Story time: when my grandfather passed away I inherited a bunch of my grandma’s books- and three of them were about cleaning. They’ve been great to read and re-read, and it’s been fun to get to know a side of my grandma I never knew when she was alive: she was also a cleaning nerd! It makes my heart happy whenever I think about her as I’m cleaning. One of the books I refer back to most is The Queen of Clean: A Queen for all Seasons, by Linda Cobb. This book changed the way I look at deep cleaning!
Some people think of deepish cleaning as “spring cleaning” or “the fifteen minutes before company comes over,” but Linda Cobb lays out chores seasonally. Instead of feeling overwhelmed with cleaning the whole house deeply in a month or two, spread it out! As we go throughout the year, I’m going to share with y’all the deepish cleaning that I do each month. I’ve already shared January’s Tidy List with y’all, and I’m looking forward to sharing similar lists each month.
In addition to the deepish cleaning that I do for each month, I also have a list of monthly chores. Check the bottom of this post for a link to a PDF of my Monthly Cleaning Checklist. Save it, print it, cross stuff out, use it to start a bonfire, just enjoy it! Most things are self explanatory. Like, I don’t need to monolog about “Clean the toilet,” right? There are two items I’d like to chat about briefly.
Dusting fans & light fixtures: this is one of the most forgotten chores. It took me a year to get in the habit of dusting them monthly. Most of the time, it doesn’t visually make much of a difference, so why am I such an advocate of doing it monthly? Allergies. Having all that dust on the fan blades introduces dust to the air your fan is circulating. Before I dusted them monthly I’d just dust them when I noticed the dust buildup. I’d dust them, stir the dust up, feel sneezy & congested and have itchy eyes all day, and take a Benadryl at night. Then, because I’m a total lightweight when it comes to medicine, I’d wake up feeling like I had a medicine hangover the next morning. So two days of feeling rough just to dust the ceiling fans? Not a fan. Now that I dust them monthly my allergies don’t bother me at all! Another tip- the first time you dust your fans you’re going to have globs of dust fall off the fan blades, so please dust the fans right before you vacuum. That way the dust falls and you just vacuum it straight up. No tracking it around the house, no going back on yourself and getting the vacuum out after you just finished vacuuming the house.
Rotate dining room chairs: only if you have more dining room chairs than you have regular diners. This is especially important if you have very messy eaters. Heloooooo I’m lookin’ at you, mamas of toddlers. We have six dining room chairs, but only three of us sit down to eat. If we didn’t rotate dining room chairs we’d mash butt prints into the cushions on just those chairs. This is especially high risk if you use a booster seat or something else that’s constantly applying pressure to your cushions. If your chairs don’t have cushions you’re still constantly getting skin oils and food spills on the same chairs repeatedly. I suggest the first time you vacuum for the month pull all the chairs out and rotate them one place over. Clockwise, counterclockwise, doesn’t matter. Just do it and be consistent. I rotate clockwise, if you need a tie breaker.
Alright, I know this was a longish post for my goal of being able to read the post on a bathroom break. (Final word count: 668) Thanks for sticking in there with me, and enjoy your Monthly Cleaning Checklist!
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