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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Easter Thoughts

The dishes are washing in the dishwasher The kids are playing ,Dave is tearing up the bathroom , the ham is cooking in the oven ..and I am thinking thoughts of spring.

Spring cleaning that is...

EEKK what Sue you are actually thinking of cleaning ..those that know me know that thinking about cleaning is about as far as this task usually goes . I hate cleaning. I hate cleaning with an all consuming passion. I hate everything about cleaning but mostly I hate the futility of it all

I hate that once I get something clean in only a few moments it is no longer CLEAN

I have tried lots of things I am a member of Fly Lady I listen to her gentle nudging everyday I read the e-mails I shine my sink(which is now SOOOO much easier thanks to my dishwasher THANK YOU AGAIN HONEY!!) I wear my shoes I get dressed everyday and I fix myself up which for me consists of running a comb through my tangled knots and tossing it up in a clip or ponytail .

no luck I still live in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome is what fly lady calls it)

I myself could care less what people think of my house I know I don't have bugs(besides lady bugs but that is a WHOLE other post) I know we don't have rodents (thanks to my crazy herd of outside cats) and I know that my home is relatively clean ...cluttered but clean ...messy but clean...cant find the floor most days but clean

I am not a germophobe I took microbiology once and that got me over any hope of being a germophobe because germs are everywhere all the time no matter what you do so basically if you think about it really hard we are fighting a loosing battle with the germs the best we can hope for is to manage them rather than conquer them.

Another problem I have is that my Dear Dave and my oldest son Alex have allergies I am not talking about the cute allergies where you take a Claritin and you can see clearly I mean that from the time the trees bud till the first good HARD freeze their eyes are red and watering and they have snotty running noses and sneezes that cause them to double over in pain multiple sneezes a day

So for cleaning I have a very nice vacuum with a hepa filter on it I also use a shop vac to get up the stubborn stuff I have a broom I have a swiffer sweeper (how ungreen of me and unfrugal of me but wait for more thoughts on this one!) I use a damp rag for dusting (when I do dust I don't do it often because any disturbance of dust around these two sends them on sneezing fits)

I have some household plants...well OK only one household plant an African Ivy plant (poisonous I know which is why no one EATS it!) I want more plants currently we have seedlings I want fruit trees! I never like to do anything small I prefer big huge grandiose acts of insanity

So why the rambling ??? get to my point you say!

OK I will

I have been looking for a way to stop my bleach habit sad but true I am addicted to bleach spray

it is almost as bad as when I smoked I use bleach I have seen alcoholics put less thought into quitting drinking

I can't

come on!! I am supposed to give up

white clothes

clean toilets??? clean counter tops??? clean floors!! a scrubbed and shined tub!!

my bleach habit is not where NEAR as bad though as my addiction YES dam nit I admit it I am addicted to

Bar keepers Friend cleanser

anything that cleans that well cant be good for the environment or my families health!

The way this stuff takes the rust out of EVERYTHING I mean I have old clothes that look like they have been soaked in tea they are so dark from rust stains I put a little bit of this miraculous powder on them and ....

they becoming blindingly white

it is a fabulous thing to look at I feel power I feel like I accomplished something !!

the nasty stains in my toilet from our water are NOTHING to this stuff

I have looked online I have searched sacrificing HOURS that I could have used to clean and scrub and I have found only this that is supposed to remove rust stains

lemon juice and baking soda

I know my new Chemist friend is cringing ..or possibly shaking his head saying oh Sue Sue you naive child you!

yes I tried it

did I mention that I have forgotten MOST of what I learned in college I did take several science classes including bio chemistry and regular Chemistry sadly I forgot a few things

lemon juice and baking soda very nifty little bubbling reaction

I have to say it DID indeed clean my sink beautifully made it smell terrific too

but it did not remove the rust stains from the clothes I tried it on

dang it! I said out loud (OK for those who know me for real you KNOW I did not say dang it I said the naughty sailors equivalent)

my dear son Tim looked at me and sadly shook his head and said "sorry mom not all experiments work"

I know I know I said to my dear boy

now I do use some more "Eco friendly" options for other cleaning things I have never been big on drain cleaners so we have not had those in the house for ages (like years) I do not use oven cleaners because I have come up with a terrific Eco friendly way to take care of that

ignore the oven

(that BTW was my mom's technique! she was not big on cleaning either!)

For my floors to wash them well I do have my bleach addiction and there is also the fabulous marvelous swiffer

I am obsessed with floors I hate it when floors are dirty my babies crawl on those floors I want the floors clean

well I live in the country I have a dog and I have boys if you think our floors are ever clean it is another effort in futility

we also have an indoor wood burning stove in our living room sticks twigs sawdust ashes tons of yuck all over

so I sweep and sweep and sweep I sweep at least 4 times a day

my kitchen my dining room my living room still has a cruddy carpet in it so that has to get vacuumed (using energy again dang it! I just cant win!)

grrrrrrrrr

now to my swiffer wet cloths

I don't use them I wet down a wash rag and attach it to the swiffer and wipe the floor I replace the rag by rinsing it out and putting it back on

saves money cleans floor woooohooo (I think this has more to do with the cheapskate in me rather than the environmentalist )

So my rant is over cleaning tip from Sue for saving money AND energy

get hard wood floors no vacuuming ...they are cleaner than carpets they keep the air in your home cleaner than carpets for those with allergies

and they can be made out of renewable woods

AND they raise the value of your home

AND they look great

AND they ....ummm well I like them

AND I know there are other reasons but my tired mind just lost all of them

So finally my thought is over I will continue to try my darnedest to not use bleach I have slowed it down I do need a product or something that works as well as Bar Keepers Friend that is good for my family ..my poor hands ...and good for our water systems

Also we are going to be putting wood floors in the living room this summer

And getting ready for another rummage sale one big thing that I STRONGLY recommend from Fly Lady is her philosophy of simplicity ...You can't clean clutter. We just have too much stuff I get rid of it and get rid of it and get rid of it

and tomorrow I will talk about how I Recycle Reuse and Reduce all our stuff...at least I sure hope to post tomorrow!

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