Do You Need a Sandblaster to Clean Your House?

I was reminded today why I don’t clean other people’s houses anymore.

I went over to help Mary’s husband regain control of the house. It is almost 2 years since Mary died of a stroke at age 47. Living in the house is a man and 2 almost grown sons. They all work on cars. Does that give you a hint of what the house looks like?

Last time I was there I did the family room and the living room. Today’s mission was the kitchen – and it was a project I dreaded, let me tell you.

Now if it was my house that had somehow gotten this bad, I would tackle a little at a time – like I’ve taught you in Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak. One night maybe the upper cabinets after getting the dishes done. The next night, maybe the stove. The next night, the counters – cleaning under and behind everything. One night the wall above the stove. And eventually it would all be done without killing myself.

If I was still cleaning houses and it was a client, most of the time I would still use a similar strategy – doing a little extra on each trip. Or if they wanted it all done right now, they would pay dearly for a day of back breaking work.

We’re talking grease drips on the walls and cabinets, grimy hand prints, burned on stuff on the stove,  and how do you get tomato sauce inside where the water comes out of the fridge?  I spent 4 hours and didn’t finish it all.

All I heard was “I don’t have the time”

No one has the time once it gets like that. The whole secret is to not let it get like that.

Wipe up stuff before it dries up. And certainly wipe stuff off the stove before you turn the burner on again and burn the gunk on there practically permanently.

We’ll see if he takes my advice.

The living room and family room didn’t look terrible. They hadn’t been cleaned, but at least there wasn’t ‘stuff’ all over. Some improvement anyway…

The thing I find surprising is that when I’m there cleaning, the boys actually start picking up their stuff and doing their laundry. Maybe there’s hope for this household after all.

And he bought Boston Market for dinner. Not bad. It can be pretty hard having a healthy eater over for dinner 😉

The animals are fed, brushed, petted, entertained, and walked. We did the 2 poop – opps, I mean 2 mile walk tonight. It was beautiful out.

It’s been a full day. I’m off to clean myself and get some well deserved sleep.

I just hope he doesn’t ask me to ‘help’ with the bathroom…its horrible!