Home Reset

 

After nearly three months of houseguests I was in deep need of a serious home and life reset.  It is a hard thing to share your home with other people for a long span of time because we all do things differently and even though they know how I am with my super power it didn’t take long before they settled in and made themselves very comfortable.  I made the decision early on that I would teach myself to deal with whatever happened as I didn’t want to add any more angst to the upsetting situation they were already in.  Toward the end, however I admit I was struggling a little bit.  Now that they are in their own home I am able to reclaim mine.

 

Before
There was a weird film all over the tub & shower

Scrub, scrub scrub

After
The pictures don't do it justice.  It gleams!

First, I started upstairs in the main bathroom, which sadly was a fair bit of a mess..  I’m not sure what products they were using in the shower, but it left a thick, sticky film on nearly every surface and it was really hard to scrub off, but with comet cleanser and a lot of elbow grease I got it!  A large load of towels went through the wash.  I also washed the curtain and liner as well as the bath mat.  I cleaned out the inside of the drawers and cabinets wiping down the exterior of the vanity as over time I had been forced out of my own bathroom with my things as theirs took over.  I ran a hair snake down all the drains and pulled out some monsters, then scrubbed the begeesus out of the sink and toilet.  The walls and ceiling as well as the light fixtures got a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water and a touch of bleach before I tackled the floor.  Done!

 

So shiny!  I love all the afters!

Just my stuff in here!  And new bath towels!

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Thank goodness I had my downstairs powder room to move into.  I am now moved back into the upstairs bathroom.  I re-hung my pretty guest towels back onto the towel bar along with the rest of my décor (which isn’t much).  Yes, I’m one of those people - “don’t use the guest towels, they’re just for looks” and I know not everyone does this.  Rather than create a battle I chose to simply remove them during their stay.  I had cleaned all of my storage bins I keep my things in under the sink and once they were dry I added them back with all the goodies including the new bath towels I had bought myself at Costco last month.  With everything back in place I polished the mirror and the faucets and took a deep breath.  It was very satisfying to get this room completely clean and back to being my bathroom.

 

Before

Before

Next up, I was all about putting my guest room/craft room back to the way it was before their arrival.  I spent about two days in there cleaning and putting things back in place.  My doll collection was an issue for them (they are in the camp that dolls are creepy – weirdoes!) so there was a lot of relocating of things they found objectionable.  I could’ve told them to “deal with it”, but I wanted them to be comfortable.  Plus they needed some space.  In that room I washed everything, dusted, vacuumed, cleared out the closet and reorganized it, washed all the bedding and the curtains, cleaned the mirrored closet doors and set it all back up for ME.  My dollies were back in place and so was my sewing machine.  To say the least I was a happy camper!

 

And now!

I'm so happy!

Sadly, because of all the things I had to move to accommodate them my poor bedroom became the dumping ground for everything that used to have a home, but suddenly didn’t.  That was really hard for me to have all of that clutter in my rather minimalist bedroom as it affected my ability to relax and settle down at night and get a restful sleep.  My bedroom was next on the list as once the other two rooms were done all of the clutter was pretty much gone.  I cleaned, dusted, vacuumed and reset my bedroom.  Now I find I am sleeping much, much better.  After giving my upstairs hallway and the stairs a good once over I made my way downstairs.

 

My room is no longer a dumping ground!
Nothing on the floor anymore

Apparently this is grape jelly

In my kitchen I pulled all of the dishes, glassware and silverware out of the cupboards and filled up the dishwasher to rewash everything.  I cleaned out the cabinets and drawers because I found food crumbs and not so clean dishes and silverware inside.  The inside of the drawers and cabinets got all wiped out as well as the outsides of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts paying particular attention to all of the knobs.  I also washed the silverware tray and all my other organizers as well as the liner in the pan drawer under the stove.

 

Much better!

I scrubbed out my crumby cabinets

I re-washed every single dish

I know not everyone cleans the same way I do and that is just how it is.  But, once the dishwasher was done (I also used two soap tabs as well as vinegar in the rinse well) I was very happy to put all of my dishes and silverware away in their proper order knowing that everything was all clean and tidy now.  With hot soapy water I cleaned the entire kitchen, walls and ceiling included (it was necessary), pulled out the appliances to give them a good cleaning (inside and out), vacuumed up the food chunks that somehow had accumulated and clean up spills I was not aware of.  It happens.  Moving right along…

 

All squeaky clean! 😎

All of the silverware is nice and clean.  The tray too!

There were more treasures behind and underneath the fridge

My cleaning water isn't usually this icky 😞

The living room and dining room were next on my list and once that was done I was able to finish up washing all of the chair and furniture covers and put them back (food free) and decorate the living room the way I prefer.  Sometimes things got moved and placed in different locations, which (for someone like me) was a bit of a struggle, but I managed knowing this entire situation was only temporary and I knocked it out of the park!

Before

After!  Clean, odor free & organized with only healthy food!

The downstairs bathroom was fine.  It was the only place that I felt I had total control over so it was kept clean and tidy for the duration of their stay.  I didn’t really need to do anything except take the items I had relocated from the other bathroom and put them back upstairs, empty the trash and refill the toilet paper rolls under the sink (upstairs bathroom too).  The hand soap dispensers were also refilled in both bathrooms.  Bathrooms officially done!

 

Living room

Jack was my super helper

And dining room is all spiffy!

In the laundry room (the other dumping ground) where I had been doing A LOT of laundry once they left I gave it a complete reset.  I pulled the washer and dryer away from the wall so I could thoroughly clean the walls, ceiling and floor.  I washed off both appliances and then I slid them back in place.  I finished washing the walls and ceiling, cleaned the window and washed the curtain, cleaned the shoe and coat racks and got those reorganized.  With those chores complete I restocked my laundry supplies and moved on.

 

Before

Ta da!

The freezer got some love too 💖

Lastly, I cleared out, cleaned and reorganized the kitchen pantry.  Since we had agreed at the beginning that they would provide their own groceries accommodations needed to be made for them to store their food.  Things were shoved in places all willy nilly as again, we don’t do things the same way.  By this time I had already scrubbed out the inside of the refrigerator so at this same time I also took the opportunity to get it all restocked and organized exactly how I like it.  Neat, tidy and pretty!

 

Thankful, grateful & truly blessed

It has taken me a solid two weeks and it has been a ton of work getting this house back in order and making it the home and sanctuary where I live and thrive.  After watching what my friends have been going through, and it has been a lot, I am so very grateful to have the things that I have and to be the person that I am today.  I have thanked God many times throughout these past twelve plus weeks for making me who I am.  Even with my super power.  I wouldn’t want to trade places with anybody.  I am so blessed.  Blessed to be able to help someone in need, but also to have the strength, patience, ability and endurance to take care of what needed to be done during their stay and after.  Thank you Lord!