{"id":41,"date":"2021-12-07T14:49:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T22:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2021-12-07T14:49:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T22:49:52","slug":"quick-cleaning-in-5-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/07\/quick-cleaning-in-5-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Cleaning In 5 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written: November 3, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to look at my house most of the time, you probably wouldn\u2019t believe that messes make me anxious. With 2 young kids, my house gets messy often. Sometimes it feels like the walls are closing in around me. There are many days when I look around and wonder why I am even allowed to own a home. Thank you, anxiety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thankfully, at some point, I do finally realize that the only way to fix it is to clean it. But sometimes time is an issue. Since having children, I\u2019ve had to lower my expectations a bit and accept the fact that it may be a while before my house is ever truly clean. But that doesn\u2019t mean that it has to be a complete disaster. I\u2019m nowhere near qualified to be giving out major cleaning advice, but sometimes I do actually get my act together and pull off an awesome tidying job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So if you’re like me, and your house makes you anxious, try following these steps. You may find that a simple quick clean can brighten your day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIP<\/strong>: It may be hard, but when you are short on time, try to stay focused on cleaning just what you can see. Stay out of cabinets and pantries. I have been known to get caught up in projects that end up taking the entire day, only to have to throw everything back where it came from because time ran out. I end up having lost the whole day and the house can even look messier than it was before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Collect Garbage and Recycle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Between empty water bottles, snack wrappers and ripped up paper (courtesy of my children), we tend to have a fair amount of garbage and recycle to pick up around the house. My husband has a water bottle graveyard next to his side of the bed that is often neglected. The first thing I do is grab 2 bags to collect it all. Then I keep the bags close by in case I come across anything later on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Laundry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Next, I go around collecting any dirty laundry. For some reason it\u2019s common for my family to leave clothes exactly where they removed them. After collecting, I start a load in the wash and move on to folding and putting away the clothes that I have been using to warm my sofas (sigh\u2026 I am very much part of the mess problem as well). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Put Things In Their Proper Room<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is where I find myself losing focus if I\u2019m not careful. The next thing I do is pick things up and put them in their proper room. Don\u2019t just toss it in there, but don\u2019t spend 5 minutes rummaging around the room for its proper place. I\u2019m not \u201cde-cluttering\u201d, I\u2019m simply moving things to the general area they belong. It has made it a lot easier to come back later for a more thorough clean.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Dust\/Wipe Down<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hopefully, after doing the last 3 steps, the area is mostly clean. The next step is to dust and wipe down surfaces. If you are sensitive to dust flying around, you could get an air purifier. It\u2019s been a life saver for me as I have fought some pretty massive and angry dust bunnies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Sweep\/Mop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now that you have cleared the floor and wiped all the dust in your house onto it, it\u2019s time to clean the floor again. You know what\u2019s really fun? Thinking you are almost done and then sweeping under the furniture only to find piles of long lost trinkets and toys that you now need to sort through. Just make sure you check everything before you vacuum. Aside from finding surprise treasures, sweeping and vacuuming are pretty simple tasks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So there you have it. A quick way to tidy your home. I find that when I make a habit of the \u201cquick clean\u201d, I have more motivation to do more of a deep clean when time permits. Now if you\u2019ll excuse me, my house is a mess\u2026 again\u2026 and I need to practice what I preach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written: November 3, 2021 If you were to look at my house most of the time, you probably wouldn\u2019t believe that messes make me anxious. With 2 young kids, my house gets messy often. Sometimes it feels like the walls are closing in around me. There are many days when I look around and wonder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[8],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/courageamongchaos.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}