Today is my last day of Spring Cleaning. While I’ll still have ongoing cleaning projects all throughout 2010, the bulk of the big stuff has been done by now. Whew!
After my project today, I’m taking a few hours to do fun things for me. I’ll go visit a friend who has a new baby, and I’ll read the latest copy of “Martha Stewart Living.” And it’s Sunday, so it’s Family Night. When I get home from Family Night, I just might treat myself to an hour or so of my new “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” Blu-Ray.
QUICK THINGS TO DO TODAY:
– Take vitamins and have some fruit with dinner
– Warm enough to bundle up and go for a walk in your neighborhood?
– Make phone calls you are overdue for. Any elderly relatives you should give a cheery, chatty call to?
– Create your shopping list for your next excursion. Do you need toilet paper, spring seeds, fertilizer, spring plants, a new hand towel for the kitchen or bathroom, light bulbs, a pink or yellow spring candle, a new throw rug for your mudroom perhaps?
– Maintenance clean one shelf, one drawer, or two door shelves in your refrigerator.
– Do you need to pick up any firewood or Duraflames? It can be hard to find these in Seattle come late May or June. I still like to have several logs on hand for evening fires on surprisingly cold summer nights.
– Bathe and groom pets if needed
– It’s Earth Day Weekend. Are you participating in any Earth Day events?
TODAY’S PROJECT: Laundry Room and Spring Cleaning Supplies
Today I’ll clean my laundry room really quickly. The washer and dryer need cleaning inside and out, and the floor needs mopping due to my puppies. The light switch is a bit grimy, and the baseboards need dusting. Time to move the washer and dryer and thoroughly clean behind them, as well as the hose and lint trap. My laundry room cupboards need to be emptied and dusted, their contents (cleaning supplies) sorted and then replaced. I’ll take inventory of my laundry detergents and laundry-related products, throwing out anything I haven’t used in the last four months or so, and adding things to my shopping list as needed.
Now that we’re done with Spring Cleaning, it’s time to sort and put away our cleaning supplies. We should also clean the cupboard, closet, drawer or area we keep our cleaning supplies in. (All mine are up in a high cupboard far out of reach, since I have so many small children come visit me). Be sure everything is out of reach of your pets, too.
Throw out any cans that look rusty, and take inventory of any supplies you might need to replenish. Get rid of your two worst rags, and turn two older towels, kitchen towels or hand towels into new rags. (Don’t forget to buy new towels to replace them with). Throw out any old sponges or scrubbers that look a bit worn. While you’re here, check your inventory of home fragrance if you use such a thing.
Do you use any of those Wet-Wipes style cleaners? Pledge Wipes, Clorox or Lysol wipes, counter wipes? Try a couple out and see if they are usable or dried out. I just had to throw away two canisters of old dried out wipes that won’t be useful.
Sort and organize your brooms, mops, swiffers, etc. Are they easy to get to? Do they fall out of the closet when you open the door? Do you have too many? Any old brooms you can throw away? Any wooden handles or plastic sticks that don’t have a mop or broom attached to them anymore? Those should be thrown out.
What do you need to add to your shopping list? I need more stainless steel cleaner for my sink and oven. Do you have something to dust with, wash windows with, scrub bathroom fixtures with, wash floors with, sanitize with, wash wood with?
LOVELY WRITING PROJECT: Letter Writing
Do you love writing letters? Real, paper, personal handwritten letters? If so, I suggest today you find a cosy spot, pour a cup of tea (or coffee, or hot chocolate?) and wrap yourself in a snuggly throw. Settle in to write a letter or two to a friend or relative.
If you have a hard time thinking of something to write about, you can share what you did for Easter, something funny your kids did, something silly about your pets, mention a book you’ve read or movie you’ve seen recently, mention spring activities or upcoming travel plans. Mail Easter photos of your children, if applicable.
I stay connected with my two closest out-of-town friends by sending frequent updates on my life. Because I’m not using Livejournal anymore and I don’t post super-private things on Facebook, I tend to open up more on paper.
Perhaps I bore those two friends with too much minutiae, but I send pictures of the flowers that just came up in my yard, pictures of my messy office and efforts to clean and organize it, stories of cooking failures as well as successes, and info on what movies, books and restaurants we’ve been enjoying. I love how easy and inexpensive my digital camera makes it to quickly snap a picture of something. I’ll take a quick shot of my newly cleaned and reorganized breakfast nook, for example – to keep a close friend updated with something I’m proud of doing this week. Sometimes I travel, so I can send them pictures of my antics in Las Vegas, Wenatchee, San Diego, Boston, or Washington DC.
It’s simple to cut and paste a picture right into the Word document, if I’m writing a letter on my computer, or print out a photograph to include in my handwritten note.
Make a stronger connection with a friend or relative, and treat them to a delightful letter today!
LOVELY LINKS FOR TODAY:
