1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,480 One room gets clean at the expense of another. 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,760 I'm Ronnie and you're listening to Clean With Me, the podcast 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,560 where I walk you through cleaning your house step by 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:14,960 step. When you clean along with this 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,160 show, you'll get more done in less time, so you can spend the 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,080 rest of your day doing what matters most to you. 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,760 Hi, cleaning besties. In today's episode we are going 8 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,480 to make some progress in your entire house and this is going 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,360 to be one of those sessions where we're cleaning in layers 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:42,320 instead of room by room. Often we need to prioritize and 11 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:48,200 work on certain rooms first, but other times we have a little 12 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,880 more time and we just want to do a whole house cleaning session. 13 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:59,160 And there are efficient ways to do that without going room by 14 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,600 room necessarily. OK. 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,080 And it also keeps things interesting when you don't do 16 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,080 the exact same routine every time you clean. 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,080 Let's get right into the episode. 18 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,520 It's time to gear up for your whole house cleaning session. 19 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:17,120 Maybe you need to get dressed for the day. 20 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,240 Maybe you like cleaning in shoes, or maybe you want to slip 21 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,840 on a pair of slides. Maybe you want to clean 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,760 barefoot, but I don't recommend it if you've got gritty floors. 23 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,240 I don't like that feeling. OK, you might want to put on 24 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,680 shoes so that you move quickly about without thinking about the 25 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,160 state of your floors. Maybe they're even sticky if you 26 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,040 got little ones spilling juice. I don't know. 27 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,560 Use sippy cups with valves, folks. 28 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,840 Another thing you might want to do to gear up for your cleaning 29 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,320 session is get your house smelling fresh. 30 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,400 Weather permitting, you can open the windows and let some fresh 31 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,840 air circulate through. And letting the light come in by 32 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:03,600 opening the blinds or curtains can also energize you regardless 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,240 of the weather. Or maybe you want to start a wax 34 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,120 warmer, essential oil diffuser, or light a candle. 35 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,480 A lot of times the aromatherapy really gets me in in the mood 36 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,240 for cleaning. I love things that smell like 37 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,640 lemon verbena. And eventually it's going to be 38 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:26,680 pumpkin spice season again. I don't drink a lot of pumpkin 39 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:31,440 spice lattes, but what I do love is actual pumpkin pie. 40 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:38,120 And I love the scented candles and fall decor and fall weather 41 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,760 and wearing sweaters. I love the fall. 42 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,760 We've got a ways ways for that. But it is the end of July and in 43 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,800 today's day and age, we start observing fall in August. 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,400 To me, it's it's a little weird when the weather's still hot, 45 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:57,560 but once we go back to school, I'm probably decorating for 46 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,320 fall. I say once we get back to 47 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,560 school, I really mean when the kids go back to school. 48 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:08,960 But I work at the school off and on, and I haven't really 49 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,200 finalized my negotiations about what I'm going to be doing at 50 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,480 the school yet. But for sure the kids are going 51 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,960 back. If I go back, I'll be working 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,480 either two or three days a week. Maybe you need to start a load 53 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,880 of laundry. Do you need to wash your 54 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,280 bedding? Something I've been doing with 55 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,160 my bedding lately, I washed. The. 56 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,200 Comforter and I ran it through the dryer maybe one time or 57 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,720 maybe not at all. I have this room divider thing 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,640 that I use in the bathroom. I like to put it next to the 59 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,640 bathtub in case my husband's going in and out of the room 60 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,040 while I'm in the bathtub, you know, then people are coming 61 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,520 down the hallway or whatever. Just it, it adds a little bit of 62 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,040 privacy in case my bedroom door ends up opening. 63 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,600 Well, another thing that I do with that room divider is I hang 64 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,520 the freshly washed comforter over it. 65 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:09,840 I hang it up to dry because I'm I'm so tired of having to 66 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,360 restart the dryer again and again to dry a comforter. 67 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,079 It's a waste of electricity and time. 68 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:23,320 And So what I do is I wash and dry the sheets and pillowcases, 69 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:29,000 but with the comforter, which is actually a duvet, I wash it, 70 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:33,840 hang it up to dry, and then just we go to bed using an alternate 71 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,280 comforter. And then the one I wash dries 72 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:40,600 overnight. So I'm just throwing that out 73 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,800 there in case somebody is trying to save money on their electric 74 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,880 bill or gas bill. But maybe you need to start some 75 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,920 bedding or maybe you need to start a load of towels. 76 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,240 It can go a long way to just wash the towels and underwear 77 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,360 because let's face it, most of us have a lot of clothes and 78 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,880 we're not running out of clothes to wear, but we might run out of 79 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,120 towels or underwear. And underwear are small, so you 80 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,840 can always buy more. But that having been said, I 81 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:19,440 tend to steer away from buying lots and lots of socks, T-shirts 82 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,920 and underwear just to make sure we always have clean stuff 83 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,160 because laundry is a weak point for me and I don't want to be 84 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,040 tempted to let it pile up too much. 85 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,640 I'd rather throw in some underwear with a towel load then 86 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,560 have a bunch of underwear and a huge pile of clean laundry, if 87 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,520 that makes sense. Some people can relate, some 88 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,920 can't. But if your husband has ever 89 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:53,320 bought himself T-shirts, underwear and socks just simply 90 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,480 because he doesn't have enough clean laundry, it might have 91 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,080 added to the size of your mount. Fold more. 92 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,760 By now you've started some laundry. 93 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:09,480 The next thing I want you to do is get some cleaner into your 94 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,720 toilet bowls. Obviously if you're worried 95 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:18,600 about toddlers, pets, shut the door or, you know, do this at a 96 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,400 time when you're home alone. But I'm assuming you can safely 97 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,520 do this. Get some cleaner into your 98 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,040 toilet bowls and give them a swish so that that chemical will 99 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,920 have time to do its work. OK, you want to get your house 100 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:35,960 working for you while you're working for it. 101 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,600 The next thing I want you to do is gather up any dirty dishes 102 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:46,880 from around the house. Get those items soaking or at 103 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,840 least get them to the sink area. But if if some of them have sat 104 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:57,080 too long already, for example, a dirty cereal or ice cream bowl 105 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,800 from the day before, or a mug with a ring in the bottom of it, 106 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:04,960 you know, fill those items with hot soapy water or get them 107 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,600 submerged in the sink. Whatever your system is, get all 108 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,200 those dirty dishes gathered up and whatever needs to be 109 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,920 soaking, get it soaking and maybe your entire kitchen is a 110 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:21,040 disaster right now and you have a dirty pot, pan and casserole 111 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,720 dish. Get those pre rinsed, get them 112 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,880 filled up and soaking as well. OK. 113 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,400 Because while your toilet bowls are soaking, you want your 114 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,440 dishes to be soaking. We're working on the whole house 115 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,760 at once in this episode. By the way. 116 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,920 Do you have any plants to water? I feel like somebody mentioned 117 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,960 that I do water my plants while I'm cleaning. 118 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,360 Oftentimes, you know, if my husband's out of town or 119 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,240 something, I'll also feed the fish. 120 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,440 He hasn't been working, so he hasn't been traveling on 121 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,280 business, so he's the one who feeds the fish. 122 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,480 But maybe that falls to you if you have an aquarium. 123 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,240 By the way. Once you've isolated the dishes 124 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:06,480 to the sink area and put away appliances that you haven't been 125 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,920 using and things like that, go spray happy and just spray down 126 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,720 your countertops and maybe even give them a little scrub with an 127 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,960 abrasive sponge and then spray them again, OK? 128 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:24,800 Especially if they're pretty dirty right now, that can go a 129 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,160 long way. And when you come back to wipe 130 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,480 down the countertops after working elsewhere in your house, 131 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,200 this stuff is going to come off more easily. 132 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,919 But you got to get it kind of wet for this to work because you 133 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:39,640 don't want it, you know, to just spray something lightly that's 134 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,120 going to dry, get it kind of wet. 135 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,160 OK, Don't go overboard. Of course, you don't want to 136 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,120 warp your countertops or anything, but sometimes I will 137 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:53,000 scrub my countertops. I'll spray them with my favorite 138 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,280 cleaning product. I'll scrub them with an abrasive 139 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:01,000 sponge and some dish soap, and then I'll spray them again to 140 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,840 where things are kind of damp, and then I'll come back to it. 141 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,560 Pause the episode if you need more time for that step, but the 142 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,760 next thing I'm going to have you do is a whole house pickup. 143 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,680 One of the keys to getting your whole house presentable at once 144 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:25,200 is going into every room and picking up the floor and then 145 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,000 the furniture. I start by picking up the floor. 146 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:32,760 Then I remove any items from the couch, coffee table, end table. 147 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,760 OK, straighten the couch cushions and just get the whole 148 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,200 house tidied up. It still might look a little 149 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:44,080 rough if it's been a while since you vacuumed and dusted, but 150 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,120 we're cleaning in layers here. So I want you to go through 151 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,320 every room of your house and pick up just like I had you do 152 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,440 in the regular episode on Monday. 153 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,560 That whole house pickup can work wonders because I think 154 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:01,680 sometimes we end up neglecting a room in the back somewhere, 155 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,160 whether it's a spare room, a bedroom, or maybe one of the 156 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:12,080 bathrooms. I mean, there's probably, if you 157 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,200 have more than one bathroom, there's probably one that you 158 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,040 use. You're probably getting ready in 159 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:22,640 the master bathroom and using the toilet in there and 160 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,320 everything else that you do in a bathroom and then not going into 161 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,160 the other bathroom as much. The thing about doing a whole 162 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,880 house pickup is it forces you to go into each room and pick up, 163 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,600 and then you don't have any neglected dungeons anywhere, you 164 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,320 don't have a nightmare bathroom or nightmare bedroom. 165 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,600 So I want you to spend a few more minutes tidying up. 166 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:49,360 And of course, there are always people ahead of the game. 167 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:54,000 And, you know, this might be a day where you've been keeping up 168 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:59,120 on your cleaning and you don't need to just barely pick up the 169 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,640 house or something. I get that some of you need to 170 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,920 be deep cleaning during this session, and that's perfectly 171 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:12,520 fine. But I like to make sure that you 172 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:17,000 are at least getting your house tidied up and you're getting 173 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,320 your dishes done and you're sanitizing your bathroom and 174 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,840 kitchen, OK? You're keeping up on laundry. 175 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,640 I like to make sure that you're knocking out those minimums. 176 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,680 But rest assured, we are going to clean surfaces in this 177 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:31,760 episode. We are going to do some deep 178 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,080 cleaning. But right now we're doing the 179 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:38,560 surface level tidying of the entire house. 180 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,760 And it can seem overwhelming, but it really isn't. 181 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:47,040 And there's probably at least one room that is in worse 182 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,720 condition than the others. OK, you know, maybe you only had 183 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,320 three or four things to pick up in the living room, but your 184 00:11:54,320 --> 00:12:00,080 bedroom floor is a disaster. But it's probably just visually 185 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,800 overwhelming. There probably isn't as much to 186 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:08,080 pick up as you think. Or maybe all of those items go 187 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,360 in the same place, like maybe your living rooms covered in 188 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,600 toys or your bedrooms covered in dirty laundry. 189 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,960 And sometimes it's OK to wash things that might still be 190 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,320 clean. Sometimes you can just pretend 191 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,520 you're a teenager, put it all in the hamper, and start over. 192 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,640 In the future, you can be more efficient about hanging things 193 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,480 up or whatever. But if you're in survival mode 194 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,600 right now and you need to wash a couple extra items, it's not 195 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,440 going to hurt you. But you might be like me, and 196 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,400 you're draping clean items over a chair so you know which things 197 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,120 you can hang up. That makes it easy. 198 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:50,800 You don't have to put those in the hamper. 199 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,920 But sometimes it's not worth the mental effort to question 200 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,000 whether or not you can wear a pair of jeans a second time 201 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,520 before washing them. Put them in the hamper. 202 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:06,600 Because right now your goal is to clear your floor and then the 203 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:12,640 upper surfaces like beds, couches, tables, chairs. 204 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,880 You should just be going fly to the bumblebee right now, picking 205 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:22,000 up items all over your house. And you're getting exercise when 206 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,600 you're doing this, when you're walking briskly and you're 207 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,000 bending down and picking things up, that's a lot better than 208 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,880 being sedentary. And if you're like me, you like 209 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,360 to be killing two birds with one stone. 210 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,000 So even though you're fully focused on picking up your 211 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,200 house, you can feel a sense of accomplishment that you're 212 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,200 moving your body as well. Man, my husband is making 213 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,480 tamales right now and the smell is very distracting. 214 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:56,600 It smells so good. I haven't had breakfast yet and 215 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,280 I really need to eat something soon. 216 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaking of eating, if you eat a little bit lighter, and I'm not 217 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,680 talking about light as in low calorie foods, I'm talking about 218 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:12,400 smaller portions, it can help you with your energy levels. 219 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,720 OK, so whether you're just trying hard to lose weight or 220 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,280 you're not even in that mode right now, eating a little bit 221 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:22,720 lighter make things so much easier. 222 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,120 I mean, have you ever gone out to breakfast right before a 223 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,240 shopping trip and just thought, man, I'd rather just go home and 224 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,120 plop down because you ate a bunch of pancakes and stuff? 225 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:39,040 Be careful doing that as a homemaker, you know, eating too 226 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:44,320 much at breakfast or lunch. Now, I do try to consume more 227 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,560 calories at breakfast and lunch than I do at dinner. 228 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,920 That's just kind of my system for staying in a calorie 229 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,480 deficit. You know, by the end of the day, 230 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:55,920 I'm higher up in my calorie budget. 231 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:57,920 So I'm like, OK, I'm going to eat a light dinner. 232 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,160 That that's kind of what I do, but at the same time, I'm not 233 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:07,040 eating a huge breakfast or a huge lunch that's going to drag 234 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,160 me down. I mean, if you're stay at home 235 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,760 mom, think, think back to a time where you worked outside the 236 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:17,440 home and you didn't eat a real heavy lunch because you knew you 237 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,040 still had four hours left to work after lunch. 238 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,600 Take that same mindset with you and your home making. 239 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,800 Whether you're a stay at home mom or you're doing housework on 240 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,960 your way on your day off. Eating too much before you get 241 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,760 your housework done can make you feel sluggish. 242 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,760 And if you are trying to lose weight, a lot of it is about 243 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,160 mindset. You need to get more comfortable 244 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:50,600 with the feeling of only being 75% full after you eat. 245 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:56,040 That can be a game changer. I'm going to give you another 246 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,760 couple minutes to tidy up. Of course, those who already had 247 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,440 their house completely picked up could, you know, are probably 248 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:06,440 cleaning surfaces. You definitely need to customize 249 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,880 these episodes because I have no idea what the condition of your 250 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,720 home is on any given day. And I suspect that sometimes you 251 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:21,400 listen to an episode and you're doing less than what I'm telling 252 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,040 you to do, and other times you're doing more. 253 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,080 But while you're picking up just another thought on, you know, 254 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:31,800 weight loss. And nowadays they call it fat 255 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,280 loss because you don't want to lose muscle or whatever, but 256 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:37,360 obviously you want to see the scale move. 257 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,480 So that's why I'm still saying weight loss. 258 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,640 I do try to obviously preserve my muscle mass as I'm getting 259 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:50,400 older and I do plan to get better about weight training 260 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:58,280 once I get the backroom turned into an office and have all the 261 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,640 gym equipment in there, it's just going to be more 262 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,880 convenient. But I did get on the treadmill 263 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,240 yesterday and I did get on the weight machine. 264 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,000 And if you're just trying starting to do strength training 265 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,720 or whatever, you know, just shoot for twice a week. 266 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,720 There are benefits to that. There are benefits to going for 267 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,240 a one mile walk. There are benefits to every 45 268 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,040 minutes to an hour during your. Work. 269 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:28,840 Day or just if you're sedentary on the couch, getting up and 270 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,640 doing a few squats or a few diagonal push ups off the 271 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,200 countertop A little bit is better than nothing. 272 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:38,800 Don't have an all or nothing mentality when it comes to 273 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,080 exercise, but right now just picking up the house is getting 274 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,080 you moving and track your steps. If you don't think the things 275 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,640 you do around the house or exercise, use your phone or 276 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,240 fitness watch to track your steps. 277 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,040 And that might motivate you to do these whole house pickups 278 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,320 more often because you're probably racking up a lot of 279 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,040 steps. I know I'm all over the place, 280 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,040 but as you're finishing up straightening up your whole 281 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,040 house and remember, it's not just the floor you're picking 282 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,200 up, OK? You're clearing surfaces, you're 283 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,240 clearing your dresser, you're clearing your night stand. 284 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:21,360 But when you're at home, OK, maybe you're a full time 285 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:25,240 homemaker, maybe you work part time or full time, but when 286 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,240 you're at home for the day, you don't want to have this 287 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,720 mentality that you just need to fuel up. 288 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,320 The food's always going to be there, so you want to listen to 289 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,560 your body a little bit more. And when you're not that hungry, 290 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,640 don't eat just because it's lunchtime. 291 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,680 You're at home, so you don't need to prepare for anything. 292 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:50,680 I just can't emphasize enough how much operating in a calorie 293 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:56,280 deficit is about your mindset. It's about being comfortable 294 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,440 with the feeling of being a little bit hungry. 295 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,640 It's about not eating preemptively when you're not 296 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,320 hungry, but then at the same time not waiting too long to 297 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,760 eat, which could trigger a binge. 298 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:13,440 I'm going to give you one last tip on that note because I don't 299 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,640 want to talk too much about it, but I saw a video that I found 300 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,640 really inspiring. And I don't remember the 301 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:26,640 numbers, but this guy was saying like a certain number of hard 302 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:31,040 boiled eggs is the same amount of calories as some other number 303 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,640 of Oreo cookies. But then he was like, what are 304 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:40,040 you more likely to do? Eat this many Oreo cookies or 305 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,840 this many eggs? And basically, you're not going 306 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:48,560 to end up eating as many eggs. They're, they're more filling 307 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,840 than the cookies. So while no food is off limits 308 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,080 when you're counting calories, you know, and you can eat a 309 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,280 cookie here or there to take the edge off. 310 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,800 The reason you want to avoid dessert foods for the most part 311 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,320 is because it's a waste of calories and you're more likely 312 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,840 to eat more of them. You're more likely to overdo it 313 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:14,880 on chips cookies than you are on hard boiled eggs or bananas. 314 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,520 Now that your whole house is picked up, maybe you need to 315 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,000 revisit the countertop that you sprayed and scrubbed. 316 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:28,280 And that may not apply if you're not cooking from scratch two or 317 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,640 three meals a day and then getting sidetracked. 318 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,880 You may not relate to having some build up on your 319 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,360 countertops. You know, maybe you're like 320 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:41,400 these cleaning videos that I see on YouTube where whenever they 321 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,400 wipe down the countertops in the kitchen, they're completely 322 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,160 clean to begin with. Because either they never cook 323 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:53,680 because they're, you know, rich influencers, or they pre clean 324 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,640 their house to avoid embarrassment. 325 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,360 They pre clean it before the video. 326 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,840 I don't know. But some of us, you know, have 327 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,520 some scrubbing to do on the countertops. 328 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,440 Go back in there, spray and wipe a second time, and while you're 329 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:13,200 in there, wipe down your kitchen cabinets, the fronts of your 330 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,240 large appliances, your stove top, the control panel of your 331 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,200 stove, and the exterior of your refrigerator. 332 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,280 And by the way, I do have episodes for cleaning the inside 333 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,160 of your refrigerator. I think I have a link to one of 334 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,480 them on cleanwithmepodcast.com. So if you don't need to do any 335 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,160 of the housework that I'm talking about, clean the inside 336 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,640 of your fridge. But a lot of us just want to get 337 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:42,000 our whole house cleaned today. By the way, a great time to 338 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,320 clean the inside of the refrigerator is either the day 339 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:52,640 before or the hours before or in the hours before you get a large 340 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,760 amount of groceries. So if you do a weekly grocery 341 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,880 trip or a monthly grocery trip, clean out your refrigerator and 342 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,080 then wipe it down while it's relatively empty. 343 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:09,360 Just a tip there, but we're not really focusing on the inside of 344 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,760 your fridge in this episode. So I'm going to give you a few 345 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,680 more minutes in the kitchen. You're going to want to deep 346 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,400 clean those upper surfaces. You're going to want to wipe 347 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:24,280 down the cabinets top and bottom. 348 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,600 You're going to want to scrub your countertops, your stovetop, 349 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:34,120 clean out your sink, and if you did leave a few things to soak, 350 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,960 now's the time to go ahead and wash those dishes because you 351 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,920 want to get down to dish zero. And right now you might be 352 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:48,680 thinking about those To Do List items other than your housework. 353 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:56,680 You might be preoccupied with back to school preparations, or 354 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,680 you might be thinking about some bills you need to pay later 355 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:06,880 today, or you might be thinking about what you're going to make 356 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,760 for dinner. Resist the urge to get 357 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,800 sidetracked. If you need to mentally dump 358 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:19,960 something onto a notepad or the notepad app of your phone, then 359 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,680 do so. Sometimes I even just text my 360 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:29,520 husband something like all-purpose flour, salsa, 361 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,600 whatever. I'll I'll text a couple 362 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,200 ingredients. He knows exactly what I'm doing 363 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:39,520 and the reason I do that is that we is because we go grocery 364 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,440 shopping together. So if I forget about that item 365 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,320 he'll remember it too. So maybe you want to involve 366 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:50,120 someone else in your To Do List or maybe you want to just kind 367 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,040 of brain dump yourself. Maybe you have a chalkboard in 368 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,800 your kitchen. I got a really cute little 369 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,720 chalkboard from Hobby Lobby. Sometimes I like to write down 370 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:04,040 what I'm making for dinner that night. 371 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,240 But another thing that I use that chalkboard and just be 372 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,080 working in your kitchen. Everything except the floor, 373 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,200 because we're doing that at the end of the episode. 374 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,520 Or at least I'll tell you to do it after the episode, but that's 375 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:17,760 for the end. You know, we clean top to 376 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:19,760 bottom. So you're working on your 377 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,440 kitchen surfaces and getting down to dish 0 while I talk. 378 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,080 And if you don't have dishes to do everything fit the 379 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,000 dishwasher, you got it done earlier. 380 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,960 Or you've been doing dishes as you go, or you've been eating 381 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:34,480 out. Great. 382 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,400 Be deep cleaning the surfaces of your kitchen. 383 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,280 I want you to do that either way, even if you have to leave a 384 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,160 couple things soaking, make sure you're deep cleaning your 385 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,440 kitchen. But another thing I use the 386 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,960 little chalkboard for, sometimes when I get groceries, I'll have 387 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,880 several meals in mind. I'm not one of these people. 388 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:59,160 That's like, OK, Monday is chicken night, Tuesday is Taco 389 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,760 night. Like I'm not going to be that 390 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,120 specific, partly because we don't know how many leftovers 391 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:08,480 we're going to have. Some days we're going to eat 392 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:13,400 leftovers or I might declare A fend for yourself night or 393 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,720 whatever. But what I do know when I'm 394 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,520 grocery shopping is which meals I've bought ingredients for. 395 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:27,600 So my method of meal planning is planning a certain number of 396 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,400 meals, but not planning which day we're going to have them on. 397 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,960 So sometimes I make a list of dinners and put that on the 398 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,880 chalkboard. That way when my husband goes to 399 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,240 cook, because we take turns cooking, he can see what dinners 400 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,320 I had in mind when I bought the ingredients that I bought, if 401 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,080 that makes sense. But sometimes I write other 402 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:58,160 random things on the chalkboard. My point is, you need a method 403 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:03,560 of brain dumping so that when thoughts come into your head 404 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:09,560 about things that you need to do later, you can just brain dump 405 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:17,080 those to do items instead of kind of flitting around from one 406 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,280 task to another and never completing anything. 407 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,680 Right now we're cleaning, so you might need to brain dump 408 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,560 something else that's popped into your head. 409 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,560 And I feel like it happens a lot in the kitchen. 410 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,720 You'll start thinking, oh, I need this or that at the store. 411 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,920 And it can just get your mind wandering. 412 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:45,720 So that's where the chalkboard or maybe a magnetic notepad 413 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:49,480 that's on the refrigerator or just something in your phone 414 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,600 comes into play. You've got to have a place to 415 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,960 brain dump and maybe you're not distracted at this particular 416 00:26:54,960 --> 00:27:00,200 moment, but I feel like it's so valuable to be able to brain 417 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:01,600 dump. And a lot of times I do it 418 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,280 before I go to bed. I'll put some To Do List items 419 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,320 in my notebook pad app and then I'll check it in the morning. 420 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,760 That way I don't go to bed worrying about what I need to do 421 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,920 the next day, worrying whether I'm going to forget to do it. 422 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,160 So definitely get a system for that. 423 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,680 We're going to spend only a couple more minutes in the 424 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,720 kitchen, but I'm hoping that you have everything done in there 425 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,840 except the floor. I hope you're wiping down your 426 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:30,800 countertops. I hope you're wiping down your 427 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,920 table. I hope you're wiping down your 428 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:36,280 chairs if they're sticky. I hope you're cleaning out the 429 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,360 high chair if you have a toddler or baby. 430 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,920 And of course, if you're ahead of the game, there are always 431 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,600 declittering tasks to be done in the kitchen. 432 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,640 Sometimes you need to consolidate 2 seasoning 433 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,200 containers. Sometimes you need to organize 434 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,400 your pantry because whoever helped you put away the 435 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:58,360 groceries didn't put them away exactly as you want them. 436 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:04,240 Sometimes I'll use containers that have missing lids to store 437 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:08,400 other items. For example, I have a canister 438 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,960 that doesn't have a lid. I put all of. 439 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,920 The. Tumblr lids into that canister 440 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,960 just to keep them contained so that they're not spread out. 441 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,160 I don't have a lot of drawers and I didn't want those spread 442 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,920 out on the shelf, so I put them in that open canister. 443 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,920 I definitely have containers in my pantry for small things as 444 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,400 well. For example, I have a little 445 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:38,120 plastic box for the small baking ingredients like baking soda, 446 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:42,240 baking powder, vanilla extract. I'm definitely big on 447 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,080 repurposing items for storage and organization. 448 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,800 Shoe boxes can be good for things like that. 449 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:56,000 In fact, a long time ago, I I ordered something that came with 450 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,800 a very sturdy box that wasn't just the regular cardboard. 451 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,560 It was like kind of a glossy dark brown finish. 452 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,400 Even though it was cardboard. It was just a really pretty open 453 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,480 box. And I ended up putting that 454 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:17,240 inside my kitchen island and I use it for the glass lids for my 455 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,600 pots and pans. So maybe be thinking about 456 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,440 kitchen organization right now. And if an idea put pops into 457 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,600 your head and it's not something you can do right now, put it on 458 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,160 your brain dump list. And I have other places where I 459 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,960 can brain dump things that are less urgent. 460 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:43,400 I definitely write notes to myself in a journal in my binder 461 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,840 and my calendar planner book that I used to keep track of 462 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,840 college assignments. But if it's something that I for 463 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,040 sure need to remember in the near near future, I'm either 464 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,280 putting it on the notepad app of my phone or I'm texting it to my 465 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,360 husband. Obviously the texting brain dump 466 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,840 is not a good idea if your husband's at work. 467 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,680 I'm talking if he's at home. Nobody really wanted to be 468 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:14,320 interrupted at work to find out you need BBQ sauce or razors. 469 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,680 OK, hopefully your kitchen surfaces are wiped down. 470 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:24,040 Probably the most irritating aspects of your housework are 471 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,480 done. Your whole house is picked up, 472 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,760 your dishes are done. Maybe you have a couple items 473 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,320 soaking, but for the most part your dishes are done. 474 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,560 And I did give you time to wash those items that were soaking 475 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:37,920 unless you were facing a dishaster. 476 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,320 I get it, it happens. But things are looking a lot 477 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,920 better than when you started this episode, and I'm proud of 478 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,440 you for that. The next thing I want you to do 479 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:54,960 is go back and scrub the inside of both of your toilet bowls. 480 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,840 I'm just randomly assuming you have two bathrooms. 481 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:03,560 You might have one bathroom or three bathrooms, but go back and 482 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,920 scrub the inside of those toilet bowls now that the chemical has 483 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,520 had time to soak. And I know you picked up the 484 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,720 bathroom floors in both bathrooms, but what I want you 485 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,760 to do is focus on deep cleaning at least one of the bathrooms. 486 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,320 Meaning you're going to clean the vanity, OK, the countertop, 487 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:28,600 the sink, the faucets, the area behind the faucets and then the 488 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,440 mirror. OK, and I've said this before, 489 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,440 but my tip for cleaning a huge bathroom mirror is attaching A 490 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,120 microfiber cloth to the end of a mop. 491 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,520 Which for me, I use the Swiffer because it you can just 492 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,760 literally push into those little holes. 493 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:52,760 You push the the microfiber cloth into the little holes in 494 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,680 the same way that you would attach a pre moistened pad 495 00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,920 that's designed for the Swiffer. And you could be using a 496 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,200 different brand. It's just Swiffers what I have. 497 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,160 It's what I know. And then you spray your mirror 498 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,640 and mop it. But if it's a small mirror, 499 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,480 makes more sense to just quickly wipe it by hand. 500 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:17,840 OK, but I typically save the mirror for last because when I'm 501 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,560 quickly scrubbing the faucet area and behind the sink, I 502 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,440 might splash a little water on the bottom of the mirror. 503 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,880 So that's my reasoning, but there's no right or wrong order. 504 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,440 I mean if it's more your style to start with the mirror and 505 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,720 work your way down, I've done that at times but I think just 506 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:41,320 it often creates an additional step of me having to re wipe the 507 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,680 bottom of the mirror. OK so get that sink and vanity 508 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:52,040 area done and then sanitize the exterior parts of your toilet. 509 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,840 Whatever you use for that. If I have disinfecting wipes in 510 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,360 stock, I definitely like to clean the toilet with those. 511 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,120 But if I don't, sometimes I'll grab a roll of paper towel. 512 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:10,640 Well, I will grab a roll of paper towels and a disinfecting 513 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:16,800 spray or some of the bathroom spray and I will clean that way. 514 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,040 And I mean, if I'm out of cleaning products or something, 515 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,120 I might, I might use Windex or something. 516 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:28,280 It's not a disinfectant, but it's better than not cleaning at 517 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,560 all. And you can always add 518 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,880 disinfectant to your shopping list or disinfecting wipes to 519 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:39,360 your shopping list. In the meantime, you can still 520 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,880 wipe down the surfaces after using whatever spray you have. 521 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,360 And of course, if you're really frugal and you'd rather work 522 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,920 harder than spend more, you can clean the exterior of your 523 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,320 toilet using a bleach powder like Commet or Ajax and a damp 524 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,880 rag. That's the way my mom does it, 525 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,720 but I definitely like to pamper myself. 526 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,880 I guess my version of the frugal method is when I'm being frugal, 527 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:12,000 I use those cheap bleach powders inside of the toilet bowl 528 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:16,800 instead of using an actual toilet bowl cleaner. 529 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,480 Because if you get the actual toilet bowl cleaner, it's kind 530 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,560 of nice how it has that neck on the bottle and it sprays up 531 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:27,480 under the rim. But it's a lot cheaper to use 532 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:31,480 Commodore Ajax inside the toilet bowl and never mix chemicals 533 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:37,440 inside of the toilet bowl. My social media manager recently 534 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:44,159 posted a video where this asinine video where someone just 535 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:47,000 put a bunch of different chemicals in the toilet bowl and 536 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,000 she said her her grandmother taught her that that's super 537 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,760 dangerous and it is. So pick one thing to go in your 538 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,400 toilet bowl because you don't always know what the active 539 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,160 ingredient is in each cleaning product. 540 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,880 And I've told this story before, but once I used two different 541 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,400 toilet bowl cleaners thinking these are both toilet bowl 542 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,120 cleaners thinking they'd be similar. 543 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:15,840 Now I learned my lesson that day I I felt that toxic chemical 544 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:17,800 brewing and ran out of the bathroom. 545 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:23,560 So using the commenter Ajax or a dedicated toilet bowl cleaner is 546 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,200 an either or because different toilet bowl cleaners have 547 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,040 different active ingredients and it's the whole thing where you 548 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,640 don't want to end up inadvertently mixing bleach and 549 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,480 ammonia. But where I don't like to cut 550 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:41,800 corners is on using disposable stuff for cleaning the exterior 551 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,840 parts of the toilet. OK, by now you've cleaned the 552 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,960 the countertop, mirror and sink and we're focusing on the 553 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:54,440 exterior parts of the toilet. Paper towels and disinfectant or 554 00:35:54,440 --> 00:36:00,720 disinfecting wipes are a lot easier to use and that's that's 555 00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:03,640 what I like to use on the exterior part of the seat, 556 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,520 behind the seat, the area around the hinges. 557 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:10,960 Yes, I realize you can remove the toilet seat, but you can 558 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,000 still clean it effectively without moving it, especially if 559 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,440 you're using a spray to really get in those crevices. 560 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,920 OK. And then you're going to want to 561 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,480 wash the back of the tank, the flusher handle, the exterior of 562 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:26,920 the bowl. You're going to work your way 563 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,840 all the way down. You're going to clean that base. 564 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,360 And I'm going to admit that I don't clean the base of the 565 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,560 toilet during every light touch up. 566 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,560 But right now, this is more of a deep cleaning session, so I want 567 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,240 you to get down on your hands and knees and wipe around the 568 00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:46,240 base, down where those bolts are, and clean the floor around 569 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:49,280 the base of the toilet. I'm going to give you just a few 570 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,840 more minutes to finish up in the bathroom. 571 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:57,160 Maybe you need to sweep your way out of the bathroom, or maybe 572 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:01,800 you're planning to sweep the bathroom kind of in one fell 573 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,120 swoop when you sweep the rest of the house. 574 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:09,200 But your bonus task, should you choose to accept it, is quickly 575 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:13,160 wiping down some surfaces in your bathroom that you don't 576 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,960 always wipe down. Because we all know when we deep 577 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,680 clean a bathroom, we're wiping down the countertop, we're 578 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,280 cleaning the sink, the faucet, we're cleaning the toilet. 579 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:25,600 OK. But what we don't do as often 580 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,520 and it it still needs to be done is wiping down the cabinets, 581 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:35,360 wiping down the light switch plate, wiping down the 582 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:39,480 baseboards. OK, so if you have time, do some 583 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,480 of those deeper cleaning tasks. But if it's a big bathroom, it's 584 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,720 super messy and you're just overwhelmed right now. 585 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,720 I get it. Do those other surfaces another 586 00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:50,920 day. But I wanted to mention them as 587 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,240 a reminder. Don't forget to look up. 588 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,600 There may be some areas that you need to spray on your ceiling 589 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:00,640 around the vent. You don't want to let any mold 590 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,000 take hold. There might be a window and a 591 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,360 window sill in your bathroom to spray and wipe down. 592 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,240 There might be a fixture to dust. 593 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,320 These are just some ideas as you're finishing up your 594 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,960 bathroom. And of course, take inventory. 595 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:16,960 Are you running low on toilet paper? 596 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:21,560 Add it to your grocery list. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, 597 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,040 bar soap. Whatever you use, make sure you 598 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,000 have enough in stock. Hand soap. 599 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,480 Do you need to hang up some fresh towels? 600 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:34,400 If you need more time to work in that bathroom, definitely pause 601 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:37,680 the episode. My sister and those of you who 602 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,960 comment serve kind of as my focus group of how you use the 603 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:48,080 show and she often tells me that she just does whatever needs to 604 00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,960 be done in her house while listening to me talk. 605 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:59,760 She's not using it as a step by step, but she does get ideas. 606 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:04,520 She hears me say something, ends up cleaning it, but she's also 607 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,880 customizing just doing what needs to be done at her house 608 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,600 while I talk. So obviously you could keep 609 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,040 working in the bathroom while I move on. 610 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:21,600 But before I have you do kind of the the final step of dusting 611 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:26,240 and vacuuming your entire house or sweeping. 612 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:32,240 If that's if that's how you do it, I want you to pick a room or 613 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:36,080 an area that you're going to focus your deeper cleaning 614 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:41,400 efforts on today because you got the whole house picked up, you 615 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:46,160 got one of your bathrooms deep cleaned, you got your kitchen 616 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:50,840 under control. So at this point you might need 617 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,080 to make a choice and that's what life is about. 618 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,720 There's there's never time for us to just be perfect in every 619 00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:00,240 area and that's OK. You're probably not having a 620 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:04,840 white glove inspection by your mother-in-law tonight, but what 621 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,720 you probably have is an area that needs more attention than 622 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:11,640 another area. Maybe it's been a long time 623 00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:16,560 since you've really deep cleaned your bedroom as far as dusting 624 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,600 the surfaces. And just being real thorough in 625 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,680 there. Or maybe someone is coming over 626 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:29,480 and you want your kitchen to really sparkle or your living 627 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:34,000 room to really sparkle. Or maybe you have a room that 628 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:38,640 just needs an overhaul. Maybe you have a small child or 629 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:43,680 disabled child or an elderly parent, somebody who needs you 630 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,080 to clean their room. OK, maybe that's what you're 631 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,800 going to focus on doing. But I want you to pick one room 632 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:55,160 and do some things in there you don't normally do. 633 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,600 OK. For example, in my bedroom I 634 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,120 have two small windows and a sliding glass door. 635 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:08,320 So if I were to focus my deep cleaning efforts in here, I 636 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,560 would be cleaning the insides of the windows. 637 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,800 I might decide to go outside and clean the exterior of those 638 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,440 windows. I'm going to wipe down the 639 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,840 window sills. I'm probably going to pick at 640 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,160 least one baseboard to wipe down. 641 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,120 I'm going to vacuum out the dusty track of my sliding glass 642 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,400 door. Maybe shake out the mats. 643 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,040 Be working in a room that needs your attention. 644 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:35,640 I'm just throwing out some ideas while you work. 645 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:40,000 If I were to focus on my living room, I'd be dusting the blinds, 646 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:43,720 cleaning the insides of three windows, wiping out three 647 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:46,120 windowsills. Well, four if you include the 648 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,280 skinny window by my my front door. 649 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:56,680 OK, I would be cleaning out the drawer in my side table and my 650 00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,000 entertainment center work, we'll call it. 651 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,120 It's not an old school entertainment center, so I 652 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,840 typically call it the TV stand. But I do have a piece of 653 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,160 furniture that has a couple drawers and a shelf. 654 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,760 You know baseboards are a thing in every room, but it's not an 655 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,440 all or nothing. Sometimes you want to just pick 656 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,120 one baseboard or two baseboards to wipe down. 657 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,400 Sometimes you need to go through a kids toy box and get rid of 658 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:22,280 broken toys. Sometimes you need to clean out 659 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:26,720 your walk in closet so that you can walk into it again or clean 660 00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:33,160 out your hall closet. OK, after the episode I want you 661 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:36,800 to go through with either a go through your whole house with 662 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:42,720 either a feather duster or a micro fiber cloth and some 663 00:42:42,720 --> 00:42:46,560 dusting spray. Whatever you use to dust quickly 664 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:52,240 go through and do that, do some light dusting and then vacuum or 665 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:55,800 sweep and mop your entire house in one fell swoop. 666 00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:00,440 And you need to have a music playlist for this or maybe a, 667 00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:04,600 you know, some other podcasts on different topics because it's 668 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,440 there's not a lot of thought involved when you're just 669 00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:12,520 cleaning your floor systematically and rows. 670 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:17,880 OK, so I want you to do that after the episode. 671 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:24,000 But for right now, I want you to pick an area of focus to do lots 672 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:28,000 of bonus tasks and you know which area needs the most help. 673 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,120 And if your whole house needs help, you might need to listen 674 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,280 to several episodes. This week, one of my dear 675 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,760 listeners took some time off from work and binged several 676 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,320 episodes to get her house under control. 677 00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:46,240 And I, I found that so admirable, the dedication to 678 00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:52,640 just focus and clean, listen and clean and repeat day after day 679 00:43:52,640 --> 00:44:00,000 because she had gone through something so painful that she'd 680 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,720 been paralyzed with depression for a while and she still had to 681 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:07,320 go to work and things like that, but her house had suffered. 682 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,520 I think we can all relate to that to an extent. 683 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,440 Even if we haven't gone through something as dramatic, we've all 684 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:21,600 had times where we're preoccupied with something and 685 00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:26,000 it it physically drains us. That could be you right now. 686 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,760 You're not alone, you just might need to clean along with an 687 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,240 episode every single day for a while and obviously 688 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:35,880 decluttering. It's not this one time project, 689 00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:39,800 it's it's a lifestyle. For example, I recently cleaned 690 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:44,840 out my hall closet that's more of a coat closet. 691 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,760 I recently cleaned that out. Not that we just keep coats in 692 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,720 it, we do have coats in it among other things. 693 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:54,280 But I recently cleaned out that closet. 694 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:58,560 But across from that is the one called the linen closet that has 695 00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:02,800 the shelves instead of a bar where you hang things. 696 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:08,800 OK, a lot of houses have both and that one needs to be cleaned 697 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:13,840 out now because somebody just stacked it sky high with 698 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:18,120 comforters and sheets and blankets and I feel like those 699 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,280 items could be organized a lot better than what they are. 700 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:25,600 My walk in closet, I'm always having to redo it. 701 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,600 Not so much the clothes that are hanging up, but the things that 702 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:34,680 I place on the floor because I have a shoe rack with shelves in 703 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:38,040 there. I've got a plastic dresser where 704 00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:40,600 I put various things that are not clothing. 705 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:47,320 I have clothes hanging up, but sometimes the floor of my walk 706 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,680 in closet becomes kind of a catch all. 707 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:52,880 When I'm cleaning my room in a hurry, I put things in there and 708 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,520 I think we're all guilty of this to some extent or another where 709 00:45:56,600 --> 00:46:00,840 we're relocating things instead of putting them away, right? 710 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:05,440 Like one room gets clean at the expense of another. 711 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:08,520 In an episode like this where I'm telling you focus on an 712 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:13,080 area, it could be the area that has gotten messed up at the 713 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,240 expense of another room. I mean, it might have been a 714 00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:21,640 great idea to put everything in the spare bedroom or one of the 715 00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:29,280 closets when you were preparing for guests or when you just 716 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:34,400 wanted your most lived in areas clean for you and your family. 717 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:39,880 I understand, but sometimes we have to evaluate our home and 718 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:43,040 identify the problem areas. Is there a shelf above your 719 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:44,960 washer and dryer that's cluttered? 720 00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:48,120 And maybe you need to brain dump some of these items onto your 721 00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:51,200 list because there are so many of them. 722 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:56,480 But if you listen to my show often, you probably won't need A 723 00:46:56,480 --> 00:47:00,240 to do list that's about cleaning, because I'm going to 724 00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:04,320 remind you to do various things. And if you listen to enough 725 00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:06,120 episodes, I'm going to mention everything. 726 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,840 At least I I try. If you started a load of laundry 727 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,800 at the beginning of this episode, depending on the length 728 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,680 of the cycle, it might be time to switch the laundry from the 729 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:21,480 washing machine into the dryer. Sometimes when I'm just doing a 730 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:27,640 load of towels and they're not like stinky forgotten mildewed 731 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:32,520 towels, just regular towels that have been used but appear 732 00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:38,360 relatively clean, I'll put it on the short cycle. 733 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:45,280 And I'm really likely to use the short cycle when I'm just 734 00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:49,680 washing a load of dressy clothing, like things I wear to 735 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:53,520 church or work, which is usually a dark load. 736 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,320 I wear a lot of black. I'll put it, I'll put it on a 737 00:47:56,320 --> 00:48:00,800 short cycle so that I don't eat up too much time because I want 738 00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:03,840 to, I want to do the laundry switch and start another load. 739 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:08,320 And then I'll put it on a more thorough sanitizing cycle. 740 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:11,680 If it's something questionable, some kind of pet bedding or 741 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,680 something or towels used to clean up throw up or whatever. 742 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:17,320 We haven't dealt with that in a while. 743 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:22,000 I will tell you this though, if someone throws up and doesn't 744 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,840 make it to the bathroom, what? I've always done it, and my kids 745 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,760 are older now, so this hardly ever happens. 746 00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:35,120 But what I would do is grab my ugliest towel. 747 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:39,120 I would pick a towel, or towels, plural, that we're kind of 748 00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:42,880 frayed along the edges or maybe had bleach stains on them or 749 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:45,000 whatever. Just the ugly towels. 750 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,840 I'd clean up the mess with the ugly towels and then throw them 751 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:50,400 away because from time to time you're getting new towels 752 00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:52,880 anyway. After a while. 753 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:57,080 They're thin, they're not that soft, they don't look nice 754 00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:00,440 anymore, and you're always upgrading and getting new ones. 755 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:04,720 But save a few ugly ones for those gross messes, OK? 756 00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:07,760 And something that does still happen is a dog throwing up. 757 00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:12,080 Hopefully I'm not grossing him out here, but I definitely 758 00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:14,440 reserve the right to throw away towels. 759 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:18,280 When I clean up a gross mess. I just pick an old ugly towel 760 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:20,840 for it. When I was growing up, our old 761 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:24,560 ugly towels were taken out to the garage and we used them to 762 00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:27,360 dry the cars after washing the cars. 763 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:30,640 But since my husband and I usually drive through a car 764 00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:38,080 wash, I typically just keep the ugly towels in a cupboard and 765 00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:41,080 then use them when there's a gross mess to clean up and then 766 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:44,600 just throw them away. I hope you got your whole house 767 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:46,880 looking good during this episode. 768 00:49:47,240 --> 00:49:52,880 I encourage you to vacuum the whole house or sweep and mop the 769 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,760 whole house after this. It'll give you time to listen to 770 00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:59,600 your non cleaning podcasts. Thank you so much for your 771 00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:03,040 financial support. I appreciate each and every one 772 00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:05,520 of you and as always, happy cleaning. 773 00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:06,720 I'll talk to you soon.