Spring Cleaning

Did I really just say that????? Well, yes I did. The hubby has unfortunately been sick this weekend so I've been real quite yesterday and today so he can rest. While I've been being quiet, I've just kinda been sitting around and standing around not doing much but looking around. Yep I saw them.....dust bunnies and cobwebs and some plain old dirt here and there. Now I know your thinking it is still January and Spring is 7 weeks away, but Spring is just 7 weeks away. Do you really want to wait until they say "Today is the first day of Spring." to get started?

I can remember a time far far away so to speak (God I feel old) when women would get together and take turns doing spring cleaning at each others houses. Well, those days are gone but the dust, dirt and grime remains. Now we have a job or two, a kid or two, pet or two, social life, time with the spouseoid and errands errands errands. Never enough time. So do we really have time to take a whole weekend to do our Spring cleaning? Nope, but we can cut it down to chunks here and there and by the time spring rolls around, we will have cleaned out and cleared out and we'll be ready to enjoy the spring and the great outdoors.

First things first. We're not going for the marathon cleaning weekend. What we are going for is doing something different on each day of the weekend (Saturday/Sunday) and 2 hours during the week. We can manage that. Break it up any way you want. If you only have 1/2 hour to work with on one evening and 45 minutes another and 1 hour another then you only have to contribute 15 minutes the final night.

Trust me when I tell you I know how busy our lives can be. I have a full time job, a part time job, I am the Chair of a Family Readiness Group for a company of soldiers who are going to be deploying in the next few months, I am a member of the national Volunteer Training Team, I have this blog and I run my company's group page and a Volunteer Training Team page on Facebook. I have a husband, two dogs, 6 kids (grown and gone) and my precious grand-daughter. Trust me when I say I know. If I can do it, you can too.

So, we will begin tomorrow. Tomorrow is picture and glass day. Now if you have a million pictures on the walls, get the kids involved. Believe it or not, this is the perfect time to clean your windows too! Now don't go nuts and go out and buy a bunch of household cleaners. Good old water and a little bit of elbow grease will do. My father used to own a gas station when I was kid. I can remember clearly a wonderful lady asking my dad one day what the cleaner was he had in his spray bottle from cleaning her car windows because nobody could get them as clean as he could. My dad told her it was just plain old water and little bit of elbow grease.

Pictures:

Take them down off the walls and give them a good cleaning with a damp cloth. What I do when I clean glass is I have three wash rags. One I get wet and the other two I don't. Don't have your washrag too wet of the water will seep down into the frame and get up under the glass and harm your picture. Wash the picture frame and all with a damp rag. Then dry the picture with the first dry wash rag. The you will use the 2ND wash rag to buff the glass and get rid of any streaks but there shouldn't be any. Little hint: If there is a streak on the glass, then there is still dirt on it.

Note: If you have wooden frames (some of mine are), now is a good time to give them a little coating of Old English. Again, very light coating or the product will seep under the glass. It will definitely give your frames a boost and once you have all of your pictures cleaned, buffed and back on the walls, it will make a definite difference in your rooms.

Windows:

Do the same as above. We're doing the inside only. I don't want you standing outside in the subzero temperatures trying to figure out why the water on the windows are forming ice crystals. I cart a bucket with me from room to room when I do the windows. That way I don't have to keep running to the sink to clean out the wash rag, etc. If your rags are dirty from the picture frames, grab three more washrags. Don't forget to do the glass in your china cabinet, curio cabinet, etc. too.

This is our chore for tomorrow. Great way to take up some of your indoor time when it is so cold outside. You didn't need any money for cleaners or paper towels because you used plain old water and wash rags and you just got started on your spring cleaning! And don't forget to get the kids involved. Unless you have a million gazillion pictures on your walls, this should take you a couple of hours at most. Do all of the pictures first, then go back and do the windows. That simple and spring cleaning has begun.

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