SPRING CLEANING
Do you know what “Spring Cleaning” really means?
I’m 45 years old, and I would be willing to bet that most people my age and younger either don’t know what the term “Spring Cleaning” really means or have never even heard of it. But in the not to distant past it was a yearly ritual in most homes.
With the arrival of spring, our moms, grandmas, aunts - basically all the women in the family - would take everything outside of the house (and all the stuff was taken outside) and then brings everything back in. At the very least, they would move everything outside of a room and do the same thing one room at a time until the entire house and everything in it was clean.
And I mean clean. They would clean the walls, baseboards, electrical outlets, light switch face plates, light fixtures, floors - everything - and nothing was moved back into the room until it was also cleaned thoroughly. Because the house was closed up throughout the winter allowing the germs and bacteria to proliferate, a thorough cleaning was done in the spring. Airing out the house as it was being cleaned was also part of the cleaning process, and important part as well.
Spring Cleaning actually helps keep us healthy,. Do you know what causes odours in the home most of the time? It is germs and bacteria which can’t really be eliminated by air fresheners and deodorizers but only by genuine cleaning.
I have worked as a housekeeper, and one thing I noticed was that people have a lot of stuff cluttering up there space, making it impossible to do a good clean. Not only clutter but in fact everything in your house is a potential haven for germs. So the more stuff, the more germs unless you can keep all those things clean of course.
It’s probably not feasible for most people to move everything outside in order to spring clean the way it was done in the past. But I can tell you from experience the cleaner our homes are, the healthier we are mentally as well as physically. If you want to do spring cleaning, consider doing the following:
* Get rid of excess stuff
* Clean the bathroom regularly. Pay particular attention to the toilet, especially the outside of the bowl and the floor around it.
* Don’t wait until you can see dirt to acknowledge it’s existence - germs cannot be seen with the naked eye.
* If you have children no matter what age, their “stuff” and their rooms are the places where the most germ will be lurking. Clean them regularly.
* Everyone should always wash their hands after using the toilet and washing up for dinner isn’t some quaint custom from the past - it’s a necessary step in preventing the passing of germs
* If you have carpets, consider getting rid of them. As far as I’m concerned, carpets should never have
been invented - they are nothing but haven for dust dirt and germs.
Once a year, even if you don’t think it’s necessary, clean your entire house from top to bottom as best you can. If this isn’t possible, hire someone to do it for you. Make sure that all furniture gets cleaned, as well as toys, electronics - anything that people touch a lot.
I know, I know - it might sound extreme. Talk to your grandparents or older family members. They’ll tell you it’s just good sense. And good sense never goes out of style.
