cleaning ideas pls........

Hi,

For clearing mail the strategy that works best for me is to spend 5-10 mins every evening or night shredding junk mail and filing useful mail into their relevant folders.Years ago when I did not have kids, I spent an hour every evening for months creating separate hanging folders for all paperwork. I have about 50 folders I think! I file all relevant paperwork in its respective folder each day or at least every other day. I archive paperwork every two years.You may be able to divide up the task of filing and shredding between you and hubby. It did not work for me though, so I do both because I can’t tolerate clutter J

One general rule that I follow to keep clutter at bay is to “think” where a thing belongs before I let go of it from my hands! This again has worked very well for me. I usually find my things where I expect them to be and hardly ever have to spend time frantically looking for something.

Oh, and to reduce the never ending pile of clothes I use tall decorative wicker baskets that have lids to “dump” undergarments, socks, any other stuff that does not require ironing. I have two kids so we have LOTS of laundry every week! J This dumping process is fast as lighting and the baskets add some decorative value to the closet! The rest of the clothes of course I have to spend time hanging them in the closet.

I have a cleaning maid who comes out once every two weeks to do the usual bathroom and house cleaning.

Hope some of these ideas will be helpful to you.

SS

 

Well Nice detailed replies by SS and Puni.. Great ideas.

I am little lazy when it comes to cleaning.. I mean my house remains clean (part reason will be no kids as of yet).. But big share i have passed to my husband :queen
I have trained him to arrange my kitchen utensils in and out of dish washer. Laundary is his reponsibility. Documenting is his responsibility. Vaccumming is his kitty. Arranging office and keeping it clean is his duty. He maintain his own wardrobe and ironing of clothes. Sometime he irons my clothes too :queen. I take care of my wardrobe , pooja room and just cooking area. Even toilet cleaning is his responsibilty.
I clean my kitchen in detail once a month and weekly its minor cleaning.

Basically I have seen one thing in training men. If you act lazy, they will not :queen. They will take up the work and do. Like for documenting.. He process everything same evening. Anything concerning me, he will keep for me, rest all he will process. Keeping bills , maintaining records , I have put all on his shoulders. So he cannt ask me next time.. where did i keep so and so. Paying up bill is his kitty. Basically I guess I have given major part of house running tasks to him.
For me, I just use my mind in creatively decorating my house, my garden , playing my piano. Teaching men to do the work is slow and conscious process. But once they learn , it s a relief.

You will realise they have so much stamina to do it.

 

Way to go Ria! Excellent job of training your husband and delegating! I am impressed! Hey, where were you 10 years ago to give me all these tips so I could’ve trained hubby correctly right from the start? J

I agree that it is a matter of training the men right.

One thing that sometimes gets in the way for me is that I like to know (read be in the middle of!) most things in the household. In fact, a of couple years after we got married I asked hubby to let me handle things like billing, finances, paperwork which used to be his domain. Now sometimes when I get overwhelmed, I give hubby dear a lecture about how he being the MBA (that too in finance!) should be the one to do these things. But when it comes to relinquishing charge, I flinch! J

Well, what I can say? I dig a hole for myself and then jump into it too!J

SS

 

Ha ha.. Thats sweet reply.

I agree its always a tussle between being in-charge and getting tired running the show. I picked easy way out, because I wanted to keep buffer for myself . And one thing i saw husbands get major ego boost by redistributing finances. For keeping tabs , I get few summary sessions occasionally. Which I can tell he loves to conduct. He will truly act like a financial consultant and treat me like a client. Which is fun game in itself.

But giving away part of organizing to guys, just utilizes their energy in right direction and they would feel involved in house too. You can tell my husband would know 70% more about what s kept where.

My mom once said , in marriage, whatever you dont want to do forever, dont offer to do in beginning only. I guess I literally followed it. I have also grown up seeing benefits my mom got by delegtaing work to all family members. After 6-7 th standard. Washing our own clothes, maintaining our ward robes, managing and cleaning book shelfs, shoes was always our responsibilty. She never acted like too dedicated mom willing to do all this. And i guess it helped her to relax a bit. I saw all my aunts, washing , ironing whole family's clothes and basically running all the time to give everything in hands of others. Their kids will not even help her in basic organizing. Seeing them struggle I always credited my mom for easing her own life. We always tell her she is a smart woman for her era.

I have even plans to train my kids to do their own work.. Because no point running the whole show on your own shoulders and ending up exhausted woman. Famliy should be a unit where everyone contributes and everyones gets coziness of being closed to near ones.