By Staff
Michelle Blaylock, Mom’s Corner
It’s spring cleaning time! No, I’m actually not that excited. I love the affects of spring cleaning, but I hate to do the work! Nevertheless it needs to be done, and I seriously doubt that some little elf is going to come in and do it for me. (The little cleaning elves never seem to visit me. However, the messing up elves do all the time.)
When I think of spring cleaning, I think of going through closets and drawers, attics and basements and, in the case of my children, under beds. I find it a wonderful time to clean behind things that I don’t move very often like refrigerators, desks, and dressers. I also try to take down curtains or drapes and wash or dry clean them. It’s a good time to clean baseboards, moldings, light fixtures and windows.
I like to do one room at a time from start to finish. I’ve also found it’s better to do most of this when the children are away. I made a deal with my children. If after I’ve purged their room they discover something that was special to them is missing, I will return it.
Truthfully, in our house it’s not the spring cleaning that’s a problem. It’s the daily cleaning that sometimes becomes daunting. Since cleaning isn’t my favorite thing to do in the first place, I like to find products that will do as much of the hard work for me as possible. I also like to find cleaning products that my children can use, too. One of my favorites is the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. These work well and are easy to use. My children can’t waste anything, because the Magic Erasers activate with just plain water.
For really nasty jobs like soap scum, mold and mildew, I have found the Arm and Hammer Scrub Free sprays work very well. I spray it on when I first start cleaning and then let it sit while I work on cleaning the rest of the bathroom. Just before I finish I give everything a quick rinse and I’m done.
Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything that makes dust vanish. I have a “static” feather duster that is great for giving everything a quick dusting, but sometimes I just have to really dust. That is where an old sock and Pledge comes in. It makes the house smell so fresh.
In our house the hardest thing to get clean and keep clean (except maybe the laundry) is the floor. Of course, when you consider there are eight people and four dogs running in and out, no wonder my floor is a mess all the time! I make it a habit to frequently sweep and vacuum.
I also love the Swiffer. It is easy enough for the children to use for touch ups and does a fairly good job. However, eventually I absolutely have to really mop. I like the mop that allows me to wring it out without getting my hands wet. I haven’t really found one floor cleaner that works better than another.
Mops are great for the tile or linoleum, but unfortunately we also have carpet. I have a carpet shampooer that is wonderful. My biggest problem with shampooing the carpet used to be that over time the carpet would start to loose the full look and began to look matted down. I was complaining about this when a friend of mine shared her tip with me. She said if I sprayed the carpet with a solution of one cup liquid fabric softener to one quart of water the carpet wouldn’t matted down as quickly. I’ve tried this tip over the past four years and it has worked well. I’ve also found that this solution works fairly well as a fabric freshener as well.
Speaking of fabric softeners; fabric softener sheets have many uses. They can be used to absorb odors in trash cans, keep stored clothes and dresser drawers fresh, and dissolve soap scum on bathroom shower doors. Fabric softener sheets will also keep thread from tangling when sewing and keep dust from resettling on TV and computer screens. I never dreamed those little sheets could be so useful!
Thank you for sharing this time with me. Happy spring cleaning. If you have a question or comment for Mom’s Corner, please e-mail it to: moms-corner@juno.com