You probably think cleaning should be easy because you don't live in the desert. Deserts are dry, obviously. What that means in terms of house-cleaning is a constant battle with dust. When light streams in a window here, the air is visibly thick with dust particles. Contrast that to a visit to Oregon a number of years ago. Light was streaming in the window of a friend's house and I noted there were three (THREE!) dust particles in the air. You could go a year without dusting there and nobody would know it. A week without dusting here means you can write notes to yourself on any flat surface.
Besides the dust, there is also the dog fur. Angel sheds. She does not do this maliciously, she just does it. The dust combines with the fur and creates living, breathing dust bunnies which, like all bunnies, breed voraciously. Turn your back for a minute and they take over all the corners.
Another issue is the hard water here. Every water droplet left to dry on any surface leaves a small white stain behind. These accumulated calcium bits are difficult to scrub off. No commercial cleaners dissolve them, unless you want to buy industrial strength stuff which I strive to avoid. The best way to remove them is with elbow grease combined with baking soda, Bon Ami, or Barkeeper's Friend powders. Don't bother suggesting salt on a lemon - doesn't work here. Save those ingredients for cooking!
The biggest problem is I'd really rather spend my time doing things other than cleaning. This means the house tends to get messy, infested with dust bunnies, and in need of a good scrubbing. I've tried in the past to keep up some kind of regular cleaning routine but it tends to fall apart after a few
I'm glad Sharon is coming, not only because it will be great to meet her, but also because I'll get to enjoy a clean house again for a few weeks.
21 comments:
How lucky are you to have Sharon coming? I am really envious. Of course I had the great good fortune of a Beany visit after yours, so just maybe . . .
Cleaning is one of the major changes in my life since the sustainability year blogging. I confess I like the way clean feels in a home. I also like the fact that I don't use a fraction of the water I used to use to clean more constantly. This includes clothes, dishes and myself - besides the home. I haven't found the best balance yet between the freedom from and the aesthetic pleasure for. Yes, I am well aware I ended with a preposition.
I don't clean a whole lot when guests are coming, because I figure it doesn't matter a whole lot. I'll clean the bathroom, floors, tidy, take out garbage/compost, do dishes etc. I hate dusting though, even though I have a cat. I'm ok with that.
I'd really rather be doing other things than cleaning too. I wish I was one of those people that got a high from scrubbing my floors or organizing my craft supplies, but I just don't.
For guests I remove the many (dog hair enhanced) dust bunnies.
The rest? Um... I keep the lights dim. That's pretty much my answer.
I just got a hilarious picture in my head of Angel running around the house, purposely spreading her fur all over the place :)
We have four furry creatures and live in the desert as well. Now, I've always lived close to the ocean where things tend to stay fairly moist. I had NO idea about the amount of dust, dirt, grit, etc. that accumulates all over the house! I used to leave my windows open to catch the fresh ocean breezes; now I have to batten down the hatches lest I come home to a fine layer of grit on everything.
We have insanely hard water, too. They should just start making faucets and sinks the same color as the mineral deposits so they don't show up as easily...
So I'm right there with you, Chile, scrubbing and dusting away (we have company coming in a couple weeks). Hey, misery loves company, right?
Maybe we should also start a dust bunny farm. We could attract tourists by having signs along the highways: "Come see the largest dust bunnies in the land! Larger than the Blue Whale and T-Rex combined!"
Like Kate, I really do love "the way clean feels in a home." I just hate doing the cleaning.
So, while I may whine and moan, I'm actually grateful that I do have company once in a while to force me to get it all sparkly* and clean. In-town friends are used to the mess, so I don't bother to do much more than clean the toilets for them. ;-)
*Dust makes a room look dull. It's amazing how much brighter the whole house looks when all the dust is removed. Lights shine brighter (and are more efficient) and surfaces (including painted walls) reflect more light.
*Dust makes a room look dull. It's amazing how much brighter the whole house looks when all the dust is removed. Lights shine brighter (and are more efficient) and surfaces (including painted walls) reflect more light.
Who told you this lie, and why are you perpetuating it?
:)
Too funny you are talking about dust today. Last afternoon I was snuggling my 10 year old in the last rays of sunshine, and she pulled her sock away from her foot and let it snap back, to show me the huge cloud of dust that sprang from it. She thought it was hilarious - I couldn't believe how much dust was in the air (and therefore in our lungs). In the northeast it's not super dusty, but we have some, and I have three cats although I vacuum daily, the dust and hair can still get the better of me. It made me wish I had the energy to damp mop every day. The main thing I want to do (and it will have to wait until spring) is to clean the outsides of the windows - I'm so tired of looking through dirty windows, but I usually do them by hosing off the worst of it and I can't do that while there's snow on the ground.
Yeah, dust bunnies and pet hair (cat in our case) sound familiar! I too rather do something else instead of cleaning. I think we try to straighten up, but the dusting kind of falls by the wayside until I get too disgusted of looking at all the dust. Ah, well :)
Just from reading Sharon, I'm of the opinion that she'd feel way more comfortable in your home if you didn't clean before she came. That's pretty much what we do ... clean after the company leaves. In this way, your company doesn't feel as though they must be on their best behavior lest they inadvertently soil something and you get to enjoy a clean place until the next time someone comes to mess it.
I read years ago that dust on a lightbulb makes it burn out faster. I figured out the brighter room thing all on my own. ;-)
JAM - you do realize that what your daughter was snapping into the air was mostly dead skin cells, not dust, right? Ewww......
Oldnovice - I know, I know. But I feel more comfortable if company is under the illusion that I actually keep a clean house. LOL! I also know I don't like to hang out in other people's dead skin cells and grime when I go to their houses...
Living in Oregon did not absolve me from having a consistently filthy house.
The rain! The MUD! The goat dung! The alfalfa dust!
At least we had a concrete floor that was painted brown. :)
Chile,
I did know that - but I thought that "dust" was really mostly dead skin cells - maybe your dust is more dirt from the desert, but I think the majority of dust is skin and of course, the lovely poop of dust mites... One thing I wondered with all this line drying of clothes is whether we're keeping more dust and skin in the clothes - we don't have that nice ball of dryer lint every load, which I know is some of the fibers from the clothes, but must be a bunch of dust and skin and stuff too, right?
I'm reading Green Housekeeping right now, and the author suggests putting a rag soaked in hot vinegar over hard water deposits, covering the whole thing with a bag, and then coming back a few hours later to scrub. I haven't tried it yet, though.
The suggestion that I liked even better was to have faucets that don't show water deposits. That's no good for us renters though.
Yeah, mud in Oregon sucked - especially having to wipe off dog paws every. single. time. we came in from a walk. Ugh.
I've read that asthmatics don't do well with line-dried clothes for that reason, JAM. For now, I tumble my clothes on the air-fluff setting for 5 minutes after they are line-dried. It gets off the dog fur and lint. Sometimes, if I'm ambitious, I'll "snap" each item of clothing outside as I take it off the line. That sends "dust" and lint flying.
I've tried that, Mollyjade, with the showerhead. Still requires a lot of scrubbing.
I just love when company comes- I clean like a Merry Maid gone beserk! Then I plan on never letting my little house ever become sqaulor again- never wrokd but hey! Maybe if asomeone came once a month my house would always be clean, decluttered and great. And pigs might fly!
Make sure you take lots of (embarrassing) pictures of Sharon. You might be able to blackmail some goats off of her at a later date.
Domestic tumbleweed. That's what I call the dust bunnies that form in my place. Ugh, the desert dust. So why did I buy black furniture again?
My cousin and I have a pact that neither is to enter the other's place except by written invitation. She has too many things going to clean all the time!
One word of caution: too much dust on light blubs and tv screens/computer monitor screens can actually start on fire! Wet cloths wipe off the danger well enough.
Quentin Crisp always said that if you left the dust for five years you could no longer tell it was getting any worse.
Dust bunnies unite! The world will be ours!
I hate dusting but not to that extent. As for accumulated dust, grit, grime etc - try living with a half renovated house. I can clean it but it looks exactly the same as if I didn't bother - very depressing if you're in housewife mode. Perhaps fortunately I don't suffer that much.
viv in nz
At our house we often have dust buffalo.
I hope washing clothes removes dust mites etc. Then line drying kills whats left by UV light.
I understand you on the dust... my husband is a woodworker and he comes home covered in sawdust. In his pockets, on his skin, in his phone, on his hat. I swear all the dust in this house comes from him and have resorted to calling him "pigpen."
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