Spring Cleaning: Week 3

I am following Money Saving Mom this month in the 30-day house cleaning challenge in an attempt to clean up my house (it really needs it).  You can follow my progress all week through Instagram (#cleanin30), Twitter (#cleanin30) or Facebook.  You can also join in the challenge fun.  Download the 31 Day House Cleaning Guide that we are following and you, too, can have a sparkling, or at least somewhat cleaner, house.

Days 13 and 14: Surface clean extra rooms and deep clean bedrooms

Once again, these chores fall on the weekend - thankfully out of the scope of the challenge.  (Do you get the feeling that I really just don't like to clean?)  Last weekend was just such a whirlwind of things - first baseball game, last minutes errands to get things we didn't know we needed for future baseball games, 2 different birthday parties for 2 different kids, and a trip to Atlanta - that there just wasn't time to clean anything.  And that's OK.  Some weekends are just like that.

Day 15:  Surface clean living room and kitchen

Since I wasn't here on Monday (appointment in Atlanta), I got to this chore later in the week after I got home.  I chose to clean the kitchen for Day 15.  I looked around to figure out what was most in need of cleaning and I saw the toaster, full of crumbs, just a fire waiting to happen (seriously, this does happen, our last toaster caught on fire because we didn't clean it out).  I unplugged it and cleaned out all the crumbs from the crumb tray and from all over the top.  Then I buffed all the fingerprints off.  Now it's pretty and shiny again.

Day 16:  Deep clean bathrooms

Yes, my bathroom needs cleaning, but that's not what I did.  I did the more urgent thing, which was switch out all my winter and summer clothes.  Since my closet is in my bathroom, I figured this counted.  

It's times like this that I realize that I have waaaaay too many clothes.  Especially too many shirts.  I take a sweater off the hanger, fold it, put a T-shirt on and hang it up...over and over and over again.  All the off-season clothes go up on the top shelf in the closet.

Oh, and this took me more than 20 minutes, in fact, I did it a little at a time over the course of 3 days.

Out with the cold stuff

In with the warm

Up on top it goes

Day 17:  Clean switch plates, door knobs, etc

With all the germs we've had in our house since January, this was a much overdue chore.  I used a Lysol wipe and cleaned door knobs, light switches, toilet flushers, cabinet pulls, the refrigerator handle, the stove handle and the dishwasher handle.  This chore went fast and was no trouble at all...I should do this one more often.

Day 18:  Clean out fridge and pantry

With the new diet that I'm on (you'll hear all about it next week), I really have to take stock of what we have and what ingredients are in those things.  And I will...next week.  Because I just don't have enough hours this week to do it.

Day 19:  Clean the car

Oh, my, yes, this really needed to be done.  I threw away trash (mostly empty snack bags and straw wrappers - gotta get on the kids about that one), brought myriads of little toys and jackets inside and put them where they belonged.  Then I dusted and cleaned the trim and washed the inside of the windows.  Julie came and helped me with the those.  I'm glad that she was willing to help, but I did have to redo some very smeary, very Windexed windows.  I did not vacuum the car.  Believe me, it still needs it.  But I didn't have the time to do that today.  Maybe it will be an extra, money-earning chore for one of the kids next week.

Kids are in the van before cleaning.

Kids are after cleaning

Front seat before

Front seat after - it doesn't really look much different, but trust me, it's cleaner.

Another week down.  I was much busier this week so I didn't get to do everything as thoroughly as I would like, but anything I do is cleaner than before, right?  Have a good weekend and happy cleaning!