Cleaning Woes

Blogging about cleaning the stovetop in my last post brings up a whole lot of things about cleaning. Isaac and I are somewhat neat (although I tend to have a few piles around the house), but we're not the best at really cleaning. We wipe counters and all that, but we rarely give our house the deep scrubbing it deserves (and begs for).

A couple weeks ago I commented to my mom that I was out of the toothpicks I use in the kitchen to see if my baked goods are ready. She said, "No problem - just grab your cleaning toothpicks from the bathroom." Cleaning toothpicks? I think I've done that three times in the seven years we've lived in this house. My mother was appalled and said that she had taught me better than that (in her defense, she had). She uses toothpicks to clean around the edges of her sinks and bathroom every time she cleans.

So I've been feeling kind of guilty about my cleaning habits, but when I start to think about it, it gets so overwhelming. Not only is there all the organizing/simplifying that I want to do (every drawer, closet, shelf, pantry, toy chest, storage box, etc.) but there's all the nooks and crannies and corners that I want to scrub in every room.

Today I felt inspired to get on top of the kitchen. Even though it's the room we probably clean most often, it has more than its share of neglected corners, sticky shelf paper, flour spills in the pantry, etc. So I made a list, thinking that as I cleaned things, I'd check them off and feel good about them. My list included 10 categories of things to deep clean (i.e. refrigerator, walls, drawer/cabinet faces, etc.) and 7 categories of things to sort/organize (i.e. pan shelves, drawers, pantries, etc.). That's a pretty daunting list, especially when you consider that I spent an hour and a half of elbow grease on JUST THE STOVETOP this morning. Still, I need to do something about all this. I plan to tackle at least one thing on my list every day, and hopefully two, until I can move on to another list in another room.

It makes me want to hire a cleaning service and move to a nice new shining house where everything wipes right up and nothing has rust stains or worn enamel.