It’s (almost, very nearly) Springtime. Are you in the practice of “spring cleaning”? Back when wood or coal-burning fireplaces were the only means of keeping a space warm and lit, the walls would get covered in soot. A yearly deep clean was necessary for scrubbing layers of filth off walls and floors.
Undergoing an official deep clean near the vernal equinox isn’t quite so critical nowadays. But any house still requires seasonal tasks: switching out flannel bed sheets for cotton, taking out the storm windows, cleaning the chimney flue, taking front porch awnings and furniture out of storage while the snow shovels and heavy winter coats get stored away.
Putting winter coats in the back of the closet and unfolding summer shirts and dresses can provide an opportunity to take stock, sort through and get rid of any clothes you no longer wear. Look around the house. Are there stacks of old junk mail and magazines that can be thrown out? Any furniture or kitchen items no longer in use? A trip to Goodwill, a thorough vacuuming and opening up the windows can go a long way toward sloughing off the dark, heavy energy of winter. No floor scrubbing or carpet-beating necessary.
Some householders do uphold spring cleaning as a cherished yearly ritual. But, deep cleaning an entire house sounds overwhelming to me! Even the normal daily tasks of keeping an entire house clean, if you had to do it all by yourself, would be daunting. I’ve never lived alone, and have always had house-mates and co-cleaners.
Everyone has different cleaning styles…
For example, are you a “clean as you go” or a “clean everything at the end” type of person?
The “clean as you go” principle is most often referenced in relation to the kitchen. When you cook, do you like to rinse pots and pans and wipe counters throughout the cooking process? Or do you enjoy your meal and do all of the clean-up and dish-washing after?
I’m definitely a ‘clean as you go’ type of person. I find it to be a helpful principle in all areas of the house. Sweeping crumbs from the kitchen floor each time I’m through with cooking, squeegeeing the shower door after each shower. I’d rather do multiple, small tasks than a big, more laborious one.
I think this is why I’ve never adopted a specific ‘spring cleaning’ ritual: deep cleaning only once per year, or cleaning only once a space becomes truly filthy, does not sound like fun. Better to do quick bits of ‘maintenance cleaning.’
At the most recent house I lived in, I had it easy cleaning-wise. The only home-mates were me and the homeowner, Kara, and we were both tidy people. Plus, Kara paid a local cleaning service to come once a month (the cost for which was included in my rent).
Sharing the chores with home-mates
The main tasks that we alternated were taking out the trash and loading and unloading the dishwasher. We did this by memory–we didn’t have to note whose turn it was on a chore wheel or chart like a larger household might.
Dishes were the most frequent daily task. I always put any of my used cups, plates and utensils immediately into the machine. I noticed that Kara would sometimes leave used dishes in the sink throughout the day–a plate, a glass, a mug, a fork from her breakfast and lunch. There was plenty of room in the sink so the dishes weren’t in the way, but I still found it mildly annoying. The dishwasher was right next to the sink, was it so difficult to put the dishes there???
Later, I realized that part of the reason Kara let dishes pile up was so that she could more efficiently load the dishwasher once, at the end of the day. And this often required re-arranging my dishes from earlier in the day.
It was a good lesson for me that neither method is better, just different. A matter of “clean as you go” – or rather, “load as you go”– versus “load at the end.”
One task Kara was fastidious about was keeping the bathroom sinks clean. This was something I usually forgot about, and it was only after multiple gentle reminders from Kara, and a prominent, within-eyesight place under the sink to stow the Clorox wipes that I remembered to wipe down the mirror, faucet and sink bowl every few days to prevent too much gunky buildup.
Dishes, dust and clutter
…are a fact of life and not just in springtime! Home-mates are there to share the labor of cleaning, which can make your own life much easier. But, it may take some negotiating and adjusting based on different folk’s cleaning styles. The Sharing Housing Guidebook includes excellent advice on how to assign chores among multiple home-mates. The internet is also full of tips, tricks and shortcuts to make cleaning easier.
How would you handle cleaning in a shared household? Would tasks be done equally on some kind of schedule? Leave a comment! And here’s another post you’ll find interesting: Uncluttered and Clean.
Image by Freepik
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