# Cleaning and Organizing Tips/discussion-March 2015



## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

It's March and for some it means spring cleaning. What do you do? What have you done this week? This thread is to help us all clean and organize our homes and lives. It is not specifically a flylady-only system. Whatever works is what you should do (even Flylady will tell you that). I just happen to use her as it works best for me. Over the course of a year, I have gotten my home is much better condition and by doing this I am able to clean and organize a little deeper each week because I have already gotten rid of a lot of clutter.


*March 1-7, 2015:Zone 1: The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room
*
Spend 15 minutes each day doing the following daily tasks . When done, work on the detailed cleaning list below. Don't be slavish to them--I don't generally clean during the week, but use it the way it works for you!

*Monday:* Sweep off your porch and shake out your front porch mats.
*Tues*: Clean the clutter in each of the focus rooms
*Wed*:Clean the windows and walls of your dining room
*Thurs*: Declutter the front entrance of your home.
*Friday*: Spend 15 minutes doing whatever you really need to attend to in these focus rooms: If you need to vacuum, dust or do a 27 fling (throw away/donate 27 things quickly).

*Entrance Detailed Cleaning List*
Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.
Clean cobwebs
Dust window sills and front door
Clean switch plate of hand prints and walls if needed
Put plants in to the shower and give them a good rinse. Let them set there until you are finished.
Dust furniture
Dust baseboards
Straighten the coat closest
Sweep vacuum or mop the floor
Put back the plants. You would hate for DH to walk into a jungle tomorrow morning.
Add your own personal touches to make it more welcoming.

*
Dining Room Detailed Cleaning List*
Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.
Clean the cobwebs
Dust window sills
Clean the window
Clean doors of china cabinet after you straighten dishes if they need done. Dust.
Clean and straighten any drawer
Clean off top of dining table and polish
Rinse plants in the shower
Dust the bottoms of the chairs.
Dust the baseboards
Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet). I turned mine over one time. It was not funny.
Add your own personal touches to the table (table cloth, pretty bowl, flowers)

*Front Porch Detailed cleaning*
Sweep down cobweb and spider webs (In the summer, I leave them. I feed the spiders, too, LOL.)
Sweep off porch furniture.
Sweep the porch.
Throw away any dead plants.
Prune back unruly bushes from the entrance.
Repot planters if necessary (in summer)
Refill bird feeders.
Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.
Get rid of unwanted items.
Add your own personal touches to welcome friends and family (wreath, welcome mat, bell)


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## VHestin (Aug 17, 2011)

Yesterday I cleaned out the floor around/under my computer desk(found a Christmas card mailed to us in 2011). And washed my bedding. Today I'm tackling the area along the long side of my bed. Baby steps. Our 6 cats keep trying to 'help'. I love how if you move something 2 feet, it suddenly becomes a 'new' item to them.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Today's been laundry day. I bought a lot of bedding and clothing at GW Outlet stores in the past week, and it all needs washed. I have a total of 5 down comforters, 2 down pillows, and 2 polyfill comforters, plus ski bibs, rain coats, sheets, shirts, sweaters, jeans, and much more to clean, fold and put away or put to use. I've already washed and dried 3 of the down comforters and the pillows over the last 4-5 days, and am working on the rest of it today. I'm about half done, having done 4 loads so far. I'll be glad to be finished with it all. I'm also mending one of the down comforters before I wash it - it's spitting down at me every time I move it!

In between switching loads, I'm bleaching things as needed, and straightening up the house, as well as going outside to split firewood. I still need to divide up a 10# chub of hamburger and get it in the freezer today, too.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Today is Monday so for me that means laundry, baking for the week and the usual daily chores. This morning I stripped my bed, aired the bedroom, put on fresh bedding. I love the smell of line dried bedding, but the snow is still too deep to dry the sheets outside. I can do the pillow cases though and that helps. Then a quick dusting and dust mopping of the bedroom. 
In between loads of laundry I loaded the dishwasher, dusted and dust mopped the kitchen and bathroom, swiped the bathroom sink and toilet, and dusted and dust mopped the parlor and den.
This afternoon I'm making chocolate chip and gingersnap cookies, bread and apple betty.

I'm afraid there won't be any spring cleaning around here for quite some time yet as we still have lots of snow and more on the way. As I said last week, I'm still spending plenty of time wiping up water from the pets comings and goings, and sweeping up lots of wood chips from hauling in wood for the stove. But, spring will be here soon enough and we'll all have a boatload of x-tra chores to do outside too. Gardening, mowing, canning etc.. Makes me tired just thinking about it. LOL
Hope everyone is having a good day


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

Everyone is starting off the month really well.. great job!

Since it's Monday, (this has become a running joke in New England), I shoveled LOL. I also got a load of laundry done.

We had some excitement last night - around 3AM we had furnace issues. :smack In turn, I have a really clean floor around the furnace now  Fortunately, the technician replaced a number of parts & it was all covered under the service plan but he had to run water through the system. Under normal circumstances, not a big deal with about 4' of snow on the bilco doors, I had to combine garden hoses and run them up the stairs and out the slider (did I mention they were stiff from freezing in the garage all winter)? As you can imagine, there were lots of towels ready for the laundry today.

Given the excitement, I've renewed my drive to clean & organize the basement. Will start on that tonight. I'm not sure exactly where to start but I'll do something.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Ooohhhh, I feel for you OnlyMe. There's nothing worse than furnace problems or frozen water pipes in the dead of winter. Just plain awful


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

Mickey said:


> Ooohhhh, I feel for you OnlyMe. There's nothing worse than furnace problems or frozen water pipes in the dead of winter. Just plain awful


Thanks - the only good part was that I was up when the furnace's pressure release valve went and made a terrible "Bang!". I raced down the basement and shut off the water to the furnace and the circuit breaker(the technician laughed that I went that far lol) so I was able to mitigate the situation quickly. Then it was just a waiting game - the technician's driveway hadn't been plowed yet and neither had mine. 

On the plus side, I have started reorganizing some items in the basement and will continue to do a little everyday. Hubby decided that instead of having a larger aquarium taking up space, we should treat the goldfish and upgrade their real estate. They appear to be very happy in their new digs & I already have a little more room.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I've been splitting wood a bit at a time - really knotty rounds take a lot of work to split, so I'm getting some good exercise doing it. 

I'm also working on more laundry - I had a bit of trouble with one really big down comforter and am re-washing it to get the clumpy dry soap out of it (evidently it was stuck in a fold and not under water or something). It will take some extra spinning to get it dry enough to go in the dryer...luckily, I have a second washer (front loader that leaks around the door so I can't wash a full load of wash in it) that will spin all that water out after I spin as much out in the top loader as I can. Did that make any sense? Sometimes I read over what I typed and wonder if anyone can make heads or tails out of it all, lol! 

The comforter I'm working on is a really high quality Land's End goose down comforter made back when they were made in the USA. It's either a queen or king size, not sure yet and won't be until I can get it dry and spread on the bed. The only problem I can see with it is that the green top on it is faded in spots so the color isn't even, probably why it was at the GW Outlet store. Since the plan is to put it in a duvet cover, that color flaw isn't going to bother me one bit! If I don't have a duvet cover that fits it, I'll take a couple flat sheets and sew one up to fit it exactly. I collect king size flat sheets for things like this!

Went to steam clean the area rugs this morning and found the water was leaking out the bottom of the machine in a steady stream. Did some investigating and figured out a fitting had come loose. Once I figure out how to get the fitting back together (may have to take the housing apart), I should be good to go again. 

I set the dishes to soak for my dd this morning. I was up early and wanted to get a jump on the day. I am not washing them for her, though - it's her job and she has been shirking it a lot lately. Did mop most of the kitchen floor after all the water that poured out of the steam cleaner onto it.  

eta: The comforter washed and spun out much better this time, and I'm running it through the front loader right now, so in a few hours, it should finally be done! I'm looking forward to seeing what size it is.


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

MGM - this made total sense.  Drying a down comforter is quite the task but having the extra washer that spins really well is wonderful. After I've dried mine as well as possible, it usually still needs to hang for a few days. Great plan for the duvet cover --- that should stitch up in no time. 

Nice detective skills with the steam cleaner - I'm like you - must investigate and do my best to resolve the issue. 

Last night I straightened up the basement a bit and will do more tonight. Otherwise just the usual chores. On my way out now to try to get some ice broken up. It's above freezing and I want to try to get as much water as possible (from melting snow) to be directed into the road.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

It sounds like you made a great haul from GW MGM. Good for you:goodjob:
OnlyMe, I'm glad to hear that your furnace problems weren't any worse.

Yesterday, besides my daily chores, I deep cleaned the fridge. It hadn't been done since just before Christmas so it was due. I also cleaned the front hall. Washed the side lights on either side of the door, dusted and polished the hall tree, then dust mopped and washed the floor.

Today I did my daily chores, cleaned out the hens nest boxes and put in fresh hay and shavings, and then cleaned out the sleeping area of my St Bernard's kennel and put in nice fresh bedding. Glad to have those jobs done


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

Here are some great kitchen organizing ideas:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/twopoodles/lifehacks-for-your-tiny-kitchen#.tsJK8GyZyb
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*Mickey:* Awesome work! I no longer use straw in the henhouse! We have to haul our garbage so all paper products/packaging are roughly shredded and put in there as bedding. The hens turn it into top notch mulch/fertilizer for the garden.
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*MGM:* So jealous of you with your finds and plans for bedding. I haven't bought brand new bedding in years!! I just find great deals like those at GW.
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--I was able to clean my bedroom and kitchen so that I can take care of floors today. I like to wash on my hands and knees so I get a little exercise from it!
--i finally cleaned my shoe "disorganizer" and put four pairs of shoes in a bag for goodwill. I turned around the organizer to face the wall like it should do and now the shoes don't slide off, DUH. Washed the closet floor there and the baseboards. Used one of my clean rags and since I have too many of those to store, composted it because it's cotton. 

What is everyone else getting done? Or donating, or throwing out!


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Happy Monday everyone  I hope you don't mind if I just jump in here and say the zone for this week is the kitchen. 
I'm doing my usual Monday chores of laundry(strip bed, air bedroom, dust and dust mop, put on fresh bedding) and baking for the week. I'm also doing the other daily chores of dusting and dust mopping floors, put breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, swish & swipe bathroom. Big x-tra job to get done in the kitchen today will be washing the windows.
What are you doing today?


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

I've pretty much just been in maintenance mode all week - laundry, dishes, and general housekeeping. I did manage to get the pet items organized. All of the aquarium items are now together and I made up separate bins for the kitty & bird items. Somehow I've amassed a collection of litter scoops - odd but true.  

My goal is still to do more in the basement but it's rather overwhelming. I need to come up with plan before I start & I'm struggling with that. Just as a very informal poll, do you keep items in bins or shelf them?


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I've slowly been working my way through cleaning and caring for all those GW Outlet buys...especially since I've made 3 trips so far and have another one planned with my 2 dds this Saturday!

One of my buys was a lovely, thick bottomed, heavy stainless steel stockpot. It was labeled "not for food" in Sharpie marker, and had some kind of red residue inside. I suspect it had been used to tie dye something. Yesterday I boiled Dawn and water in it and then scrubbed it with baking soda and a green scrubber pad. It took very little effort to totally clean it out...I think it was harder to take off the permanent marker than anything else! Even that wasn't hard. After making sure it was totally, absolutely clean, I boiled water in it again, just to make sure, and it absolutely gleams. At .89/lb pricing, and estimating it weighs about that much, I'm tickled pink with my new stock pot. I was also pleased to find that I had a glass lid that fit it perfectly. 

The Land's End comforter turned out to be a king. The dark green size with the fade marks also has a small repaired rip, but the tan side is in perfect condition. 

I worked in my bedroom yesterday, sorting, dusting, and putting things away. I've neglected it this winter, so I have some catching up to do. Lots of dust bunnies! Ended up needing my inhaler, but I'm already seeing quite a difference, so it was worth it.

I also worked on the kitchen, mainly cooking up more chicken bones and bits for broth and future meals. I pulled out one of my crockpots and reheated one of my frozen Costco rotisserie chickens for dinner. I also cleaned out the fridge and found a head of cauliflower that needed cooking up - waste not, want not.

Did a few loads of laundry, made sure dd did the dishes, and worked on getting the living room back in order. In addition, I made a list of all the things I needed to do to be more ready for the next power outage and started working my way through it. Needed to fully charge the jump station (battery with jumper cables, air compressor, lights, and cigarette lighter type outlet) - found out it also has a USB port, so it can be used to charge my cell phone and Kindles. Tried and failed to find the DC to AC converter that will plug into the cigarette lighter outlet. You can plug a lamp or the laptop into it. If I don't find it by the time I finish my Spring cleaning, I'll invest in another one. Not a bad idea to have a spare anyway.

Didn't sleep all night - had caffeine too late in the day, and I ache all over from working longer and harder than usual yesterday. Today, I hope to get more things stored away, get the living room dusted, swept and steam mopped, and repair the hinges on a cooler (found at GWO, of course). I have a couple solar lights to try charging one more time before I complain to the company that they don't work (one never did, one used to, but I don't know what happened to make it not work after only half a dozen uses). And I need to continue looking for that converter!

OnlyMe, I do a combination of shelving and bins/totes. Depends on what I'm storing and what will work best for it. I know, I'm no help at all, lol!


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

Many, you're doing great & are having great luck at your GW!  I went to the GW store with a few items this week & then hoped to shop but didn't find anything. The shelves were actually rather empty. With the weather (20s again today), I don't think the spring cleaning bug has hit the area ~ donations must be rather light. Your pot sounds like a great find & since it's stainless, I'd feel very comfortable using it for food after all that cleaning. I might just do a diluted bleach rinse if you wanted to be extra safe but that would be about it. You got an incredible deal - stainless pots are super expensive.

I like your plan to prepare for a power outage. During an extended outage, I learned that storing my cast iron pan (black) in the basement (dark) was not one of my brighter ideas. I couldn't find it until power was back on. It's easily accessible now.  When you find the converter for your jump station, maybe you could tie a string or ribbon around it and the handle of the unit. 

Right now, I use a combination of bins and shelf items as well. Sometimes I watch too much HGTV - I see how nice some organization is and then question what I'm doing. I appreciate your input.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

OnlyMe, I think I'm spoiled for regular GW stores now - after finding so many good buys at the Outlet stores and soooo cheap!

Lol, yeah, black cast iron in a dark basement is not a good combo. I have a similar problem with my kerosene lamps...I have enough of them to do surgery by their light, but I emptied them out to put fresh kerosene in a while back...and the kerosene jug is out in the cluttered and unlit barn! Not my brightest moment. It's on my list to do before the next outage...fill the bases, change the wicks and trim them, put on the chimneys and have them ready to light next time. I have a ton of candles to use, but the lamps put out better light.

Good idea on putting the inverter right with the jump station. I went ahead and ordered a new one today, along with more Nido milk for the pantry (needed enough to get free shipping, and I got 3 swag bucks for every dollar I spent on WM on line). I have looked everywhere I can think of for the inverter I have. I figure about the time I get the new one, the old one will show up and I can keep one in the house and one in a vehicle. 

Let's see, what else did I get done today? Washed all my sheets and mattress pad, turned my mattress, and remade my bed. Set out the solar lights to try and charge them. Did even more laundry. Packed up the extra down comforters and duvet covers in a 55 gallon tote (glad now that I got rid of a bunch of Christmas stuff I didn't need any more), had Abby take a bunch of stuff out to various new storage places, swept the floors in the living room and dining room, swept and straightened more of my bedroom, and straightened most of the living room. It's not perfect, but it wouldn't totally embarrass me to have company drop in...which means no one will, lol!

Since I didn't sleep last night, I am getting really tired, so I think I'll make some French toast and bacon for dinner and call it a night. I didn't get to the cooler repair today, but it can wait until tomorrow. I need sleep!


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

I don't have any big accomplishments to tell you all about, but I wanted to stop in and cheer the rest of you on 
I'm having surgery on Monday for kidney stones and the dr said to take it as easy as possible until then, so I'm just keeping up with the light everyday stuff; laundry and baking on Monday, dishes, dusting, dust mopping floors and keeping up with swishing and swiping the bathroom. 
I will be glad to have this over with.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I finally fell asleep by midnight last night (still couldn't turn off my brain, and I hurt from all the stuff I did yesterday), and slept 10 hours. Boy, that felt good! Woke up with energy this morning. 

My home organization goals for today are to continue cleaning and organizing the kitchen, dining room and living room area (open floor plan/great room), fix the hinges on the GWO cooler, and clean a lovely formal (also a GWO buy) to see if I can get it ready for re-sale. I need to work on the paperwork pile, but I think I'll save that for the rainy day forecast for tomorrow. Outside goals for today include picking up everything that blew around during the windstorm Sunday and splitting some wood.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

As usual, I only accomplished about half of what I had planned. I split a little wood and gathered up a bag of kindling for the house, but got sidetracked by the chickens (chicken watching is highly riveting) and forgot to police the yard.

I worked on more cleaning in the house - looking better every day - but about 5pm, I was out of energy and took a 3 hour nap! So much for cleaning the formal and mending the cooler.

I guess I have my to-do list for tomorrow. Cooler, dress, yard, paperwork, more housework.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

I've had company for the week and am happy to report that the house was organized and clean. Thank you Flylady and fellow posters! And thanks to all of you who have kept this going when I was crazy busy getting ready for company/finishing work deadlines and then having company...

I am going to apply what I have learned to the outside of the house and my work. Steady and consistent really makes a difference! Even my husband is getting (a little) into this and motivated to fix some thing/paint, etc..

I found a great tip for something that is an annoyance to me: storing cupcake liners: store in a canning jar. You can see what is in it! They don't get smashed. Here is the link to some other good organizing hacks:
http://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/organization/advice/g99/home-organizing-hacks/?slide=4

I've been consistently trying to use up older things in the pantry.


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## Werforpsu (Aug 8, 2013)

Today was a kitchen day for me.

75 Chocolate chip cookies for a church funeral
2 pounds of dry pasta worth of pasta salad for church funeral
a tin full of chocolate chip cookies for hubby's grandfather who is in nursing care.
a tin of toffy candy for MIL's birthday.
dishes...the pile is REALLY high!
grocery inventory since we are going to be camping next weekend
boiling down beef bones for broth to can
And dinner of course 

Hubby helped by putting some laundry in throughout today so it will be ready to fold tomorrow.


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## OnlyMe (Oct 10, 2010)

Mid Tn Mama said:


> I found a great tip for something that is an annoyance to me: storing cupcake liners: store in a canning jar. You can see what is in it! They don't get smashed. Here is the link to some other good organizing hacks:
> http://www.countryliving.com/home-maintenance/organization/advice/g99/home-organizing-hacks/?slide=4


Thank you so much for this link! This idea for storing cupcake liners is brilliant. The wine rack looks great too - I'll have to keep an eye out for something like this at future auctions.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I'm still slogging through Mount Laundry, working on the GW Outlet buys. The more I sort into loads, the more amazed I am at the quality of the goods I got for pennies on the dollar. Some will be added to our household goods, and others will be offered for sale on fb classified. I'm pretty sure I can more than quadruple what I spent all day, and still have a lot of goodies we can use.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

Busy week. Just trying to keep up with the clutter and do a little swish and swipe daily. It helps to have had the house in order before this.


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## Werforpsu (Aug 8, 2013)

My schedule this week blew up on me and I have been out of the house much more then typical. I washed about half the laundry and folded even less but everyone has socks and undies so I have to focus on the kitchen not looking like a bomb hit it and the fact that we are going away this weekend. 
Today I will be out of the house from 8-8...not ideal. Tomorrow I will be gone from 8-3... The only normal time during the week that I am typically gone.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I think we all have a line we will not cross when it comes to laundry&#8230; Mom&#8217;s underwear.


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## Vickivail98 (Sep 26, 2014)

Maura, I can live without undies for myself but we cloth diaper so laundry is a priority (at least til the weather gets nice ).


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

I've washed and sorted nearly everything I bought at GWO, plus my dd's clothing. Got rid of some shirts and other clothes that she doesn't need and that are pretty junky. Now to pull dressers out of the pantry room closet and build some shelves in there, so I can actually put her clothes in dresser drawers!

I've been out of the house helping man coffee break fundraisers at the rest area the last few days, so I haven't done as much more around the house as I would have liked. Even with that, I've been able to continue doing laundry and keeping most of the house is some semblance of order!


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

Another super busy week, so no deep cleaning, but have kept up with the day to day clutter and laundry and kept the kitchen clean. I find that doing something that really makes me feel good (don't know how to explain) helps with the stress. It really made me feel good to dustmop under furniture that really needed it. 

I like to use recycled fuzzy socks on each side of my swiffer--Really picks up the dust!! So rewarding

Also rewarding: have been able to finish a few crocheted dishcloths. I love to finish things!

Love to hear what others are accomplishing! Keep it coming...


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Nice work everyone!:thumb:
I'll be back to my normal Monday routine tomorrow morning. First thing will be to start a load of laundry. This means first stripping the bed, airing bedroom, dust and polish night tables and dressers, dust mop and lastly re-make the bed. It sounds like a lot, but as MTM said, if you keep up with things it really doesn't take long at all. Then I'll unload the dishwasher so it's ready to load for the day, swish and swipe the bathroom, dust and dust mop the rest of the house. 
After finishing up the chores in the morning I'll start doing the baking for the week in the afternoon.

Our snow is finally starting to go down, but what comes next is far worse. Mud season:grit:


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