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A 1st generation American on a path to keeping happiness through every bump in Life's road. A wife, a mother and a friend creating a blog to document her journey.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Spring Cleaning - Do You Have What It Takes?



Something's happened to me since my daughter entered my world. I've had a shift in consciousness...a desire to inspire. I'm beginning to feel a need... a need for speed - speed cleaning, that is. I don't remember feeling this way when I was in my 'nesting' phase of pregnancy. Now all I care about is the cleanliness of things; what's my daughter touching, where is she lying down and what corners of the floors haven't yet been swept up or wiped down? When I see her put her face against the glass of the screen door, rubbing her nose to make silly faces on the opposite side to the guest who comes over, I wonder how clean is that window?


I'm definitely no "Bree VanDeKamp" of Desperate Housewives (though I do make a great muffin every now and again). I was never much of a clean freak, but I was always known to be an organizer of sorts. I loved planning. Still do. Gotta have a "plan b" for almost every event, because there's always a chance that "plan a" will do an about-face at ya, and I'd hate my efforts to be fruitless. To this day I'll have a home-made itinerary of events printed for whatever vacation me and my family decide to have. Top that with an actual brochure highlighting what we can or will do once we arrive, followed by a "plan b" in case of inclement weather. I know - it's nuts to some readers, but hey, my husband finds it amusing (thank G-d) and quite relaxing since he doesn't have to do a thing but fasten his seatbelt and enjoy the ride.


I've watched myself grow from a single, independent woman who managed just fine on her own, into a wife and new mother of a toddler, laced with many new responsibilities. I have learned that tending to a husband and a toddler, for me, is much harder on the "keep-it-clean" side of life, both verbally and sanitarily (Is that even a word? I'm "Shakespearing" that one.).A house once entertained by rated R shows, alcohol, crazy, spontaneous and fun sex (Tmi?), and manageable clutter turned into rated G shows, 'Daddy' drinks, sex when we can, and seriously unmanageable clutter. It's the type of clutter I'd come home to and say "WTF?" or "OMG!" (I'm also turning into an 'acronym-er' - another instant Shakespearean word. Look up the acronyms here: http://www.acronymfinder.com/).


I honored the rule of learning to say 'no' to always cleaning once you have a baby. I also honored the rule of sleeping when baby sleeps. Now I know why so many women don't honor that rule. After seeing enough Clean Sweep shows on TLC and literally seeing Peter Walsh (the host of that show) pass right by me at O'Hare Airport only a few months ago, I knew it was all a sign of things to come. Maybe it was a SQuire Rushnell "Godwink". Shoot, if this Godwink gets my house clean ...and I cleaned it, I'm in.


So now I am in my pjs, typing and mentally declaring war on my house. "No more!" I chant in my pretend tribal accent to the calamity of paraphernalia that seems to stare and snicker at me. But then before I could hail the word "ATTACK!" I'm found retreating back to my trench, scratching my head. I don't have a plan. Can't attack without a fricken plan. Where do I begin? How do I start? There's no Mary Poppins with any spoonful of sugar.... What do I even use? What about the chemicals? And let's not forget my little wanna-get-into-everything little girl. How do I do it all without her prying into my toxic cabinet (filled with non-friendly cleaning supplies)? I happened to have Mary Poppins playing for my daughter and heard "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job's a game!" Okay...maybe good ol' Mary has a point.


I went back to the computer and researched. You gotta love this age of Google-ing, huh? Just Google and search. Within 10 minutes of surfing I found what I needed and thought, what if there's another me out there in the same predicament? I couldn't leave such crucial information in the dark. People need to know this!Below are three sites that can possibly bring you some motivation to take that 1st step and not feel regret looking back. Your place will be clean, your child will be unharmed and you will actually have time to play in the end!






3) I found this product to be great for me and my home. You need a few drops mixed with water and a spray bottle. I saw this product on Oprah's show and bought it.




What is great is that this product has over 1000 uses, so you don't need lots of different products to carry around with you. For simple cleaning you can create one bottle for all purpose and another bottle for windows and mirrors, all from the same cleaning product. I personally love it. There could be other products that are your favorite and 'green' so feel free to use what you are happiest with.





The last pointer I received was to either have my 16 (or less) tools in an apron or caddy that I take along with me through my cleaning experience. If you are looking for an apron, but don't want to spend over $20.00 for it, I was able to look up 'waist apron' on http://www.amazon.com/ and found the apron I wanted for under $7.00! You may even find it cheaper elsewhere, but my point is to not just give in to the most expensive apron when there are others that do the same job and are affordable!


Now that I have my tools and rules, I'm signing off to embark on my new cleaning journey. Lord knows I have lots of organizing and planning ahead of me, but in achieving my need for speed, my desire to inspire and a cleaner home all together through a new sanitary movement, all I can envision is nothing short of a breath of real fresh air and a 'practically perfect' English nanny floating away with her umbrella.