Friday, January 01, 2010

SIX STEPS FOR AFTER HOLIDAY CLEANUP
 
     This year I have vowed to post a short blog each day to help you organize and do little daily tasks to keep you ahead of harder cleaning jobs. And you'll learn easy ways to gently on Mother Earth. Toss in a few tidbits about improving your health and you have your New Years resolutions written for you. Not only am I going to post every day on my blog but I've resolved to get the rest of my articles posted on my website by the end of Feb. So stay tuned.
 
      Okay so what does all this have to do with a bad case of post holiday cleanup blues? Well I never was a great fan of blues music – give me Salsa and make mine hot. So put on some spicy music and let's get the decorations down and the dust bunnies tamed.  
    

     When you take down your Christmas tree surround it with plenty of plastic or old sheets. Most trees are cut so early they have to be spray painted to keep the color green. Unless you are Irish or like green, cover your flooring or the dye from these trees could stain.

Here are six quick tips for post holiday clean-up:

1) Stay focused – distractions double your work time. You have my permission to let the phone ring. And leave the cup of coffee as a treat for finishing the job.  

2) Set a goal. If you know it takes an hour to dismantle the decorations in the living room, set your timer for 50 minutes and go.  

3) Keep your cleaning tote tray with a diluted bottle of all purpose cleaner - you'll find a good one on my website at www.goclean.com and a terry towel near you. Don't forget the trash bag. Then when you come across a missed stain or an unexpected mess you are ready, without wasting time running to the garage for your cleaner or to dispose of trash. Eliminate trips.  

4) Work a room left to right and top to bottom. Tackling a room haphazard wastes time. Any accumulated dust from wall decorations or pictures tumbles downward. So remove decorations and dust top to bottom. The one exception is the tree. It has first place on your to do list.    

5) Yes dust and vacuum at the same time you take down decorations. Tuck a 100% cotton towel like a baby diaper dusting cloth  into your back pocket. Spray it with a wood care product and you have a fast easy way to dust your furniture. Got glass? Then spray a lint free towel with our Benya and tuck it into your other back pocket to quickly clean any glass you come across.

6) Get the entire family involved. I'm a huge stickler for insisting the kids help. Even 2 and 3 year olds can put away decorations and help pick up trash. As a grandparent I don't hesitate to hand my 5 year old granddaughter a dusting cloth and ask her to dust the living room or put the broom handle in the grasp of my 3 year old grandson and show him how to do the kitchen floor. He turns it into a galloping horse but the floor still gets swept.

This article may only be reprinted giving full credit to Mary Findley and her website at www.goclean.com. Copyright @2010 All rights reserved worldwide.