A Time To Clean

We were surprised this morning to see about four inches of snow that fell last night...coating my bare lilac branches with what looks like bunches of white cotton balls...now I am so glad that I haven't packed up the Christmas decorations yet...I love looking at the outside wreaths heavy with snow.

Reindeer adorning the kitchen fireplace (which is actually an old mantel that I scavenged...and put a space heater in to help deal with kitchen drafts) that are about to say 'good-bye' until next Christmas...the storage box awaits them!

 

 I am not an organized person.  Let me amend that, I am the LEAST organized person that I know!  So come the start of a new year, I trot out my new datebook, and try to start sketching out a framework for the new year.

While I was doing that, I thought I would share with you an idea about Spring cleaning that worked for me.  If you are an organized homemaker, just tune this one out.  I am speaking to those of you that get easily sidetracked...

When I married and moved to Wyoming, we lived in a tiny little town of about 400 people (mostly my husband's relatives).  Almost all were farmer's wives...and all kept house in a very traditional way.  Each spring their houses were turned inside out...carpets were vacuumed, curtains were washed, walls were scrubbed, furniture was shampooed, windows were washed...well, you get the picture.  The men were better off staying in the barn for those few weeks...spring cleaning was done with an almost religious fever!

And I tried that...but it seemed silly to me to have a house not comfortable to live in for weeks at a time...plus cleaning in Spring, right before you open the windows for the summer for all the dirt to blow in was sort of a waste of time.  I tried doing Fall cleaning...but it collided with harvesting the garden, so that didn't work.  I went to the Library and actually got books about setting up housekeeping and your whole life with 3x5 cards...until my husband noticed that I spent all my time making cards and no time left to clean!  Finally, I stumbled on a routine that worked for me

When I get my datebook the first of every year, I write down which room/rooms I will clean each month.  For instance, January is the downstairs bathroom and the mudroom, February is the dining room, and so on.  Some rooms are tiny and I can do two in one month.  The kitchen I always schedule two months for because I have to wipe out the shelves, etc.  Then, during the month as I do my regular housecleaning, I sort of divide up the deep cleaning chores.  One week I may take down the curtains and wash the windows, another week shampoo the carpet or wash the walls...whatever needs done in that one room during that one month.  I try to schedule the rooms that need the most work during the slower months...I will not tackle the living room during the busy holiday season, or the month we plant or harvest the garden, for example. 

I have tried all the complicated ways, but for an unorganized homemaker like me...this simple way works the best!  DLB