Spring Cleaning!

So this year I'm finally doing it. I think I've finally developed a list that a mom of multiple children can reasonably accomplish.

...with help, of course. :) The reasonableness of the list will be put to the test this week, though.

When I was first introduced to FlyLady, I broke the house down into 5 zones, focusing on one per week; the idea being that the whole house would be cleaned each month. (in theory) In anticipation of Easter, for my spring cleaning I'm doing the same thing, only it's one zone per day. Today was the kitchen, doing all those nasty things you tend to put off, like cleaning behind the refrigerator, washing the windows inside and out, scouring the oven, scrubbing the floor by hand, that sort of thing. Blech. You should just see the bucket of used rags. No, you shouldn't. I think I'm going to burn them all.

But I'm happy to say I'm pleased with the results.

Bing! Can't you just see it sparkle?

The fridge is so clean that I don't want to put anything back on it! I'm going to bask in its pristine glow for a few more hours before it gets all cluttered up again.

Thankfully Mr. Pickles was working from home today, so he was able to bear a major part of the care and feeding of the children, when they weren't helping me scrub, that is. We're taking the week off regular school to focus on home ec, so the rest of the time I let them play. They were playing so nicely together that I hated to tell Miriam to get out her spelling book. :)

I worked pretty solidly from after breakfast until before dinner. I have to say I'm totally exhausted. I'm not sure how many days of this I can do! I think the kitchen is the worst -- lots of up and down and hands-and-knees and scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. It all just takes so long. Tomorrow is Zone 2: the living room and dining room. Hopefully dusting and vacuuming won't be as draining. I plan to enlist the girls once again to wash down the furniture. The tricky part will be keeping Joseph entertained while there are buckets of soapy water out. Thank God for naptimes!

Wish me luck!