1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,480 Thanks for joining me. In case you're new to the show, 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:06,640 I'm Ronnie and you're listening to Clean With Me, the podcast 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,760 where I talk you through cleaning your house. 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,000 Let's get right into the episode. 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,400 It's time to gear up for your cleaning session. 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,520 Maybe you need to open a few windows and get some fresh air 7 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:25,040 circulating through the house. Or if you're listening to this 8 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,560 on a cold day, you could light a candle or put some fresh wax in 9 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:36,720 the wax warmer and turn that on. In this episode, I am going to 10 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,800 take you through each room of your house. 11 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,520 You may be saying I don't think I can clean my house in 50 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,080 minutes. I get it. 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,160 But we're going to do something in every room of your house. 14 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:56,160 So it is going to be a whole house reset in that sense. 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,120 OK. And depending on the current 16 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,640 condition of your house, it might look pretty good after 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:08,160 this. Don't worry about the end result 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,760 just yet. All you need to do is put in 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:18,080 some earbuds or turn on that Bluetooth speaker and follow the 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,160 prompts. Another thing you might need to 21 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:27,400 do to gear up for your cleaning session is freshen up a little 22 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,800 bit. Maybe you need to run a brush 23 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:34,680 through your hair, or wipe those old makeup smears out from under 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:40,960 your eyes, or put on something comfortable yet presentable. 25 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,560 Even the clothes that we clean in should make us feel good. 26 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,160 And if a lot of your clothes don't make you feel good, it 27 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,680 might be time for a wardrobe purge. 28 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,160 But that's a whole other episode. 29 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,680 OK, just get freshened up for the day. 30 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,960 Get your house smelling fresh. And an important way to get your 31 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:07,360 house smelling fresh is to take out the trash and reline it. 32 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:14,720 Often I will dump the bathroom waste baskets into that larger 33 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,720 kitchen trash, then I'll tie the bag, take it outside to the 34 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,680 outdoor bin, and then I'll put a fresh liner in the kitchen 35 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,200 wastebasket. So if you need to take out your 36 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:34,200 trash, now's the time. And then lastly, one of the best 37 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,720 ways to kick off a cleaning session if you're not expecting 38 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,560 company and it's just kind of a routine whole house reset, is to 39 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:47,960 get some laundry going. That way your washer and dryer 40 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,680 are working while you're working. 41 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,560 Maybe you have some wet clothes in the washing machine that need 42 00:02:54,560 --> 00:03:00,640 to be switched into the dryer. Or maybe both machines are empty 43 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:05,040 and you just need to stir a load of wash. 44 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,040 But if you don't have any emergency items that just 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,560 absolutely need to be washed, like you're out of towels or 46 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:17,120 you're out of underwear, this might be a great time to strip 47 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:22,200 your bed sheets and get those washing. 48 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,160 That can be your first load today, your sheets and 49 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,560 pillowcases. And then for those of you who 50 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:33,720 are starting a load right now, I'll try to remind you near the 51 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,760 end of the episode to switch that laundry from the washing 52 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:44,120 machine into the dryer. And maybe as your break after 53 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:50,000 this episode, you could sit and fold some laundry and pause the 54 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,960 episode if you need more time for these preliminary 55 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,040 activities. But that having been said, you 56 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,280 don't have to be doing exactly what I'm saying while I'm saying 57 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:01,800 it. You can always catch up. 58 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,520 There's no need to be perfectly In Sync with the episode now 59 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,560 that most of you had have probably geared up for your 60 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,720 cleaning session. You've freshened up, you've got 61 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,920 your house smelling good, and you've started a load of 62 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,279 laundry. It's time to reset the kitchen. 63 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,440 And before you do that, I want you to go ahead and gather any 64 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,600 dirty dishes from around the house, whether it's a mug on the 65 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,720 night stand, a forgotten cereal bowl on the table, or something 66 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:37,040 else somewhere else. Let's get those dirty dishes to 67 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,000 the kitchen and either place them in the sink or place them 68 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:44,600 next to the sink. And if you have dishes kind of 69 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,760 all over your kitchen counters, let's bring those over to the 70 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,080 sink area and kind of consolidate the mess. 71 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,920 We'll deal with other clutter on your counter tops in a minute. 72 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,280 But right now I want you to focus on just getting all of the 73 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:04,880 dishes to the sink area. OK, I'll give you a couple more 74 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:09,760 minutes to do that. And I'm calling this the Whole 75 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:15,080 House Reset Spring 2026 edition. But it's kind of funny. 76 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,520 I feel like it's already summer. I work at a school and my 77 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,280 teenagers attend that school. Our school is already out and I 78 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:29,720 think my grandkids in Texas are on their last week of school so 79 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,760 in some ways it feels like the kickoff of summer. 80 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,720 But I went ahead and called this the Spring 2026 edition because 81 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:44,640 I do plan to do another whole house reset episode over the 82 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,480 summer when it is officially summer. 83 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:53,000 Now that you've had time to gather up those dishes, we're 84 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,360 going to get started by putting away any clean dishes. 85 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:04,720 I'm talking about emptying your dishwasher of clean dishes or if 86 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,680 you hand wash, emptying your drying rack. 87 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,000 Or if you're like me, you dishwasher wash and hand wash. 88 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,280 So there's a chore at your house where someone needs to empty the 89 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,560 dishwasher and the drying rack or drying pad. 90 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:23,920 By the way, in my recent bonus episode, How to Load the 91 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,280 Dishwasher, I tell you kind of my personal rules for loading 92 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:31,520 the dishwasher. So if if you're new to using a 93 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,240 dishwasher because your previous house didn't have one, 94 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:37,480 definitely listen to that episode. 95 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,440 And also, I've had people ask me for an episode that teaches 96 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,400 their kids how to load the dishwasher, so that would work 97 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,880 for that too. By the way, special thanks to 98 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,240 everyone who is already supporting the show financially 99 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:58,480 by unlocking the subscriber only episodes for a small monthly 100 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,360 fee. I appreciate that so much. 101 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,840 And if you're not yet doing that, you can subscribe either 102 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:11,320 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Patreon. 103 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,000 But if you're listening on Apple or Spotify, that option is 104 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,120 already being advertised to you. Some of you might need a little 105 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,120 more time to put up put away clean dishes. 106 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:29,640 On my current chore chart for my teenagers, one of the assigned 107 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:34,560 mandatory chores is for my teenage daughter to put away the 108 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:40,800 clean dishes by 3:30 PM. That way, when my husband or I 109 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,080 go in there to cook, those clean dishes are already put away. 110 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:50,720 I'm going to go ahead and move on to the next step, which is 111 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,640 starting your dishes, OK? And then we're going to tackle 112 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,840 some of that clutter on the countertop once we complete step 113 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:05,200 one of washing the dishes. OK, Step one could be loading 114 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,440 your dishwasher with the easy stuff. 115 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,520 Anything that doesn't really need to soak that you can just 116 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,680 rinse under running water and scrub out with a scrub brush on 117 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:20,280 a handle, whether it's a dishwine or just a a scrub 118 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,720 brush. And then place those items into 119 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,000 the dishwasher and then get any difficult items soaking as you 120 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,520 come across them. Like, oh, there's a chocolate 121 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,840 milk ring on the bottom of this glass. 122 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:36,559 I'm going to put some hot water and a drop of liquid dish soap 123 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:41,200 in this and set it aside and just continue loading the 124 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:46,320 dishwasher with the easy items that already appear relatively 125 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,640 clean and don't need a lot of pre scrubbing. 126 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:55,000 OK, but with the plates and the silverware, I am kind of doing a 127 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,960 lot of scrubbing under running water before I place those in 128 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,320 the dishwasher. But if something isn't really 129 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,840 coming clean, that item might need to soak. 130 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:11,240 So I might fill the right side of my sink and submerge a few 131 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:13,680 items. I might have a few glasses 132 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:18,480 sitting around the sink filled up with water and soap, and I 133 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:23,520 might have some dishwater going where I've submerged a few 134 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,040 difficult items that need to soak. 135 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,360 Same goes for large pots and pans. 136 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,080 As I'm pre rinsing and putting things in the dishwasher, I fill 137 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,880 those up with hot water and liquid dish soap. 138 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,120 And if it's a difficult pan with dried on or baked on food. 139 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:45,920 Kind of the secret weapon is to toss in a dishwasher pod right 140 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,240 into that pan and kind of supercharge that soaking 141 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,640 session. But I do realize that some of 142 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:58,240 you are hand washing, so your first step might be to pre rinse 143 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:03,280 the glasses and silverware and get those submerged for your 144 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,720 first sink load. I do realize that a few of you 145 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,040 like to wash your dishes just completely under running water. 146 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:15,600 If that's your method, if you don't have toddlers or whatever, 147 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,720 having your hot water heater on a setting that lets the water 148 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:24,560 get very hot, again, that could be a safety concern in some 149 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,640 households. But if your water's super hot 150 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,600 and you're using a dish wand that has the liquid dish soap in 151 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:36,640 the handle, I really like the the Scrub Daddy brand one, but 152 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,200 there's also a Scotch Brite one that I've been using off and on 153 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,520 for years. Those are great tools for those 154 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,360 of you who wash all of your dishes completely under running 155 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:48,920 water. But a lot of you probably wash 156 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,200 dishes the way I do it when you're hand washing. 157 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:57,520 And that's pre rinsing and then filling up the sink and placing 158 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:01,280 the the glasses and silverware in there first and then moving 159 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,160 on to things like plates, bowls and then ending with pots and 160 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,240 pans. And of course changing the water 161 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,040 as needed. I mean, if you're only cleaning 162 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:16,240 up after a couple people, you might be able to wash everything 163 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:21,600 in that same dishwater, just depending on what you made and 164 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,760 how well you pre rents things. There are a lot of variables 165 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,960 involved, OK. But some of us have large 166 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,160 families and there are lots of sink loads involved. 167 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,600 Or maybe just you're facing what I call a dishaster. 168 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:41,800 A dear listener coined that phrase away a while back and I 169 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,040 asked her if I could use it. And I've been saying it ever 170 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:46,960 since. I love it and I I say it in my 171 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:52,040 own house. For me it's when not everything 172 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:58,400 fits into the dishwasher. And maybe one sink load. 173 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,640 If everything fits into the dishwasher except maybe one 174 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:07,640 large pan and a cutting board or a pot and a pan, that's not a 175 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:11,080 dishaster. But if I'm going to do multiple 176 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:16,800 sink loads plus fill up my dishwasher, that's what I call a 177 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,280 disaster. It kind of happened to us 178 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,400 yesterday. I loaded the dishwasher with all 179 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:30,760 the small stuff, glasses, plates, bowls, silverware, and 180 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,960 large cooking utensils and even a large knife. 181 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,120 I got all of that in there, got it running, and then I said OK, 182 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,480 I loaded the dishwasher, but I'm really hoping someone else hand 183 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,560 washes the rest of the dishes. And that's because I had some 184 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:50,440 homework to do. Just be working on dishes, 185 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,280 whatever that means for you, whether you're doing multiple 186 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,120 sink loads, washing everything under running water, loading, 187 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,840 loading the dishwasher, or doing a combination of all of those 188 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:06,760 things. OK, so keep plugging away on 189 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:11,160 that, but sometimes you get to a point where you've gotten the 190 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,760 dishes started and you can move on to another task. 191 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:20,080 For example, maybe everything fit into your dishwasher and you 192 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:25,800 got 2 difficult items soaking. Maybe a large skillet and that 193 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:30,240 chocolate milk or mocha cup that had a ring in the bottom of it. 194 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:36,040 That would be the perfect time to walk away from the sink and 195 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,960 start decluttering your countertops. 196 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,240 Some kids are notorious for leaving cereal boxes out. 197 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,640 Hopefully you're just buzzing around your kitchen putting 198 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:53,200 items away and then once you do that, go ahead and tackle any 199 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,560 difficult items. But if something was super dirty 200 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:59,920 and needs more time to soak, you can always come back to that 201 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:04,440 after the episode. At this point, I want you to 202 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:10,360 either finish washing any items that you had soaking, and of 203 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:12,920 course you can pause the episode if you want more time. 204 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,280 At this point, I want you to either finish any remaining 205 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:22,280 dishes that you need to wash or just get those submerged and 206 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,120 start cleaning the surfaces of your kitchen. 207 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:30,640 OK, Often times I put a little bit of liquid dish soap on the 208 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,400 stove top, scrub that with an abrasive sponge. 209 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,960 I have a glass cook top, but some of you might need to, you 210 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,200 know, remove those burners and things like that. 211 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:46,360 I understand that, but I do like to scrub that with liquid dish 212 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,520 soap and something abrasive. And then sometimes if it's a day 213 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,680 where I'm kind of deep cleaning the kitchen, I will also do that 214 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,480 with my cabinet doors and the front of the dishwasher, the 215 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,480 front of the stove. Sometimes you need to do some 216 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,520 scrubbing, but this might be a day where all you need to do is 217 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,880 just give your countertop and stove top a swipe and clean out 218 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,680 your sink and clean the faucet and the area around the faucet. 219 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,040 I mentioned using liquid dish detergent on those difficult 220 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:21,840 areas, but some areas all you need is just a an all-purpose 221 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,640 spray, something that's safe on your countertops and you know a 222 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,840 rag, a damp rag. But typically I use a 223 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,480 combination of both. I scrub any difficult areas. 224 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:38,280 Then I give the kitchen a once over with a with a cleaning 225 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:42,440 spray and wipe everything down with a rag. 226 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,480 And then typically I'll use a different spray that's either a 227 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,440 glass cleaner or a glass and surface cleaner to spray the 228 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,160 stainless steel portions of my appliances. 229 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,800 And I encourage you to put away as many items as possible. 230 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:04,760 The less you keep on your countertops, the easier it is to 231 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,680 quickly spray it down and give it a swipe. 232 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,400 You want to remove as many obstacles as possible. 233 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,840 But of course a lot of us have items we use every day. 234 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,880 Maybe it's a toaster, a blender, a coffee maker or Keurig. 235 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,080 It could be any number of things, but if you're over the 236 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,240 phase of using something every day, like maybe you were making 237 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,800 smoothies for breakfast but like now you're having cereal, might 238 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,280 be time to put that blender away for a while. 239 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,040 You want more of a streamlined look on your kitchen countertop 240 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,400 so that these cleaning sessions will be easier and will happen 241 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,960 more often. Giving your countertops and 242 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,560 stove tops a swipe should definitely be a daily thing, 243 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,400 even if you're not always scrubbing cabinets and 244 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,240 appliances. OK. 245 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,200 And of course, I encourage you to clean the floors after this 246 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,200 episode. Maybe put on some music or phone 247 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,880 a friend if you're using a broom and you know there's not going 248 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,880 to be a vacuum blaring in the background and tackle those 249 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,319 floors. Sweeper, vacuum and then mop. 250 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:16,480 OK, that would be a great way to really shine up your house and, 251 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:18,319 you know, give it that finishing touch. 252 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:23,800 Nothing says a clean house like dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and 253 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,839 mopping hard floors. Those are great finishing 254 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,960 touches, but a lot of us have clutter to deal with before we 255 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,400 get to that step. And that's a big part of what 256 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,000 this show is about, getting through those tedious mundane 257 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,600 household chores. OK, most of you have had enough 258 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,360 time in the kitchen. No judgment here if you want to 259 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,320 just stay in the kitchen and maybe skip the living room 260 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,160 portion. But for most of you, it's time 261 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,920 to deal with your living room and or family room. 262 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:57,040 Maybe starting with the front entrance of your home and 263 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:01,480 working your way into those other common areas. 264 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,200 I'm talking about putting away stray blankets. 265 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,440 I'm talking about straightening throw pillows. 266 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,040 I'm talking about dusting crumbs off of your couch, your spot 267 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:18,080 cleaning it with a rag and an upholstery spray or even a 268 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,520 laundry pretreater spray. You know, whatever you have on 269 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:23,280 hand. I feel like a lot of those 270 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:27,880 products have similar formulas, just something that's designed 271 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:35,120 to clean fabric basically, you know, giving the TV stand, 272 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,400 coffee table and windowsills a quick swipe. 273 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,280 And you can even do that with just a micro fiber cloth. 274 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,440 But maybe you have a dusting spray that you like to use like 275 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:54,320 ledge or or some other product. Go ahead and quickly do that. 276 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,800 Dusting is pretty easy, but sometimes we don't do it as 277 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,640 often as we should because it just doesn't feel like it's that 278 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,000 pressing. I live in a super dusty area 279 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,440 though, so dusting is kind of a priority for us. 280 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:12,360 It's not a daily thing by any means, but you don't want to go 281 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:16,960 more than two weeks without dusting those surfaces. 282 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,560 And if people are eating on the coffee table and such, it's 283 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,920 going to get wiped down a lot more often. 284 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,920 But I'm talking about, you know, just dusting to remove dust. 285 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,600 It's OK to do that once every couple of weeks, you know, 286 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,080 straighten those couch cushions and throw pillows. 287 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,240 I think I might have said that. And of course, pick up anything 288 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,240 off of the floor. One of the biggest things you 289 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,760 can do to make your house look presentable fast is get the 290 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,560 floors picked up. And I'm not just talking about 291 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,560 items that were dropped on the floor or left on the floor by a 292 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,400 child or a pet. I'm talking about items that you 293 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,240 might be storing around the perimeter of the room. 294 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:06,160 You might have a box or a bag or a suitcase sitting out that 295 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,800 doesn't really belong there. Let's put away that item. 296 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,480 And by the way, if you always have little random stray items 297 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,680 in your living room left by your kids, grandkids, nieces and 298 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,360 nephews, or even a pet, I definitely recommend having a 299 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:26,520 small toy box or maybe a Wicker basket so that you can quickly 300 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,240 put those items away when you don't feel like, you know, 301 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,920 taking them to their homes in your house. 302 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,720 Just kind of a temporary solution is to quickly get them 303 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,880 into a basket so that you can get that floor vacuum ready or 304 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,080 sweep ready. I have both. 305 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:49,320 I have a little box, it's a toy box and then I also have a 306 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,680 Wicker basket. And that's because I currently 307 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:57,640 have my 4 year old grandson and two year old granddaughter and 308 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,440 their mom, my daughter living with me. 309 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:05,240 So there's a lot of toys around and little little shoes and 310 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,440 things like that. And we like to be able to 311 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:11,920 quickly get those items picked up, you know, when we go to 312 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:16,920 vacuum. So be working on those outer 313 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,040 areas. And while you're doing that, I 314 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:24,800 wanted to remind everyone that Clean with Me podcast is on 315 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,160 social media. So if you're on TikTok, 316 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:33,800 Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, definitely follow Clean With Me 317 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:38,840 podcast because I do plan to share some visual cleaning hacks 318 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:43,000 this summer and I don't want you to miss out on that. 319 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:48,880 So be sure to follow the show on whichever social media apps you 320 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:56,400 use, OK? Hopefully you've gotten your 321 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,200 outer areas picked up and maybe dusted. 322 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,200 It really doesn't take that long. 323 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,680 Maybe in the next cleaning session you can dust the blinds 324 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,960 and ceiling fans and wipe down switch plates and all the 325 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,120 things. But in this episode I'm just 326 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:18,840 having you do some of the most high impact cleaning tasks like 327 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:23,040 clearing the floor and dusting those main pieces of furniture. 328 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,400 OK, because this is a whole house episode and we've only got 329 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:33,920 50 minutes, so let's move on to the bathrooms. 330 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:39,280 Now when you're resetting your bathroom, you need to quickly 331 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,880 take out the trash because nothing says a messy bathroom 332 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,200 like an overflowing wastebasket. You might have done that at the 333 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,400 beginning of the episode. If not, now's the time. 334 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,520 The other thing you need to do is gather up any cleaning 335 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,840 products. Maybe you have a cleaning caddy, 336 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:59,240 or maybe you'd keep your bathroom cleaning products in 337 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,840 the bathroom. But make sure you have 338 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,320 everything you need, like your toilet brush, maybe some Comet 339 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,680 or Ajax or Scrubbing Bubbles or whatever product you use to 340 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,520 whiten your sinks in the inside of the toilet bowl. 341 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,840 Or maybe you use a dedicated toilet bowl cleaner. 342 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,120 You're going to need something to clean the mirrors, maybe a 343 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:25,320 micro fiber cloth and some glass cleaner, and maybe use 344 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,520 disinfecting wipes for the outside parts of the toilet. 345 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,560 Just gather up whatever you typically use when you clean 346 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:37,240 your bathrooms, OK? And then of course, you're going 347 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,200 to do a quick pre clean. You're going to remove any rugs 348 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,840 or bath mats. You're going to clear the vanity 349 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:45,080 area. You're going to remove things 350 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,840 that don't belong there and put them away. 351 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,560 But you're also going to remove those items that do belong 352 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,560 there, like the toothbrush holder and the soap dispenser. 353 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,320 You're just going to move everything out of the way so 354 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,560 that you can quickly spray and clean. 355 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,840 And by the way, my hack for cleaning bathroom mirrors 356 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,320 involves one of those Swiffer mops. 357 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,360 You know how you attach the pre moistened pad to that type of 358 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:11,520 mop? You can attach a micro fiber 359 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,680 cloth the same way and then you can spray your mirror with a 360 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,560 glass cleaner and mop the mirror. 361 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:22,680 I showed that hack to my teenage daughter yesterday when she was 362 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:28,080 cleaning the sliding glass door and she absolutely loved it. 363 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,520 She was like, why didn't you tell me that sooner? 364 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,520 I'm like, I talk about it on my show and I guess I forgot to 365 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,640 tell you. So definitely grab your Swiffer 366 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,280 if you're planning to mop your mirror. 367 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,840 But of course you can clean it by hand. 368 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,320 Just that other way is just great. 369 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,680 And those type of mops are probably under $20 like in 370 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,240 Walmart or something. Those are on my website, 371 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,640 cleanwithapodcast.com. But mainly I just put that there 372 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:03,040 so that you can see, you know, a list of cleaning products in 373 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,280 case you aren't sure what to buy. 374 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,080 I don't mind at all if you go ahead and get those at Walmart 375 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,320 or whatever. I get a better Commission if you 376 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:14,280 purchase skin care for Mary Kay. And that link is there as well. 377 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:17,040 I know a lot of you are already doing that kind of stuff and I, 378 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:22,280 I greatly appreciate it. Let's see, because I know some 379 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,640 of you don't want the recurring charge of a subscription, but 380 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,280 there are a lot of kind of one off things you can do. 381 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,160 For example, in my link tree you can click Buy Ronnie a coffee. 382 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,960 I run on caffeine. Folks, now that you've gotten 383 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,560 your bathroom pre cleaned, you've got the products ready 384 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:48,240 and everything, it is time to quickly clean up that bathroom. 385 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,080 OK, get some cleaner in the toilet bowl, give the inside of 386 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,840 the bowl a swish with that scrub brush to coat it with the 387 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:01,240 cleaner and remove any discolored areas or whatever. 388 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,720 And then let that cleaning product have some time to do its 389 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,080 work while you turn your attention to the vanity area. 390 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,760 That's where you're going to spray down the sink faucet and 391 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:17,800 mirror and shine those up. But sometimes before you use the 392 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,640 glass cleaner or the glass and surface cleaner, you know, 393 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,720 unless you just cleaned your bathroom a few days ago, you 394 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,480 might need to use a stronger product to scrub the inside of 395 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,480 the sink basin 1st and just really whiten that. 396 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,160 But if this is just a touch up for you, you may not have to. 397 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,320 For example, if I find out I've got company coming on short 398 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:48,600 notice, I'll just use the same spray, typically just a glass 399 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,920 cleaner, you know, just to quickly shine up the faucet, 400 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,240 mirror, sink, countertop all in one step. 401 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,360 And sometimes I just use paper towels in that situation just 402 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:03,240 because it's the quickest. And I realized when you clean a 403 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,840 mirror with paper towels, it can leave tiny little fuzzies or 404 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:11,840 whatever, But that's better than just a a dirty mirror with those 405 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,520 dental floss home runs on it. You know, when you're popping 406 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:21,960 that floss in and out and inevitably these little things 407 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,520 like can hit the mirror. I know it's gross, but it 408 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:30,120 happens to the best of us. When I'm just speed cleaning 409 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:34,080 that bathroom, it's not really like a disinfecting session. 410 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,280 I'll take glass cleaner and just hit everything, the exterior 411 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,520 parts of the toilet, the the floor, even everything with just 412 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,720 some glass cleaner and paper towels. 413 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:48,240 That's kind of my in between touch up if I'm in a hurry. 414 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:53,000 But when I'm sanitizing my bathroom, often times I just use 415 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,640 a disinfecting wipe on the inside of the the sink, the 416 00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:01,840 countertop, and then I also use a couple different wipes to 417 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,640 clean the exterior parts of the toilet. 418 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:10,880 Then I've disinfected those surfaces that we touch either 419 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:16,240 with our hands or with our body. And I can just use glass cleaner 420 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,040 on the mirror and I can shine the faucet after I've 421 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:27,560 disinfected it with the wipes. So I don't have just exact set 422 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,800 process as far as how I clean the bathroom. 423 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,600 It's just whatever I grab, whatever I feel like doing and I 424 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,040 kind of like to mix it up a little bit and do it 425 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,080 differently. I think when I use the Comet and 426 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,240 just be cleaning your bathroom while I talk, you know what 427 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,680 needs to be done in there. But I think when I use the Comet 428 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,040 or Ajax, those bleach powders to scrub out the inside of the 429 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,320 sink, if I tend to do that when I know I'm going to be cleaning 430 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,440 the bathtub or the shower floor because I already have that 431 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,560 product out. Or maybe if that's what I'm 432 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,480 cleaning my toilet bowl with and I just have it there, I might do 433 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,400 that. But if I'm using a dedicated 434 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:14,080 toilet bowl cleaning product in the toilet bowl and I'm not 435 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:19,640 cleaning the tub or shower that day, the disinfecting wipe, I 436 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,720 get the abrasive ones. So that does a good job of 437 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,600 cleaning out the sink basin and getting any little blobs of 438 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,880 toothpaste and any discolorations out. 439 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:34,880 And it is sanitizing as well. And that does a great job on the 440 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,440 countertop portion of the vanity. 441 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:44,000 So just just some thoughts on products and methods of cleaning 442 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,840 the bathroom. But once you get that vanity 443 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,080 area cleaned up, it's time to turn your attention back to the 444 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,800 toilet and clean the exterior parts of the toilet. 445 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,960 Whether you use you're using paper towels and some type of 446 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,400 spray or you're using disinfecting wipes, whatever you 447 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,400 use, you want to clean the seat, behind the seat, the rim, around 448 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,520 the little hinges, all the things. 449 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,160 Yes, I realize you can remove the toilet seat, but I find that 450 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,920 it's not necessary because you can use some spray to kind of 451 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:21,040 penetrate those hinges and just scrub those without fully taking 452 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,280 them apart. And then you do need to get on 453 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,320 your hands and knees if you're healthy enough to do so. 454 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,960 If not, assign this task to someone else to clean the 455 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:35,280 exterior part of the toilet bowl, in the base of it, down 456 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,760 where those bolt covers are. And maybe the covers are missing 457 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,720 at this point, I get it. But you want to get down there 458 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:44,600 and scrub. And when I'm already down there 459 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,560 on my hands and knees cleaning the exterior of the toilet bowl, 460 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:55,280 you know, I'll wipe down things like the plumbing hose or 461 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:59,920 whatever, and the baseboard behind the toilet and the floor 462 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:02,240 around the toilet. Just while you're down there, 463 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,960 you know, you just kind of go scrub happy and clean that 464 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,960 surrounding area because a lot of the area behind the toilet is 465 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:15,120 hard to get with a mop. So you want to do that by hand 466 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:16,960 while you're down there cleaning. 467 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,320 We're not going to clean the tubs and showers in this 468 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,880 episode, but maybe you could just spray kind of an everyday 469 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:28,560 shower spray on the inside of any shower curtains to freshen 470 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:32,320 those up. Or maybe when you clean your 471 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,960 mirror, you can clean your glass shower doors at the same time 472 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,320 because you've already got your glass cleaner out and your 473 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,880 microfiber cloth and maybe even your mop. 474 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:49,040 OK, But this is not going to be a shower and tub focus because 475 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,880 you can shut the shower door, you can shut your curtain or 476 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,240 whatever. And I also recommend to save 477 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,920 time if you're overwhelmed or you're just in a busy season of 478 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:04,680 life to clean your bathtub and shower when you're getting into 479 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,880 it or when you're getting out of it, maybe on the weekend or some 480 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,840 other day when you don't have a lot going on. 481 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:16,560 So that's that's the time to kind of combine your shower with 482 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,240 cleaning your shower. So just a thought there. 483 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,240 That's one of the reasons I don't always include the tub and 484 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:27,160 shower in every bathroom cleaning session. 485 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,160 OK. But once you've finished and and 486 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,240 scrub the toilet bowl again after you clean the exterior and 487 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:36,160 it's had time to soak, scrub it again. 488 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,520 And if it still has discoloration, maybe use a 489 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,000 pumice stone. Another way besides the pumice 490 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:50,120 stone to really whiten your toilet bowl is late at night 491 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,920 after everyone's in bed and you've used the bathroom for the 492 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,320 last time, you know, put in some toilet bowl cleaner in the 493 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,400 toilet, coating the inside of the bowl with it, and just 494 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,440 letting that sit overnight. That can work wonders. 495 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:11,080 OK, but once you've finished the toilet, the vanity area, look 496 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:12,880 around for any other problem areas. 497 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,480 Maybe you need to dust a fixture or wipe down a switch plate or 498 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,120 you know the door around the door knob, whatever. 499 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,520 But once you've done all that, it's time to sweep and mop your 500 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,520 way out of the bathroom. Or if it's a tiny bathroom, 501 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,680 maybe even clean the floor by hand. 502 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,400 I talked about the Swiffer pre moistened pads. 503 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,760 I like to use those and this is not sponsored. 504 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:37,600 I just a lot of you guys want to know what I use. 505 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:42,200 I take those pre moistened Swiffer pads and I wipe down the 506 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,360 bathroom floor kind of in the same way one would wipe down the 507 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,520 kitchen counter after making toast and leaving some bread 508 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,720 crumbs. You're grabbing up any debris 509 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,680 while wiping it. Basically you're taking care of 510 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,760 sweeping and mopping in the same step. 511 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:05,040 I only do that in my super small bathroom, my larger bathroom and 512 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,880 I'm using a a broom and a mop. You know, doing it the 513 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:13,760 traditional way, but with a tiny bathroom, there's just a tiny 514 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,800 amount of flooring. You might be able to clean that 515 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:21,480 by hand sometimes and you know, or if you're sweeping and 516 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,080 mopping, of course, sweep and mop your way out of the bathroom 517 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,040 so you don't walk over where you've already cleaned. 518 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,800 You always want to sweep and mop your way out of a room, whether 519 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,000 it's a kitchen, a bathroom, or another room with a hard floor. 520 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,800 If you're done, you can go on to the finishing touches, but no 521 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,000 problem if you're cleaning a bigger bathroom and you're still 522 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,880 working on it, or you needed to scrub out your bathtub because 523 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,639 it it really needed attention right now, I get it. 524 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,360 But for some of you, it's time to just hang up some fresh, 525 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:56,880 clean towels and make sure that there's plenty of toilet paper, 526 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,160 some on the roll, plus some more. 527 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,400 My mom has this pet peeve where she doesn't want to have to 528 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,080 search for toilet paper when she's a guest in someone's home. 529 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,840 She feels that the extra toilet paper should be on display for 530 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,160 guests. Sometimes I make like a little 531 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:19,240 pyramid of toilet paper, like I'll line up 3 rolls and then 532 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,840 I'll put 2 rolls on top of that and then one on top of that. 533 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:27,960 And that can be cute. Or maybe you can put some on a 534 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,560 shelf. But she believes in storing the 535 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:36,320 extra rolls visually. I don't really prioritize that 536 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,480 if I'm not expecting company because I can just throw some in 537 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,640 the cabinet and my kids can find it in there. 538 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:47,000 And if you do keep your bathroom cabinets super organized, you 539 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,560 might not mind if a guest opens that up and, you know, to look 540 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:55,080 for toilet paper or whatever it. Whenever I think about guests 541 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:59,240 rummaging around looking for things in the bathrooms, I think 542 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:03,520 about that commercial where somebody gets nosy and opens the 543 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,800 medicine cabinet and then it just comes, everything comes 544 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,480 crashing down and it's like, want to get away? 545 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,440 But yeah, the finishing touches are are hanging up fresh towels, 546 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,680 making sure there's plenty of toilet paper and of course, 547 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,840 putting things back, you know, putting your your toothbrush 548 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,120 holder and your soap dispenser and maybe that little dish for 549 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:28,520 people's rings back on the vanity and putting the rugs back 550 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,360 where they go if you're not going to wash them. 551 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:36,560 I mean, I get it that we've as a culture moved away from having 552 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:42,880 those like carpeted toilet seat lid covers and then the little 553 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,200 carpeting around the base of the toilet. 554 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:50,880 I get that those can be a little germy, but just a, a rug to step 555 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:54,800 out of the shower on to. Nothing gross about that. 556 00:36:56,080 --> 00:37:00,280 Hopefully you got your bathroom cleaned up. 557 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,920 I know I can sometimes talk faster than you can clean, so I 558 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,880 apologize if I'm, I'm going kind of fast. 559 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,560 But if you don't like this episode, don't worry. 560 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:14,240 I'm going to start trying to make whole house episodes more 561 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:16,560 often, like at least once every two months. 562 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,400 I do make them all the time for financial supporters to be on my 563 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,840 full program. You've got to subscribe. 564 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:28,080 OK? Once you're done with the 565 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:36,880 bathrooms, I want you to head to your bedroom, make the bed and 566 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:38,960 pick up your room. Put any dirty clothes in the 567 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,960 hamper. Let's get the floor picked up. 568 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,200 Sometimes when you have a messy bedroom, there can be a tendency 569 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:53,680 to get sidetracked by something and then you don't pick up the 570 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,480 floor. But I want you to make the bed 571 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,040 and pick up everything off the floor. 572 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:05,440 Don't overthink this to the point where you're tackling a 573 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,920 laundry basket full of laundry. Remember I said maybe after the 574 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,800 episode? You can either sweep and mop 575 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:15,200 your floors, or you can sit down and fold some laundry if you're 576 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:20,520 tired and put it away. But since I keep my residual 577 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:25,280 clean laundry bin in my room, often times I tell myself that 578 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:29,360 I'm going to straighten up the room and I end up getting 579 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:34,040 sidetracked by the laundry or I get sidetracked by something 580 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,600 else. Just an interesting object that 581 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:40,800 kind of sends my mind into a different direction and I end up 582 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:45,680 going on some side quest. OK, I discourage you from doing 583 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:50,120 that. If you do have a lot of clean 584 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,400 clothes draped over furniture, whatever, this would be a good 585 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:58,200 time to put that stuff away after you've picked up the 586 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:02,440 floor. I alluded to this earlier, but 587 00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:06,720 clutter on your floor is the most egregious problem in your 588 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:10,280 house. And so you've got to make 589 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:13,560 yourself pick up the floor first. 590 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,800 Then when you can see the carpet or you can see the tile or 591 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:24,680 vinyl, then you can start dealing with that. 592 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,800 The the clutter that's higher up, like the clothing that's 593 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:34,160 draped over a piece of furniture or the night stand that has some 594 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,840 clutter on it or that needs to be dusted. 595 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,880 You see what I'm saying? And notice I mentioned making 596 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,120 the bed before I mentioned picking up the floor. 597 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,080 That's because there's something magical about making your bed 598 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:53,200 that instantly makes your room look cleaner and kind of 599 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:59,760 motivates you to pick up. So yes, you make your bed first. 600 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:02,600 That gives your room an instant makeover. 601 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,360 Even if there's stuff all over the floor. 602 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:06,800 Then you're going to pick up everything off the floor. 603 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:11,680 Then you're going to look up. And deal with things that are up 604 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:16,440 a little bit higher, like things that are on the furniture. 605 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:23,800 Then if you do have a residual clean laundry basket, maybe dump 606 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:28,560 that stuff onto your freshly made bed as a visual reminder to 607 00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,480 fold and put away that stuff before the day is over. 608 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,240 OK, especially if you're never getting to the bottom of that 609 00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:38,120 basket. Like you fold and put away a few 610 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,480 things, but there's a bunch of like children's socks in the 611 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:46,080 bottom of the laundry basket or laundry bin if you're using a 612 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:50,520 larger container. If you're not getting down to 613 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:56,440 article of clothing 0 when you try to fold that laundry and put 614 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:00,280 it away, you might need to dump it onto the bed. 615 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,840 OK, you also might, and I'm just talking about later when you do 616 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,320 the laundry, be cleaning your room while I talk. 617 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,440 But just while we're on the subject of laundry, you also 618 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:15,760 might want to lower your standards about putting laundry 619 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,320 away. What I mean by that is if you're 620 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,520 living out of laundry baskets, laundry piles, laundry bins, 621 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:27,320 you're just digging for things to wear or to to give your kids 622 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:32,600 to wear, you might need to lower your standard about how you put 623 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:37,080 things away. Meaning maybe while you're 624 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:40,280 overwhelmed or for whatever reason, or you're just in a busy 625 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,200 season of life, maybe just had a baby or you're homeschooling a 626 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,400 bunch of kids. You know, maybe you could just 627 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:52,800 put all of little junior socks into a pile and then put them 628 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,520 into his drawer without matching them together. 629 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:01,080 Just an example. And that might be like totally, 630 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:04,240 you know, disgusting to you or something. 631 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,840 Everybody has different, you know, things that they're good 632 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:12,400 about and bad about, but if you're never putting the laundry 633 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,560 away, you need to make it easier. 634 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,040 You could also come up with some kind of system, and this is for 635 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:22,480 the people with large laundry rooms where you're putting 636 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:25,680 things directly into a container for each person. 637 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:28,320 Like you're folding things as they come out of the dryer and 638 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,640 then setting them into a bin for a particular person. 639 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:37,880 That way they can go to their specific basket to find things 640 00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:42,320 instead of having to go to like a community laundry basket. 641 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,720 Definitely consider washing different people's laundry 642 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,200 separately. OK. 643 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:56,040 For example my daughter has 2 girls who are close in age and 644 00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:00,360 wear the same size clothing. So all when I was at her house, 645 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:06,560 I washed all of their laundry together, but I didn't put other 646 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:12,640 people's laundry in with it. That way everything in the load 647 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:16,640 was theirs. So that can be a way to kind of 648 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:21,840 streamline your laundry process. I used to just mix everybody's 649 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,720 laundry together because that's the way my mom did it. 650 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,720 But as my kids got to an age where they were old enough to 651 00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:36,240 start doing their own laundry, I realized how much easier it is 652 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,640 to keep different people's laundry separate. 653 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,560 So maybe that'll help somebody. That's that's just my tip of the 654 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:50,360 day for doing laundry is maybe separated by person or by 655 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:54,840 people. OK, sometimes I do a load that's 656 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,360 all my clothes. Sometimes my husband does a load 657 00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:00,560 that's just his clothes, and I feel like it's quicker to put 658 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,160 things away when it all belongs to the same person. 659 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,840 OK, so maybe somebody wants to try that method. 660 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,680 There's no right or wrong way to do laundry, but I'm just 661 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,440 throwing out some ideas. While you're cleaning your room, 662 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:19,720 by the way, don't forget to sweep and mop your floors. 663 00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:24,480 Or vacuum and mop your floors. Or just vacuum After this 664 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:28,040 episode. Sometimes when I'm feeling lazy 665 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:33,400 I will vacuum the kitchen floor. I'll vacuum the other rooms and 666 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:38,280 not necessarily mop. But when my kids were littler I 667 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:42,200 had to mop so much more often. Especially when I was at a house 668 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:48,760 where the kitchen basically had two entrances and we had white 669 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,480 carpeting. We definitely had to constantly 670 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,400 sweep and mop because I perpetually had a kid in a high 671 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:59,120 chair during that era. My youngest 3 kids are pretty 672 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:01,640 close in age. They're they're each about 2 1/2 673 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:06,600 years apart. So definitely there was a phase 674 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:11,000 where sweeping and mopping the kitchen was a constant thing. 675 00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:17,640 But these days, the vacuuming or sweeping of the kitchen is 676 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:23,680 constant, but the mopping can wait till the end of the week. 677 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:30,440 OK, I didn't really mention your laundry room. 678 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,920 You might have other areas of your house that you want to 679 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,440 straighten up once your room's under control. 680 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:39,560 Maybe there's a kids room that you're responsible for. 681 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:41,880 Maybe your laundry room's a mess. 682 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:47,600 I encourage you to at least walk into each room of your home and 683 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:51,200 do a little something. I mentioned at the beginning of 684 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,280 this episode that you might not be able to clean your whole 685 00:45:54,280 --> 00:46:00,680 house during the episode, but it's important that you had a 686 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,080 whole house. But it's important that you have 687 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:08,240 a whole house approach when doing these resets so that 688 00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:12,000 there's not just one room that's turning into an out of control 689 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:17,360 dungeon that you never visit. OK, you know that craft room or 690 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:21,160 that guest room? Make sure you enter that room. 691 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:23,640 When you have school aged kids, it's always a good idea to tell 692 00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:26,640 them to clean their rooms right after you've cleaned the entire 693 00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:35,560 house because you've just shown them by example that you you 694 00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,520 clean your environment and you did a lot more work. 695 00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:42,880 So cleaning their room is the least they can do OK, so don't 696 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:47,880 forget to delegate if you have kids who are home right now. 697 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,280 Random announcement for those of you who are tired of hearing 698 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,960 about how I style my bangs because I'm. 699 00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:01,000 I've been in the 10 to 15% of women who even have bangs in 700 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:05,160 this day and age. I'm trying to grow my bangs out 701 00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:09,840 after like 42 years of having bangs that I styled with a 702 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,840 curling iron. And I'm not saying that I always 703 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,560 like curl them, but I shape them with a curling iron. 704 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,920 And you get to quit hearing about that soon because I'm 705 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:23,640 growing them out. We'll see if I stick with it. 706 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:29,080 Yeah, I've been using a curling iron on my bangs since I was 707 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:34,320 like 11 or something. So anyway, I think I'm finally 708 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:36,840 getting what the times and moving on from it. 709 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:42,840 I realize bangs are an option and every time period, but I 710 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,640 think I'm ready for a change. So if you're watching the video 711 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,880 version, you see that I have them more off to the side 712 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:53,200 because I'm trying to get used to exposing my forehead. 713 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:58,040 Anyway, I hope your house looks amazing. 714 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:01,680 If you're new to the show, I do have specific episodes where we 715 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:05,080 go deeper and in into more detail. 716 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:09,720 For example, bathroom cleaning episodes where I have you clean 717 00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:15,120 your tub and shower or kitchen episodes that have more detail 718 00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:18,720 or you know, a refrigerator cleaning episode for financial 719 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:23,840 supporters, things like that. So definitely, if you still have 720 00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:28,880 time and energy, listen to another episode, but don't wear 721 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:32,160 yourself out to the point where you're not going to feel like 722 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,440 doing any housework tomorrow or the next day. 723 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,640 Slow and steady wins the race, OK? 724 00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:44,400 I mean, even just spending 15 minutes or 30 minutes a day 725 00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:49,360 working on housework, if you're efficient, can help you get your 726 00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:52,720 house under control. And I've got episodes about 727 00:48:52,720 --> 00:48:55,400 virtually every house cleaning topic. 728 00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:59,600 I hope you got a lot done during this episode. 729 00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:03,720 If your house is still out of control, please don't feel 730 00:49:03,720 --> 00:49:06,800 disheartened. It might take you a while to get 731 00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:10,760 caught up, but if your house is looking good, try to maintain it 732 00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:12,880 for a while. Remember, it's easier to keep up 733 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:16,120 than to catch up. Thank you so much for listening. 734 00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,080 I appreciate each and every one of you. 735 00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:21,000 Don't forget to check out the links in the description. 736 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:23,880 Happy cleaning and I'll talk to you in the next episode.