Okay. Yesterday I got the grocery shopping done. Today I’ve got to run some errands, and then clean the bathroom and the kitchen. I’m not sure if my fridge-cleaner (yay for people who clean in echange for food) is coming in today, so I might have to do that myself.
The floor feels nice and clean.
Well, I started a load of laundry just now. I like laundry, it’s easy and can be going while doing other things. I think I’m going to try to get two or three 15 minute clean fests in over the course of the day.
Today’s a no computer night, and tomorrow is date night, so we have to figure out what to do for date night. I may see if I can get the Kangaroo_in_Black to chip in on cleaning tonight. Provided we don’t have guests. We did manage, last week, to reschedule for this week, but then no other arrangements were made. At this rate my friend and his girlfriend are going to show up some time at random or have forgotten. Let’s all hope for the second!
Or I could call him, I suppose…
Okay, I actually tidied! And cleaned the bathroom!
And by “clean” I mean “my mother would rather die than have a bathroom that looks like that”, but by my standards the public areas of my house (not counting the hallway and nobody can ever find that lightswitch anyway) are pristine.
Uh, this is embarassing. Let’s say, hypothetically, that there are stains on the underside of a toilet seat that won’t come off with hot soapy water on a brush. Do you have to get a new toilet seat?
One great cleaner I’ve found for stains, Zsofia, is Clorox Clean-Up. In my last house, where I had white tile counters and a white porcelain sink, it kept it all sparkling white (when I’d actually use it, that is). I don’t use it as much now because my husband got fabulous all-purpose cleaner at Sam’s called Pro Force – they use it at the hospital where he works, and it will clean just about anything. I use it for the bathrooms, tub, toilet (except when I’m using The Works to get rust stains out periodically), sink, floors, everything; it cleans beautifully and does a great job of removing stains and soap scum on toilet seats and around tubs. The only thing it’s not good for is rust stains.
But if it’s rust stains, there’s NOTHING better than a spray cleaner called “The Works” – my whole Freecycle list is hooked on that stuff because we have such rusty water in this area. In fact, when I first moved here and couldn’t find a way to get the nasty rust stains out of the toilets, I asked on the list and everyone sent me their suggestions and then I tried them all, and this one was the clear winner because there is NO scrubbing involved. (The other good one, Zim’s, also required a liberal helping of elbow grease.) It’s just amazing stuff for rust stains.
Needless to say, with any of these cleaners, be VERY, VERY careful mixing them with standard toilet bowl cleanser! My SIL nearly killed herself once mixing bathroom cleaners. So I always make sure one type of cleaner is thoroughly removed before using another.
I clean my whole bathroom by spraying it with Lysol Bathroom Cleaner, letting the cleaner sit for ten minutes, and then wiping up with a sponge (well, I use the brush for the toilet bowl). This gets rid of every and any stain I’ve ever managed to make. Try it.
So far today, I’ve cleaned both bathrooms, so now all I have to do is swish n’ swipe (I have Clorox wipes in both rooms.)
I’ve taken all the clothes that are on hangers in my closet and separated them into “keep”, “good will” and “consignment shop”. Now I’m working on the rest of the clothes (bureau drawers, chifforobe, cedar chest, other closet.)
I don’t care if I don’t get another damned thing done today.
If I get all that done today, I plan to clean/straighten my office/crafts room and set up an efficient message center in there, with mail sorter, bulletin board, trash can and shredder all in one convenient location.
We have weekend family guests this weekend and a new roommate moving in on Monday, so I was hoping that I would be able to tackle this weekend’s chore (The Bathrooms) yesterday.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My body said no! You will wake up at 5 am for no good reason and then pass out on the couch when you get home at 1:30 and not wake up again until 4:30 when you have to dash out to pick up the Gnome before his aunt and cousins arrive! And then he will give the pets a bath, which will be better because then you won’t have to cuss him out for getting cat/dog hair in a newly cleaned tub!
So I cleaned The Bathrooms this morning while everyone else was out. Go me! 
Now if only my linguistics homework could be taken care of as easily…oh well. Time to hit ze books I guess.
Seconding the Clorox Clean Up with Bleach. One warning: wear a “housecleaning only” shirt while using it if you have the slightest bit of a tum. I always swear I won’t lean on the countertop as I clean, and yet I have three “housecleaning only” shirts as a result: the bleach is strong enough to bleach your shirt.
A friend came over today with her girls and a load of laundry (no laundry at her building, and she’s fighting with her dad right now, so didn’t want to take it there like usual), so I used that opportunity to get a load of my own done. Hey, if I have to walk outside in the cold and unlock the door twice and show her where the detergent is, I might as well do it with a few pairs of jeans in my hand, right?) So that’s one load down, 429 to go!
I also showed her my Swiffer Sweep + Vac, and “let her” try it out in the baby’s room! (Sneaky me, it’s the only room I hadn’t done yet this morning. I feel like Tom Sawyer!) Then I showed her the bathroom wipes and did the swish and swipe at the same time. So I was socializing AND cleaning.
Socializing and cleaning is much better. If you’re chatting, it doesn’t feel like as much work. Talking to friends on the phone is a good assist for quiet chores.
I still have to do the bathroom. I’ll get there soon.
Does the Clorox Clean-Up stuff work on a wooden toilet seat? (I don’t really worry about it being safe for the finish, as it’s the underside of a toilet seat, just that it won’t make it worse in the long run.) Generally I try to clean without special products - I do most things with Dr. Bronner’s soap, bleach, and baking soda. And vinegar. You can tell how well that’s working out for me, but at least I can feel superior about it. 
The back of the bottle says “hard, nonporous surfaces”. I feel a bit ambivalent about whether or not wood is a nonporous surface. I’ve used it on my dining room table (blonde wood), but proceed at your own judgement.
'Nother thing you can try is a paste made out of baking soda and bleach. Make sure that your seat is well rinsed first, of course, as there’s a lot of ammonia in a bathroom, even if you don’t use ammonia based cleaners.
I’ve finished the closet and the chifforobe and the bureau drawers. Now I have to bag everything up. As I’m feeling ill, I seriously doubt the rest of it’ll get done today. I woke up with the sniffles and I’m feeling worn out now. I’ll consider that a huge victory, though, and try to tackle the rest tomorrow. The bagging has to get done, though, so I can have my bedroom back. Oh, and I washed the bed-linens, though, so I have to make the bed, too.
Wow! Somebody else says chiffarobe! I thought it was just me and Tobacco Road.
What is a chifforobe? I don’t even know.
We did a lovely clean-up job this morning, and my quilt is much advanced. There are still plenty of dishes to do, though. I’d better get them done, because my mom is going to babysit the kids tonight–our usual babysitter has the flu.
dangermom, it’s one of these. It’s what people used for closets back when closets weren’t built into bedrooms.
Zsofia, the chifforobe came from Tobacco Road. It was my great-grandmother’s, and she (Janie) lived in either Charlotte or Gastonia, I can’t remember which. My other great-grandmother, Hassie, lived in whichever one Janie didn’t. It’s ENORMOUS, too. It has 4 nice deep drawers, one looooong drawer across the bottom, the hat section also has three nice scarf drawers, and the hanging section is almost as tall as I am. It takes 2-3 grown men to move it.
All that and I didn’t even give a status report.
Bed is made, all the goodwill/consignment bags are by the door, the room is straightened up. The kitchen, dining-room and living-room have been tidied.
Himself is out fishing, there’s a pizza and beer in my immediate future, and then possible a snuggle-up with the cats and a movie.
Life is good.
Oh, like a wardrobe, only with drawers. Thanks. (Of course, I guess wardrobes can have drawers too, only I usually think of them as having two large doors with everything behind that.)
My sister got herself a lovely old oak chifferobe for her apartment a few months ago. I am seriously jealous. We actually saw one that was about 2/3 normal size a few years ago and nearly bought it for whiterabbit, since she’s so petite, it was the perfect size for her. I’m still kicking myself that we didn’t.
I did the daily swish & swipe and made the bed, and then ended up crawling in it and sleeping half the afternoon away. Apparently I’m still dragging from overdoing it recently, plus I haven’t been sleeping well at night. But I was comfy as could be this afternoon, so the cat and I enjoyed a lovely long nap. And then I won a freecycle bid for a 6-foot cat tree, which will fit perfectly in the corner of the bedroom, so the cat scored yet again.
I’ve used the Clorox Clean-Up on wood surfaces, too. It’s probably not good for it to do it too regularly, but I used a good wood polish afterwards to make up for it, and it really was the only way to clean up that particular table. On the underside of a toilet seat? Not to worry, especially since you’re debating replacing it anyway!
You know where the one my parents have came from? A Holiday Inn went out of business when I was a baby. And that’s to anybody who thinks I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth!
I think I got the word from my very Southern aunts, though. I remember it featured heavily in To Kill a Mockingbird.
My mom said my house looked really nice! (She only saw the public rooms, and like I said the lightswitch in the hallway is hard to find. She did go to the bathroom though!)
I guess it’s worth mentioning that my mom wouldn’t have needed to lift the toilet seat. If you get a lot of, uh, residue on the underside of the front of the seat, is it you or is it your boyfriend? I’m having a hard time picturing the fluid dynamics of this situation.
