Good morning and happy Friday! It's our end of the week blog, and OF course I'M THRILLED. However I am definitely NOT thrilled to be where I am sitting now: the waiting room at the dentist office, biding my time until the grand farewell to my upper left wisdom tooth.
So to distract myself, I thought I’d finish this blog post draft. Let’s go into the weekend clean, sparkly, and full of peace! If you were watching my Instagram story yesterday, you saw that I went on a little cleaning spree at home. Truly there is nothing better!
So today let’s talk cleaning. Don't forget to turn up the music, a podcast, or to cart your Netflix around with you to each room because it is officially CLEANING TIME.
Yeah baby!
Let’s talk about the 5 areas you should clean ABOVE ALL ELSE. If you have no energy at the end of the day, at least take time to do these 5 areas. 5 minutes each, 25 minutes total. Totally worth it.
1. Sinks
Keep your bathroom sinks white and sparkly. Remove the hair, remove the nasty yellow staines and just keep them CLEAN. In your kitchen, empty the sink every night from dishes and pieces of gunky Food. Noncluttter allowed here. Disinfect disinfect disinfect. Dirty sinks cause stress and anger. I am SO not here for it.
Use a cleaner with disinfectant, a castor oil, vinegar, or a heavier all purpose cleaner and spray out that sink! I put the sink to bed every night. It helps me feel so peaceful.
2. The Floors
I’m not really referencing a daily vacuum sesion here. Sure, sweep your kitchen and vacuum your living room every day if you feel so inclined, but today I'm talking CLUTTER. Keep your floor clean of clutter. Pick up the clothes on the bedroom floor, pick up the towels off the bathroom floor, and for the love of all that is good, put the shoes away and don't let them cluster around the front door.
A cluttered red floor full of random items, toys, and dirty clothes will definitely add stress to your life. Put on your favorite jam, turn up the volume, and do a quick cleaning sweep. It’s like when we were in kindergarten and we had to sing the ”Clean-Up Song“ and by the end of the song, we had to be done!
3. Clutter Piles
Oh the elusive clutter pile. Papers, mail, weird documents, thank you cards, and random things to recycle. How I wish I could set your on fire dearest clutter pile. Whenever I visit my in-laws, they have a carefully arranged setup of vaious clutter piles around the house. One for him, one for her, and one for both of them, not to mention mail-specific clutter, long-term clutter, and "transient-clutter." You know, the type of clutter that builds because every single thing in that pile needs to go to a different home?
Well these clutter piles only breed if we allow ourselves to add to them everyday. Clutter piles MUST be dealt with. They are bad for the brain. Have an inbox/outbox style folder in your kitchen if you must, but I urge you to not use counter space as your personal file folder. Everyday, go through the paper clutter building on your counter: file, recycle, or burn. Your brain will thank you.
4. Your Bedroom
Keep your bedroom a place of zen and peace. It is for sleeping, romantic times, and cuddly times. You do not want to be looking over at a pile of mushy clothes, or a random suitcase when you are trying to relax. Keep your bedroom as a sacred place in the house: no mess enters, no mess leaves. Never use your bedroom as a psuedyo storage room. Keep it special to you or you and your spouse. Remember that bedrooms are supposed to cradle us off to sleep, and should therefore be peaceful.
I take time every single day to tidy the bedroom floors, make sure the furniture is clear of clutter, and to make my bed and make sure my sheets feel fresh. Never unerestimate the power of a clean bedroom combined with your sleep. It’s magical.
5. Your Stovetop
Finally, I encourage you to clean you STOVETOP every dang day. If you follow me on Instagram, you will see me scrubbing that baby on the regular. The stovetop is another "saced" place to me. It is where I spend at least 1-2 hours of my day, and it is a place where I want to enjoy my cooking experience, pop up a YouTube video next to me, or even sip a glass of red wine. I cannot do those things in peace while I'm staring down at crusty egg bits and nasty juices.
Use a cleaner specific to your type of stovetop. I use a glass stovetop cleaner, but if you have a gas stovetop, take time to soak the grates in dish soap and vinegar to remove grease. Clean that stovetop everyday and your sanity will return. I promise.
There you have it friends! Extra ranting about cleaning from Mrs. Midwest to hopefully motivate you. There is no reason for us to be cluttered if we do a little every day. Take 5 minutes a day on each of these areas, and you will see an ENORMOUS difference in your life. 5 Minutes for each area, 25 minutes a day, and a lifetime of internal zen, peace, and joy.
Have a fabulously clean weekend friends. No clutter piles.
Alright time to go in for this procedure. Pray for my soul.
xoxo,
Cait