Wednesday, October 5, 2011

31 Days to Settle in After a Move: Cleaning. or not...

Some houses are move-in ready, others not so much.
The last house we lived in was a rental, and upon first glance it seemed, well, clean. It wasn't until I started to clean that I realized it was anything but. This is where I can easily get bogged down, first I'm wiping down the bathrooms, next thing you know I'm scrubbing out the window tracks with a toothbrush.  Once we were more settled I systematically cleaned each room, one by one. Top to bottom. It felt great to be done, especially since most of the move was behind us and I could really enjoy it.

This is where you may have to reign in your OCD. Only clean what is nessecary - don't get caught in minutia, that'll come later. The trick is to get the basics taken care of first, then you can devote time and energy to deep cleaning when you are ready.

Let's take your kitchen for example,
Necessary: Stove top, counters, things your food and family will come in contact with.
Unnecessary: Behind the fridge or stove.

Sure, you may want to wipe down your cabinets, put in some shelf paper - but you don't need to break out the Murphys Wood Soap and spend the next 3 days scrubbing each cabinet down till it gleams. 
Not yet anyways.
I'm not saying don't clean these things. You really should. Other peoples dirt is just icky.
I'm just saying don't worry about them right off the bat.
You've got bigger things to worry about, like your cholesterol after eating take out for 2 weeks straight.



4 comments:

  1. Cleaning is the part that I hate the most! haha. When we moved out of our last house and selling it, I cleaned it so much that I don't think the people that bought it really had to clean a thing. When we bought this house, Oh My! I'm still working on cleaning it.

    I'm love love loving your 31 Days to Settle series :)

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  2. HA!!!! LOVE that last line! I'm going to be moving in a couple years (building) so I will definitely remember this!!! :) Love it!

    I blog at "Only a Breath" and would love for you to stop by if you have time! I'm writing about "31 Days to Love Your Neighbor". It has been a very interesting journey to say the least! :)

    Have a great day!
    Melanie

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  3. Spoken like a seasoned military wife!
    --Hey I mentioned you and added a link to cherry bubbins on my post yesterday-- :)

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  4. My cheater approach is to hire a professional to clean top to bottom before we move in. Yes, it's expensive, but other people's dirt is just icky.

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Cherry Bubbins

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