Tips and Tools Tuesday – Quilting or Cleaning, Which Would You Rather Do?

When I saw this sign, I just HAD to have it! It still makes me smile every time I read it.

Raise your hand if you like a clean house. (Mine is raised.)

Now, keep it raised, if you like to be the one who cleans it. (Mine went down, FAST!)

I hate cleaning the house! In my mind it's a necessary evil! It NEVER ends! There's always dust collecting on something. The clothes on your back are becoming future loads of laundry. The bathroom, well, you know. The list of chores goes on and on!

Let's face it, I want my cake and eat it, too.

I like a clean house. I want a clean house. I don't want to clean it, but I have no "Option B". So, it's up to me to do the cleaning. I decided that, if I HAVE to do the cleaning, I want to get it done fast. I mean, FAST!

I thought, "Maybe there are other people out there who feel as I do about house cleaning." So, I decided to share some cleaning tips that I've learned over the years, which have helped me get the job done quickly. Giving me more time to do enjoyable things, like quilting.

Number one on my list is a tip that I learned about 20 years ago. It's simple really. Here it is. To make house cleaning easier, keep the dirt from getting in in the first place. In other words...

1.Buy good rugs for outside and inside every doorway into your house. For outside the exterior doors, buy rugs that are course and rough and will remove as much dirt as possible from your shoes before you walk in the door. For just inside the exterior doors, buy rugs that will remove as much dirt as possible before you move further into your house. This concept is so simple, yet, profound. And, it works! Does dirt still get in my house? Well, of course, but not NEARLY as much as it used to.

2. Do a little cleaning each day. I have found that if I pick one or two items each day from my mental list of things to clean, then it doesn't seem like such a monumental task that needs to be avoided if at all possible. I kind of learned this one by reading The Little House on the Prairie books to my kids when they were young. Ma Ingles had a saying for doing the  weekly chores.

Wash on Mondays

Iron on Tuesdays

Mend on Wednesdays

Churn on Thursdays

Clean on Fridays

Bake on Saturdays

Rest on Sundays

Now, I know that times are certainly different today than they were in Laura Ingles' day, but the concept is the same. Instead of trying to do everything in one day, space the chores out over the week.  Most household cleaning projects take less than an hour to complete. Maybe set up a cleaning schedule in an order that makes sense to you. For me, it's something like this.

Monday - Laundry

Tuesday - Ironing (With todays fabric blends, if I keep track of when the dryer buzzer goes off, I have very little of it.)

Wednesday - Strip beds, wash/dry sheets and pajamas.

Thursday - Dust/vacuum (In that order, because any dust that doesn't get caught in the duster and falls to the floor will get sucked up in the vacuum.)

Friday - Clean the bathrooms.

I figure, if I do at least a little something toward having a clean house in the morning, then I can go into my sewing room and play, guilt-free! And, I always have a relatively clean house. Win win! For those who have a job outside of the house, try to do just one chore, (or even half of the chore) each day. It will save you time at the end of the week for more pleasant activities. Now, notice I said, "if" at the beginning of this paragraph. That "if" is there because, honestly, there are times that chores on my mental list don't get done at all that week. If I were to sit here and tell you my house is always spotless, and in perfect order, my family would laugh their heads off! My mental chore list is like the Pirate's Code, their more like "guidelines" than actual "rules". But, I've found that if I don't at least have a plan, nothing gets done.

Do you remember the photos from my sewing room right after I moved into it?

  

This is what it looks like right now as I'm typing.

Some might look into my sewing room and think it's a messy space. I prefer to think of it as "productive".

I'll be sharing other cleaning tips along with my quilting/sewing tips on Tips and Tools Tuesdays.

If these tips have been helpful, or if you have a cleaning tip that has helped you get back into your sewing/creating space, please, share it in the comments.

Today is a good day to plan your cleaning.

Diane

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