1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,240 Thanks for joining me in today's episode. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:07,240 I'm going to talk you through a walkthrough of your entire 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,360 house. We're going to look for problem 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:10,760 areas. We're going to. 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,680 Deal with them, but. Before we do that, we're going 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,640 to make sure your dishes are done. 7 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,680 I'm Ronnie and you're listening to Clean With Me, the podcast 8 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,240 where I walk you through cleaning your house step by 9 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:26,800 step. Let's get right into the 10 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,240 episode. It's time to gear up for our 11 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:35,520 cleaning session. Maybe you need to freshen up for 12 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:40,200 the day, or maybe you need to take your trash out and get your 13 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,360 house smelling good. Maybe put some fresh wax in the 14 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,160 wax warmer or light a candle. And I know I can talk faster 15 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,040 than you can do these things. I'm just giving you some ideas 16 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,640 on how you might want to kick off your cleaning session. 17 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,280 Or maybe you want to get your machines running so that when 18 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,520 you're walking through the house, picking things up, wiping 19 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,480 down surfaces. Your. 20 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,480 Washing machine is running and maybe you're dryer. 21 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,960 And of course the other machine could be a dishwasher if you 22 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:13,680 have one. But for now, I want you to do 23 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,800 whatever you need to do to gear up for your cleaning session, 24 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,040 whether it's getting yourself dressed and presentable for the 25 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,680 day, your house smelling good. Maybe you need to open up some 26 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:30,600 curtains or blinds. I often raise my blinds up a 27 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,560 little bit after opening them. You know, turning the slats to 28 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,880 let light in. After doing that, I raise them 29 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,560 up so that I can expose the windowsills and wipe those down. 30 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:49,760 We live in a super dusty area, so I like to dust my windowsills 31 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,400 often, but I also just feel good when I let some light into my 32 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:55,720 house. And of course that's going to 33 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,520 reveal dust. So it's kind of A2 fold benefit 34 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,000 there. You feel energized, but you're 35 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,720 also revealing dust, which you're going to be taking care 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,840 of during this session. I'm going to give you a couple 37 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,760 more minutes to gear up for your cleaning session. 38 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:19,200 Maybe you're starting a load of laundry or taking out the trash 39 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,000 like I mentioned, or maybe you weren't dressed for the day and 40 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,480 you needed to, you know, run a brush through your hair or put 41 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,400 on some makeup if that's your thing. 42 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:34,000 Another thing you could do during this time is straighten 43 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,480 up your front entrance area, whether that's an entryway and 44 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,840 foyer area that's kind of separate from any living area or 45 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:44,880 just the front room of your house. 46 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,120 A lot of us have that floor plan where you're just walking into 47 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,400 the living room at our house. There's a little area. 48 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,680 Of tile we've got a piano off to the side, which serves as a 49 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,280 launchpad by the way, it's important to have a launchpad, 50 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,520 meaning somewhere where you keep your keys, somewhere you can put 51 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,880 things that you need to take out the door with you. 52 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,080 It's just a great way to help you get out of the house on 53 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,040 time. Another possible launchpad idea 54 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:17,480 is coat hooks or coat rack and somewhere to put shoes. 55 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,400 I don't like it when just shoes are spread out in someone's 56 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:27,240 entryway, but I've seen people with a little shelf to where 57 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,240 there's like kind of a bench and then a shelf underneath for the 58 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,600 shoes where they can sit there and tie their shoes or whatever. 59 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,120 So just a thought. There while you're straightening 60 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,240 up that front entrance area if needed. 61 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,000 But for me, when I straighten up the front entrance, not only am 62 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 I going to clear any clutter off of the back of the piano, but 63 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,120 I'm also going to pick up any stray items on the living room 64 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,120 floor, and I'm going to straighten up my. 65 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,440 Couch cushions. OK, by now you've had time to do 66 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,440 whatever you need to. Do to gear up for? 67 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,760 Your cleaning session. We're going to be cleaning the 68 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,440 kitchen soon. The next step, of course, is 69 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,080 gathering up any dirty dishes from around the house. 70 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,080 Maybe you have a mug on your night stand or a forgotten plate 71 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,680 and fork on the dining room table. 72 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,120 Let's get all that stuff gathered up and make sure to 73 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,600 walk into any room that might have something in it. 74 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:27,080 By the way, I, I recently I've moved all of my office 75 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:32,360 equipment, my desk, my recording equipment, all the things back 76 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,240 into a corner of my room where I used to have it. 77 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,520 For those of you watching the video version, you'll see me in 78 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,840 that old location. My corner office in my bedroom 79 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:46,400 is back. But as you can see right now, I 80 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,120 am sitting in my car. People ask me how I how I do so 81 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,840 much. And one of the ways is carrying 82 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:56,720 a big purse and bringing a lot of things on the go. 83 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,440 You might be wondering why'd you do away with your office? 84 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,240 My middle daughter and her two kids have. 85 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,760 Remember I said it's a revolving door when you have young adults. 86 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,680 My daughter and her two kids are staying with us again, 87 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:15,080 temporarily during a transition. And so I'm not going to be 88 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,720 recording in that room. We moved the desk and all the 89 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:22,920 equipment out, set up the kids beds and there of course, there 90 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:24,640 was already another bed in there. 91 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,800 So I'm back to that corner office in my room, but you might 92 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:33,960 see me recording in the car, you know, where it's quiet for a 93 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:38,120 couple weeks, OK, until they they get into the new apartment. 94 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:39,960 Hopefully you've gathered up your dishes. 95 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,000 The next thing you might want to do is empty your dishwasher and 96 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,640 drying rack. We have a good system going 97 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:48,960 right now. And if you've been listening to 98 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:53,160 the show, you've already heard this, but my teenage daughter 99 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,840 has the chore of emptying the drying rack and the dishwasher 100 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:04,680 by 4:00 PM so that before my husband or I start to make 101 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,080 dinner, those are empty. It makes it just so much easier 102 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,680 to clean as we go when we can just immediately wash things and 103 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:17,000 place them into the drying rack. Maybe your drying rack and or 104 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,320 dishwasher are not empty right now. 105 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,280 That's OK, let's quickly empty those so you'll have a place to 106 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:27,720 put stuff. And then we're going to get 107 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,240 started on the dishes. And you might be feeling 108 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,080 overwhelmed if your kitchen is kind of messy right now. 109 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,160 There's just something about the visual clutter of stuff piled on 110 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,800 the countertops and a lot of dirty dishes that makes it seem 111 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,360 like it's going to take longer than it really is. 112 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,040 I mean, worst case it's going to take you an hour, but I'm 113 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,720 assuming that you're going to be able to get it done in a lot 114 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,920 less time. And remember that the job 115 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,280 expands to fill the time allotted. 116 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,760 So hopefully you can beat the clock, so to speak, and get it 117 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:05,920 done while I'm talking about it, I. 118 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:07,720 Recently purchased this smartwatch. 119 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:14,760 It's the Amaze Fit GTS4 mini and I am super happy with it. 120 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,960 I have a little aftermarket plastic cover over it that I got 121 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,240 off of Amazon. This watch looks similar to an 122 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,120 Apple Watch. The screen is a little bit 123 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,920 smaller, so I guess one of the drawbacks is that you'll have to 124 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,800 get a different screen cover for it. 125 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,920 I was not able to get some blingy rhinestone cover like my 126 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,080 daughter has. I just ended up with this clear 127 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:41,320 1. You could get a few different 128 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,320 colors or whatever. For me it is much simpler to use 129 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:53,200 than an Apple Watch and also this only needs to be charged 130 00:07:53,280 --> 00:08:00,960 like every week and 1/2 or so compared to an Apple Watch that 131 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:02,880 you're probably going to be charging every day. 132 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,640 I also found it more user friendly. 133 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:10,360 I ended up passing my Apple Watch down to my teenage 134 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,320 daughter because I just found it too much of A hassle and it was 135 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,360 hard for me to navigate. The little button on this 136 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,840 doesn't spin, you just push it and then and you swipe to 137 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,160 different menus. Features I like about it. 138 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,280 Of course it keeps track of my steps, which is why I got it 139 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:34,600 keeps track of my heart rate and it alerts me when I get a text 140 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,520 or a phone call it, it will show the text preview. 141 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,720 Like let's say somebody sends me a picture and kind of a caption 142 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,600 with it. I can read the caption but not 143 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,240 see the picture. Somebody texts me, I don't have 144 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,240 my phone on me. I can see what they said. 145 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:53,920 I can't reply, but I can see what they said. 146 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,560 If I get a call, it buzzes. I can see that I have an 147 00:08:56,560 --> 00:09:00,240 incoming call. So basically when I get a text 148 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,880 or an incoming call, it's just letting me know to go get my 149 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:05,600 phone. You know how you don't want to 150 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,920 be constantly looking at your phone at work? 151 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,520 I'm able to keep my phone on silent at work and but then I 152 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,560 feel a vibration if my husband texts me or something and then I 153 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:19,200 can go from my phone and reply to him with, you know, without 154 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,320 having my phone, you know, in my hand or, you know, the whole day 155 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,400 or this is attached to an app. So when you're looking at your 156 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,200 stats and everything, you know, how did I sleep last night type 157 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,880 of stuff because it has a lot of different things that it tells 158 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,800 you. You can check the app for that 159 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,640 or the watch itself. There's a little icon I can 160 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:44,640 click on in one of the menus that locates my phone. 161 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,640 It makes my phone start beeping when I've misplaced my my phone. 162 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,320 I'm not proud of this but I use that feature almost every day. 163 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:57,440 In a nutshell, this watch is more user friendly for 164 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,920 middle-aged lady like myself then the Apple Watch. 165 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,400 Because I don't. I love that I don't have to 166 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:09,200 charge it very often. And I've been wearing it. 24/7 167 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,920 except when I take a shower. So love it. 168 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:16,520 I love the freedom it gives me to be off of my phone. 169 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:21,800 I don't need the the feature of being able to actually text and 170 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,480 make calls. And my notifications are set to 171 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,720 where this only vibrates for texts and phone calls. 172 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,240 But you can have it notify you of other apps as well, like if 173 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,880 you wanted to know when you're getting an e-mail or something 174 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:35,600 like that. Obviously I don't want it to be 175 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,480 constantly buzzing to the point where I start ignoring it. 176 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,080 So I really just want to know when I'm getting a text or a 177 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,840 phone call. And the price point is also a 178 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,600 lot cheaper than an Apple Watch. You're going to pay an anywhere 179 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:52,240 from 8999 to like 119. So definitely recommend. 180 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,000 You can get it at Walmart or on Amazon. 181 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,120 And no, this is not sponsored, but I'm open to doing a 182 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:01,440 sponsorship for this because I love it so much. 183 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,560 Now that you've put away your clean dishes, it's time to get 184 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:09,480 started on washing your dishes. We're going to remove visual 185 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:14,760 clutter kind of early on in the kitchen cleaning process, but I 186 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,480 want you to get those difficult items pre rinsed and soaking. 187 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,240 So let's gather all your dishes to the sink area. 188 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,560 If they're spread around, maybe you need to kind of quickly pre 189 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:28,960 clean out your sink. If you've got stuff piled in 190 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:32,120 there, run your garbage disposal, give it a swipe, 191 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:35,120 whatever you need to do, and then you're going to pre rinse 192 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,080 and get any difficult items soaking. 193 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,360 This could mean filling up one side of the sink and submerging 194 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,440 some items or you know, maybe filling up a dish pan and 195 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,080 submerging them there. Or it might mean filling up 196 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,160 items. What I mean by that is if you 197 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:57,640 have a dirty pot or a pan or a glass with like a chocolate ring 198 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,400 in the bottom of the glass, a lot of times you can just fill 199 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,400 that with hot water, a couple drops of dish soap and get that 200 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,440 soaking. OK, a heavily A heavily soiled 201 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,520 pot or pan. You could drop in a dishwasher 202 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:12,760 pot as a way to speed up the process of doing that. 203 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,680 Pre soaked, unless I have something that's heavily soiled, 204 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:18,400 I'm just putting a little bit of liquid dish soap, some hot water 205 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,200 inside that container and setting that down. 206 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,280 Other things I'm submerging like a fork with food crusted on it 207 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,120 or whatever. OK, But of course, before I 208 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:34,360 submerge anything or fill it up, I'm pre rinsing it under running 209 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,440 water with a scrub brush. OK, And then I get it soaking. 210 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,960 OK. And then once I get any 211 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,320 difficult items soaking, it's time to wash the easy stuff, 212 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,960 whether that means loading it into the dishwasher or, you 213 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,720 know, if I'm hand washing, washing it by hand, I typically 214 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,560 put everything that I can into the dishwasher that's small, 215 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,080 meaning plates, bowls, silverware, spatulas, things 216 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:01,520 like that. And then the bigger pots and 217 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,920 pans, I don't want them taking up valuable real estate in my 218 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,400 dishwasher. So I hand wash those. 219 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:09,520 OK. And you know, maybe if you're 220 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:11,760 facing a dishwaster and not everything's going to fit in the 221 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,960 dishwasher and you're going to have to hand wash a few things. 222 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,400 But once you get your difficult items soaking, you're going to 223 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:23,800 walk away from the dishwashing process and quickly declutter 224 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:25,560 your countertops. OK. 225 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,480 I think everyone has that one countertop that tends to get 226 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:31,440 cluttered. That's kind of your workspace. 227 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,240 For us, it's an island in the middle. 228 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,800 We have one of those kitchen islands that's also a breakfast 229 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,160 bar. That's our workspace. 230 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,040 That's also kind of a hot spot in our home where people tend to 231 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,800 plot things down. So I like to get that cleared 232 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,000 off. And right away my kitchen looks 233 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,080 better. And then of course, I move to 234 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,240 the other countertops. You know the space on either 235 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:59,640 side of my stove and the space is to the left and right of my 236 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,840 sink. I get those cleared. 237 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,360 Meaning I'm putting away seasonings, I'm throwing away 238 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,400 empty packages. I'm putting away a cereal box 239 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:12,200 that may have gotten left out. I'm relocating items that don't 240 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:17,440 belong in the kitchen at all to their homes throughout my house. 241 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,800 And Speaking of relocating things to their homes, 242 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:28,120 throughout the house, lighthouse work is exercise. 243 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:33,840 Getting a smart watch has made me a little bit more active 244 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,520 around the house because I like seeing the steps that I'm 245 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,520 getting in it. I did purchases to keep track of 246 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,920 the steps on my walks, but I also knew I wasn't getting the 247 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,880 full picture of how many steps I'm getting in because I'm not 248 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:51,240 always carrying my phone. I bring it on walks, but I'm not 249 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,840 always carrying it, you know, with me around the house. 250 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,400 You know, maybe you have an Apple Watch or Fitbit. 251 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:03,600 But if you're looking to get something that's affordable and 252 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:08,640 has a lot of cool features, this is the Amaze Fit GTS 4 Mini. 253 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,240 I got it at Walmart. I'm super happy with it. 254 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,720 It's it's been a game changer. I'm busy, I'm on the go a lot 255 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,280 and I think it's great for work too because it keeps me from 256 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,440 needing to look at my phone very often. 257 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,440 I like to get the the clean dishes put away the the 258 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,560 difficult items pre rinsed and soaking. 259 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,800 And then I like to remove visual clutter so that I can see the 260 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,680 little mess in the kitchen for what it is and not feel 261 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,960 overwhelmed and think it's more than what it is, if that makes 262 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,640 sense. I love just getting my kitchen 263 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,360 looking nice and kind of isolating the mess to the sink 264 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,080 area. So once I clear everything off, 265 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,320 I start spraying and wiping down surfaces. 266 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,320 I'm talking about my stove top, the control panel area of the 267 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:01,520 stove, the countertops. And I'll admit that I don't wipe 268 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,280 down my cabinets every day. That's not an everyday thing. 269 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,800 But what I try to do every day is when I'm spraying and wiping 270 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:14,480 down the countertops, I like to also grab a glass cleaner or 271 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,360 glass and surface spray, which is typically a different product 272 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:18,800 than what I'm using on the countertops. 273 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,960 I'm often using just a Myers spray on my countertops. 274 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,960 I'll grab a glass and surface cleaner maybe. 275 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,400 Maybe like right now I think I have one that's made by Windex. 276 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:36,360 It's a yellow liquid, and I'll spray that on my refrigerator, 277 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:41,800 the front of my oven, the front of my dishwasher, and I'll wipe 278 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:44,760 those down. And of course, you might also 279 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:49,240 need to wipe down some small appliances that you keep on your 280 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,680 countertop, toaster, coffee maker, whatever, right? 281 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,440 I also have other surfaces in my kitchen. 282 00:16:57,440 --> 00:16:59,880 I have a kitchen table. And then there's a piece of 283 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:05,200 furniture that serves as my coffee station, you know, kind 284 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,079 of a sideboard table, so to speak, in the dining area 285 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:13,520 portion of the kitchen. And that needs to be cleaned, 286 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:15,680 you know, when people are putting sugar in the coffee or 287 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:17,200 whatever. Yeah. 288 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,240 And that's where, you know, my Keurig is my little portable ice 289 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,319 maker. And then I have the large water 290 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:25,880 bottle with a little pump feature. 291 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:31,240 It's a little Drake station. So I go ahead and clean that up 292 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,000 as well. I like to get all those surfaces 293 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,640 clear and consolidate the mess to the sink area. 294 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,360 And you know, if you don't like cleaning your kitchen that much 295 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:46,480 and you feel overwhelmed, this is going to make a big 296 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:47,840 difference. It's going to make a huge 297 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,800 difference. You want to get it kind of under 298 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,640 control quick and then you feel less overwhelmed, especially 299 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:59,640 since your difficult items are soaking now your surfaces are 300 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,920 clear and wiped off. And did you see how quick it 301 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,360 was? Maybe you're just finishing up, 302 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:09,040 but notice how quick it is to get your kitchen surfaces 303 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:13,400 cleared and wiped down once you consolidate the dishes to the 304 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,040 sink area. OK, and we're not going to sweep 305 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,280 and mop the floor in this episode, but I encourage you 306 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,640 after the episodes over if you need to sweep or vacuum your 307 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,720 kitchen floor and mop it to put on some music and do that. 308 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,120 But I'm trying to get you through the more tedious aspects 309 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:36,920 of housework and also sometimes, sometimes the, you know, the 310 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,920 teenage boy or the the husband doesn't mind sweeping and 311 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,480 mopping at all. So maybe you'll be able to 312 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,640 delegate that one. But I'm here to get you through 313 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,960 the tedious work of, you know, doing the dishes and some other 314 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,040 small detail work throughout the house. 315 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,240 It's now time to finish up your dishes. 316 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:05,480 OK, maybe your dishwasher is not fully loaded and you need to put 317 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:10,600 some more items into it. Maybe you don't use a dishwasher 318 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,400 and you're washing completely by hand and you need to wash that 319 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,280 first sink load. You know, those, those easier 320 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:22,400 items, glasses, silverware, plates, bowls, knives. 321 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,640 I don't submerge any knives. I, I set them aside and then I, 322 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,040 I scrub them. I, I wash the knives under 323 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,680 running water. If I do feel like they need to 324 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,200 be submerged and soaked, I set them in like a large skillet 325 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,080 that's already soaking. But typically I'm just washing 326 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,600 the knives by hand with a scrub brush and, you know, a few drops 327 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,120 of dish soap under running water. 328 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,840 I'm talking the sharp knives. Butter knives go into the 329 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,200 dishwasher. So whether you're hand washing 330 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:54,080 or loading the dishwasher, let's wash all the easy stuff and then 331 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,600 end with those difficult items you have soaking. 332 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,960 I don't want you to leave more than one item. 333 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:06,320 Soaking after this session, meaning once you wash all the 334 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,080 small stuff, or the easy stuff if you will, you know those 335 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,840 glasses that had a ring in the bottom, you're going to use that 336 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,400 bottle bottle scrubber. You know, baby bottle scrubber 337 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,800 that I hope you have to clean the bottom of that glass. 338 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,880 If your other dishwashing scrub brush doesn't fit into the 339 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,560 glass, you're going to wash it because once it's soaked for a 340 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,720 little while it's it's a lot easier to clean. 341 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,080 You're going to wash The Dirty pots and pans. 342 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:37,400 There might be 1 casserole dish that's got just severely baked 343 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:43,240 on food, or maybe a crock pot that needs to actually soak for 344 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:48,320 the next hour. OK but most of your stuff didn't 345 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,160 need to soak that long and you can go ahead and finish washing 346 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,360 it after you've washed the easier stuff. 347 00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:59,200 And maybe you need to reboot your sink a couple times if you 348 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,600 have a lot of stuff. I mean pre rinsing can go a long 349 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:08,040 way and not dirtying up your dishwater if you do submerge 350 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:12,200 when you're washing. But sometimes if you have a lot 351 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,840 of dishes to do, you're going to need to change the water part 352 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,040 way through and do another sink load. 353 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:24,280 Hopefully you're plugging away at those dishes and that you get 354 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:28,440 them done soon. And I'm sure your kitchen is 355 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,320 looking a lot better now that you've cleared the clutter off 356 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:36,560 of the countertops, dining table, coffee station, what have 357 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,760 you, and wipe down those surfaces along with your 358 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,160 appliance surfaces. OK? 359 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,000 This isn't a deep clean of your kitchen. 360 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:51,080 This is just the daily necessity of getting your dishes washed 361 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:57,080 and your kitchen sanitized, OK? And don't forget about the floor 362 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,640 if it if it needs work after the episode. 363 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,440 Now that we got that out of the way, isn't that a good feeling? 364 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,240 We're going to continue with the whole house walkthrough, OK? 365 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,440 You might have already straightened up your front 366 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:18,280 entrance and front room, or you might have, you know, and maybe 367 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,760 that's your only living area, or you might have some work to do 368 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,560 as far as picking up clutter in your outer areas. 369 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,120 Out by outer areas, I'm talking a living room, maybe a family 370 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:31,000 room if you have a second living area and any hallways. 371 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:36,840 Let's get those areas picked up. Remove any stray items from the 372 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,880 floor and then remove any stray items from the furniture. 373 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,240 Maybe there are items on the couch that don't belong and you 374 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,800 need to straighten those couch cushions and throw pillows. 375 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:49,960 Maybe there are items on the coffee table that need to be 376 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,040 relocated somewhere in the house. 377 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,080 Let's remove all the clutter. Let's get the floor picked up. 378 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,320 Let's get the furniture cleared of everything that's not 379 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,040 supposed to be there perpetually. 380 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,000 Obviously, you're going to have a few decorations. 381 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,920 You know, a framed picture, a candle, a plant, you know, your 382 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,520 TV remote might go on the little side table. 383 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,960 I get that. But anything that does not go 384 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:19,320 there, let's get it put away. But now that you've picked up 385 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,120 those outer areas, because it definitely shouldn't take long, 386 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,480 you know, unless you know, your kids have spread toys all over 387 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:33,240 or something. But you know, if so, maybe pause 388 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,360 the episode and talk them through the process of putting 389 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:41,400 those toys away. But now that you've cleared your 390 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,880 living areas, let's talk about possible problem areas. 391 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,800 I mentioned earlier that when I open the blinds, I also like to 392 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,560 raise them a little bit when I'm cleaning and wipe down the 393 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,240 window sills. Maybe there's a spray and a rag 394 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,880 that you like to use for that pledge or whatever. 395 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,840 Or maybe you use disinfecting wipes. 396 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:05,760 Whatever you use, it's time to clean any dusty window sills. 397 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,040 You also might want to dust some blinds. 398 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,960 I have three sets of blinds in my living room, so sometimes 399 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,160 I'll just pick one of them and dust it. 400 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,800 Whether it's the big picture window on the front or one of 401 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:23,120 the two smaller windows, I don't always dust all those blinds at 402 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,200 once. I like to kind of just add a 403 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,680 deep cleaning chore into my regular cleaning session. 404 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,000 Like, OK, today I'm going to write down this window sill or 405 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,320 today I'm going to dust the floor under the piano. 406 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:44,760 Because when I vacuum and mop that entryway tile floor, it 407 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,440 doesn't, you know, the vacuum or room or whatever I use doesn't 408 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,480 reach under the piano. So I grab a dusting tool on a 409 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,040 pole, reach under the piano, and dust it. 410 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,800 That that's the thing at our house, dusting under that piano. 411 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,520 Because when I'm sitting on the couch, I can see the dust under 412 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:08,680 the piano. You might need to wipe down 413 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,600 something else. Maybe there's a smudge on a wall 414 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,200 where somebody's touched it with dirty hands. 415 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:21,480 Maybe there's a spot on the couch, you know that you need to 416 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,560 spray and scrub. You know, maybe you need to 417 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,440 spray your some upholstery cleaner on your couch and grab a 418 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,800 washcloth and clean that little mess that's on the couch 419 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:37,120 cushion. Maybe you, like I said, maybe 420 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:40,640 you need to dust something. Maybe you want to grab a feather 421 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:45,960 duster and dust some frame pictures or artwork. 422 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,720 Or, you know, maybe you like to use dusting wipes. 423 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,160 That's a thing. Sometimes when I'm at a dollar 424 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,760 store, I'll get a little package of dusting wipes. 425 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,120 I don't use them all the time, but I'll grab them and then I'll 426 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:04,480 go home and I'll just wipe down a bunch of stuff with those just 427 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,200 for fun, so to speak. You know, sometimes it's fun to 428 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,680 just clean a little bit differently and pamper yourself 429 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,760 by getting a product that maybe you don't usually indulge in 430 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,320 using. Dust any problem areas in those 431 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:25,080 living areas quickly, whether it's a set of mini blinds or the 432 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,880 window sill for mini blinds. I do have a little dusting tool. 433 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,120 I've got a video somewhere that shows me using that, but 434 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:39,800 sometimes I just grab a wipe and I wipe down the slats section by 435 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,280 section in between where the strings are. 436 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,600 There are several ways you can clean your blinds. 437 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,280 If you let them get really dirty, you can even take them 438 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:53,760 outside and hose hose them down. OK, I've done that before at a 439 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,960 different house, different type of blinds. 440 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,080 But yeah, I keep up on these blinds. 441 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,560 So I haven't, I haven't had to remove them and hose them down 442 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:06,400 or anything. But I understand that sometimes, 443 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,600 you know, we get in a rat where we're not doing all the deep 444 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,280 cleaning and yeah, we need to take something outside and hose 445 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,360 it off. OK, so now that you've done 446 00:27:17,360 --> 00:27:20,720 that, and you can of course worry about vacuuming or 447 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:27,040 sweeping and mopping after the episode, I want you to move to 448 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,360 the bathrooms. We're not cleaning the bathrooms 449 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,920 and in this episode per SE, but we're doing what I call 450 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,160 straightening the bathrooms. You're going to remove anything 451 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,520 from off of the floor, You're going to take out the bathroom 452 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:44,360 trashes and reline them, and you're going to put away any 453 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,400 clutter that's sitting out on the countertop. 454 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,720 If your bathrooms are already tidy, you might want to do a 455 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:57,480 little spot clean with some type of a spray and paper towels or 456 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,960 disinfecting wipes. You might want to do a quick 457 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,400 clean of your bathroom. You know, sometimes I do a 458 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:09,720 little touch up with just a glass and surface spray and you 459 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,440 know, spraying like the bottom of the mirror and wipe it with a 460 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,360 microfiber cloth and then continue to wipe down the 461 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:20,400 countertop and toilet and so on. I use disposable stuff for the 462 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,640 toilet though, like paper towels or wipes. 463 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,000 But yeah, it's fine. It's fine if you do it 464 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,320 differently, as long as it's going into the laundry room to 465 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,200 be washed after it's touched the toilet. 466 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,640 But maybe you have time to do a little bathroom touch up? 467 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:43,080 Or maybe you just needed to clear clutter from the bathrooms 468 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,720 and you're going to do a deep clean after this episode. 469 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:52,440 I recently posted an episode about deep cleaning a large 470 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,840 bathroom and that one will give you plenty of time to do all the 471 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,520 things as far as detailing your bathroom. 472 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,080 But for now, I want you to do a quick touch up and move on to 473 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,280 the next bathroom and get it straightened. 474 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,800 I think especially in the master bathroom, sometimes people are 475 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,880 dropping clothes on the floor, towels or cluttering up the 476 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,720 countertop, the vanity area. Let's at least get it 477 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,040 straightened up and make sure that there are clean towels 478 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:27,040 hanging up and, you know, an extra roll of toilet paper on 479 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:31,120 deck, things like that. Just a bathroom straighten and 480 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,760 possible touch up. OK, again, a touch up is when 481 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,400 you're cleaning kind of the bottom of the mirror, the vanity 482 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:44,240 area, the sink area, and the kind of the outside parts of the 483 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:48,200 toilet, the seat behind the seat, the rim flusher handle, 484 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,720 back of the tank, that sort of thing. 485 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,240 Whereas in a deep clean, you're scrubbing the toilet bowl, 486 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,080 you're getting on your hands and knees and cleaning the exterior 487 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,520 part of the toilet, you're scrubbing the floor around it. 488 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,200 You know, there's there's more that goes into a bathroom deep 489 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,240 clean. But again, I made an episode 490 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,960 that you can listen to after this. 491 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:15,120 If you want to do a deep clean of a bathroom, let's just touch 492 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:21,360 up all of your bathrooms quickly or at least straighten them up. 493 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,960 There's just something about getting everything put away in 494 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:31,040 your house and then wiping down any obviously dirty areas that 495 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:36,240 can make your house look so amazing, especially after you 496 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,560 clean the floors. OK, by the way, Speaking of 497 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,480 cleaning the floors, I talk about that in the Crawling Out 498 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:49,400 of the Hole series that you can access as a financial supporter. 499 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,120 If you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, the option 500 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:57,040 to unlock those subscriber only episodes is already being 501 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:01,480 advertised to you. You can also join my Patreon to 502 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,680 access the same episodes. If you're not sure how to do 503 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,560 that, visit cleanwithmepodcast.com. 504 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,920 I'll put a link in the description of this episode to 505 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,960 my website that talks about the different options for support 506 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,960 the show and has links that you can go to. 507 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:24,080 I make it easy for you because I really, I can really use the 508 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:28,120 support and frankly, it's going to help you. 509 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:33,000 It's definitely a blessing when somebody subscribes, but you're 510 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,600 going to benefit from it too because you're not going to be 511 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,760 on the full program without accessing those bonus episodes. 512 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,240 Hopefully by now your bathrooms are straightened up and maybe 513 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,280 touched up. The next areas we're going to 514 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,880 look at are bedrooms and depending on how messy your 515 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,360 house is, you might need to just pick one bedroom you're going to 516 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,400 focus on. If I were cleaning along with 517 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,800 this episode right now, I'd be working in my bedroom. 518 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:06,920 I, I have an overflowing clean laundry bin right now that's 519 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:14,080 kind of taking over. So I would, I would start 520 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,760 folding and putting away laundry on my freshly made bed. 521 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,040 Maybe you need to quickly make your bed if that's where you 522 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:27,080 fold your laundry. OK, maybe laundry isn't a 523 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,040 priority for you though and you just want to get your floor 524 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,840 picked up or clear some surfaces. 525 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,280 Maybe you need to clean a kids room? 526 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:44,080 I recently shared a video on the Clean With Me podcast Facebook 527 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:51,520 page of a friend cleaning her kids room and I liked how she 528 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,600 had hard floors. I liked how she kind of dragged 529 00:32:54,600 --> 00:33:02,880 all the toys to the center of the room with the broom and then 530 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,000 sorted through those items, put them where and put them where 531 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,480 they go. So that's a quick way to get a 532 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,040 kids room under control. If you have hard floors, if 533 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,320 you're like me and the bedrooms are carpeted, you're going to 534 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,240 have to just pick things up manually. 535 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,880 And maybe you have a kid helping you right now, but maybe this is 536 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:26,480 your personal cleaning session. You know, just because your kids 537 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,160 are learning to pick up toys and they're often told to clean 538 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,160 their room and it's part of the regular routine, doesn't mean 539 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:37,480 that you're not going in there, just resetting their room on a 540 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,760 regular basis. OK, with younger kids that it 541 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,720 needs an adult's touch from time to time for sure. 542 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,160 Hopefully you're straightening up a room. 543 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,400 Look for problem areas in the room. 544 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,520 Is there something that needs to be dusted or wiped down? 545 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,440 I talked about my clean laundry bin that needs attention in my 546 00:33:55,440 --> 00:34:00,400 room right now. The other area is there's ATV 547 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,400 stand that needs to be dusted. So that would be the other 548 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,960 problem area. The key to these whole house 549 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,520 walkthroughs is just being observant, because if you were 550 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:15,600 expecting a guest who for some reason was going to tour your 551 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,960 entire house, you need to just kind of visualize this. 552 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:24,199 Even though it's probably not happening, you would go through 553 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,480 and kind of see it through their eyes because you know you know 554 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:34,040 they're going to be seeing it. Another kind of mental exercise 555 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:38,239 you can do to help you be more observant as you go through each 556 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,480 room of your house and deal with problem areas. 557 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,280 You could pretend that you're a real estate agent walking 558 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:49,639 through someone's house and giving them recommendations on 559 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:57,040 how to stage their home and make it more visually appealing by 560 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,920 removing clutter and wiping down surfaces. 561 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:08,080 So you want to look at each room of your house through the eyes 562 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:13,400 of a visitor or a real estate agent because sometimes you can 563 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,400 get in a rut because your visitors are only seeing you, 564 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,040 maybe your living room, kitchen and dining area and that guest 565 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,680 bathroom. They're not seeing your bedroom. 566 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:25,480 They're not seeing the master bathroom. 567 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,280 They're not seeing that spare room. 568 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,120 That's become kind of a catch all. 569 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,800 And I know those of you with a lot of kids are cursing me right 570 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,920 now for saying that you have a spare room. 571 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,200 I, I have a spare room for the first time in a long time and 572 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,600 it's in use right now. Right now it has people in it. 573 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,360 So I get it. But some of you do have a spare 574 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,800 bedroom and sometimes that can become a catch all. 575 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:54,280 Now there there probably is going to come a time where 576 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:59,000 someone's going to, to walk through every room of your 577 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,880 house. Maybe it's going to be some kind 578 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:07,480 of an emergency situation. Maybe you're going to have an 579 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,000 electrical problem. Maybe you have, you know, the 580 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:20,040 cable company comes over and or maybe you're in the hospital and 581 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,280 your mother-in-law is babysitting at your house. 582 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,880 I mean, I don't know, there's different scenarios. 583 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,640 You're going to have to figure out what the scenario is in your 584 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,920 head. But once in a while, there are 585 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,160 times where you think somebody might be going through every 586 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,960 room of your house, whether it's an overnight guest or something. 587 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,000 But unfortunately it doesn't happen very often. 588 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,120 But you still want those rooms clean and you know what I mean? 589 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:48,520 Whether you're expecting anybody or not. 590 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:54,640 So I want you to kind of perform the necessary mental gymnastics, 591 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:56,920 whether you're envisioning a certain person going through 592 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:05,160 your house or selling your house and a real estate agent walking 593 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,640 through there with other people. Like, what would you do? 594 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:14,320 OK, we have sold three houses before, so we definitely know 595 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:19,640 what it's like to need to have every room of our house 596 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:24,520 Immaculate and ready for a whole house walkthrough. 597 00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:29,280 But maybe maybe you haven't experienced that because I feel 598 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,320 like other people don't move around as much as as we have. 599 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,760 OK, But I grew up moving a lot and we've moved several times. 600 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,080 That having been said, we've been in this house since 2018, 601 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:46,800 so it's definitely been a long time and this might be our 602 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,400 forever home. Hopefully you've picked up a 603 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,400 bedroom and dealt with some problem areas, but I understand 604 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:58,200 if if you need to continue working on that after the 605 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,080 episode. I feel like in some of these 606 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,720 these episodes, I'm getting you started, getting you moving, 607 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:06,160 getting you thinking about what needs to be done. 608 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:10,400 And you're probably continuing after the episode or if your 609 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,320 house isn't that messy, you're getting everything done that I'm 610 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,400 talking about. Either way, you're moving, 611 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,960 you're making progress, and maybe you're wearing a fitness 612 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,760 watch, so you're getting credit for these steps. 613 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:26,280 OK, let's talk about and I realize you're getting the 614 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,040 exercise whether you're wearing the watch or not, but I feel 615 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,840 like when you're wearing the watch, you're more active 616 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,160 because you're like, well, I still need to get in 1000 steps 617 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,160 today. And it's toward the end of the 618 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,160 day. And then, you know, you start 619 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:43,360 moving around more or maybe go for a walk around the 620 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,520 neighborhood. The last area that you might 621 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:50,080 want to check on is your laundry room or laundry area. 622 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,920 I know you might not have a dedicated laundry room, but I'm 623 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:55,560 talking about wherever your washer and dryer are, whether 624 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:59,520 that's an area in your garage, an area in your kitchen pantry 625 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,520 or in the laundry room or in a closet. 626 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:05,720 I lived in different houses with all of those different 627 00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:10,000 situations, but you may need to clear some clutter. 628 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,240 Throw away the lint that's in your little lint bin. 629 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,280 Hopefully you have something that you keep lint in. 630 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,320 I have a cute little can that my middle daughter bought me for 631 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,520 lint that needs to be emptied from time to time. 632 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:30,480 And I also need to, you know, pick up items off the floor from 633 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:37,400 overflowing hampers and, of course, clear and wipe down the 634 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:43,680 washer and dryer surfaces and the shelf above them. 635 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,760 Sometimes I need to throw away empty containers. 636 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:52,120 I saw this reel where this lady was saying kids do not know how 637 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:56,200 to put away their toys or their clothes, but what they do know 638 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,120 how to put away is an empty food container. 639 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,640 I think that also applies to the laundry detergent. 640 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:06,880 I'm the only one in the house whoever throws away an empty 641 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:11,520 laundry detergent container So. This is your reminder to 642 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:15,720 straighten up your laundry area and maybe wipe it down if 643 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,040 necessary. By the way, my bonus episodes 644 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,760 are typically longer than these free ones. 645 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,600 Special special thanks to those of you who are already 646 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:30,480 supporting the show financially. It means more than you know, but 647 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:34,000 even just listening to these free episodes helps me, 648 00:40:34,240 --> 00:40:39,600 especially the video versions. But do whatever's convenient for 649 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,960 you. I hope you got a lot done during 650 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,360 this episode. I definitely recommend running a 651 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,920 vacuum after this or maybe mopping some floors. 652 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:55,200 But maybe this was all you had time to do today and you can do 653 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:58,800 more tomorrow. The important thing is getting 654 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:04,680 those dishes done every 24 hours and doing at least 5 or 10 655 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:10,400 minutes of tidying every day. OK, thank you so much for 656 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,360 listening and as always, happy cleaning. 657 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:15,040 I'll talk to you in the next episode.