A warm and clean home.... the image that comes to our mind - no clutter; no dust, but a warm, inviting and clean home that makes us want to sit around and chill.
But to achieve this, in the present urban Indian setting is next to impossible and something I pondered over for a long time. Staying at one of the most polluted and dusty city in the world; creating a cozy, dust free home seemed next to impossible. Not to mention the enduring noise of vehicle horns and music blasting over from the marriage happening in the society... Even thinking about this felt like a crime!!!!
Everywhere I looked, all I could see was the images of shiny, dust free homes glaring back at me. I was baffled, and disappointed seeing the state of my home...but I was also not ready to give up. So I did my home work, I hunted over YouTube videos, Googled, used Pinterest and pinned - pics, read and re-read articles that was related to decor, home and cleaning. I watched hundreds of home tours, clean with mes and what not.
The main take away? Each one of the decor enthusiasts I look up to, have a cleaning and de-cluttering regime which was far beyond something I did. Not only do they do almost all these work themselves but they do it regularly and systematically.
This was something to ponder, I followed the system of dusting by kaamwali (house maid) once a month and de-clutter was something I did may be yearly (sometimes in two years). Doing dusting regularly looked like a mammoth task to me. But then I was also so dead set to create the cozy, warm and dust free home that I saw all around me.
The first three months was no doubt; a nightmare. I was combing thru each drawer, cupboard, wardrobe and kitchen shelf. Oh the stuff that I had hoarded!!!
I ensured that I touched every surface and each and every thing in my home. Other than my seasonal decor stuff, I gave away or recycled almost everything that was rarely used including clothes, bags, sandals, plates and what not.
The next step was to ensure that each item had a home and that each item returned to their home at the end of the day. Mind you, writing a blog is easier than doing this!!!! Reminders are still issued to the Mister and the Master of the house (read hubby and sonny)... and..... we still forget!!!!
Also a cleaning schedule. Once you have the whole house cleaned and de-cluttered, you not only have a clean slate to work with you also have the advantage to start fresh.
I created a cleaning schedule and I stick to it. I always try to focus on rooms that we spent most of the time in. Realistically there are days when I might skip cleaning but mostly I try to stick to the below routine.
Daily
Bedroom
Make the bed and clean night stands
Kitchen
Wipe down the kitchen counters everyday.
Make sure you do not sleep with a kitchen sink full of dishes,this is a team effort ;)
Wipe down all the kitchen appliances with a microfiber cloth; this helps to ensure that the oil stains does not stick to any of the appliances, including stove top and chimney.
Bathroom
Wipe down all the surfaces with disinfectant cleaner.
Around the house
Sweeping and mopping the house(my maid helps me)
Ensure that soiled clothes are not piled up in all rooms but has found their way to the laundry bag.
Every week
Vacuuming the whole house including the blinds and curtains in every room.
A load of laundry every three days. (my maid helps me)
Deep clean the bathroom, clean the toilet, toilet bowls and always use anti-bacterial products.
Dust all the surfaces with a microfiber duster.
Cleaning all the mirrors and the windows. (my maid helps me)
Clean the stove once a week and also the chimney.
Clean the micro-wave and oven.
Clean the fridge and take inventory so that you can do grocery shopping and not bring in duplicate stuff.
Check through the mails received and sort and keep the ones which are required. Shred the rest.
Monthly
Clean all drawers.
Give away the newspapers and other stuff that can be recycled.
Deep clean all parts of the home including the balcony garden, this is a team effort ;)
This pretty much sums up my daily, weekly and monthly cleaning routine. This might look like a lot. But when you break it down to small parts and do some daily, weekly and monthly it does not take much time. And when you ensure that you touch everything in your home every single week you are also ensuring that you are only keeping what you need and donating, giving away or recycling the rest.
The other thing that we did was to invest in some good door and window sealers along with mosquito nets. Trust me, this hugely brings down dust and insects that can creep into your home. Which again brings down the time that you have to spent cleaning and mopping. And the end result, will be the clean and warm home that you want.
After all this comes the fun part.. decorating...will do that in another post.
Happy Musings
Tina
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