Happy Cleaning?

If you are anything like me, you hate to clean.  I recently moved into a house that is twice as big as my old one, and two stories to boot.  I hate to clean but really liked the idea of moving into this house until I realized that I was going to be the one responsible for its cleanliness.

Our old house was only 1,040 square feet and I had a difficult time keeping up with it.  I was working full time, wanted to craft, had to take care of my daughter and our animals, and my husband wasn't home very often.  Needless to say, my house was not clean, in fact, I think if you had gone down the hallway and scooped up all of the loose dog hair, you could have had another puppy.  We had hardwood floors in that house; they were beautiful but a real PITA to keep up with when you have a dog and cat.

I have been in my new house for about six weeks and so far so good as far as the cleaning goes.  It's a rental, so there's only so much we can do to the house on our own; and nothing can be permanent.  I have decided to clean about ten minutes every day or so in order to keep up with everything.  Of course, I don't count dishes and toy pickup in this minute tally, because those have to be done everyday anyway.

Today I did the floors.  We have had a horrible time in our new house with all things bug and insect.  We have had infestations of spiders, ants, and a few ear wigs; luckily no snakes, at least not that I know of.

I hired a pest control service to spray on the outside but I am responsible for the inside.  They just came out for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  They warned me there might be some indoor activity as everything tries to figure out what the new chemical is that is trying to keep them out of my house.  Some activity....holy cow!  I have been bitten on the ankle by a black ant, my daughter was just bit near her eye this morning by the same thing as she lay on the carpet.  I have killed two ant conga lines in the last two days.  This has to stop!

Then I remembered that I hadn't cleaned my floors since, oh over a week ago.  I do a lot of spot cleaning but that doesn't always take care of the issue.  Spilled and dried root beer, orange juice, and bug spray can lead to a pretty sticky situation.

I swept all of my floors today and then broke out the floor steamer.  I love this thing.  It is so much simpler than a mop and bucket, cleaner too, I think.  I just fill up the reservoir with water and a little lemon juice and go to town.  The white cloth on the steamer always comes out looking so darn dirty.  I'm glad to have the dirt all in one place and easily disposable. Now if only I could prevent it from accumulating at all.....

I also vacuumed the carpets.  I found this great recipe for carpet freshener on the internet.  You just need a few drops of essential oil mixed with baking soda.  Sprinkle the powder on the carpet and wait a few minutes before vacuuming it up.  It smells soooooo good when it's all done; it's my new go to "air" freshener for when company visits.

My sister-in-law makes her own lotions, soaps, lip gloss, and laundry detergent, among other things I am sure.  She is amazing to me.  She has the happiest and most well-behaved children that I have ever been around.  They are a dream to look after and they keep my daughter occupied so we both love it.  But I digress...

I have not ventured into making my own laundry detergent yet, though hers always smells so much better than my store-bought stuff.  I would love to make my own beauty products though.  Maybe I will eventually sell them.  I will be sure to let everyone know if and when that ever happens.

Anyway, if you dislike cleaning as much as I do, try to break it up into small jobs.  Today was the floors for me, tomorrow the bathrooms, and then, who knows?  Keep it simple and it is much more enjoyable, well easier anyway.  Plus you get the satisfaction of being able to have guests over without doing the last minute sprint to make things appear clean.

Oh darn, looks like I have some dusting to do...sigh.

Happy cleaning!