I thought I'd start this morning out with a little Irish Breakfast tea and some web surfing. Surfing for "spring cleaning," that is, and hoping to find some inspiration. Now, admittedly basic cleaning shouldn't require a lot of research. Scrubbing, laundering and vacuuming are not the tasks of rocket science. However, I love to use research as a procrastinating tool, and it gives me an excuse to remain in my pj's a bit longer.
So I figured I'd start with Real Simple since I remembered pulling a sheet from their magazine last year on the subject. A quick search and I bumped into their spring cleaning checklist. I've written before about how I have a weakness for laminated routines, so this checklist was right up my alley. Whether it would actually help me get cleaning is still entirely up for questioning. In true Real Simple style, the list is basic and helpful, touching on the major points and making it all sound so easy. Based on this list I could probably bang out my cleaning in a week and forever end my 4-year spring-cleaning-abstinence.
I learned in school, however, to always reference more than one source, so I hopped over to Good Housekeeping to see what they had to share on the subject. I found lots of links to short articles focused on strategy--kind of motivational "you can do this" sort of clips. They talked about playing music and not exiting a room until it was finished (I might need someone to bring me a chamber pot and food rations if I stuck to that plan!). This link is a short "here are the basics to bang out if you don't have the time for deep cleaning" list, which I could have definitely used when I was working full-time. Unfortunately I have no valid excuses for this "reduced checklist" plan--I have time for the Full Program.
And speaking of the Full Program, I headed over to the Queen's website last (Martha Stewart, of course), and quickly located her spring cleaning list. Always the overachiever, her list was exactly what I expected: detailed, time-consuming, and thorough. It included things like defrosting the freezer and resealing grout lines. In true Martha fashion, it includes phrases like "Organize files: review insurance policies, contracts, and household inventories," as if you could just wave your hand and Poof! those things would be done. Nevermind that that phrase alone would take me a week to do (we don't all have the staff that Martha does)!
Anyway, I've probably procrastinated about as much as I can this morning, and should get to work. Armed with all the appropriate checklists, of course.
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