Common Sense Living

Posts Tagged ‘House Cleaning’

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_{What a wild ride the holidays were this year with all those long weekends! I hope you had plenty of time to enjoy the season this year.}

_{Even though flu attacked half the family – we still had very nice holidays. Lots of good eating.}

_{New Years Day ends the holiday season. Now its time to get back on track.}

_{Get the house cleaned up. The weather was pretty crummy today. Since I had no intention of venturing out – I’ve got the upstairs un-Christmased, and pretty well cleaned up. Whatever I missed with be taken care of in my weekly routines. I’ve still got the downstairs to do though…}

_{Get back to a healthy diet It was a nice break from salads, and now they are tasting good again. I don’t want to see turkey for a year. Enough already! And I’ve had my fill of cookies and pumpkin pie. Normal stuff sounds pretty good about now. Italian would be good, don’t you think? With a big salad and some wine…}

_{And once you’ve got all the holiday stuff behind you – its time to start working on your goals for this year.}

_{I don’t like to call them resolutions. We never stick to resolutions. But we do work on goals. Maybe because goals is instilled in us from a young age? So, instead of resolving to lose weight, make a goal to lose so many pounds.}

_{If losing weight is one of your goals this year, I’ve written a new free report over at Rebel With a Fork that should help – How to permanently lose weight and live a healthy, energy filled life >>>}

For me, my goal is health related. The stress, long hours, a desk job, not having the dog to walk, lack of exercise, and did I mention the stress? Something’s gotta give or I’m gonna die. No, seriously – I am concerned.

I’ve got to get more exercise, and I have to find ways to relieve some of the stress. I’m starting the PACE program. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m also finding that the monthly format for Rebel with a Fork is stressful. For the moment, Rebel With a Fork will be an ebook on steroids. I’ll still be updating – but I won’t be trying to do big features every month. It will be good for both of us.

How will it be good for you?

During my little hiatus, you can get a lifetime membership for just $47. If you are currently a member, I’ll be contacting you before your next billing about how to change over.

I might try some yoga too. We’ll see.

I have business goals too, but for right now, I’ve got to get back in balance and quit driving myself so hard.

And I need to get to bed. I’m working tomorrow – which is probably today by the time you’re reading this. Have some fun for me today, OK?

How about you? Do you have any goals you’d like to share?

You know the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”

That’s how you can get through your spring cleaning.

For example, tonight I cleaned this silk peonie thing I have in my great room. I ran some soapy water in the bathtub, held the flowers by the stems, swished them in the water, shook them off, put them back in the pot. Total time – about 5 minutes.

Now imagine if you did just one 5 minute task every day. That would be 365 little tasks.

Do you think that would add up?

Instead of complaining that you have to wipe out your cabinets, and never doing it because its such an overwhelming job – how about wiping down just 1 shelf? You can manage that, can’t you?

Isn’t it a relief to know that you can have a really clean house without killing yourself?

Now, how can you apply this strategy to other areas of your life?

While I was outside enjoying a beautiful spring day, I thought about you. I wondered if you were able to be outdoors enjoying a beautiful day too.

You weren’t stuck indoors cleaning, were you?

Now I tried to get you to get your cleaning done so you could be out playing on these beautiful days. But it’s still going to be crummy a few days yet. It’s going to plummet this weekend here. Don’t groan! This gives you the opportunity to get this stuff done.

I pulled an article out of hte archive to help you out.

Why out of the archive?

Because once you know how to clean house the right way, it doesn’t change. The products might change, but the efficient method doesn’t change. Once you have Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak, you don’t need another housecleaning book. It works for you forever.

And I don’t like house cleaning enough to be writing all new material all the time. Its not that interesting. We just want to get it done, right? That’s why I wrote it all in Clean Freak – once and done, you know? I don’t have to keep writing about it, and you don’t have to keep buying more stuff.

That being said –  here’s your tip from the archives for this week - 

http://commonsenseliving.com/house-cleaning/spring-cleaning-house-cleaning/hows-your-spring-cleaning-going

I was wasting some time tonight visiting some of my favorite blogs. My form of relaxing I guess.

But there is one thing I have to do before I can go to bed.

Since most of you own Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak – I thought I’d have a little fun with you tonight.

What is my cardinal rule for keeping the house clean? The one thing I must do before I can go to bed, no matter how tired I am?

The first person to answer this correctly in the comments will win a lifetime subscription to RebelWithaFork.

(this contest is not open to relatives;))

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I really had every intention of not doing much today. The wind was blowing pretty hard, so it didn’t feel all that warm. Just get those plants in the ground and putter around. That was the plan.

But when I went downstairs, the new bookcases were patiently waiting for me. Real bookcases without a cardboard back! And I got ‘em for free. But they needed cleaning before getting them moved to their new home.

But when I went up stairs to get the Murphy’s, I figured I should do a quick swipe on the kitchen cabinets, since I had the bucket out anyway…

Then I cleaned the new bookcases.

Then moved the books out of the old white build ‘em yourself bookcases (with the cardboard back) that we’ve had since my daughter was little, and moved them out of the way.

Then moved the new bookcases into place and filled them. Well, not actually. They’re bigger than the old bookcases. So I went upstairs and got the Stephen King collection and brought it down. Now the bookcase upstairs is practically empty, but I can’t think anymore.

But then I noticed that the pub table hasn’t really been cleaned in a long time, and since I have the bucket out… and so it went.

So then I notice that the animals are finally starting to shed. The good news – that means winter is officially over. The bad news, spending an hour a day brushing them and vacuuming for the next few days.

My neighbor has been talking about having a garage sale, so I’ve been mentally marking stuff in my head. I have stuff that I’ve kept for notalgic reasons, but I think I’m ready to let go of more of it. Gotta call my sister.

So, that’s how I spend a day doing ‘nothing’.

It’s a sickness, wouldn’t you say?

Well, at least I didn’t go to the store, and I didn’t do much in the way of work. That counts for something, doesn’t it?

Boy, the weather better get warm soon …