Sometimes, A Virtuous Woman Doesn't Clean

• Who is like the virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

One of the things that I really like about the way Crystal from Money Cleaning Mom is organizing the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, is the way she takes the tasks that would  normally fall on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and combines them into one challenge for Friday, so that you can choose to do one or all three of the challenges on Friday, leaving your weekend free.  This Friday the choices were to clean out a closet, surface clean an extra room, and deep clean a bedroom. 

I had looked ahead on the cleaning list, and had decided since I'd made such tremendous strides on my bedroom already this week, work on deep cleaning my bedroom with my husband's help to move the mattress and box springs and clean under and around the bed, the windows and blinds, etc, and to work on my closet a little more. 

Fast forward to Friday, which unexpectedly turned into my husband's only day off, not only for this, week, but for the next two weeks.  So, I did what any virtuous woman would do.   You know the verses from Proverbs 31, don't you?  "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."  So I spent the day with him. Or actually, he spent the day with me.  He gave up his plans, too, and went grocery shopping with me, carried everything inside, and helped put it all away, too.  We visited my parents for awhile, and just had a nice, quiet day together. 

Saturday, I did something with my son.  He has an event coming up, and because he's lost a tremendous amount of weight, none of his dressy clothes fit anymore.  We made a trip to the "big city" (not that big, as cities go, but much bigger than our small town) with his sports jacket and a couple of really nice pairs of pants to see if they could be altered to fit. And when the tailor told us there was no way they could be downsized that much, this mama proudly bought him a new jacket and pants. I don't care how grown they are, even sons need mama's input and guidance sometimes.  He buys his own clothes most of the time, but mama is still allowed to do something special every now and then. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed".  He may not use those words, but I see it in his eyes, and in his smile.   

And today, Sunday, I usually reserve for church and church- or family-related activities.  But I've been nursing a head cold for several days, and it decided to jump up and down on me and pound me to oblivion.  I cut my trip to the city short yesterday after taking care of what needed doing, skipping any extra fun stops, and came home and tried to nurse myself back to health.  Alas, no church for me today, and I assure you, I never miss church.  "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms".  I may not be strengthening my arms, but I hope I'm strengthening my immune system. 

Since I've been participating in the 30-Day Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom, I've seen a tremendous difference in the state of my house, and that has contributed to an improvement in the state of my family, as well.  The first couple of days, I was probably the only one who noticed what I was doing, especially since the first week was a bit sporadic for me.  But working on it consistently, day after day, has inspired all of us to pick up after ourselves a little more.  I've gotten back into the habit of making my bed every day, and giving the bathroom it's daily "swish and swipe", of picking up the living room every couple of days or so, partly because I don't want to un-do what I've worked so hard to get done, but also just to keep things looking good.  "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness"  And because of that, "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." My family is really glad at the state of the house these days. 

But the best part is "Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." I'm hoping to feel well enough tomorrw to complete the challenge task, but even if I don't, just seeing the improvement so far, and how much if's effected my mood and that of my family, I'll be happy at the time and effort I've put in, and will continue to put in. 

If you want to see the results that some of the other participating bloggers have had, be sure to click over to Money Saving Mom and click on some of the linkies there. 

This post is also linked to:

Make My Home Sing Monday at Moms the Word

Monday Meet Up at Covered In Grace

Matrimonial Monday at Exceptionalistic

Until next time...

To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30

Vintage Thingie Thursday--Antique Dressing Table

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

It's been a really long time since I've linked anything to Vintage Thingie Thursday at Coloradolady! I've had this dresser for a long time, almost sixteen years, but because it's still in daily use, it tends to be just a bit--"lived with" looking. (A nice way of putting it!)

Before it passed to me, it was my grandmother's who had it as long as I can remember.... 

...and as long as my mother can remember.  

I think it's from the twenties.  Everything on is original, including the hardware and mirror. 

It's definitely seen it's fair share of wear and tear.  I use Old English scratch cover on it periodically, as you can see, I need to work it over again.

Back in the fifties, it was in a house of my grandparents that was moved from one location to another. In those days, they used to keep a glass with water in it on the dresser, to dip their comb in to comb down their little frizzies.  The house made the move, with the dresser in it, and was set up at the new location, and went they went inside, they realized the glass of water had made the move, too, and without spilling a drop!

Until next time...

A Virtuous Woman Cleans the Bathroom

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

Hey, ladies, it's day 11 of the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom, and my house is looking better and better!

Today's task is to clean the bathroom, and these are Crystal's suggestions:

• Set the timer for 20 minutes and put toilet cleaner in each of the toilet bowls and let it soak.
• Remove any items that don’t belong in the bathroom, put away items that need to be put away in the bathroom, empty the trash.
• Spray and wipe down the sink and tub.
• Finish swishing and cleaning the toilet.
• Shake the rugs outside (or throw them in the laundry) and mop or vacuum the floors.
• Wipe down the outside of the cupboards and clean the mirror.
• You’re done!

We already had a bathroom cleaning day one day last week, so I pretty much did most of these things last week, and if that was the last time I cleaned the bathroom, I'm sure I would need to do them all again today. 

However, as a person who has struggled with messiness/disorganization off and on for years, I've done lots of reading and research on cleaning and organizing, and tried lots of different housekeeping systems.  Some of them work for a while, some not--and most of the time the success or failure is due to the operator (moi) rather than the system itself. 

When I'm not off my game (as I have been lately), I have a routine that I've culled from several different sources and perfected over the years that makes the bathroom seem practically self cleaning. Almost.

The first time I read about doing this was in the book Sidetracked Home Executives, by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, who billed themselves as "the slob sisters".  In their original system (pre electronics days) you made a 3 x 5 card for every chore that needed to be done to keep your house clean, and sorted them by daily/weekly/monthly/ and seasonal chores.  And bathrooms was a daily. 

Don't bail on me here. 

That's the same thing I thought.  "Who has the time (or inclination) to clean the bathroom every single day?" 

But the flaw in that logic is that most of us clean our bathrooms, at most, once a week (sometimes less for some of us) and what we picture is the major clean and spray and scrub and oh-my-goodness-somebody-please-save-me-from-this-Cinderella-life kind of cleaning. 

Fast forward a few (!) years to Flylady and her book Sink Reflections. Her explanation made sense to me. 

If we do certain small tasks every single day, we will never have to deep clean scrub our bathrooms again.

Here's what works for me. 

Every day, after my family is done in the bathroom for the morning, (we only have one) I go in and brush my teeth and wash my face; as soon as I'm done,while I'm standing there, I wipe out the sink, then I take the hand towel and wipe down the vanity, and faucets, and the mirror, putting anything away that was left out. Once a week or so I wipe out the soap dish.  This takes about a minute.

 (Sorry for the darkness of the pictures, I was trying to use "natural light" on a cloudy, rainy day.  Should have just turned on the lights.)

Then I take a small wad of toilet tissue, dampen slightly, and wipe the outside of the toilet, starting with the tank and moving down to the bowl, finishing at the rim. I throw the paper into the toilet and flush, then while the bowl is still wet, I swish out the bowl and under the rim with the toilet brush, using only water from the bowl. About once a week I splash in a little liquid disinfectant and swish it around, then leave it in the bowl until the next time it's used and flushed. This takes about a minute, too.

Moving on to the tub--we have a habit of hanging our washcloths and towels and letting them dry before we throw them into the dirty clothes basket in the bottom of the linen closet, from early years of apartment living and going to the laundromat only once a week.  We continue that because here in the south, if you leave a basketful of wet or damp things for very long, you'll have a mildewed, stinky mess on your hands.  So I pick up the dry washcloths, etc, and put into the dirty clothes.  This takes seconds.  (Towels are left, we let them dry then re-use.  We each have a separate place we hang our towel.  We can do that because we're a small family.  I like the idea for larger families of using color-coordinated towels and washcloths, one color for each family member.  Don't know if it really works, seeing as I have never tried it, but it sounds good, anyway.)

Back to the tub. Once or twice a week, while I'm in the shower, leaving the conditioner on my hair for the two minutes the manufacturer recommends, I take a washcloth and wipe down the tub surround, including the ledges with all of the shampoo, body wash, soap, etc, on it, that seem to get so grimy.  You know that most grime in the tub is just soap scum, right?  If you wipe it before it gets built up, it doesn't get grimy.  This takes less than two minutes.

Since we all mostly take showers, I clean the tub itself sporadically.  Today I took the non-slip mat out the bottom and washed it, and used a Mr Clean magic eraser on the tub (and it worked like magic, too!) which took around a minute, maybe a minute-and-a-half. 

Last but not least, I throw the hand towel in the dirty clothes basket, and put out a fresh one.  Then as I leave the room,  I turn and admire my clean, uncluttered bathroom, including my favorite and almost only "frou-frou" element, my battenberg lace valance on the window. (I'm the only female in my household.  "Frou-frou is few and far between for me.)

 Clean and sparkly--and taken with flash, finally!

I admit that I've been falling down on the job for awhile, so last week I did the full spray-and-scrub cleaning, but since then, I've been back on my game and have done this daily routine, keeping the bathroom clean every day. I always forget if Flylady calls this "Swish & Wipe" or "Wipe and Swish", so I've taken to calling it my daily "Swish and Swipe"!

Depending on your family, you may want to add a pass through at night to pick up after bathtime, especially if you have younger kids. 

One reader on facebook mentioned that she'd like to have a self-locking door that closed behind each family member and wouldn't unlock until all of the clothes were picked up and put in the hamper! What has worked for me since I've reinstituted the daily clean, is just to pick up and put things away behind them consistently, and honestly, after a couple of days, my family is so glad at the state of cleanliness that's pervading the atmosphere, they've been good about picking up behind themselves. 

Or you could try locking the door behind them, he he.

Next time we clean bathrooms for the 30-Day Cleaning Challenge, it'll be time to tackle the drawer on the vanity and the linen closet. 

Until next time...

To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30

30 Day Cleaning Challenge--Day 10

• Who can find a virtuous woman?  her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

Today's task for the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom is to deep clean the living room.  

These are her suggestions:

• Set the timer for 20 minutes and pick up and put away all items that are out of place. (Bonus: find 7 items to get rid of.)
• Dust the furniture, wall-hangings, and knick-knacks.
• Wipe down the baseboards.
• Vacuum/sweep the room. (Bonus: use an attachment on the vacuum to vacuum around the baseboards and vacuum the furniture.)
• Clean fingerprints on the windows.
• Bonus: Spot-clean the carpets and walls.
• You’re done!

Sorry no before-and-after pictures  today, Wednesdays are usually spent out of the house, and today is no exception, so when I saw that the task for today was "deep cleaning" I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it.  But when I went into the living room to look around, I realized something.  Last week one of the daily tasks was to"surface clean" the living room and kitchen. Even though my main focus that day was the kitchen, I took the time to pick up and put away things that didn't belong--like shoes and books and hair clips--straightened everything else and dusted.

Since then, my family has co-operated in keeping it pretty well picked up every day. We always have a couple of books laying around, we take off our shoes sometimes when we're sitting there watching tv, but something about having it all cleaned up has inspired everyone to pick up behind themselves for the most part.

So this is what I did today:

Picked up and threw away some trash--a couple of tissues and a paper towel that I'd been using on top of a coaster; straightened our current stack of books, a magazine and one of my calendar organizers; fluffed and straightened a couple of pillows and refolded one of our throws. That's it. 

We have a hardwood floor in the living room, so when someone sweeps or swiffers, they usually get the baseboards that are not behind furniture.  The windows are behind a love-seat, so no one really touches them.  Right now I'm in a minimalist stage and I have no knick-knacks on the tables in there (I swing back and forth on this sometimes!) (Can you believe I'm the same person with that disaster of a bedroom yesterday?) It could probably use a dusting, it really doesn't need much else. If there had been time, I would have cleaned out behind the doors in the tv stand, and I made a mental note that I need a pretty basket or something similar to keep the remote(s) in. 

Quite a contrast from yesterday, right!

Until next time...

To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30

The Day the Squirrel Came For Dinner

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She is like the merchant's ships, she bringeth her food from afar
• She ... giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens

I don't know if this qualifies as a giving to her household or not, but as I was visiting with my parents this morning, we noticed a visitor outside, trying to get to one of the bird feeders.

The wind was blowing, and shepherd's hook was rocking a little, so she/he didn't seem too sure of themselves, and just froze.

My mom grabbed her camera and we managed to get a few shots...

Until she/he decided it was time...

...to GO FOR IT.

Wild swinging ensued, and having been the victims of bird feeders emptied and even destroyed by squirrels in the past, we did the only thing we could---rattle the door handle, at which time she/he left--without even leaving a tip!

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer

Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes

A Virtuous Woman Cleans the Bedroom

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

Disclaimer:  A Virtuous Woman tells the truth, even it isn't pretty.  And this ain't pretty. 



Although I haven't been participating every day, I've been following everyone else's adventures for the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom. 

Last week, one of the days that I just pretended I didn't see the post was the day we were supposed to "surface clean the bedroom" in 15-20 minutes. 

They have not seen my surfaces. 

Actually, I haven't seen my surfaces in a while.

I have been doing better about making the bed lately, after falling off the 21-day Making New Habits Bandwagon. But I deluded myself on my last post on Saturday that the bedroom, of all places, while not clean, was looking better. 

But this week, when the "surface clean your bedrooms" task came around, I knew I had to bite the bullet and Just Do It.

It's bad, ladies.  Very, very bad. If you have small children, you may want to ask them to leave the room. 

Mother, please don't look. 

 My husband's side of the bed. 

That pile of gold stuff is our winter bedding, piled on a chair.  We took off the winter bedding (only "winter" because, although lightweight, the comforter is warm. Too warm for Louisiana except in cold weather.) But before I could pack it away, it turned cold again.  Then warm again.  Then cold again.  So we've been alternating according to the weather. But it just contributes to the overall disarray, although this is really just the least of it, as you'll see. 

My side.  Not any better.  

This is where you may want to avert your eyes....

Yes, this is real.

And it is all my stuff. 

Every stinking last bit of it.

Except the basket of towels waiting to be folded. Think just that one thing would make much difference?

The box is a "donate" box that I started months ago and never finished.  The black trash bag is left from the last time I decided to clean and organize. An anthropologist would have a field day with all of this, wouldn't

they?

So. As ugly as it is, this was my truth.  I could make a thousand excuses, but in the end, it is what it is.

But once it gets that bad, where do you begin?  

Pick one thing, and do it.  

I picked making the bed.  It's the biggest thing in the room, and when the bed is made, it already gives a feeling of order to the room, even if the rest of it is a disaster.  

Once you have a place to start, go the next place. 

I actually cleaned and straightened the dressing table yesterday, you just couldn't see it past all of the stuff piled in the rocker in the earlier picture, but I did tweak a bit today, and emptied the trash can that you can't see behind the rocker.

Then I tackled the next biggest area--around and in front of my chest-of-drawers.  I picked up shoes and put them away; sorted clothes for washing, mending, giving away and throwing away;  packed away winter clothes as well as the winter bedding; started a laundry basket full of things that didn't belong in the bedroom; added to the box of to-be-donated items; threw away trash, and just generally sorted and cleaned.  

 Last was the top of the chest, which was an adventure all it's own. Sorting, cleaning, throwing away and putting away. 

Don't look at the carpet, that's the last thing I have to do, and it's gonna take some extra effort--I do my hair at the dressing table, and the last time I vacuumed this area, hair tangled around the beater brush and broke the vacuum. So I have to use a brush or a static sheet or something similar to get the hair up before I vacuum now.   

This closet originally had sliding doors, which we took off when we carpeted the room years ago, then when we tried to put them back they dragged on the carpet and we never replaced them.  The closets in this house are shallow, but wide, and not having doors actually makes it easier to get to the things hanging on the ends.  So this is the best this area gets.

Basket of clothes to be folded and put away tonight, trash to be hauled out, donate box to be loaded, and bag full of old sheets to be put in the rag box in the shed. 

Next week's bedroom day--my husband's side of the room and whatever else I can find!

 And now--nourish and hydrate!

This post is linked to:

30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom

Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

Titus Tuesday at Time-Warp Wife

Tuesday To Do at The Blackberry Vine

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Until next time...





To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30

A Virtuous Woman Cleans

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

This has been a real roller-coaster of a week month year. I've been all over the place spiritually, physically, and emotionally.  Despite my best (sporadic) efforts, overall I have not been looking too well to the ways of my household! 

I got up Monday morning, though, feeling chipper and ready to roll.  This is the status update I posted on the Virtuous Woman facebook page : 

Good morning ladies! What plans do you have for your day? I'm hoping to have a "catch up" day for laundry and some housework. Need to run a few errands in there somewhere, as well as doing some reading and spending some time in prayer. I hope to be doing a series of posts soon on different ways of organizing our time, our to-do list, etc. How about you? Do you use an actual written list, a mental check list? Do you do certain things on certain days, or just sort of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing. What works for you?

Then that morning I read about the new Clean in 30 Challenge at Money Saving Mom.  The idea is to do one or two (fairly)small extra tasks a day for the 30 days of April.  Then at the end of the month, your whole house will be clean. Sounds like a winner to me, so I decided to give it a try. 


The first day, the task was to "surface clean" the living room and kitchen.  Suggestions were:

• Set the timer for 15 minutes and pick up and put away everything that’s out of place. Bonus project: Find 7 things to get rid of.
• Next, wash the dishes in the kitchen (if there are any), wipe down the countertops and surfaces in the kitchen.
• Finally, vacuum the living room.

This took me way longer than 15 minutes. Here was my status update that evening:

Okay, ladies, here's what I've done so far for my "catch-up" day--dressed to shoes, including hair & make-up; made the bed, including throw pillows; started on the laundry; straightened and dusted the living room; put away clean dishes, cleaned the drainboard, washed dishes, wiped down the stove and ALL the counter tops and backsplashes--this included moving things around and really evaluating where I store some things. Some things don't have a home, so they tend to just be laid down anywhere, or stuck someplace just to have someplace to put it. PS-I think I may have hoarder tendancies. I have too much stuff!

Way longer than 15-20 minutes, but I got it all done. The next day, the task was to clean the bathroom. Well. I just wasn't in a clean-the-bathroom mood that morning, so I kept putting it off and finally didn't do it at all.The next day the task was to surface clean the bedroom. Oh.My.Goodness. We're talking way beyond 20 minutes here! (Did I mention that I've been, shall we say, behind on housework lately? So NOT "looking well to the ways" of my household!) Once again, not done. By now I was thoroughly discouraged about the #Cleanin30 challenge--it just didn't seem to be doable from the state my house was in.

Somehow I just zoned out and skipped Thursday all together. I did manage to "bring my food from afar" (grocery shop), and cook a good dinner, but that's about it.  

That leads to yesterday. Yesterday I started off slow. Bad night the night before. Ugh.

But when I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face, I looked around, and it took only a few minutes to spray the toilet with cleanser, and while that was working, to put things away and wipe the vanity.  Then I burshed the toilet down and I was through before I knew it. 

While I was in the bedroom getting dressed, I made the bed, and folded and put away a basket of clean clothes that was sitting there.  Then I picked up the pile of dirty clothes from the floor, carried them to the laundry room, and put them on to wash.  Since I was there, I picked up the clean hanging clothes from the laundry room and brought them back to the bedroom to put away in the closet.   The bedroom isn't clean, but any means, but it certainly looks better, not to mention getting my laundry caught up. 

Back in the front of the house, I started dinner, washed up the few dishes that were dirty, and surface cleaned the dining room. 

Not one thing took more than a few minutes to do.  And next week, although I may not follow the Clean in 30 steps exactly, each area of the house should get just a little better than it was before. 

So the moral of this story, as I shared on facebook, is this:

Looking well to the ways of our household may be different for each of us. We have different houses, different families, different schedules, different priorities, and we may be in different seasons of life. And even though I didn't do the #Cleanin30 challenge exactly the way everyone else did, doesn't mean I haven't aleady caught the principle--just a few minutes a day, applied consistently, can make a big difference in the long run.

Until next time...
This post is linked to:

Make Your Home Sing at Mom's the Word
Thirty Day House Cleaning Project at Money Saving Mom

To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30