Spring Cleaning 2022
I don’t know what’s gotten into me this year. I typically do spring cleaning but this year I got a bug to get into some serious deep cleaning/organizing. It’s been a daily charge that I’ve undertaken to clean, dust, decrustify, wash, scrub, organize, purge, or whatever the task may entail. I’ve made sure each day I spring clean at least one thing/area in the house. It’s the beginning of April and I stumbled into starting this back in the middle of February. And I’m still not done. Clearly this place is a mess. LOL!
I didn’t think to take many pics in the beginning nor even after I got momentum did I remember many of the “before” pics. You’ll just have to use your imagination on how it looked. 😛
I started out with cleaning the 2 refrigerators. We have the same fridge we’ve had since we got married 25 years ago! Then I moved to the laundry room fridge. We moved the one in there so I could sweep and mop behind/under it and noticed the water that had been leaking from it freezing/thawing was damaging the flooring. We decided it was time to replace the laundry room one with our old trusty 25 year old fridge from the kitchen and purchase a new one for the kitchen.
Now, I move our fridges at least once a year and get behind them to sweep and mop. What I apparently don’t do as often…is pull that front grate off the bottom and make sure that’s not full of dust, lint, hair ties, legos, and whatever else from 15 years ago. hahaha! gross!
Here’s a hack for you that I’ve been doing for many years now. If your cabinets don’t go all the way to the ceiling like mine, lay down wax paper. When it’s time to clean, just roll it up and toss! Cuts the work and time significantly! Especially with how greasy everything gets in the kitchen. 🙂 You’re welcome!
So here’s a case in point where I “accidentally” took a before pic to measure something else for when I went to the store and then I took an actual “after”. Hahaha! I got those little bins at the dollar store or I should say the $1.25 store. They recently increased their prices. But still a bargain! 😛
I spent 8…yes 8 HOURS cleaning the kid’s bathroom. It’s a small bathroom that basically turns into a suana with 3 kids, taking hour long showers each, every single night. What they didn’t bother to share with me is that mold had been growing all over the ceiling and walls for I don’t know how long. Everything got a healthy dose of bleach. Walls, doors, baseboards, everything!
Rust was on pretty much everything metal and I had to replace it. When I took the old vent into Home Depot and asked the employee’s help to ensure I got the correct one, he looked at it and said, “Keep that in that shopping bag. We don’t want to have to call the CDC!!!” I died laughing! It was sooo nasty! haha!
I did forget to take a before of the family room. Darn it. Just imagine about an 1″ of dust on everything (and even more on that artificial tree…sneeze!), piano music and books strewn about on every surface (including the floor), mail piled high on the boys’ computer table, pillows that looked like someone rolled them around in the dirt, curtains black with feet marks (cuz a certain child by the name of Eli can’t keep his fee on the floor…sigh), and windows and sunscreens that hadn’t been touched in so long that once washed it was like someone turned the sun on again in there! 😛 Another day long cleaning effort.
And sorry no pics of the living room either. Long story short. It’s clean now. Hahaha!
This post would be so much better if I remembered the “before” pics. LOL! So once again just imagine this stuff to the gills with blankets, pillows, sheets, etc. So stuffed that if you tried to move anything….everything would fall like a house of cards….on your head! I got rid of one of those enormous black bags you use for yard clippings. Ta-da! No more booby-trapped linen closet! 😀
Look! I did remember for the pantry! Yay me!
So I went to Lowe’s first to see how much paint for the shelves would cost. The nice gentleman there said I should get cabinet paint to help deal with the wear and tear they take with sliding can goods and things in and out. He kindly took me over to show me where to find and it and the price tag for a gallon was $58!! I about fell over. I thanked him and went home. LOL!
I tried good ol’ fashioned elbow grease. Gave another full day of scrubbing until my hands hurt and my fingers were raw and I’m happy with the result! I know eventually they’ll need to be painted (there are some areas where metal cans have stuck to the shelves and pulled the paint completely off and you can see the wood) but this is not the year. LOL!
My spring cleaning bug became contagious. Eli started cleaning his room one night and if you know him you know this isn’t ‘normal’ for him. Hahaha!
The next day he was feeling overwhelmed. He has the smallest room with the smallest closet and has THE MOST stuff! I feel bad he can’t even walk in there. So I decided for his bday coming up I’d get him a wardrobe cabinet. Alayna went with me one Friday after volleyball pics to IKEA (her club is just down the street). IKEA is always a 2 person job. She’s a lot stronger than me and I needed those muscles to help lift!
(These are stock pics. Eli doesn’t have the bins on the bottom.)
I also needed to recruit Jared who spent 7-8 hours building the giant thing!
Eli then thought recruiting was a great idea and he brought his girlfriend and wingman over to help him clean up the chaos. 😀
AMAZING right!?!!! You can see the tops of desks, dressers, and the floor! (His bedding was in the wash if you were wondering about his bed. 😛 ) He could even take more out of his closet and put it in the wardrobe but he was done for the day and he’s super busy (with school, work, AFROTC, and Arnold Air) that what he did accomplish will do for now. 😉
I took to the back patio and hosed off the furniture. Outdoor furniture in AZ is a battle to keep clean. It’s sooo dusty here. Got the patio swept and the windows out there shined up too!
The garage was full of every box that has ever been delivered since the beginning of time from Amazon, UPS, USPS, you name it. Alayna likes to clean out her closet regularly and had pretty much accumulated an entire bedroom worth of clothes, shoes, books, games, and whatnot she didn’t want anymore out there. Plus, all those random things you “think” you’ll need later and some items that I’m actually holding on to for whichever kids gets their own place first, and blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. I took an entire van full of junk to Deseret Industries and did away with all the boxes. Swept the hairballs, leaves, dirt that builds up much faster than you’d think being in a place that is shut most of the time. And it feels so good out there now! What I didn’t like finding was a scorpion at the bottom of the trash can. Thankfully he was dead. As all scorpions should be! EWWWW!
I also gave the front porch a little TLC. Got a cute new spring mat and planted some marigolds. (Did you notice they are the ASU school colors? We are having Walker’s grad party at the end of April. I thought they’d be a fun addition!)
Whew! That was a lot.
I still need to:
Wash all the doors and baseboards.
Clean the blinds on the living room window. (I actually want someone else to do that. Lol) And clean the window itself on the inside. I also need to clean the curtains.
And then our room needs allll the things done.
I’m definitely running out of steam but I’m hoping to get everything done before we have family/friends over at the end of the month! Wish me luck! 😀
