"Sure, Mom and Dad, we'd love to have you drop in for an overnight visit," my husband said on the phone with his folks. Yikes! I love my in-laws, but I'd been barring all visitors from our home for weeks because my house needed a thorough cleaning.
Now, my fastidious in-laws would be seeing our home at less than its best. Worse still, my schedule included no time for a systematic, complete cleaning before they arrived.
Most moms dread the cleaning process, whether surface or deep cleaning, because nothing stays done for very long with kids at home. With three busy kids, I simply don't have a "free" week in my schedule to devote to deep cleaning--spring or otherwise. But I could include some deep cleaning with my regular surface cleaning schedule.
What worked for this messy homemaker mom was multitasking--learning to do regular cleaning along with spring cleaning--year round. And realizing that my house would only really be completely clean the day the last kid moves out and our dog dies.
So try these divide-and-conquer techniques for five minutes, an hour or an afternoon to get some deep cleaning done any season:
In the kitchen
- Scrub the backsplash and wall tiles while water begins to boil.
- Clean both the inside and outside of an appliance each time.
- Include some dishwasher-safe knickknacks in the dishwasher when it isn't full.
- Remove smudges off cabinets while waiting for your children to get ready.
- Wash your baseboards while talking on the phone.
- Wipe down the kitchen chairs in another room as the freshly mopped kitchen floor dries.
- Scour the other sink while the water from the faucet turns from ice cold to hot or vice versa.
In the bathroom
- Use an old toothbrush to clean around the shower grout while you're showering.
- Clean the walls with a wall eraser product since bathrooms tend to be small and special products tend to be expensive.
- Scrub the tub by giving your preschoolers their own scrub brushes and gentle soap while in the tub. When they are in bed, finish up with a stronger cleanser.
- Remove old reading materials while waiting for your kids to finish brushing their teeth.
In the living/family room
- Use a lint brush to remove dust from sofa pillows.
- Ask every family member to clean during TV commercials.
- Send your kids on a scavenger hunt with a dust mop underneath the furniture. Hide a couple of quarters to keep as an incentive.
- Remove scuff marks on hardwood floors or stains on carpet instead of channel surfing.
In the laundry room
- Wash curtains when the delicate load has room for more items.
- Refresh dry-clean-only drapes by putting them in the dryer on low with a slightly damp towel.
- Save used dryer sheets to freshen the smell of wastebaskets or clothing drawers.
Throughout the house
- Squeegee all the inside windows on a sunny day.
- Squeegee the outside of the windows when the temperature hits 60 degrees.
- Use a ladder to clean all the tops of every door frame instead of doing it one room at a time.
- Dust every picture frame while waiting for a download on your computer.
- Clean all the light fixtures in the house on a rainy day.
Not cleaning regularly leads to frazzled, frustrated moms when you stick to your kitchen floor. Likewise, not deep cleaning leads to built-up dirtiness that simply takes longer to tackle.
Since moms multitask well, rethink your approach to deep cleaning by incorporating it in your day-to-day tasks.
And the next time your hubby agrees to invite overnight company at a moment's notice, hand him an old toothbrush with the dirtiest bathroom as his personal assignment.
Mary Steinke
Mary speaks at retreats and moms groups, teaches Bible studies, and writes many Hearts at Home newspaper articles. Before children, she worked in full-time ministry as chaplain in such diverse settings as nursing homes and prisons. Mary resides in Normal, Illinois, with her husband, Harry, and three sons.
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