Cleaning

It's been 1 week since the cleaning people came and I'm VERY happy to report that the apartment is still clean and orderly! I'll probably have them come again this week. I am cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of a major turning point!

i'm sure ammonia is a wonderful cleaning product but i can't take the smell. it reminds me of cat urine.

^^^ it just smells like pee to me

moving in is basically complete! d is a tyrant when it comes to getting things in order, so that was done in a few days; my room/office/lounge area is still kind of in disarray but that's ok because it's my area! i can't find anything if everything is put away.

anyway, i feel pretty good about this cleaning! i'm trying to focus on making this a regular part of my life, and this is totally embarrassing, but i am going to put some appts in google calendar to remind me when the next time i should mop will be. i'm saying every 2 weeks? vacuum 1x a week?

while sweeping i did not wear hair in turban or don a cute apron (though i do know where they -- plural -- are) but i did smell like a goat and i wasn't wearing a bra, so at least i got into character a little.

thanks for the kind words -- i need them!

I forget in which thread carl talked about wages for housework, but I was reminded of it by yesterday's NYT editorial:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/opinion/pay-people-to-cook-at-home.html?hp

I am feeling a little better about hiring housekeeping help back in the day when I had a job and stuff. Now S and I are doing a pretty reasonable job keeping our casita in decent shape, even without help.

i can't find anything if everything is put away. :D :D :D :D

Frequency kind of depends on your traffic? Do you enter the house through the kitchen/back door or do you use the front door/foyer/whatever you have? I might say, wash kitchen floor once a week and sweep (or swiffer or vacuum or whatever you like) foyer/entry once a week--the rest of the house can probably wait until you notice dog hair tumbleweeds?

Wait, what am I thinking? Do those things every TWO weeks, not one. You're not a full-time housekeeper, for the love of cheese.

Just suggesting, not telling. I'm hungover and on my first cup of tea and first food of the day after going to two different stores on my bike to find scallions for my tacos before it starts thunderstorming.

i'm pretty good with noticing the tumbleweeds/sweeping/vacuuming for dog hair -- it's the invisible stuff i have trouble with. i have to mop the kitchen floor once a week? really?
being serious. once every 2 weeks isn't enough?

we have cork tile (?) in the kitchen so it never looks any cleaner or dirtier and that's making it hard for me to tell when it's dirty.

xp phew i thought 1x a week for floor cleaning was a bit much!!

i also sprayed and wiped the large kitchen appliances today, forgot to mention that

You're doing great!

Also: giiiiirrrrrrrl you have a PORCH? We are going to jibber jabber for so long on that porch.

now i have to do this every two weeks
i will celebrate when i have successfully done it every 2 weeks 6x
that's what, 3 mo of clean? that's enough to build a habit on i think.

we have a front stoop area and a little SUN PORCH off the kitchen -- both are v conducive to jib jab :) i can't wait til it warms up tbrr

I think after whatever period of vigilance you set for yourself, you can get to a place where you just check the floor every two weeks, and maybe sometimes it doesn't need washing, but it's a reminder to look at it? That sort of thing.

LL, one thing I have tried that helped (& would have continued to help if I had kept up with it) was writing chores on post-its and coosing one or two of them to do every day.

There are/were routine ones like "wipe down counters," and "scrub toilet," and special ones like "hang curtains," and "sort junk drawer," and "repot plant."

It's nice to have a list of options you can choose from. For me it staved off not knowing where to start and doing nothing.

Good idea! I like it.

Yeh, I'm inspired to reinstitute that system now.

um you guys I totally made my bed this morning

THIS IS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS AGE OF AQUARIUUUUUUUUUS

You *deserve* it.

aquair
i
uuuuuus

in laws are here, have not complained about any found filth so far
they haven't taken a good look at our bookshelves yet though hehehehe

i cleaned the toilet and wiped all the soap scum off the shower walls but i'm never gonna get the rust out! how does one use CLR? dilute w/ water and use spray bottle? i should have gotten one.

Hmm

Can I put CLR in a spray bottle?

No, CLR is acidic in nature. When using CLR it in a spray bottle, the solution could "spray back" on your clothes or in your eyes and the spray could drift.

That sounds like a "Yes, but be careful" to me.

Just sponge or blot it on?

It also says not to leave it on the surface for more than two minutes, so it's probably OK just to put it on a sponge or something since it doesn't have to cling too long.

xp

i don't have any gloves either. google is broken! i feel lost!

NO SPRAY BOTTLE

How do I use CLR?
In a well-ventilated area while wearing household rubber gloves and standing on a non-slip surface, mix equal amounts of CLR and warm water. Test the solution on a hidden area before applying to the entire surface. Apply directly to the calcium, lime or rust stain with a brush, cloth or sponge and rinse promptly with cold, clean water. Never leave CLR on an area for longer than two minutes. If the stain does not disappear, use CLR full strength and then wipe and rinse promptly with cold, clean water. Never mix CLR with other household cleaners or bleach and never reuse the bottle.

How do I mix CLR?
CLR can be mixed with warm water, 1 of three ways depending on the stain. For light stains and buildup, a diluted mixture is recommended. For more stubborn buildup, full strength is recommended, but only when diluted has been tried first. Diluted 1 part CLR to 8 parts warm water, 50/50 with warm water and full strength. Rarely, depending on the situation, a 1 part to 12 part dilution has been recommended and that was in a water fountain made with rocks. And always rinse with cold water to neutralize.

Can I put CLR in a spray bottle?
No, CLR is acidic in nature. When using CLR it in a spray bottle, the solution could "spray back" on your clothes or in your eyes and the spray could drift.

just mix it up in a bucket or something

oh wait je55e already posted that lol

it does sound like you can do it straight full-strength though, if the stains are really bad maybe just go that route and see what happens

lol @ cleaning the bathtub then soaking the dirty blinds in it. soy idiota.

lol :)

I think I understand dusting now. It has been a week, and I figured it was time, so it took ~ 20 min to do the whole place and I just listened to some music while I did it and it was actually rather pleasant!

What didn't you understand about dusting?

Those Swiffer dusting devices are really good for maintenance dusting, BTW. My apartment gets insane amounts of dust due to cats and living on a busy street, and so I whip out the Swiffer duster for a 1 or 2 minute dusting every few days.

how to do it, what to do it with, how frequently to do it, how vigorously to do it
the usual questions lol?

i got this white duster thingie and it's like touching everything with thousands of tiny white fingers. i think i was using paper towels before, something incredibly ineffective like that.

hallo!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61Yeo58R%2BwL.jpg

The feather duster has always felt so fun to me - when I was a kid I used to dust my Grandma's house all the time! I have my own now :D

This thing is more fun because it works better than the feather duster! It doesn't just get dust in your face, it collects it! Then you can go outside and shake some of it off and it's like new again.
Please tell me this isn't wrong. How often does one replace these things?

I used to have a feather duster and it got dust all up in my face, so I think that was when I made the brave switch to...paper towels. :-/

I have a feather duster, but even w/ dusting spray, it mostly scatters dust around.

I was skeptical of that type of duster, LL, b/c I thought it wouldn't collect dust, but it's good to hear that it does.

afaict it totally works
i don't do the white glove test or anything but i guess i could if it would convince you!

thinking about those magic erasers -- are they to get fingerprints off walls and stuff like that?

OH MY GOD THOSE THINGS ARE AWESOME

But be careful b/c they will remove paint and you'll wind up with off-looking spots.

But they are truly fucking miraculous. I thought they would be a scam, but they are completely amazing.

And don't mind the haterz who say shit about "oh but they're made from *chemicals*! and a toddler touched one and it burned the toddler to the ground!" They are made from glass (not a joke) and that toddler had been scrubbing its skin with the sponge, which is very effective at removing what it rubs.

I get tons of marks off walls just by lightly scrubbing with a damp sponge btw, so maybe try that first?

if i do that there are always drips and slop marks around the place that i scrubbed -- am i doing it wrong? the paint is super matte and shows little marks very easily
i want to paint eventually (know when and where and how i'm starting, but it's just not that time yet) and in the meantime all i see are fingerprints on the wall

i thought maybe the magic eraser would be the solution to my problem

It will probably work better than a sponge. Glad you're going to paint. Super matte paint is a ridiculous thing to use on the walls of rooms where human beings will exist and likely touch things. That comment is directed towards every cheap ass landlord I've ever had.

yeah maybe try a magic eraser gently in an inconspicuous spot first just to see if it works. but they work really well, I use them to get scuff marks out of the vinyl floor all the time...and sometimes I use them to clean the stove when I'm feeling lazy :D

IME the Magic Eraser will fuck up super matte paint and leave shiny spots.

I use a dusting mitt like this:

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/UaGLS1Kucc16ItBF5sA7DTVOgulU-gHfO0SdN9DXRHas51hb399IyGZLsdiAcFEmxiH4CvSRw_5qPyQhNomt6pr6EGsTyvZ8Q0Yo4gF0xrWVMn1z5vpqMLD1lBcyj8oz2SOqt7FKjUQTQDKHHtprmIJBvTqad5d31QUxW2qtZezc73eCQaZTz1vGkWU9KdNU83K29MiNo3D7wRC1AO7IJz7WgrRG_jwPZNuF0Bt__IzliK9tx9zAML6SryzfBMltJstOx_NuILOXgI-xQxuVF3MY4fj4G700SH2zWakRHjgqjohXfNv8iCOS211FF7sdIdcPzzCf2dqtOuxp1on3he70aUUhdgHly3hJ0jZ7aYaOHR0RgO1LidfOC_3O7iocaHzl1mdYuwXV8-YoRxLcB5C1cPOlbyWGTQnlzZbSTmISBp2TIauIa5RaJKD8fNQZrwmuBwKll-jnRth1=s220-c

It's pretty sweet!

ooh I got a microfibre dust mop from the CloudMop line ...damn that thing works great on hardwood floors. Catches SO much dust! Even when you think it looks kinda clean already.

i have a steam mop and i really like it