Thoroughly Simple Holiday/Winter Cleaning

As you begin to close your house up for the winter, it is the perfect time to thoroughly clean your home. It doesn't need to be done in one day, exhausting you to the point of collapse. In fact, you should not be doing this alone. Your thoroughly simple home cleaning should incorporate the 3 Rules of Simple Joy:

1. Keep It Simple, Silly! Don't over complicate the process. Find ways to keep it all simple. Use as few cleaning products as possible. Ending up with dozens of bottles of cleaner only creates another mess. Create a schedule. Do a room or a job at a time. Give yourself plenty of time to finish the job, whether it is the task at hand or the entire house cleaning project. Find ways to simplify the process and it won't seem as daunting now or in the future. It also won't wear you out.

2. Ask for Help: There is nothing saying you have to do it all alone. Of course, you don't want to just spring this project on your family. Sit down with them and create a schedule. Assign tasks and determine which tasks take more than one person. If you get grumbling, this is a great time to help your family change their attitude towards cleaning the house and keeping it neat. Help them understand the way clutter affects the entire family and how your home is a retreat for them, a place where the entire family can relax at the end of the day. Everyone needs to work together to create the proper atmosphere and feeling.

3. Take Care of Yourself: Pamper yourself as you go through this process. Relax in a hot bath after you have spent time working on a larger, more strenuous project. Order pizza and have family movie night after your family has spent the day working around the house. Find ways to pamper yourself and your family for a job well done. However, make sure everyone appreciates the fact that the greatest reward is a comfortable home where everyone, including you, can relax.

Now, to the actual cleaning. You can focus on one room at a time or one task at a time. The choice is entirely yours. I would suggest that, whichever way you choose, you work each room top-middle-bottom. Since dust and dirt falls to the ground, it only makes sense to begin at the top of each room and work your way down or you will have to go back and clean again. With some tasks, it might make it easier to do some tasks completely, like cleaning the air vents in each room. So, let's begin at the top and consider some of the things that need to be done.

Top: Use a sponge mop to clean the walls and ceiling. Use a dust mop to get the cobwebs in the corners. Use the dust mop to wipe the top of the window and door frames. If they are in the ceiling (like my house,) clean the air vents.

Middle: Clean all the windows in your house. While you are cleaning them, check them to make sure the seal on each pane is tight. See if the pane wiggles. The seal around your windows can dry out. Cold air can seep around the frame and pane if the seal isn't tight. Clean the window treatments, including blinds, drapes and curtains. Clean bedding. I'm sure you wash your sheets and bedding regularly but this is the perfect time to clean pillows, comforters, and bedskirts. Flip and turn matresses. Wipe down kitchen cabinet doors. Clean doors. My door have panels and they collect a lot of dirt and dust in the grooves around each panel.

Bottom: Move furniture and vacuum beneath each piece. Clean around the baseboards. Clean under the frig and stove. Scrub around the baseboard on each floor. I use a deck brush to do this. Saves me from having to get down on my hands and knees to scrub this area. In the kitchen, dirt can collect in this crack. A deck brush is stiff enough to take care of this problem. You can also scrub behind the toilets in your house using the deck brush. Use it to scrub around your tub, cleaning the area where the tub meets the floor. Clean the air vents and air intake if they are in the floor of your house.

These are just a few simple suggestions to help you freshen your house for winter and clean it for the Holidays. Work smarter, not harder and your home will quickly, and easily, become the comfortable retreat you and your family (and your holiday guests) deserve.