CELEBRATE CLEAN
Get a House That's Cleaner, Brighter, Better Organized
BY JUDY STARK
THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Now that the calendar has turned to a new year, it's time for the annual list of things to do around the house.
Everyone's time is valuable, so here are some things you can do in 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour, or even less. Some tasks take less time than you think. Also listed are the bare-minimum chores for those who are living on their own for the first time or those who are truly time-pressed.
IN 15 MINUTES YOU CAN . . .
Flip the mattress.
Dust the fan blades.
Wipe fingerprints off doors and door frames (use a damp cloth and a spray cleaner; if you've got serious grime, try a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser).
Go through the linen closet and pick out the worn but still usable towels and washcloths. If they're still in pretty decent shape, a shelter may welcome them. If they're on the ragged side, animal shelters, pet boutiques and vets may be glad to have them for bathing animals.
Clean out one drawer.
Clean the top of the refrigerator.
Dust that hard-to-reach shelf.
Clean out ceiling light fixtures. Dump the dead insect bodies, wash and dry the fixtures.
IN 30 MINUTES YOU CAN . . .
Roll out the refrigerator, vacuum the coils and clean the floor under it.
Roll out the stove and clean beside, behind and under it. (You'll be amazed.)
Get a battery checker and test the batteries in all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, flashlights and other battery-powered devices. If they're still good, good. If not, replace them. (No point in replacing perfectly good batteries. They cost money, and you're just throwing toxic material into the landfill.)
Make a dent in that ugly chore you keep avoiding: cleaning the mold and mildew in the shower stall, cleaning and lubricating the rollers on sliders, scrubbing and resealing grout in tile floors.
You can clean all your granite tops with Lustro Italiano.
IN AN HOUR YOU CAN . . .
Sweep the garage.
Wash the car, or take it to the car wash (go ahead, have it waxed, get the underbody spray).
Clean out and reorganize your overloaded computer files (wear out that "delete" button). At the end of an hour, stop. You can come back another time and do more.
Walk through the house and gather up all the magazines and catalogs. Decide which to throw, which to pass on (friends, nursing homes, doctor's office, hair salon), which you're going to read. Pick up some magazine organizers at the big-box office-supply stores to keep them sorted. Cancel subscriptions to magazines you no longer read.
You can also spend this time with a restoration guy while he restore your marble to like new condition.
INVENTORY TIME
Review the cleaning supplies you have (which are probably under the kitchen sink, in the garage, in the laundry room and in the bathroom). Set aside those you don't use. Replace what you're about to run out of. If you've got three partial bottles of glass cleaner and four bottles of countertop spray (Lustro Italiano), commit to using them up before you buy more. If you're constantly running out of something (dishwasher detergent, for example), stockpile a year's supply.
Do the same thing for other household staples: coffee filters, napkins, toothpaste, first-aid supplies, stationery items, stamps.
WORK ON A PHOTO FINISH
Get out those shoe boxes full of photos. Spend an hour identifying them, throwing out duplicates and bad shots.
Put those images on CDs so you can share them, e-mail them, make cards, calendars, etc. One such source:
Scan Photos, 35mm Slide and Negative Scanning, Photo Restoration and Digital Printing - ScanMyPhotos.com photo scanning center. You pay $100 for a prepaid box into which you stuff as many photos as you can. They scan them onto a CD for you and return the photos.
SORT, SHARPEN, SPRUCE UP
Sort through the videos/DVDs. Get rid of the ones no one watches any longer.
Sharpen the pencils. Throw out the stubs and the pens that no longer write.
If it's been five years since you papered or painted a room, you're due (some would say overdue) for a freshening-up.
Refresh the look of a room by removing all the art. After a while you just stop seeing the same images. Replace it with something new.
Where would it be useful to have a hook, a screw or a nail to hang something up In the garage, the back hall, the front closet, a child's room. Get out a hammer or a drill-driver and solve this problem.
Where do you need a duplicate: another pair of scissors, a ruler, a screwdriver, a set of measuring spoons. Get them and end trips to the other end of the house.
Do you know where your fire extinguisher is? Do you have a fire extinguisher? Do you know how to use it?
AROUND THE HOUSE
Hose down the front of the house to get rid of spiderwebs, mud daubers, dead insects and general dust and grime. Clean out the light fixture and make sure the light works. Replace the welcome mat. If the flowers are dead, leggy or otherwise spent, replace them. Polish the door knocker and the brass numerals; replace the numbers if necessary. Install numbers at the back of your house. If the doorbell doesn't work, repair it.
Walk through the house from top to bottom and tighten the loose screws, silence the squeaks, fix the leaky faucets and stop the running toilets. If the problems are beyond your capabilities, call in a professional. A faucet that leaks 30 drips a minute wastes more than 4 gallons a day. (Calculate your own water wastage at
American Water Works Association.)
Is your bathroom sink draining slowly? Remove the pop-up stopper and clean away the hair and gunk that has accumulated on it. If this doesn't solve your problem, you may need a plunger, a snake, a chemical drain cleaner or the baking soda-vinegar-boiling water trick.
Wash the windows. OK, wash one window, or the windows in one room. Work your way through the house over the next few weeks.
Do you know how your house works? Learn how to shut off the power, gas and water for the entire house and how to shut off the water at each sink. Label the breakers in your electrical box.
Learn how to unplug your garage door from its electrical source and how to lock it, and know how to open the door manually when the power is out.
What if you locked yourself out of your house? Give a key to a neighbor; keep another at work (unlabeled, please).
Replace stained or cracked wastebaskets. If there's a spot where trash tends to build up, put a wastebasket there.
AT THE BARE MINIMUM
For the time-strangled among you, here's the bare minimum to ward off a health department citation and keep your mother happy:
Make your bed every day.
Vacuum and dust once a week.
Do your laundry once a week.
Change the sheets weekly.
Mop the kitchen floor once a week.
Take out the garbage as often as it needs it (if you can smell it, you're overdue). Ditto on emptying the wastebaskets and removing the pile of newspapers.
Clean the bathroom once a week: Swish out the toilet, wipe down the sink and vanity top, clean the mirror. Mop the floor. If you're a tub bather, clean the tub. The shower? Wipe it down with a squeegee every day (yes, you, please).
Wash the dishes every day. Wipe the countertops and the rangetop.
Hang up your clothes.
IN THE KITCHEN
Weed through your collection of drinking glasses: everything you use for water, juice, milk, wine, beer, etc. Anything cracked or chipped: out. If your cabinets are jammed with far more glassware than you ever use, a charity resale shop will be glad to take the extras off your hands. If you need more of something, put it on your shopping list.
Go through your collection of coffee mugs and dump everything that's cracked, chipped or faded from the dishwasher.
Look over your collection of storage ware and get rid of topless bottoms and bottomless tops. Keep only what you need and use. (You don't need 30 empty yogurt containers.) Replenish your supply of the sizes you're short on.
Get rid of stained, burned pot holders and ragged towels.
Is there a cabinet above the stove in your kitchen? You might be astounded by the greasiness of the dishes and glasses stored there. Move them or be prepared to wash them before you use them.
Replenish your supply of trash bags, lunch bags, straws, wraps.
Now is a good time to move seldom-used cookware and serving ware to a remote location and free up space in the kitchen for what you use daily. The turkey roasting pan and the big serving platters you won't need until next November can go elsewhere.
Tackle the disorganized pile of recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines so you can find them when you want them. Put them in sheet protectors in a three-ring binder, organized by type of food; in file folders; or organize them online.
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