1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,800 Have a seat at the table and look around. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,440 That's what your guests are going to be seeing when your. 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:08,680 House is a mess and you're feeling the stress. 4 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:10,760 What you need is a friend in your ear. 5 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,560 Start the job and you'll see it through with Ronnie talking to 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,600 you. Make the chaos disappear. 7 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:33,680 Clean with Me podcast is here. Welcome back cleaning Besties. 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:38,560 In today's episode, we're going to clean your dining room, and 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,800 this episode is part of my Deep Cleaning for Holiday guest 10 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,880 series. So it's time to gear up for our 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,040 cleaning session. Maybe you need to freshen up for 12 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,120 the day, put on some shoes, run a brush through your hair, 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,480 whatever else. Or maybe you need to start a 14 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,400 load of laundry or straighten up your immediate front entrance. 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:05,880 Whatever will help you feel ready to dive into deep cleaning 16 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,520 your dining area. Like I said, this is part of a 17 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,440 Deep Cleaning for Holiday guest series, but even if you're not 18 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:17,600 hosting a holiday dinner soon, it's always a good idea to deep 19 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,280 clean any area of your home. And in this episode we're going 20 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,640 to focus on the dining room. Just a quick recap of what I've 21 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,680 been talking about lately in case you're new to the show and 22 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,840 you want to go back and listen to some recent episodes. 23 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:38,160 Last Monday, I just talked you through a kitchen reset because 24 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,280 obviously as we're preparing for the holidays, we still need to 25 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,040 keep up with those everyday tasks. 26 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:52,200 And then the week before that I did an episode entitled Holiday 27 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,240 Cleaning Motivation. And then my most recent episode 28 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,280 for financial supporters was entitled Declutter Your Hall 29 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,440 Closets with Me. So if you haven't heard that one 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,680 yet, I, I encourage you to check that out. 31 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:12,760 You can subscribe to bonus content for a small monthly fee, 32 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,320 and you can do that either on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or 33 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,880 Patreon. But the point of that episode 34 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,960 was not only having, like, your coat closet presentable in case 35 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:32,240 a guest opens that up, but more importantly, freeing up storage 36 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:39,080 space so that you can begin to store more items out of sight so 37 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:40,600 that the rest of your house will look good. 38 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,560 Hopefully, you're off the couch, you're off the bed, and you're 39 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,560 up and moving and starting to gear up for your cleaning 40 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,720 session. Whatever you needed to do to get 41 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,680 started. But one of the themes of this 42 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,960 holiday deep cleaning series is storing more of your belongings 43 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,840 out of sight. OK, now's not the time to fall 44 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,680 for the convenience fallacy, where you tell yourself it's 45 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,920 more convenient to have things visible, you know, and and you 46 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,680 worry that you might forget you have them, or it might take too 47 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,080 long for you to get them out when it's time to use them. 48 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,760 Don't tell yourself that lie. And if you do decide later that 49 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,000 you'd rather keep certain things sitting out, great. 50 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,280 But if you're entertaining holiday guests in the near 51 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,600 future, you're going to want to store as much as possible out of 52 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,680 sight. Eliminating that visual clutter 53 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:40,000 can work wonders, and it will also make it faster when it's 54 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,280 time to deep clean your surfaces. 55 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:48,160 When preparing for guests, you mainly need to do 4 things #1 56 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:53,520 store more out of sight like I just talked about #2 deep clean 57 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:59,800 your surfaces #3 purchase any necessary items and maybe a few 58 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,760 extras. Let's face it, sometimes you're 59 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:09,840 low on silverware or glasses or you need a fresh welcome mat or 60 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,280 a scented candle or something like that. 61 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,800 Maybe add some things to your shopping list for later. 62 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,600 The 4th 1 is only for those of you who will be having overnight 63 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:26,160 guests, and that is to wash the bedding in your guest room. 64 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:31,560 And if you're going to be maybe displacing one of your kids, 65 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,320 you'll want to do that closer to the event. 66 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:40,000 But I know that at least one of my guests will be staying in my 67 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:45,920 back office, so that bedding's going to get washed several days 68 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,840 in advance. I'm recording this episode about 69 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:54,800 2 1/2 weeks before Thanksgiving, but I'm hoping that people will 70 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,840 use this episode to get ready for any holiday in the future. 71 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,000 And you may be thinking, 4 things, I have to do a lot more 72 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,480 than that. Well, those are very broad 73 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,760 categories. And over the next 2 1/2 weeks, 74 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:14,040 we're going to be tackling each area of your home and basically 75 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,040 checking those boxes. Let's get started in your dining 76 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,320 room. And as you're working, I'll talk 77 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,520 more about what's to come. The first thing you need to do, 78 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,760 of course, is remove any clutter, any obvious clutter. 79 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,680 Do you have items sitting on the table? 80 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,680 Maybe you have something on the table that belongs there, like a 81 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:40,080 fruit basket or centerpiece. Or maybe you have things that 82 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,840 don't belong, kids, art projects, your husband's tools. 83 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,960 There's no telling. But now's the time to clear off 84 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,400 that table and put everything where it goes. 85 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,280 Or if it goes on the table, just set it aside so that you can 86 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:59,120 clean the table. OK, That would be, you know, 87 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,080 what you would do in the case of a centerpiece. 88 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,600 And we're going to talk about the rest of the room and even 89 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,560 the surrounding areas. But for right now, I just want 90 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,760 you to clear off the tabletop. This week's bonus episode is 91 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,680 going to be another holiday deep cleaning episode about 92 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,560 baseboards, doors, and windowsills. 93 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,560 However, if you don't subscribe to bonus episodes, you can of 94 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,320 course clean your baseboards, doors, and windowsills during 95 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,520 these episodes or while listening to music or another 96 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,640 podcast. But I'm going to go into more 97 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:45,760 detail about how to clean those areas in the bonus episode. 98 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:51,760 And then in next week's regular episode, I'm going to talk about 99 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:58,560 cleaning your master bedroom and bathroom and the guest room. 100 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:04,840 And then next week's bonus episode will be cleaning your 101 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:08,320 guest bathroom, and that's going to be a deep clean. 102 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,640 But don't worry, for those of you who are not subscribers, you 103 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:19,480 will get some instruction on cleaning your guest bathroom and 104 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,760 the final episode of the Deep Cleaning for Holidays series, 105 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,560 which will come out on the 25th. That'll be the Tuesday before 106 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,960 Thanksgiving. In that episode, we'll be 107 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,880 talking about your guest bathroom and the floors 108 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,520 throughout your whole house. The day before that, on Monday 109 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,080 the 24th, you'll be doing a holiday deep clean of your 110 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:46,760 kitchen. You know, and that'll include a 111 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,720 a reminder to clean out your refrigerator and microwave, wipe 112 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:52,720 down walls in the kitchen, etcetera. 113 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,440 OK, by now you've cleared off your dining room table. 114 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,720 The next thing I want you to do is have a seat at the table and 115 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,080 look around. That's what your guests are 116 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,840 going to be seeing. Maybe you need to sit in 117 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:14,040 different chairs or just do kind of a 360 and look all around. 118 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:20,120 Do you see any problem areas in your home that are noticeable 119 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:25,000 from the dining room table? For example, a few days ago our 120 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,680 cat litter box was still in the line of vision and I had my 121 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:36,280 daughter relocate that to her bedroom as we're gearing up for 122 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:39,480 entertaining holiday guests. And I'm kind of hoping she'll 123 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,120 just keep it in there permanently. 124 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,799 Just saying. I think I like having it in her 125 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:48,400 room because it's going to force her to scoop the litter more 126 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:54,280 often when it's right nearby. So those of you cat owners, it's 127 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,120 not that your guests can't see your litter box at all, but it 128 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:03,400 needs to be far, far away from where they'll be eating or where 129 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,280 they'll be sitting, you know, in the living room or whatever. 130 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,800 And most people, I feel, probably keep it in their 131 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,080 laundry room. I wish I had a bigger laundry 132 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:15,440 room, but that litter box thing was just an example. 133 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,560 I want you to just kind of look around and, you know, see if 134 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,880 there are any other eyesores that need to be dealt with and 135 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:27,680 then deal with those. And then of course, you want to 136 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,160 also look at your immediate dining area. 137 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,000 Are there any items being stored on the floor that need to be 138 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,040 moved or just forgotten? Items under the table? 139 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,800 Maybe it's been a while since you've vacuumed or swept under 140 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:44,760 the table. If you don't eat at that table 141 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,120 very often, basically just pick up the floor over the next few 142 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,320 minutes. By the way, with any of these 143 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:57,320 holiday deep cleaning episodes, I realized that thorough deep 144 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:02,880 cleaning takes longer than this. My goal is just to get you 145 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:08,480 started and remind you of the tasks that need to be done in 146 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:13,920 any given area. But keep in mind, my holiday 147 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,600 deep cleaning has already begun, and I'm typically spending 148 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:19,600 several hours on it every Saturday. 149 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:25,880 So you may need to, you know, pick a couple of days leading up 150 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:30,760 to Thanksgiving or whichever holiday you're preparing for. 151 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,720 Since you might be listening to this at a different time of the 152 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:39,000 year, you might need to set aside a couple of full days for 153 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,560 deep cleaning. OK, I'm not going to sugarcoat 154 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:45,600 that, but I'm trying to just go over some things that might need 155 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,960 to be done and at least get you started on them. 156 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,760 Or if you know you're in kind of a good place with your house, it 157 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,400 might already be in good condition and you're just 158 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,440 needing to do some finishing touches during these episodes. 159 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,040 The point is to be up and moving and I realize you probably have 160 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,120 some non cleaning related podcasts on your playlist that 161 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,440 you can listen to as you continue on after the episode. 162 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,360 Or better yet, binge. Some of my older episodes I have 163 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,560 a lot of content for any room of the house. 164 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:26,840 If you scroll back you'll see other episodes where you know we 165 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,720 focus on outer areas and kitchens. 166 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,920 Although I will admit, I don't know if I talk about the dining 167 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,720 room in a separate episode normally, it's typically just 168 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,880 kind of tacked on. I think I probably don't talk 169 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,160 about it enough. So I'm I'm glad I'm finally 170 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:50,040 making a dining room episode. But for most areas in your home, 171 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,560 there are numerous episodes. The next thing I want you to do 172 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:57,680 is spray and wipe down your dining room table. 173 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,520 While you're doing that, I'll just say you might want to think 174 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,480 about putting the leaves back in your table. 175 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:09,760 If you have one of those tables that has removable leaves, 176 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:12,680 hopefully you know what I'm talking about by those. 177 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:15,560 But there are sections of table that make it longer. 178 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,880 If you're having company, that's the time that you want to make 179 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,160 the table bigger. I like to take out the leaves in 180 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:31,240 January so that we have just more space to walk around in our 181 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,520 eat in kitchen. But we have a couple leaves out 182 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,480 in the garage and my husband and I are going to put those in 183 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,400 soon. But before you do that, of 184 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,040 course you want to make sure that the table's clean. 185 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,600 And if you don't have any leaves, once the table's clean 186 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:53,280 and dried, you might want to find your holiday tablecloth and 187 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,280 put that on. I purchased kind of a semi 188 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,680 disposable one, I'll call it. I mean, it's not like a thin 189 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:03,200 plastic 1 like you see at a outdoor birthday party or 190 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,240 something like that. It's a little nicer than that, 191 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,360 but I don't know that it's one that I'm going to necessarily 192 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:13,000 keep year after year. It's it's a cheap one, but it's 193 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,480 cute. It has like a holiday coffee 194 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,840 theme. And when I'm getting ready for 195 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,600 holiday guests, I, I try not to save everything for the last 196 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,520 minute. That tablecloth is going to go 197 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,440 on as soon as we put the leaves in, and then we're going to just 198 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:31,760 keep the table clean. Be be scrubbing your table and 199 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,480 chairs. By the way, you don't want your 200 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,520 guests to grab a chair. And it's sticky. 201 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:43,040 But kind of my strategy when cleaning in advance of 202 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,880 entertaining guests is that once I clean an area, I raise the 203 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,280 standard in that area and try to maintain it. 204 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,520 And I realized in a perfect world, we'd do that all the 205 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,520 time. And, you know, that's always the 206 00:13:54,520 --> 00:14:00,440 goal, but let's face it, a lot of us can't maintain that level 207 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:05,440 of near perfection, you know, throughout the year. 208 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,960 But we probably are able to step up our game for a couple of 209 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,200 weeks. For example, the last time I 210 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,840 cleaned out my microwave, I set this little plastic cover in 211 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:22,160 there and everybody's been really good about covering their 212 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:27,000 plate before they reheat food. That's something we try to do 213 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,200 all the time and we should do all the time, but especially 214 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:35,320 leading up to a dinner party where people are probably going 215 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,800 to heat up leftovers later. Maintenance is key. 216 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,000 And I want to give you a couple minutes to really detail your 217 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,600 table and chairs. You might also have a a high 218 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,480 chair that needs to be cleaned if you have a toddler or a baby. 219 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,880 So I'm going to give you a little time on that and then 220 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,680 we'll talk about baseboards and window sills. 221 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,760 But keep in mind there is going to be a specialized bonus 222 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,840 episode this week where I talk about that. 223 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,200 And even though I kind of gave you the schedule of what I'm 224 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:13,080 going to be talking about and when with this deep cleaning 225 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,640 series, I don't want you to feel like you should necessarily wait 226 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,560 for those episodes to deep clean any areas. 227 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,600 The more you can get done in advance, the better. 228 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,880 And like I said, I have tons of other episodes dating back to 229 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,400 2018 for you to choose from. Of course, when you put leaves 230 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,120 in the table, if you are expanding your table in that 231 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,160 way, you want to walk all the way around it, pull out the 232 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,480 chairs, push them in. Just make sure that there's 233 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,840 plenty of space and that people aren't having to ask other 234 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,000 people to let them get by. I mean, obviously you might have 235 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,520 a real small house, real small dining area, and it might be 236 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,280 impossible to keep that space around the table to where people 237 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,120 can easily pull out their chairs and get around others. 238 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:05,040 But if you're able to create that space, then definitely 239 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:09,360 position the table in such a way that the people can easily get a 240 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:12,920 get in and out. Another thing to be aware of are 241 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:18,600 your curtains and blinds. I don't have blinds in my dining 242 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:19,920 room. It's a large, it's part of my 243 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,600 large Eden kitchen. There's a window by the table 244 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:30,080 and it has a a sheer curtain because outside of that window 245 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,840 is just my backyard and I have a really tall cinder block wall. 246 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,560 So we feel a lot of privacy as far as our backyard. 247 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,600 My mom and I were just talking about this the other day. 248 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,280 A new subdivision is going in in her neighborhood and many of the 249 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:46,680 houses are going to be two stories. 250 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,080 We were talking about how when you get a two-story behind you, 251 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,200 they can look down into your yard. 252 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:59,360 Well, in our neighborhood there are not any two stories and we 253 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:04,119 have a cinder block wall around our backyard and and these parts 254 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,040 they call it a fence. Where I come from that would be 255 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:12,319 a concrete wall, but it's almost 7 feet tall and the houses are 256 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:16,359 one stories. So somebody would have to go out 257 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,119 of their way to try to look into my backyard, as in stand up on 258 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,839 something, which is nice, you know, in case I want to step out 259 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:26,640 on the patio now and then in my nightgown. 260 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:32,280 So that's why I just have a sheer curtain on my dining room 261 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,920 window and then also the back sliding glass door. 262 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,840 So with those I could just throw them in the washing machine on a 263 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,640 delicate cycle. Obviously do that at your own 264 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,680 risk, but it it should be fine. But of course, if you have 265 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,760 blinds, you're going to want to either wipe them down, slat by 266 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:56,360 slat or take them outside and hose them off. 267 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:01,240 Although sometimes you can close them and kind of wipe them down, 268 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,880 you know, in larger strokes. So that's, you know, a 269 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,320 possibility. Hopefully by now you've wiped 270 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:13,840 down your table and chairs, high chair you, you've removed 271 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,200 clutter from the floor under and around the table. 272 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,960 You've made sure that people are going to have room to walk 273 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:27,440 around the table and you've also evaluated their view from the 274 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,440 table. Pause the episode if you need 275 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,800 more time, or just continue working on this stuff long after 276 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,360 the episode ends. But at some point, you're going 277 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:44,000 to want to wipe down your window sills, clean your baseboards, 278 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,200 maybe even wash your windows inside and out. 279 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,840 You know, you're not necessarily going to wash every window of 280 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,480 your house, but I want you to focus on the areas where your 281 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,200 guests are going to be spending the most time, like the table 282 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,440 they're going to be eating at or the living room couch where they 283 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,840 might be sitting down and watching the game. 284 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:10,920 Make sure that those windows, windowsills, and whatnot are 285 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,960 clean. While we're in the dining room, 286 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,240 be sure to look up. Hopefully you have a dusting 287 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:24,080 tool that's on a pole. OK, I have one and you can use 288 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:28,960 that to dust your fixtures. You know, whether it's a, a 289 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:34,440 chandelier above the table or, you know, just a ceiling fan 290 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,000 with a light on it or just a light, you might want to gently 291 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,680 dust that fixture. Of course, I should have had you 292 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,600 do that before you wipe down the table. 293 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:45,760 If you're knocking dust down, of course you'll wipe down the 294 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,920 table again. But don't forget to look at the 295 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,120 walls, especially in the corners. 296 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,600 Check for cobwebs and dust those off. 297 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,600 Of course if you don't have a dusting tool on a pole, you 298 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:07,480 could try using a step ladder or a regular ladder and a a smaller 299 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,840 duster. Or you could attach a micro 300 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,080 fiber cloth to a broomstick with rubber bands. 301 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,480 There are a lot of ways to do that. 302 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,960 Some of you have extremely, extremely high vaulted ceilings. 303 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:29,640 And I'm not even sure how you reach some of those areas. 304 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,120 You know, maybe your husband comes in with an industrial 305 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:35,440 ladder from his work or something. 306 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,520 But for most of us, the combination of a dusting tool on 307 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:44,600 a pole, even if it's homemade, using a room or mop and a step 308 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,960 ladder will suffice. And we can reach those corners. 309 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,120 Be careful, of course. And of course, after the 310 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:57,960 episode, you're going to want to sweep and vacuum or sweep and 311 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,840 mop. And then the fun part is going 312 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,360 to be a little bit of staging. You know, if you have little 313 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,720 ones who are always just, you know, making a mess on the table 314 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,720 or whatever, you might not want to put your Thanksgiving 315 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:15,680 tablecloth on in advance. But my kids are teenagers and 316 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,360 adults and I just have the two teenagers living here right now. 317 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,040 So all I have to do is have a family meeting and be like, hey, 318 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,760 don't mess up this tablecloth. There's they're not going to be 319 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:30,160 any oil painting projects happening at the dining room 320 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,120 table for the next couple weeks. My daughter, who's an artist, 321 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,960 has an easel in her room anyway, but she does some of her work at 322 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:39,840 the dining room table. That's just going to be off 323 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,200 limits. We're not going to dirty up the 324 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:47,320 new tablecloth again. Once you deep clean an area in 325 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,280 advance, you want to maintain it. 326 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,400 And of course you're going to do, you know, finishing touches 327 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,920 the night before your guests arrive or the morning of. 328 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,640 But you want to get all the deep cleaning out of the way and then 329 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,520 turn over a new leaf, even if it's for a short time, you know, 330 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,160 you can do anything for a short time. 331 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,520 You can raise the standard in every room and maybe you'll even 332 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:15,120 create new habits to the point where after this holiday get 333 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:20,440 together, you're maintaining your house at a higher level of 334 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,040 cleanliness. I hope you got a lot done during 335 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,760 this episode. Special thanks to my financial 336 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:33,640 supporters who have unlocked subscriber only episodes for a 337 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,360 small monthly fee. To learn more about how to do 338 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:41,160 that, you can visit my website cleanwithmepodcast.com. 339 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,000 There will also be a link in the show notes. 340 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:50,240 And by subscribing, you'll unlock my upcoming holiday 341 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:55,480 episode where we're going to focus on baseboards, doors and 342 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:59,040 window sills. And then a week later, there's 343 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:03,400 going to be an episode on deep cleaning your guest bathroom. 344 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,920 But most of all, just keep listening. 345 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,160 Click follower the plus sign on whichever app you're listening 346 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,840 on so you'll be notified when I make a new episode. 347 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:16,920 I appreciate each and everyone of you. 348 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,920 And as always, happy cleaning. I'll talk to you in the next 349 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:21,360 episode.