7 Tasks to a Cleaner Home: Week 4

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Welcome to Week 4 of the 7 tasks to a Cleaner Home series!  Just a little intro for those who might be new here- 7 tasks to a Cleaner Home is a weekly series that I started in September.  Fall is a great time for deep cleaning your home.  The kids are back in school, the weather is cooler, and it is a good time to tackle the areas of our home that have been neglected all summer.  Every week, this series focuses on tasks throughout the home that have been overlooked.  No need to catch up or feel behind-just pick a few items each week that you can focus on that will help you have a cleaner home this week.  You can find the other weeks here: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3. 

Before we jump into this week, I wanted to share a personal victory.  Task #1 from Week 2 was to clean your desk.  I did attempt to straighten my desk the past 2 weeks, but it was still a disaster.  I finally had enough yesterday and tackled the monster mess.  It took me over an hour to sort and file all the paper, and clean away all of the dust bunnies (trust me, there was A LOT).  This small area has a big impact on the feel of our home, and it will now make me happy when I walk into my kitchen.  Now if I can just decide on some pictures for those frames…..(that’s a topic for another day 🙂 )

Let’s start Week 4 off again in the kitchen with something we ALL have troubles with.

Task #1-Clean out the junk drawer

Oh, the dreaded junk drawer. We all have a drawer where everything gets thrown to be dealt with later.  In my house, we actually have two. Yes, TWO.  The top two drawers of my kitchen desk get filled with all kinds of stuff that I usually don’t want to deal with.  The drawer on the left (top) is a collection of my things, the drawer on the right (bottom) holds my kids’ art supplies, hair accessories, office supplies, and random objects.  Time to give them a little TLC.

Task #2-Wipe out the silverware drawer

This is one of those areas that you see every day and probably don’t notice much.  Over time, crumbs magically accumulate in the silverware holder and it starts to get a little dingy looking.  This tasks will probably take 5 minutes or less, but I promise it will make you smile every time you put dishes away.

Task #3-Wipe down the kitchen cabinets

This week, I focused on three tasks in the kitchen instead of two.  Task #3 is to wipe down your kitchen cabinets.  I always try to clean up spills right away, but sometimes food gets dripped or sticky little hands leave a mess.  Take some time to wipe down the outside of your cabinets.  I personally like to use Bona Cabinet Cleaner to easily clean off fingerprints and grime.

Task #4-Clean off your dresser and nightstands

Can you tell we have a problem with flat surfaces in our house? They just love to attract paper.  🙂 The top of our dresser isn’t too bad right now, but there are some random receipts.  Take a few minutes to straighten those areas up and give them a good dusting.

Task #5-Dust the window blinds in the main areas

Speaking of dusting, this task is not one of my favorites but it needs to be done.  Task #5 is to dust the window blinds in your main areas.  It should only take a few minutes, but it will definitely make your home cleaner this week if you take care of it.

Task #6-Wipe down washer and dryer

The washer and dryer are two of the most used appliances in a home.  When was the last time you wiped them down?  My washer has a collection of small items that I have retrieved from pockets, and we won’t even talk about the coupons that I REALLY need to deal with on top of the dryer (yes, I am aware of the potential fire hazard ).  This area is a big priority for me this week.  Besides wiping them down, take time to vacuum out the lint trap of your dryer.  It is scary how much lint can build up there and cause a fire.  Bonus points if you clean out the hose and the outside vent.  This dryer vent cleaning kit on Amazon has a lot of good, entertaining reviews. 🙂

Task #7-Wash the walls and baseboards in the bathrooms

  

The final task for this week is washing the walls, baseboards, window sill and door in the bathrooms.  Definitely not one of my favorite tasks, but it really needs to be done every few months in our house.  Dust and hairspray like to collect on baseboards, and my youngest daughter tends to leave sticky handprints everywhere she goes.  If you have multiple bathrooms, then you may want to split this task between a couple weeks.

Well, that is plenty to do for this week.  As I mentioned at the beginning, focus on 2-3 tasks this week that will help your home become a little cleaner.  We will be taking a break next week for those that want to catch up on some of the previous tasks.  If you would like free printables with the tasks from Weeks 1-4, sign up below for our email newsletter (sent every week or two).  If you are already a subscriber, the link will be in this week’s newsletter.  Have a great week!