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You can either wipe things down 
while you're cooking or have to 

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scrub them later. 
I'm Ronnie and you're listening 

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to Clean With Me, the podcast 
where I walk you through 

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cleaning your house step by 
step. 

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When you clean along with this 
show, you'll get more done in 

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less time so you can spend the 
rest of your day doing what 

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matters most to you. 
Thanks for joining me in today's

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episode. 
I'm going to help you get your 

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house under control quickly. 
For this one, I'm going to 

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assume that you're already 
dressed and ready to clean. 

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Let's get right into the 
episode. 

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The first thing you're going to 
want to do is take your kitchen 

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trash out and reline it. 
You want to have a place to 

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throw away trash while you're 
rushing through your house 

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getting it cleaned up. 
And once you're done doing that,

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you're going to want to either 
open your curtains and blinds 

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and a few windows to let some 
sunlight in and let some fresh 

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air circulate. 
Or alternatively, if you don't 

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want to open the windows for 
whatever reason, possibly 

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whether you can light a scented 
candle, start a wax warmer, or 

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start an essential oil diffuser.
The point is to make sure you 

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have a place to throw away trash
and that your house smells fresh

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from the get go. 
And since this is a speed clean,

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we're not going to deep clean 
the bathrooms during this 

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episode. 
But of course, if you subscribe 

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to bonus content, you'll unlock 
several hour long episodes that 

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have you work in every room of 
the house, including bathrooms. 

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And even with these free 
episodes, you can Scroll down 

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and find a bathroom episode or a
whole house episode. 

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But there are a lot more of 
those longer episodes that you 

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can unlock when you subscribe to
bonus content. 

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Many of the bonus episodes, many
of the bonus episodes are an 

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hour or longer, and there's 
information on that in the 

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episode notes. 
Or you can go to 

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cleanwithmepodcast.com to learn 
more about the three options for

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supporting the show financially 
and unlocking those whole house 

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episodes. 
But in this episode, we are 

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going to tidy up your house by 
doing a whole house pick up. 

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We're going to quickly wash some
dishes and wipe your kitchen 

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surfaces down. 
You're going to quickly make 

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your bed and then you're going 
to either vacuum most of your 

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house or quickly sweep and mop 
the kitchen at the end of the 

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episode. 
And depending on the size of 

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your home, you may need to go 
longer than the 25 minutes and 

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continue on with the vacuuming 
or sweeping and mopping. 

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But I'm definitely going to get 
you started on the road to an 

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under control house. 
OK, let's do that quick 5 minute

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whole house pickup. 
You're going to just rush around

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picking up anything that's out 
of place and putting it where it

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goes, and this includes 
gathering up any dirty dishes 

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and taking them to the sink. 
Don't get sidetracked and start 

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washing them just yet. 
You're going to just take them 

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to the sink because you're 
picking up anything that's out 

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of place in your home. 
You can start at the front 

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entrance if you're worried about
that first impression area or if

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you know that your bedroom's the
messiest room right now and 

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you're more concerned with that,
then you can start by picking up

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back there. 
Definitely customize this to 

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your current situation. 
You know, dirty clothes in the 

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hamper, shoes in the closets, 
straighten couch cushions. 

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Grab those dirty dishes off of 
your night stand or your 

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teenagers night stand if you 
know if that applies. 

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At our house, picking up and 
vacuuming is an everyday thing. 

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Doing dishes and wiping down 
surfaces in the kitchen is an 

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everyday thing. 
Making the bed is an everyday 

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thing. 
These are often non negotiable 

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tasks and I realized some of you
might be in a season of life 

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where you don't have to vacuum 
or sweep and mop as often. 

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I get that, but a lot of us are 
in the trenches due to kids and 

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pets and we need to do that. 
Or maybe we're just married to a

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spouse whose mom vacuumed every 
day and that's considered the 

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norm. 
But whether you started at the 

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front entrance or in a bedroom, 
or maybe you have a two-story 

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and you're focusing on just the 
upstairs or just the downstairs,

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be rushing around quickly 
putting things away where they 

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go. 
I like to start by picking up 

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any clutter from the floor, and 
then I move up to the upper 

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surfaces and clear items off of 
the couch or the end tables or 

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the bedroom night stands. 
The goal of this session is to 

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get your house looking better 
quickly, and then afterward 

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you'll feel more relaxed. 
And then you might choose to 

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start a load of laundry or deep 
clean a bathroom. 

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But for now, we're getting your 
house under control and looking 

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presentable. 
Maybe you're listening to this 

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episode early in the day and you
want to get the house under 

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control before you leave the 
house. 

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Or maybe your spouse is coming 
home and you'd like the house to

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look nice when they walk in. 
Or maybe you're having company 

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on short notice. 
Or lastly, maybe you just don't 

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feel like doing an hour's worth 
of housework and you'd want to 

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just knock out some daily 
minimums so that you can relax 

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or move on to another activity. 
You should be almost done 

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picking up your entire house 
right now. 

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No judgment here if if you're 
not, but just do your best to 

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get that done in the next 
minute. 

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Lately I've been keeping a 
running To Do List in the 

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notepad app of my phone. 
No, I don't have a specific list

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of household chores because I I 
just kind of do the same 

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routines that I talk about on 
this show. 

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This show kind of eliminates a 
need for a specific To Do List 

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as far as what you're going to 
clean when you clean. 

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But I'm just talking about a 
running To Do List that I create

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the night before that lets me 
know what I need to do for the 

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day. 
And yes, clean the house is one 

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of the items because I often 
make myself clean the house 

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before I do certain lower 
priority activities. 

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And yes, there are often things 
on the list that come before 

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cleaning the house because they 
need to happen first or they're 

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more important on that 
particular day. 

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But most of my To Do List items 
are listed after cleaning the 

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house because there's just 
something about a clean house 

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that gives you Peace of Mind and
helps you feel ready for 

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anything. 
It's it's like getting dressed 

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for the day soon after you want 
to clean up your house at least 

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by doing the minimums like we're
doing in this episode. 

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OK, since you gathered up a few 
dirty dishes during the that 

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step, or even if you didn't, 
it's time to head to the kitchen

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and wash any dirty dishes that 
you have. 

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If you're caught up on dishes, 
then work in the kitchen anyway.

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Of course, you can just wipe 
down your surfaces working from 

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the top down and you'll have 
more time to do a thorough sweep

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and mop at the end if you don't 
have dishes to do. 

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But a lot of you have dishes to 
do, so I want you to do either a

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quick empty reload and run of 
the dishwasher or if you're hand

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washing quickly, pre rinse some 
stuff and get started on that 

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first sink load. 
When I'm hand washing, I will 

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pre rinse some items like 
glasses and silverware and 

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coffee mugs, maybe some bowls or
plates depending on how much 

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stuff I need to hand wash. 
And I'll get those soaking in 

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hot dishwater, you know, hot 
water with a little dish soap 

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and I'll make that water even 
hotter than I can stand. 

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That way those items can soak 
for a couple minutes while I 

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wipe down surfaces in my 
kitchen. 

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Then I come back when the water 
is comfortable enough for me to 

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stick my hands in it and 
continue to wash. 

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So that's one way of going about
it. 

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But since I have a dishwasher, 
what I usually do is pre rinse 

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any pots or pans that need to 
soak, get those soaking 

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immediately and then do an empty
reload and run of the 

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dishwasher. 
Another thing you can do while 

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letting things soak for a minute
in super hot water is to empty 

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your drying rack. 
But my goal for you is that in 

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the next 7 minutes, you will 
wash all of your dishes or most 

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of them. 
So you've definitely got to work

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quickly during this segment 
because we need to have time to 

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wipe down your kitchen surfaces,
whether you're doing that in 

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between steps when washing 
dishes or you're doing it after 

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your dishes are completely 
washed. 

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Like if you're doing an empty 
reload and run of the 

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dishwasher, you're going to want
to wipe down those key kitchen 

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surfaces after doing dishes. 
So you've got to work quickly on

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the dishes. 
If you've been listening to the 

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show for a while, you know that 
I'm really big on using the 

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Notepad app in my phone. 
But lately I've been trying to 

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use it every day and I feel like
it's such a game changer to have

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just a running To Do List. 
And you might prefer like the 

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paper and pen method. 
My mom keeps a small notepad in 

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her pocket while she's doing 
housework and then crosses 

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things off of the list. 
And there is a certain 

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satisfaction when you're 
crossing things off of the list,

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but when you use something on 
your phone, it kind of prevents 

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you from losing the list, which 
I tend to be guilty of. 

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I use an app for grocery lists, 
but sometimes if I don't feel 

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like going into that app, I'll 
just use a simple note in my 

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notepad app and put a few things
there. 

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Or another way I do grocery 
shopping. 

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If my husband and I are going 
together, I'll text him either 

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before we leave or while I'm 
riding as a passenger in the 

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truck, the things that I want to
get in the grocery store, and 

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that way the text is a record of
my grocery list. 

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But when I'm feeling 
overwhelmed, I have a day off 

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where I need to get a lot of 
things done, which typically I'm

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running a lot of errands and 
making phone calls on Mondays. 

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Creating that To Do List the 
night before gives me Peace of 

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Mind knowing that I won't forget
to complete those tasks the next

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day. 
And I just delete items when 

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I've completed them. 
It's not the same as crossing 

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them off. 
If you want to kind of have that

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mental boost of seeing what 
you've completed, of course, you

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can use some other type of app 
or you're actually crossing 

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things off or putting a check 
mark by things. 

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But I'm fine with just deleting 
what I've already done. 

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Like one of them was take kids 
to school and I just deleted 

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that. 
Right now, the top of my list is

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recording this podcast. 
But the next thing is clean the 

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house. 
And then there are 123-4567 

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other tasks to complete after 
cleaning the house. 

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So I'm definitely going to be 
doing just a quick speed clean, 

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just doing my daily minimums 
like I'm talking about in this 

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episode. 
Many of you are still working on

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dishes because in the speed 
clean episodes, there's just no 

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00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,120
getting around the fact that it 
does take a few minutes to get 

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00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:31,000
the dishes done at least. 
But if you've been caught up on 

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dishes or you're super fast, 
just to kind of let you know 

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what comes next, I would start 
by wiping down the upper 

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cabinets and then move down to 
wipe the countertops, stove top,

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clean out the sink and spray and
wipe down those large appliance 

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fronts like the outside of the 
refrigerator, the outside of the

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microwave, the oven and the 
dishwasher. 

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I either use a glass cleaner or 
multi surface spray because I 

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just don't want to spend a lot 
of money on stainless steel 

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cleaner. 
And also there is a window on 

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00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,720
the oven and there's a window on
the microwave. 

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00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,360
So yeah, either a glass cleaner 
or a glass and surface spray 

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works great for that step. 
And then of course, if it's a 

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day where I need to wipe down 
the lower cabinets, I'll wipe 

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those down. 
Cabinets aren't are not an 

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everyday thing. 
So if you're overwhelmed with 

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dishes, once you get done with 
the dishes, you're going to be 

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wiping out your sink, wiping 
your countertops and stove top 

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00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,360
for sure. 
Those are the non negotiables in

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00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,560
the kitchen. 
And I usually like to wipe down 

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00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,280
those appliance fronts as well. 
I mean, that's kind of what 

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00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,880
makes the kitchen look clean 
because those appliances tend to

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have a lot of smudges on them. 
I'm not being like nitpicky 

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00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:00,080
about fingerprints. 
I'm talking like they look dirty

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if I don't spray and wipe them 
down very regularly. 

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00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,240
But when I'm in survival mode, 
kind of the bare minimum is to 

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wash the dishes and then wipe 
down the countertops, stove top,

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00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,120
clean out the sink. 
And yes, in longer episodes we 

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00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,480
do things like clean out the 
microwave and clean out the 

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00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,960
refrigerator. 
And I talk about that kind of 

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00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,840
stuff more in the bonus 
episodes. 

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00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,560
And a lot of those bonus 
episodes are whole house. 

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Like I mentioned, a lot of the 
bonus episodes are whole house 

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episodes, but I recently did one
that was just a 36 minute 

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episode on how to clean your 
refrigerator. 

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And in that episode you're 
cleaning the inside of your 

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refrigerator, not just spraying 
and wiping down the exterior. 

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Wiping down the exteriors of my 
larger appliances is probably an

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every other day task, if not 
every day. 

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But if you need to deep clean 
your refrigerator after this, 

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definitely listen to my recent 
bonus episode on how to clean 

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your refrigerator. 
It's a real time clean along. 

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So I was actually cleaning the 
inside of my refrigerator while 

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I recorded it. 
So definitely the time I give 

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you for each step is going to be
accurate and doable. 

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And if you like hearing me 
actually cleaning along, I do 

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that once in a while on those 
paid bonus episodes. 

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Not all the time, but there are 
a few thrown in like that. 

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OK, I hope you got your dishes 
done. 

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But if you want kind of an 
overall clean look in your 

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house, you might need to leave a
couple items to soak for now. 

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And you can come back to those 
after the episode because at 

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this point you've got to wipe 
down those kitchen surfaces. 

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I'm only going to give you like 
2 minutes to do it. 

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So it might mean just dealing 
with any obvious smudges on 

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cabinets or large appliances and
focusing more on those non 

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negotiables like the countertop,
stovetop, kitchen island. 

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But I count that as countertop 
and maybe a kitchen table if if 

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you've eaten at that table or 
someone has eaten at that table.

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And of course if you have too 
many obstacles on your kitchen 

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countertop, put away those 
items, clear them off. 

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I mean, maybe you need to 
quickly put some seasonings away

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or put a box of cereal away or 
put away an appliance that you 

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used recently that's not one of 
your everyday appliances. 

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Like maybe you need to put away 
a crock pot or a blender if 

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that's not part of your everyday
routine. 

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I mean, a lot of us have some 
type of coffee maker or Keurig 

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and a toaster perpetually out, 
but a lot of the other 

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appliances can be put away so 
that you won't have as many 

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obstacles when you're cleaning 
your countertops. 

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But I definitely want you to 
work quickly during this step. 

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You've done the hard work of 
washing all or most of your 

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dishes. 
Now you're just wiping down your

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main kitchen surfaces that are 
non negotiable. 

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Your countertops. 
You sink the top of your stove, 

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maybe the controls on the back 
of your stove or wherever your 

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little control panel is. 
I know different stoves are 

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different and maybe you need to 
quickly remove the burners and 

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clean those burner trays. 
Or if you're like me, you have a

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glass cook top and wiping the 
stove just kind of goes along 

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with wiping down the 
countertops. 

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Definitely try to clean any 
spills as they happen in the 

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future when you're cooking so 
that cleaning your stove doesn't

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become a huge ordeal. 
It's always easier to clean 

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things right away. 
You can either wipe things down 

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while you're cooking or have to 
scrub them later. 

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Now, I want you to run to your 
bedroom and make your bed. 

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It's only going to take you 
about 60 seconds to make your 

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bed. 
I mean, unless you want to just 

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strip your bed and take those 
sheets to the laundry room or 

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something. 
But obviously not every day is a

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washer bedding day, especially 
when you're in survival mode and

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you just want to get your house 
under control so that you can 

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00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:32,000
move on to something else, 
whether it's relaxing or deep 

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00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,680
cleaning an area or leaving the 
house or cooking or whatever. 

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For me, it's going to be 
knocking out the rest of my To 

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00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,840
Do List, which consists of 
errands and phone calls. 

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00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,600
Another thing on my To Do List 
is just finding a certain credit

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00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,080
card and switching that out with
a different one that I have in 

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00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,680
my purse and just start carrying
another one because we recently 

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00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,680
paid our credit cards off but I 
like to make sure that I keep 

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them all active. 
I don't know if this could help 

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00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:07,840
someone, but when you have your 
credit cards paid off, you don't

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00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:11,040
want the credit card companies 
to just eventually close your 

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00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,720
accounts because it's good for 
your credit score for the most 

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00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:15,800
part to have these accounts 
open. 

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00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,080
So if you have the 
self-discipline, you'll want to 

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00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,760
make a purchase every so often 
on your zero balance credit 

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00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,840
cards and then just pay it back 
immediately. 

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00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,640
To keep the card active. 
And the reason I'm not tempted 

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00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,600
to leave that balance there or 
anything like that is because I 

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00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:39,240
have an app on my phone and as 
soon as I see a balance on one 

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00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,520
of the credit cards, I pay it. 
And I mean, you could do this 

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00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,680
just every few months. 
It's not like you have to do it 

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00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,320
all the time. 
But that's why I'm rotating 

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00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,400
which credit card I keep in my 
wallet. 

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00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,520
OK, You've had more than enough 
time to make your bed. 

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00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,360
The last thing I want you to do 
in this cleaning session is 

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00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:02,280
either vacuum most of Oregon all
of your house. 

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00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,480
Again, I don't know how big your
house is. 

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00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:09,400
Usually when I vacuum it's the 
living room, hallway and my 

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00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:14,160
bedroom because kids vacuum 
their own bedrooms and my 

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00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,000
husband and son usually sweep 
and mop in the kitchen so I 

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00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,120
don't usually have to vacuum in 
there. 

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00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:25,480
Or if you don't feel like you 
need to vacuum, maybe you would 

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00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,600
rather use these last couple 
minutes to just quickly sweep 

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00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,160
and mop your kitchen. 
If you have kids eating in the 

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00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:38,720
kitchen or preparing food in the
kitchen, sometimes that needs to

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00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:43,480
be swept and mopped super 
regularly and it can be more 

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00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,800
important than vacuuming in one 
house. 

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00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,760
And this is when a couple of my 
kids were still toddler 

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00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:56,800
preschool aged. 
We had off white carpets and the

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00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,560
kitchen was kind of in the 
center of the house. 

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00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:05,120
There were two entrances to the 
kitchen and people could easily 

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00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,440
track any food from the kitchen 
floor onto the white carpeting. 

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00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:13,480
So it was super important to 
sweep and mop the kitchen that 

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00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,480
came first. 
It was non negotiable. 

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00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,600
It was every day because if 
anything got tracked onto the 

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00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,880
carpet, it could potentially 
stain it or at least require me 

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00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,440
to get on my hands and knees and
spots clean the mess. 

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00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:31,840
So at that house, sweeping and 
mopping the kitchen floor was 

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00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,520
done more often than the 
vacuuming was done. 

335
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,600
Later we got laminate flooring 
and that kind of solved that 

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00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,840
issue of having the white 
carpeting. 

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00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,600
But now my kids are older and 
we're cleaning as we go more So 

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00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,400
the vacuuming happens a little 
more than the sweeping and 

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00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,000
mopping of the kitchen. 
And I've said this a lot before,

340
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,600
but the two things that make 
your house look clean, of 

341
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,520
course, after you've tidied up, 
you've done dishes and removed 

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00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,360
clutter from the floors and 
furniture, is vacuuming and 

343
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,520
dusting. 
But dusting does not need to be 

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00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,600
done every every day. 
It's something you do either 

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00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:15,000
once a week or even once every 
two weeks, just depending on a 

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00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,160
lot of different variables. 
We live in a really dusty area, 

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00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,800
so we probably should be dusting
every week, but we're way more 

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00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,000
consistent about vacuuming. 
And sometimes dusting isn't just

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00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,280
dusting. 
Sometimes people are eating on 

350
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,720
your living room furniture or 
getting food or liquid on a 

351
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,360
night stand. 
And so I use dusting as kind of 

352
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:44,640
a catch all term for wiping down
surfaces outside of the bathroom

353
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,760
and kitchen. 
But if people are eating outside

354
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,120
of the kitchen and they're not 
adults, I mean, sometimes it's 

355
00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:53,920
more than dust that you're 
cleaning. 

356
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:58,520
Sometimes there are actual 
smudges and you might have 

357
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,280
rustic furniture or metal 
furniture where you can use 

358
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,840
disinfecting wipes to wipe that 
furniture down. 

359
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,160
But I kind of just use dusting 
as a catch all. 

360
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:10,200
Obviously if you've got nice 
wood furniture, you're probably 

361
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,800
using Pledge and a little 
dusting cloth. 

362
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:19,440
But we're not dusting today, OK?
We're vacuuming because I wanted

363
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,000
you to get a lot of bang for 
your buck. 

364
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:25,520
And yes, dusting and vacuuming 
together make your house look 

365
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,000
super clean. 
But when we're talking about 

366
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,000
just an everyday, non negotiable
cleaning session, it doesn't 

367
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,360
always involve the dusting part.
I'm going to wrap this episode 

368
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,520
up, but if you're on a roll 
sweeping and mopping the kitchen

369
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:44,840
or vacuuming your entire house, 
definitely keep going. 

370
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,120
Listen to a couple of your 
favorite songs and knock that 

371
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:51,320
out. 
For me, music can really help me

372
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,280
get through the vacuuming. 
But with sweeping and mopping, 

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00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,920
sometimes iPhone a friend 
because that's something I can 

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00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,600
do while talking. 
Anyway, special thanks to my 

375
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,880
financial supporters. 
But even just listening to these

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00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:08,400
free episodes helps me. 
So I appreciate each and 

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00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,880
everyone of you. 
Be sure to click follow or the 

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00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,400
plus sign on whichever app 
you're listening on. 

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00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,120
And as always, happy cleaning. 
I'll talk to you in the next 

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00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:16,640
episode.