of soapy water and a rag out there and washed off the window and then hit it with a clean rag and some Sprayway.  Now I can clearly look outside and watch my hummingbirds at the feeder without seeing that filthy window.  Total time spent – 5 minutes.

 

Clean & shiny!

I didn’t clean my oven last quarter, but I had done it the time before so it was a quick and simple process to spray it down with some Mean Green degreaser and scrub it up.  I pulled all of the pots and pans out of the bottom drawer and cleaned that too tossing the padded liner I had made many years ago into the washer for a much needed cleaning.  Once it had made it through the wash and dry cycles I was able to put it back along with my pots and pans.  I even polished the Revere Ware.  Total time spent on this project (not including laundry time) less than 30 minutes.

 

Old fridge the night before

New fridge - Clean & shiny!

The replacement of my refrigerator made it super easy to tackle this chore as all I had to do was organize the new refrigerator which had arrived spotlessly clean and shiny.  I’ve since added some containers to help me keep things organized as well as neat and tidy inside.  The day before the refrigerator was delivered I had pulled out the old one and wiped down the walls and cleaned the floor.  I do this chore every quarter without fail so it never gets gross under there.  Total time spent – 5 minutes.

 

Clean & shiny!

Under the kitchen sink got a thorough cleaning as well.  Again, I didn’t do this chore last quarter, but I had done it the time before so I pulled everything out and wiped down the inside of the cabinet and the washed the bin I keep my cleaning supplies in.  Then everything went back inside and I was good to go.  Total time spent on this chore – 5 minutes.

 

Clean & shiny! 😄

The beauty of having a housekeeping system in place is that I do these things on such a regular basis that even if I miss it once, or even twice, nothing is allowed to accumulate to the point that things become filthy or get out of hand.  I can quickly move through the list and get myself all caught up again over the next three month period and I’m right back on track.  Best of all, no spring cleaning and plenty of time to play!  Yay!