Spring Cleaning

By Kathy Flaxman

Serenity blossoms in a household that is clean, uncluttered, and organized. A well-cared for home enhances creativity, productivity, and enjoyment. Your beautiful floors, carpets, paintings, and other belongings deserve loving care and remember, housecleaning is one more means of protecting your investment, while enjoying a harmonious life. Feng shui, the almost spiritual alignment of spaces and objects, has no known term for dirt nor disorder.

Housecleaning, believe it or not, is a multi-functioning endeavour. It provides exercise and burns calories. With the world so awash with new technology, gadgets, and products it's great for the shopaholic. Housecleaning occurs year-round and involves no expensive membership fees, and can be taught to the very young or very old.

Serenity aside, housecleaning requires organization. Before starting, have materials and tools available, in plentiful supply and good working order: cleaner, cloth, mop, pail, vacuum. In fact, an excellent vacuum cleaner (with all the attachments) will help add some feng shui to the experience itself.Will you need every product you've seen on TV? Let personal preference guide you. Some swear by special dust-gathering, pseudo mops and commercial products for every different surface. Traditionalists like what mom used to use, while the environmentally inclined have their own favourites. It all works if used.

It's crucial to the harmoniously clean home that you prep for your cleaning. That's right, before starting, everything must either be put in a cupboard or drawer or assigned as an item for laundry. Items slated for repair or professional cleaning should be identified and if possible dispatched. Your place looks cleaner already doesn't it? Now, at last the work can begin in earnest. Virtue through labour.

In an ideal world, there will be a plan. Vacuum first, then clean by washing, scrubbing, or dusting. Scrubbing!?! Yes, it's true. Elbow grease will achieve fine results. Don't ignore the baseboards, ledges, picture frames, mirrors, or windows. Go behind the radiators and the speakers. Move the furniture. Lift up the knick-knacks and remember the fridge and microwave. On the other hand, spending untold hours lovingly detailing the stove as if it were a Jaguar will leave you (or your helper) too depleted to finish the overall task. We may be looking for harmony, but the finish line is important too.

There are, it should be pointed out, two schools of housecleaning. Not Zen and macrobiotic, but dribs and drabs, a bit here, maybe washing a floor, and a bit there, perhaps wiping a counter, versus the total housecleaning on one-day approach. True cleaning devotees set a schedule, pick a day, and take part in a one-day experience. The result is a home that is cleansed, pristine, tranquil, and yes, serene.

Of course, there is a third alternative: professional help, which while recommended, may not produce what can be called cleaning euphoria. There's an enormous high when the work is done, a sense of accomplishment and pride, measurable perhaps only on a spiritual level.

Crisp and Clean

Have the right tools. This is a craft, just like any other. An excellent vacuum cleaner will be invaluable. Purchase the best mop and the top cleansers.

View fancy new items with skepticism. Special devices touted to make the dirt jump into the garbage may save some effort but produce questionable results. But, if they make the tasks more appealing, go right ahead.

Prioritize the jobs. Start with the most important and save the ones that matter least till last, when energy and enthusiasm may be in short supply. Suggested order: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, dining room, and living room. Surprised? Sure you want the living room to look good, but it doesn't get the most dirt-inducing activity. Professional kitchens get hosed and mopped daily so no wonder yours looks so bad after a week.

Have a schedule and stick to it. Weekly? Biweekly? Monthly? You'll soon see what works best, and after a while it will be second nature.

Never turn down help. Always make cleaning a family affair. Once someone has cleaned the bathroom that person will have learned a whole new respect for a shiny basin.