1 00:00:25,030 --> 00:00:28,150 Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, I'm going to 2 00:00:28,150 --> 00:00:32,509 talk you through cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms to get 3 00:00:32,509 --> 00:00:36,680 your house sanitary. And then for those of you who 4 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,600 are financial supporters, there will be a Part 2 where we 5 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:48,360 continue this session by picking up your outer areas, dusting, 6 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,840 and lastly cleaning up a bedroom. 7 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,320 Let's get right into the episode. 8 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,000 The first thing you're going to want to do is gear up for your 9 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,720 cleaning session. There are a few things you might 10 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,600 need to do to kind of kick things off. 11 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:08,560 Maybe you need to freshen up for the day. 12 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,040 Maybe you're not feeling presentable yet. 13 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,320 Trust me, that's going to drag you down. 14 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:18,120 So maybe you need to freshen up a little bit and change into 15 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,920 something comfortable yet presentable. 16 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,000 Maybe you need to run a brush through your hair, wash your 17 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,560 face, put on some moisturizer, whatever makes you feel ready 18 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,640 for the day. Now is the time to do that if 19 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,880 you have not already done so. Another way to kick off the 20 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,760 cleaning session if you're already ready for the day, is to 21 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,200 start a load of laundry. Maybe you need to strip your bed 22 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,280 and wash your bedding, or maybe you need to do a survival load 23 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:55,520 of towels and underwear, or just a load of clothing darks light. 24 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:01,880 It's time to start some laundry if it is needed. 25 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,680 Another way you can kick off your cleaning session is get 26 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,680 your house smelling fresh. Usually the most important step 27 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,480 is taking out the trash and relining it. 28 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,000 We just got back from a little mini weekend vacation. 29 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:24,680 We were visiting my daughter Jessica and her family and when 30 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,040 we got back it was like, oh we got to take out the trash. 31 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:33,960 Like my husband was cleaning while I was working from home 32 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,480 and the one thing that he forgot to do was take out the trash. 33 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,080 So that was the first thing we did when we walked in to freshen 34 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,720 up our clean looking but not so clean smelling house. 35 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,720 So maybe you do need to take out your trash and reline it. 36 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,480 You might also need to run your garbage disposal, light a 37 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:01,200 candle, start a wax warmer, whatever makes your house smell 38 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,680 good. If it's a nice day outside, 39 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,400 we're having nice weather today, you could open up some windows 40 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,520 and let some air flow through the house. 41 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,800 When I do that, I just open key windows. 42 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,640 I don't like to open every window in my house because I'm 43 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:21,040 worried that I'll forget to close them and then, you know, 44 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,560 the house won't be secure. So typically I will open the 45 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,800 front window in my living room and I'll raise the blinds to 46 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,400 remind me that those windows are open, because normally I would 47 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,840 just turn the blinds to let light in. 48 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,960 But if I have the actual window open, I'll raise it. 49 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,560 And I I said windows plural, because I might do the same with 50 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,480 one of the two windows that's on the side of my living room. 51 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,960 Then I will open a window in my bedroom because that's the 52 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,000 opposite end of the house. And of course I'll have that 53 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,280 curtain wide open to remind me that that window is open. 54 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,360 But I realize the weather might not be ideal where you are. 55 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,840 Still, opening curtains and blinds to allow some light to 56 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:17,680 come in will energize you and reveal any dust for when we get 57 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,760 to the dusting portion. And really, it just lifts your 58 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,560 spirits. Whenever you look at a new house 59 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:30,160 that's been properly staged for the real estate market, they 60 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,400 make sure that lots of natural light is allowed to come in it. 61 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:40,520 It just gives a nicer impression and every little bit helps when 62 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,040 you're trying to muster up the motivation to clean. 63 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,040 But remember, you've got to take action whether you feel 64 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,680 motivated or not. The motivation comes with the 65 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,760 action. So by now you have probably done 66 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,280 whatever you needed to do to gear up for your cleaning 67 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,000 session. We're going to spend several 68 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,080 minutes in the kitchen and before we do that, I need you to 69 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:10,200 gather up any dirty dishes or cups from around the house. 70 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,400 For example, I'm in my office and I have this coffee mug with 71 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,040 a spoon in it. For those of you who are 72 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,960 watching the video, this needs to go to the kitchen after this 73 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:27,320 and I'm not getting ready to clean after this, but I try when 74 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,680 I go to the kitchen to take something with me so that I'm 75 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:37,040 not accumulating things. So remember to work on the habit 76 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,520 just throughout your day of not leaving a room empty handed. 77 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,760 I'm going to grab that when I leave this room and I'm going to 78 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,840 look around and see what else I can grab and relocate at the 79 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:54,640 same time be gathering up any dishes, cups, silverware, 80 00:05:54,640 --> 00:06:00,480 whatever is around your house and get that to the kitchen. 81 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:07,720 And by kitchen, just to kind of define the kitchen as a 82 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:14,680 household zone, I typically mean your kitchen, your kitchen table 83 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:20,160 if it has a nook or an if it's an eat in kitchen, whatever you 84 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,680 call that. But I'm also including your 85 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,680 formal dining room, even if it's in another location because it 86 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,080 just makes sense when you're clearing and wiping down kitchen 87 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:35,040 surfaces that you deal with both of your tables. 88 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,800 If you have two eating areas at my house, I just have a large 89 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,880 eat in kitchen. Sometimes I call that part of 90 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,960 the kitchen the dining room. But since it's on tile, it's 91 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,480 definitely part of my kitchen. At one house. 92 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:57,240 I did have a formal dining room when you first enter the house 93 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,880 that was over carpet initially. By now you've at 1st until we 94 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,160 switch to flooring later on. By now you've gathered up any 95 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,280 dishes. The next step is to get any 96 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:13,800 difficult items soaking, you know, pre rinsed and soaking 97 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:18,560 that pot and pan or that container in the refrigerator 98 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,280 where you scraped out some old leftovers or you need to scrape 99 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,080 out some old leftovers. Let's get those heavily soiled 100 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:30,800 items pre rinsed and soaking first, and then let's also 101 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,920 consolidate the dishes to the sink area. 102 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,160 If there are dirty dishes on different parts of your 103 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,040 countertop, let's move those either into the sink or right 104 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,920 next to the sink. That way you can start tidying 105 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,480 up your kitchen. As far as the other stuff, it's 106 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,400 not dishes. You want to consolidate the 107 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:57,920 dishes, do the sink area, get the difficult items soaking, and 108 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:03,840 then it's going to be time to remove visual clutter and kind 109 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:09,120 of pre clean your countertops and table tops so that you can 110 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,480 spray and wipe them. OK, along with the appliances 111 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,320 and cabinets, everything that's going to be wiped. 112 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,080 I mentioned that I visited Jessica this weekend. 113 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:26,800 She is definitely a minimalist, not when it comes to clothing, 114 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,760 but her kitchen and living. Her kitchen and living room are 115 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,559 very visually appealing. She doesn't have anything 116 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:40,880 cluttery out and she has, you know, pretty throw blankets and 117 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:46,960 throw pillows that kind of tie everything together and her her 118 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:48,640 kitchens just not cluttered at all. 119 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,960 And when you open her cabinets, it's easy to find things because 120 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:57,880 she doesn't just have tons of gadgets and cups and different 121 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,320 parts and things like that. And it definitely motivated me 122 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:07,160 to go through my cabinets and get rid of some things, but also 123 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,440 take some things out of circulation. 124 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,800 In this episode, I'm going to be talking a little bit about 125 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:17,320 decluttering as you clean and just decluttering in general. 126 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,120 If you've been listening to the show for long, you know that 127 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,520 I've talked a lot about taking dishes and things out of 128 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,800 circulation, meaning things that you're not going to get rid of 129 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,640 because you're going to need them at some point. 130 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,760 But you don't want people dirtying those items every day 131 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,360 or having to move those items around to find the things that 132 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,360 are used more often. You want to put some things away 133 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,080 into more of a long term storage area. 134 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,200 I definitely got motivated to declutter my kitchen in the near 135 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,320 future while working in hers because everything was just so 136 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:01,240 streamlined and I tend to accumulate gadgets. 137 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:06,400 But I do have some gadgets that are missing parts and I'm not 138 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,720 going to order replacement parts for them because it's, you know, 139 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,800 the most expensive part is missing on the item I'm thinking 140 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,520 of. So I do have some things that I 141 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:25,560 need to just give up on and toss as far as parts of gadgets I no 142 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:30,160 longer have the motor for whatever that definitely needs 143 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,400 to happen. And then also I need to take 144 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:39,800 some glasses and plates out of circulation. 145 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,680 Just putting them up in high out of reach cupboard so they're out 146 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:48,480 of sight, out of mind and not getting dirtied up on a regular 147 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:53,800 basis. Because if there's let me put it 148 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,200 to you this way, and by now, hopefully you're decluttering 149 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,520 your surfaces, you've you've consolidated the mess to the 150 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,960 dishes. Your difficult items are soaking 151 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,600 at this point. Hopefully you're clearing off 152 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,400 your countertops, you're picking up any items off the floor that 153 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:11,960 don't belong. You're clearing off your table 154 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:17,480 and chairs so that you can just go spray happy with whatever 155 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:21,280 product you like to use a a multi surface product that's 156 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:26,000 good on wood countertops blast. There's one of the pledges 157 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,320 that's for that. But there are other multi 158 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,000 surface sprays that would be appropriate. 159 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:35,840 Those are always nice or just something kind of mild, you 160 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,920 know, like a Myers spray or something would be good. 161 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,320 Whatever you have on hand. But keep in mind, if you don't 162 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,920 have the perfect, perfect spray, you can just use a clean damp 163 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,440 cloth with some dish soap and hot water on it and just, you 164 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,480 know, go to town wiping things down without spraying. 165 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,520 Or alternatively, you might be using two different products. 166 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,920 You might be using a glass cleaner, maybe on your stainless 167 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,960 steel appliances and the glass windows of your appliances. 168 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,080 And then you know, just using dish soap in the other areas. 169 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:13,800 But let's get the pre clean done. 170 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,480 Let's put away any random clutter. 171 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:20,600 The fewer obstacles you have, the easier it's going to be to 172 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,360 clean your kitchen. And the reason you might be 173 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,120 feeling overwhelmed right now is because of the visual clutter. 174 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,200 It's it's tricking your mind into thinking that it's going to 175 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,320 take you long, a long time to clean your kitchen. 176 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,880 And then, of course, once you're done with your surfaces, then I 177 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,120 want you to go back to your dishes and wash the easy items 178 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,200 first. Maybe that's an empty reload and 179 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:45,960 run of your dishwasher and then scrubbing those pots and pans. 180 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,520 Or maybe it's washing a sink load of glasses and bowls and 181 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,720 plates and silverware and then moving on to those other items, 182 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,920 changing the water as needed. You know what needs to be done 183 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:06,120 as far as your dishes. But the point I want to drive 184 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,200 home here is that someone in your family or multiple people 185 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:18,000 in your family might have a tendency to reach for just a 186 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,680 clean dish or clean plate rather than washing The Dirty stuff 187 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,600 first. It's just easier in their mind 188 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:32,160 to grab something else. And that person might be you. 189 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,440 Even though you're going to be hiding some dishes away that you 190 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:43,400 don't need on a daily basis, the fact that you have to check for 191 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,560 another cupboard for them, it's going to remind you that you 192 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:51,880 don't like dishes to pile up. You don't like having to deal 193 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:58,080 with that much at once and it would be better to just wash the 194 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:03,160 dishes that you have in your sink and eat off one of those 195 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:08,320 than to reach for another 1 and add to the mess. 196 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,560 And I don't know if I completely agree with this next concept, 197 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:16,440 but I'm just going to throw it out there. 198 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,320 I have heard it said that when you're overwhelmed, you should 199 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,440 live out of your dishwasher. Live out of your clean laundry 200 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,840 basket. Like never go for something else 201 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,880 until you're caught up on these things that aren't fully dealt 202 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,080 with. Just use those few things, you 203 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:41,360 know, wear something out of your clean laundry basket rather than 204 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:46,240 pulling something out of the drawer or the closet. 205 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,440 I feel like it it resonates a little more when it comes to 206 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:56,320 laundry because let's say you have a, a just a heaping laundry 207 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,880 basket with multiple loads stuffed in it of clean laundry. 208 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:05,240 But then you're getting your outfit out of the drawer or out 209 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,400 of the closet. You're not even putting a dent 210 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,680 in that pile that you don't have time to fold and put away. 211 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:17,360 Whereas if everyone's kind of living out of that basket, which 212 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:23,080 I know isn't ideal, then the baskets going to at least go 213 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,720 down. And when you do sit down to fold 214 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,680 laundry, there's not going to be as much. 215 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,680 It might be mainly just mismatched socks in the bottom 216 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:37,080 of the basket. Well, in the same way, if you're 217 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,720 using the clean dishes that are in your dishwasher or that are 218 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:48,920 in your drying rack, that could prevent you from creating a 219 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,760 bigger mess because you're basically accidentally putting 220 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,920 away your clean dishes by using them. 221 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:01,200 OK, if you've for those of you with, I guess it applies to a 222 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,560 dishwasher or a drying rack. A lot of my examples involve a 223 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,760 dishwasher, so just insert drying rack there in your mind. 224 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:12,280 If you're a strictly hand washer, some of you know exactly 225 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:17,120 what I'm talking about where you just never really empty your 226 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,080 dishwasher. You're, you're going through a 227 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:24,360 phase where you, when you do think about emptying the 228 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,120 dishwasher, there are only like one or two items in there 229 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,720 because people have been just pulling stuff out and using it. 230 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,840 OK, well they might not do that if you have too many dishes in 231 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,800 circulation. You might have a dishwasher full 232 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,320 of clean dishes. Nobody takes anything out of 233 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:46,200 there. They pull out of the cabinet and 234 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,320 then you've got a big pile of dirty dishes to wash. 235 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,720 You got to empty your dishwasher 1st. 236 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,320 And that might may be your situation right now, but I'm 237 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,560 always trying to provide tips for making your cleaning 238 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,000 sessions faster and easier in the future. 239 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:07,680 The goal is always to clean as you go more and be more 240 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:12,040 efficient in managing your home and to crawl out of the rut 241 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,599 you're in if you're in a rut, and not make the situation 242 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:21,720 worse. So maybe a solution for you 243 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,200 right now, and this isn't going to apply to everybody or 244 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,359 resonate with everybody, is to live out of your laundry basket 245 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:30,880 and live out of your dishwasher or drying rat. 246 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:36,080 So you're using fewer items, but a way to force yourself to do 247 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,760 that is to take some items out of circulation. 248 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,560 OK, For some people, that could be packing away some of their 249 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:49,080 clothes and, you know, maybe the offseason stuff. 250 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,040 I've mentioned that I don't specifically do that. 251 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:54,880 And I know we're working in the kitchen, but I'm just thinking 252 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,160 about, you know, laundry basket and dishes. 253 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,560 These are things that kind of pile up on us because let's face 254 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:08,520 it, cleaning surfaces isn't that difficult unless you've got to 255 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:12,040 do all these dishes and all this laundry first. 256 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:18,000 Because I know when I go in to clean my bedroom, that clean 257 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,480 laundry basket is taunting me sometimes. 258 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,920 And I end up dealing with that instead of cleaning my bedroom. 259 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,440 And then, you know, something comes up, I get distracted and, 260 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:31,600 you know, another day without a clean room. 261 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:37,880 So just a thought there. It's it's a concept for when 262 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,440 this is not, you know, the ideal or whatever. 263 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,600 Obviously the ideal would be to pull a plate out of the 264 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:44,720 cupboard. OK. 265 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:50,920 But this is just an idea for getting out of a rut, OK? 266 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:55,360 And some of you don't know what I'm talking about when it comes 267 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:57,520 to taking dishes out of circulation. 268 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,960 I don't expect everyone to have heard every episode. 269 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,920 But you need to do a little bit of math here and decide how many 270 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:11,600 plates you need or how many bowls you need on a day-to-day 271 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,080 basis. OK, let's say that you don't 272 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:20,160 necessarily do the dishes after every meal, but you you do them 273 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:25,520 at least once every 24 hours. OK, you get down to dish 0 or, 274 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,920 or you want to get down to dish 0 every 24 hours. 275 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,160 And you know, people typically, you know, maybe three people in 276 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,800 your home typically use a bowl during the day. 277 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,080 You know, maybe you only need to have three bowls in circulation, 278 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:47,560 but you own 10 bowls because sometimes you have some 279 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,680 relatives over and you're serving a pot of chili and 280 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:52,480 you're, you know, dishing it into bowls. 281 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:57,000 Just an example. Those excess bowls can be stored 282 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:02,160 out of sight, out of mind, and your family members don't need 283 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,320 to necessarily know where they are. 284 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,840 You can just be like, I put some stuff away because when you go 285 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,640 into the kitchen and there's not a clean bowl, I want you to wash 286 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,000 one. OK, again, it may not resonate 287 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,400 with everybody. You might be the only one who 288 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,760 does dishes in your house. Your kids might be little 289 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,920 toddlers, and maybe you're the only one who prepares food. 290 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:27,120 I get that. But for a lot of us, you know, 291 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,920 we've got older kids who can fend for themselves. 292 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,600 And when we're gone all day, we don't want to come home to a 293 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,760 dish haster where, you know, they've got their cereal bowls 294 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,880 and then their soup bowls and so on and so on, so forth. 295 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,040 Ice cream bowls. Pretty soon there's just bowls 296 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:48,440 galore. I don't even own that many 297 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:53,920 bowls, but I wouldn't want to. OK Bowls aren't something I'm 298 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,520 going to take out of circulation because we don't seem to have 299 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,440 enough bowls. We never seem to have enough. 300 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,760 I think it's because I like these particular bowls that I 301 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,040 got it either Family Dollar or Dollar General and I need to go 302 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,200 find more to replace a few that broke. 303 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,560 So I've been kind of putting off, you know, purchasing bowls 304 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,840 because I I like these certain ones and I want them to match my 305 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,640 existing bowls. But plates, I definitely have 306 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:24,760 more plates than we need day-to-day, but I like to have 307 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:30,160 those extra plates because one, we might break some plates at 308 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,720 some point. It's not that common, but it 309 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:38,920 could happen, right? And two, we might have company 310 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:44,480 spur the moment sometime where we don't buy disposable plates 311 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:51,920 because definitely for big holiday meals or you know, get 312 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:56,240 togethers like, you know, when I had a bunch of my husband's 313 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,920 coworkers over for a BBQ, that type of thing. 314 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:05,320 I do buy disposable plates, paper plates, so to speak. 315 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,520 It you know, I get the quality ones if I'm having company for 316 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:10,960 just our families. Sometimes I just get the cheap 317 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,960 ones, you know, just to keep us from dirtying up plates. 318 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,720 But you know how it is sometimes, you know, maybe you 319 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,240 meet up with somebody and it's like, hey, why don't, why don't 320 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,040 you guys come over to our house for dinner? 321 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:25,760 We're having spaghetti. We've got plenty. 322 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,400 You know, that might be a time where you're going to use more 323 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,400 plates than usual. You know, if you're a family of 324 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,920 five and invite another family of five over, you need 10 325 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:40,000 plates. Just a thought on not 326 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,640 necessarily getting rid of things, but storing them 327 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,560 somewhere. Alternatively, you could get rid 328 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:49,000 of them. Maybe you have 30 blades and you 329 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,240 just need to get rid of some. You keep the nice or newer ones 330 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:53,760 or the ones that match each other. 331 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:56,680 So that's just something to think about when you're working 332 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:58,800 in your kitchen. What can you get rid of in your 333 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,760 kitchen today? And it doesn't take a lot of 334 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:03,960 time. You also might want to start a 335 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,560 donation box. I typically do not donate any 336 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,760 kitchen stuff to charity because I have adult kids and they can 337 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,800 use that stuff. I I give it to my kids. 338 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:19,960 So for example, when we were at my daughter's house, my husband 339 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,600 was like, yeah, I just gave them that potato peeler that we were 340 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,440 keeping in the RV. Oh, OK, great. 341 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,640 Because she'd been peeling potatoes with a knife and it's 342 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,760 easier with a potato peeler. And you can have the kids do it, 343 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,280 but you could donate them. But if you know young people, 344 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:44,120 whether they're your siblings, nieces, nephews, adult kids who 345 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,400 are just starting out, whether it's just getting an apartment 346 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,640 or getting married, they might need some of that stuff. 347 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,760 You know, not everybody has this fairy tale wedding with a 348 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,600 registry and stuff. Some people, you know, move out 349 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,600 before that or that never happens for them. 350 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,840 They elope or don't get married at all. 351 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:09,320 You know, a lot of people just need you to give them stuff. 352 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,360 So maybe start a box for that. And I'm not talking about 353 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:18,880 forcing things on people that they don't want, but it's like, 354 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,440 you know, hey, do you have a crock pot? 355 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,480 Because I only use this bigger 1 now and you can have my smaller 356 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,120 1. You know, I've given my middle 357 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:29,920 daughter a couple crock pots. For example, there might be 358 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,520 someone who could really use some of the items in your 359 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,920 kitchen, or maybe you could just start a box for that if you have 360 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,720 the storage space. Some of you are like, I'm in a 361 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,600 tiny house with no storage. I'm not going to have a box 362 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,440 sitting around for the next teenager that grows up and gets 363 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:47,920 an apartment. I get that. 364 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,040 But some of us have the space for that, and it could be a 365 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,000 thing. You know, you can have a box out 366 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,120 in the garage just labeled kitchen stuff, just like you did 367 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:00,720 when you were moving, except you're saving it for when 368 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:05,920 someone needs it. OK, Hopefully you are plugging 369 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,800 away at your dishes, whatever that means for you. 370 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:14,800 If you're done with the dishes and you've wiped down your large 371 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,360 appliances, your small appliances, your countertop, 372 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:26,000 stove top, and you know, it might be time to wash your sink, 373 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:32,040 you know, shine up your sink or maybe it's time for you to sweep 374 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,840 your floor or run a vacuum over your floor. 375 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,160 We are going to talk about cleaning floors in Part 2. 376 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,920 And I might just put this as one full episode for the financial 377 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,920 supporters. So if you listen to this one 378 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,120 before you listen to the bonus episode, you could always Fast 379 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:57,600 forward through the beginning. Or I mean, if you listen to it 380 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,000 on another day, you could relisten to the beginning and 381 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,560 get your whole house cleaned up once. 382 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,560 But I'm going to have a longer version, let's put it that way, 383 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,760 for the paid subscribers. By the way, special thanks to 384 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,480 those who support the show, either on Apple Podcasts, 385 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,880 Spotify, Patreon, or some kind of a private arrangement with 386 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,960 me. I appreciate you more than, you 387 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,800 know, some of you, your husband doesn't want to see little 388 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:27,360 charges coming out of the account. 389 00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:31,120 Believe me, I get it. There was a phase where we were 390 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:37,480 really kind of, you know, analyzing our budget and he was 391 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,600 asking me and I, I mainly, you know, handle the finances, but 392 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,000 he was asking, you know, what's this? 393 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,320 What's that? And I cancelled one of my 394 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:53,280 Patreon subscriptions to an artist that I support who makes 395 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,960 these little stickers and I like to have my little sticker 396 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,600 subscription. I definitely cancelled that for 397 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,320 a while just so my spouse wouldn't question, you know, 398 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,240 this charge on my account or whatever. 399 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,520 And then later, you know, when we kind of got our bearings, I 400 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,440 went ahead and restarted that. So I get that. 401 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,880 But even just listening to these free episodes helps me. 402 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:23,680 And one way that you can help me without spending a dime is if 403 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:27,040 you're listening on Spotify to watch the video version. 404 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,560 And I don't necessarily mean watch it, just keep it open. 405 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:33,880 Don't have it minimized at the bottom of your screen. 406 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,360 If you have it open to where when you look at your phone you 407 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:41,120 see me sitting here talking into a microphone, that actually 408 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:43,840 helps me. Another way you can help me, 409 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,920 regardless of the app you listen on is to click on that five star 410 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:52,520 and give me an excellent rating. By the way, Speaking of the 411 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:58,840 video version, I read an article that Apple is going to start 412 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,040 having video podcasts on their platform. 413 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,840 So those of you who are listening on Apple, which is 414 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,720 that Purple podcast app, eventually they'll be a video 415 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,560 version. And I don't know, you know, what 416 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:16,400 the financial implications of that will be, but I'll, I'll let 417 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,840 you know if it's a thing that's going to help me if I you know, 418 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:25,400 if I want you to necessarily have have the video on or if 419 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,800 that matters. But with Spotify, it does help 420 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,280 me. Hopefully by now you are 421 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:37,120 cleaning out your sink or possibly cleaning your kitchen 422 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:42,120 floor. But if you need more time in the 423 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,560 kitchen, you might need to pause the episode and listen to a 424 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,120 couple songs because I'm going to move on to having you clean 425 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,720 your bathrooms. My mom taught me that cleaning 426 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,600 the kitchen and bathrooms is the priority because of that. 427 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,680 What's that's what makes your house sanitary. 428 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,600 Now, obviously it's possible for another room to become 429 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:09,680 unsanitary, but my mom's not the kind of person that would ever 430 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:14,560 leave plates or dishes around the house or anything like that. 431 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:20,120 So, you know, the only thing that might be out in a living 432 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,960 area, you know, is not anything unsanitary. 433 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,960 It could be just someone's shoes and sweater or left in the 434 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:32,640 living room, or, you know, there's piles of clean laundry. 435 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:38,920 None of this is unsanitary like what one might find in a kitchen 436 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,720 or bathroom. OK, so let's head to the 437 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,200 bathrooms. And maybe you've got just one 438 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:50,440 bathroom or maybe you're trying to clean multiple bathrooms at 439 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,120 once. But what I recommend during 440 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,800 these episodes, since I don't give you a ton of time, is to do 441 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,480 a quick straighten of both bathrooms, or all three 442 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,800 bathrooms if you have three, and then pick one bathroom to deep 443 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,960 clean. And that's usually just the one 444 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:14,120 that you haven't cleaned recently, as recently as the 445 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,000 other one. OK, so maybe if last time you 446 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,560 cleaned, you cleaned your hall bathroom, this time you're going 447 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,640 to focus on the master bathroom. It could also just be a bathroom 448 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:30,960 of priority. If a guest might stop by, then 449 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,560 that hall bathroom would be your first priority. 450 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,280 If you're just cleaning for yourself, maybe it's your own 451 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,840 bathroom that's a priority if you're, you know, doing it for 452 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,080 yourself or your spouse. If you're doing it for your 453 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,240 spouse, listen to that episode Stop Cleaning for your spouse 454 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,240 because you want to become the type of person who cares whether 455 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:54,880 your house is clean and you want that that motivation to come 456 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,080 from within and treat it more as a side then benefit when it's 457 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,200 making someone else happy. It's just not a good dynamic. 458 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:08,080 You know to it. It's just not necessarily a good 459 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:14,720 dynamic in your marriage to make your spouse feel like you're 460 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,840 doing it just to keep them happy or to keep them from getting 461 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,080 angry. And it's not a good look. 462 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,920 That's why I said cleaning it for yourself. 463 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,680 But obviously, you know, human nature, you might be thinking 464 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,640 I'm going to get more bang for my buck if I clean the bathroom 465 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,040 that he's going to see when he gets home. 466 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:37,800 But what usually makes some more sense is just you clean the 467 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,480 dirtiest bathroom. So pre cleaning a bathroom 468 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:45,760 involves picking up anything off of the floor, of course, 469 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,840 clearing off the vanity area, taking out the trash and 470 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:57,440 relining it and setting aside items that are going to be in 471 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,800 your way. OK, when I clean a bathroom, I'm 472 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,840 using sprays. So obviously I need to move the 473 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,680 toothbrush holder and maybe stick that in the cupboard under 474 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:12,160 the sink while I'm cleaning. But you could also just, you 475 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,520 know, set it somewhere else outside of the bathroom or, you 476 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:17,880 know, a different part of the bathroom. 477 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:24,040 If it's a large bathroom, for example, in my bathroom, there 478 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,400 is a large garden tub that has a lot of space around it. 479 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,240 There's a lead, like a tile ledge around it. 480 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,960 So I'll often set, you know, my toothbrush holder there when I'm 481 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:40,120 spraying and cleaning the mirror and then, you know, replace it 482 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,280 you once I've cleaned the mirror. 483 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:48,000 Vanity sinks, just get that bathroom pre cleaned and gather 484 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,200 up in the necessary cleaning supplies if you're not keeping 485 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:58,440 those in the bathroom. Once you've done that, the next 486 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,560 thing I want you to do is get something into your toilet bowl 487 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:07,760 and get it soaking. Kind of a good idea is to 488 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,760 sometimes soak your toilet bowl overnight or when you're going 489 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:17,560 out of town. But when you're just getting 490 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,440 ready to do a cleaning session, you want to get that chemical 491 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,640 into the toilet first. Give it a little swish with that 492 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,400 scrub brush. Then clean the rest of the 493 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:32,240 bathroom, meeting the sink area, the vanity, the cabinets, you 494 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:36,080 know basically the rest of the bathroom and then ending with 495 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,960 the toilet just before the floor. 496 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:42,600 Of course of course you want to sweep and mop your way out of 497 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:50,560 the bathroom when cleaning it. OK, but usually I start by 498 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,560 either putting something into the toilet bowl or doing a pre 499 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,240 clean and then putting something into the toilet bowl because I 500 00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,080 don't want to have to do a lot of scrubbing. 501 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,000 I want that chemical to have time to do its work. 502 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,160 After that initial swish where I just make sure the inside of the 503 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,400 bowl is coated with that. OK. 504 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:15,040 If I'm feeling really ambitious, sometimes I'll scrub a shower or 505 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:20,080 bathtub during my bathroom cleaning session, but often I do 506 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,960 that separately when I'm getting into the tub or getting out of 507 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,080 the tub or I'm in the shower. It's kind of like the whole 508 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,360 thing where I don't want to have to put away clean dishes every 509 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:35,840 time I go to wash dishes or every time I go to cook dinner. 510 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:40,960 I like to break things up into smaller tasks, so I'm often 511 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,840 cleaning the tub and shower separately from my bathroom 512 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,000 cleaning session. A basic bathroom cleaning 513 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:54,000 session by by my definition, involves your sink and vanity 514 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:59,000 and faucets and mirror. You know, to a lesser extent, 515 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,800 the cabinet switch plates. You know, those are bonus tasks 516 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,200 that you do during deeper cleaning sessions. 517 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,160 You may or may not, you know, get to every single surface 518 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,560 today. And of course, cleaning all 519 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:14,360 parts of the toilet inside and out and then the bathroom floor. 520 00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:19,400 Those are kind of the basics, OK, But maybe you have bonus 521 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,440 tasks in your bathroom that you have time for today, like 522 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,680 dusting fixtures or scrubbing baseboards. 523 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:33,160 I do clean my bathroom baseboards fairly often, but the 524 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,880 one behind the toilet gets cleaned more often because when 525 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,040 you're down on your hands and knees cleaning the base of the 526 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:44,560 toilet, that's a good time to clean that back baseboard and 527 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,640 just, you know, clean everything around the toilet. 528 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,320 OK. In case of some kind of misses, 529 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:55,840 whether it's your guests missing the toilet, their kids, your own 530 00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:01,520 family, you just want to cover that base to, you know, deal 531 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,000 with any little accidents, so to speak. 532 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:07,520 But it also tends to get dusty down there. 533 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,600 I definitely like to clean the perimeter of my bathroom floors 534 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,120 by hand and clean the, the, the baseboards. 535 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:16,920 I've said this before, but your guests have nothing better, and 536 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,000 you and your family members sometimes have nothing better to 537 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,120 do when sitting on the toilet than to look at the baseboards. 538 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,960 Although nowadays a lot of people are on their phones, 539 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,680 definitely people are going to look at your baseboard. 540 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,120 They're probably not. Your guests are probably not 541 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,240 surfing their phone when they just quickly use your restroom. 542 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:43,840 So that's definitely the priority. 543 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,880 Baseboard in my mind are the bathroom baseboards. 544 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,960 You know, when you're actually expecting company, you're more 545 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:52,880 likely to clean baseboards in other rooms of the house. 546 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,680 But I caution against that. You want baseboards to be 547 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,960 included more often in your regular cleaning sessions. 548 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,800 You know, if you go to clean your living room in one of these 549 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:06,800 episodes and there's not a lot of clutter to deal with, scrub a 550 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:10,200 baseboard. It's going to be so much easier 551 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:15,560 to plan a get together when your house doesn't need all these 552 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,800 deep cleaning tasks and you just need to touch it up for guests. 553 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:24,760 How nice would that be? Let's get that bathroom cleaned 554 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:31,160 up before we get into kind of Part 2 of this episode. 555 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,120 It's not always going to be this way. 556 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:37,560 I'm just kind of pressed for time right now, so I don't have 557 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:40,560 time to make an edit to separate episodes. 558 00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,880 So that's the way I'm doing it. This time. 559 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:49,880 I'll talk more about my job situation, what I've been doing 560 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:55,600 in the bonus episode, but let's get that vanity area clean. 561 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:57,560 Let's scrub that bathroom countertop. 562 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,480 Let's scrub that sink. Let's clean the mirror and 563 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,240 faucets. Maybe you use a micro fiber 564 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:08,440 cloth and some glass cleaning spray and clean your mirror by 565 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,320 hand. Or maybe you're like me and you 566 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,360 like to attach the micro fiber cloth to some sort of mop and 567 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:18,920 mop the mirror. Swiffers are great for that and 568 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,000 it, it works so well. It just, it really does it. 569 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,160 It makes cleaning the mirror fun for me. 570 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,880 And I just got hooked on it because my master bathroom has 571 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,840 such a huge mirror, lots of natural light coming into the 572 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,520 bathroom and you can just see every smudge. 573 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:43,760 So I like to just systematically mop that mirror with my Swiffer 574 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,400 instead of having a Swiffer pad attached to it. 575 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,320 I have the microfiber cloth. It might work with the Swiffer 576 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:53,640 pad. I've never tried it. 577 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,640 But I don't know, you know, how some some cleaning products 578 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,000 could cloud glass and some don't? 579 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,640 I don't know. But maybe it's something to try. 580 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:11,000 Maybe it's not. Yeah, let's make sure that once 581 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,800 you've cleaned your vanity area and you've cleaned the exterior 582 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,120 part of your toilet and give them the bowl and other scrub 583 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:23,200 that your bathroom has fresh clean towels and extra rolls of 584 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,440 toilet paper. You know, let's let's check 585 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:28,040 inventory. Do you need to purchase 586 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:32,000 something? And Speaking of decluttering 587 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:35,360 while they're while you're cleaning, do you have some 588 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,480 products in the bathroom you need to get rid of? 589 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,720 Sometimes you've got to just be honest with yourself about 590 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:49,920 makeup, hair care products, skin care products that you just 591 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:52,680 weren't that thrilled about and you're not using anymore. 592 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:57,720 I've been known to take some shampoos I didn't like and put 593 00:39:57,720 --> 00:40:00,480 them into the toilet and just use them as a toilet bowl 594 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,600 cleaner. You know, on a day where I 595 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:09,480 didn't necessarily have anything to put in my toilet bowl, you 596 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:16,840 know, soap is soap and you can definitely, you know, multitask 597 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,600 with some of these ingredients that you have in your house 598 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,640 rather than just throwing them away. 599 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:26,160 More often than not, if I'm not thrilled with a shampoo, I put 600 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:29,640 it in the kids shower because, you know, boys with short hair 601 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:32,640 are not typically that worried about what kind of shampoo 602 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:35,480 they're using. Whereas my teenage daughter and 603 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,920 I like certain ones. But I've also been known to just 604 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,360 scrub a toilet with an unwanted shampoo. 605 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,000 So as you're going through drawers, you know, maybe don't 606 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,840 throw away a shampoo that you could use for another purpose. 607 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:54,440 And I'm not saying it's the most effective way to clean a toilet, 608 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,800 but it's better than nothing on a day where you've run out of 609 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:02,000 stuff. But maybe you do need to toss 610 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:06,320 some products and, you know, don't beat yourself up over 611 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,480 money spent. You know, think of it as an 612 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,360 experiment. You needed to try some some 613 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,080 products to eliminate them and find the right ones. 614 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:22,200 And sometimes that's a process. OK, so be thinking about things 615 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:24,880 that you can declutter out of your bathroom and of course, 616 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,880 toss any empty shampoo containers or body washes from 617 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:33,360 the shower. You know, more often than not, 618 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,840 when you see a lot of bottles, it could be that people are, you 619 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:42,600 know, purchasing new ones or adding new ones and not getting 620 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,160 rid of the old empty ones. I don't know why, but it 621 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:50,320 happens, folks. And then of course, you're going 622 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,760 to want to sweep and mop your way out of the bathroom. 623 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:57,920 If it's a tiny bathroom, you could combine the sweeping and 624 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,960 mopping into one step. That's what I do in my tinier 625 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,720 bathroom. I like to use the the Swiffer 626 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,760 pads that are designed to go on the mop. 627 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,880 I like to use those just to clean the bathroom floor and 628 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:17,720 baseboards by hand, and I do it in much the same way that a 629 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:21,400 person would wipe a kitchen countertop with a damp cloth. 630 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,520 Maybe after making toast, they're grabbing up those crumbs 631 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,280 while also wiping down the countertop and cleaning it. 632 00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:34,400 They're cleaning the debris and wiping it down in one fell 633 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,160 swoop. Why can't we do that with 634 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:37,560 floors? Well, we can. 635 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,360 It's just not that efficient on a huge expanse of flooring. 636 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,760 In my larger bathroom, I'm going to sweep in a different step and 637 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:49,360 I'm going to mop and you know, occasionally I'm going to clean 638 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,560 the exterior perimeter of the floor, you know, by hand. 639 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,920 But in that smaller bathroom, I find it so much easier to clean 640 00:42:57,920 --> 00:42:59,560 it by hand. And it doesn't have to be a pre 641 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:02,440 moistened Swiffer pad. You could do it with paper 642 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:04,760 towels. I remember a couple times I was 643 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:08,240 expecting company. I just went to town in the kids 644 00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:12,840 bathroom with some Windex and paper towels and that included 645 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:16,480 the floor. OK, sometimes you need to think 646 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:20,160 outside the box. Another tip for those of you 647 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:24,280 with toddlers where you're supervising them in the bathtub, 648 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,040 but they're kind of old enough. I'm not talking about a baby 649 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:30,760 that's going to just topple over, but you know, older 650 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:34,400 toddlers and preschoolers where you've got to keep an eye on 651 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:36,880 them where they're, you know, when they're in the bathtub. 652 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:41,240 So you're stuck in the bathroom, but you're you're just letting 653 00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:44,440 them play basically while you have a visual on them. 654 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:50,760 That can be a great time to just clean your bathroom floor with a 655 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,320 damp towel. If you don't have your cleaning 656 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:58,160 products handy, you know, there's something to be said for 657 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:04,640 that, you know, dip that towel in their bubble bath and, you 658 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,920 know, scrub your countertop and then the floor with it. 659 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,240 You know, you, you, you want to use these hidden moments to kind 660 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:15,280 of clean as you go in life. That'll make your house look 661 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,040 better in between deeper cleaning sessions. 662 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:23,000 At this time, I'm going to wrap this up for those of you who are 663 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:27,000 listening to the free version. And it could be that you are a 664 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:31,160 supporter, but that the full version hasn't been edited and 665 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:33,760 come out yet. I I do want to try to get these 666 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,400 out both out today, but it's your choice if you're going to 667 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,480 be listening to both, whether you re listen to the beginning 668 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,840 or Fast forward on the bonus. But I do ask that those of you 669 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,840 when you do listen to the free episodes, whether you're a 670 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:52,280 supporter or not, that you try to let those commercials play 671 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,560 rather than Fast forward them. I will admit, when I'm listening 672 00:44:56,560 --> 00:45:02,000 to Dateline podcasts in the car, these crime podcasts on road 673 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:06,720 trips, I do hit that button to Fast forward the commercials. 674 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:12,480 But Dateline isn't, you know, hurting for that money from the 675 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:14,600 commercial. Let's put it that way. 676 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,520 For, you know, when you're supporting a small creator like 677 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,880 me, it does help us if you let the ads play. 678 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,200 That goes for YouTube. It goes for everything. 679 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,880 By the way, there are a few of you who are listening to this on 680 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:31,160 YouTube. There's not really a way to 681 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:36,040 access the bonus episodes on YouTube yet, so you do need to 682 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:42,720 listen to a podcast app to unlock those or Patreon would be 683 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:45,720 another option. I'm going to wrap up this 684 00:45:45,720 --> 00:45:49,600 portion of the episode and then the rest of it's just going to 685 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:54,480 be for financial supporters. For those of you who are ending 686 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,000 it here, thank you so much for listening. 687 00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:58,880 I appreciate each and every one of you. 688 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,760 And as always, happy cleaning. I'll talk to you in the next 689 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:03,240 episode.