Quick and Easy Housecleaning Tips

By: Angela Gillaspie Copyright © 2004

Recently, I was chatting with a fellow mom and she said that she lacked the motivation to clean her house. I was shocked! "What, your house isn't clean? Gee, and I thought that all we did was sit around smiling at our precious youngsters, filing our nails, and sipping café lattes!"

She wasn't amused, so I shared some of my housecleaning tips. Afterward, she couldn't wait to put these bits of advice into action. Now, I'd like to share these tips with you, kind and over-worked reader.

First of all, the space between the booster seat and the chair is just waiting for you to fill it up. When the little pieces of food on your table get to bothering you, just wipe them up from the table and put them under the booster chair. You'd be surprised how many food particles can be placed in that two- to four-inch space, and no one would ever be the wiser!

Next, for all the gradu that piles up on the stove, you can either wipe it in the crack between the stove and sink or lift up one of the stove pans and sweep it in. There's no sense in wasting time and energy walking all the way over to the trash to throw this away. Of course, if you put too much gradu under your stove pans, it might become a fire hazard.

If you notice old food lying on the floor, just eat it. This tip is great for those food items that your vacuum cleaner won't pick up (after you have placed them carefully in the path of your vacuum cleaner and ran over them several times). Just pop it in your mouth; hey, if it's good enough for your toddler, it's good enough for you.

For a really fast cleanup, challenge your toddler to a see-who-can-eat-the-most-off-the-floor contest. Don't forget to let your child win occasionally.

For the living room, you can always place items under the couch, it's a great place for toys, magazines, video covers, and cheese curls. The couch pillows are also excellent hiding places for Hot Wheels, blocks, and peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusts. In addition to the couch, behind the television set is a great place for old sippy cups, dental floss, and hairbrushes.

Every bathroom has a junk drawer so just brush the toothpaste sculptures, soap particles, hair, and fingernail clippings in there. Between the toilet and the wall is a great place to sweep the gross stuff into a pile.

Warning: don't get too close to the base of the toilet. If you are forced to, make sure that you take your telephone (programmed to dial 911 quickly), and a couple of swigs of your anti-nausea medicine first -- there are things down there that are better left alone. Trust me; I have been spared to warn others.

Lastly, hire a housekeeper once in a while. You don't think I'm going to clean out all of my hiding places myself do you? Eww!

Stay tuned for more SouthernAngel's clean fun!