I hate to admit it, but when I was teaching I hated the month of February. Despised it like a Valentine’s Day Ebeneezer Scrooge. It’s a short month, but you have to squeeze a full 30 days of content into only 28. And then on top of that, Valentine’s Day. As far as I’m concerned it’s the second worst day to be a secondary school teacher. (The worst, in case you’re wondering, is the day after the Superbowl. Over-tired teens jacked up on cheese dip and caffeine. It’s a nightmare.) Valentine’s Day, especially in high school, is nothing but a hormone-fueled competition to see who can bring the most ridiculous stuffed animal or balloons to school. Combine those distractions with cheap chocolate and it’s a recipe for complete disaster.
Despite all that, I’m starting to come around to the idea of enjoying February. Our anniversary is in February, after all! I should enjoy the month! And now that Davis is old enough to enjoy holidays I’m hoping it’ll be a really fun time for him. Since February is a lighter month for chores, I’ve included some space on the checklist page to plan out what you’re going to do for your husband and for your kids on Valentine’s Day. I plan on relaxing, having fun, making homemade cards, and maybe even breaking out the glitter! Woohoo!
Let’s start with the second chore on the list: sweeping the ceilings. Hopefully the ceilings won’t need an all-over sweep. Just look around the corners and get those little creepy spiderwebs down. Do yourself a little favor and do this before you clean the baseboards and definitely before you vacuum. As a general rule we clean from the top down. That way when all the dust and spiderwebs fall down you just vacuum them up and tada! Done! Best part: this one should take less than 10 minutes to do the whole house.
The (main) extra chore for February is cleaning the baseboards! Growing up, this was one of my favorite chores. I can hear your eyes rolling from here. Stop it. Hear me out: it makes the whole house smell fresh and look amazing! Growing up, my mom and I would scoot around on the floor with wash cloths and a bowl of warm water with Murphy’s Oil Soap. With a toddler, I pass on the big bowl of water and opt for an all-purpose spray like Mrs. Meyers Multi Surface Cleaner. There’s no need to sanitize the baseboards, but giving them a good wipe down makes a big difference. Look close and you’ll be surprised at the amount of dust buildup, random drips and drops, and other unknown things that linger on the baseboards. True story: I was walking down the hallway one morning and swallowed my coffee wrong. To avoid DYING I spewed it all out. The hallway looked like Folger’s murder scene. It was awful. I wiped down the walls, spot cleaned the carpet, the whole nine yards. Good as new! Or so I thought. Months later, when it was time to clean the baseboards, there were still random coffee drops all over the baseboards. Allllll over. I don’t even understand the physics of how the coffee got to some of the places it got to.
Even though February is a short month, there’s still plenty of time to spread out cleaning the baseboards. Don’t try to tackle the whole house in one day, unless you really want to. Just spend an extra 20 minutes a week working with your favorite little buddy going around the house wiping down baseboards. I usually give Davis a damp washcloth and he has a blast! Don’t worry about moving furniture and cleaning behind the couches and all that mess, just get what you can easily reach.
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