
Friends, it’s getting gnarly in here.
For a long time we had a cleaning person coming every other week, but with the kids getting bigger and less energy-intensive – as well as more able to help out around the house – it started to get harder to justify the expense. So, since early summer we’ve been handling all the cleaning ourselves.
Or should I say NOT always handling it? I’m pretty good about keeping up with the day-to-day maintenance, like doing the dishes, laundry, cleaning bathroom surfaces and vacuuming, but some of the bigger or more out-of-sight jobs – particularly those that aren’t part of my day-to-day routine – have barely been touched. Here’s where I admit that I’ve lived in this house for a year and a half and I’m not sure the windows have ever been washed. (How often are you supposed to do that, anyway?)
The other day I was thinking about the Little House books, and I was reminded of one of my very favorite scenes from the series – the chapter where Mary goes off to college, and Laura and Carrie decide to handle all the fall cleaning by themselves while Ma and Pa are gone (while taking care of Grace, of course!)
I remember reading that chapter over and over again as a little girl, reveling in all the details of their domestic tasks: emptying and cleaning the straw ticks, blacking the stove, sweeping the hearth.
Well, I may not own a straw tick or a hearth and my stove does not require blacking, but I figure I can draw on the spirit of Laura’s long-ago declaration: “We’re going to clean this house from top to bottom, and we’ll begin right now!”
Yes, even those oh-so-avoidable tasks that I let go far too long, like cleaning the tops of the fan blades.
And I hope you’ll join me!

My goal is to spend no more than an average of 30 minutes a day working on deep cleaning (in addition to the regular cleaning I do every day.) So we’ll see how realistic the first week’s attempts are! If you can’t (or just don’t want to) set aside that much time right now, feel free to modify my plan to tackle your highest priority areas and give the rest “a lick and a promise,” as Ma would say.
Are you in? Great! Here’s what I have planned for Week 1/Zone 1:
My mother always told me to clean from the top down: tackle high surfaces first, so you can clean up any dirt or dust that falls or settles when you make your way to the bottom. So with that bit of wisdom in mind, our first plan of attack includes all those up-high spaces that can be so easy to ignore…until one day you look up and notice an abundance of cobwebs in the ceiling corner. Week 1/Zone 1’s tasks:
- Clean all ceiling light fixtures and fan blades
- Wipe down the tops of door frames, window frames and high windowsills
- Dust tops of high furniture and artwork/framed photos
- Vacuum cobwebs in ceiling corners
- Dust blinds
Anything you’d add to the “up high” week? Will you be taking part in the Deep Cleaning Challenge? Chime in here! I’ll be back next week to share how I’m doing so far and create a plan for Week 2.
I’m in–those ceiling cobwebs have been calling my name lately! (Is it just me, or has it been a great summer for spiders? Gee whiz!)
And, how about the top of the fridge, too? (Or are you not doing stuff in the kitchen?)
Stephanie, good point – I thought I would do the whole kitchen at once rather than break it up into zones. Not sure why but that seems to make more sense to me.
I am in and I will be adding our ceiling vents as I have noticed they are seriously gross :/
Oh yeah, our vents are gross too 🙂 Ours are on the ground level but they are going to need some attention when I get to them!
I just bought a feather duster from walmart…. it works so good and fast. My walls, blinds, vents and ceilings were done in just a few minutes! Wish I would have had one years ago!
I just got one too! Can’t wait to attack the blinds with it tomorrow 🙂
I’m in too! I’m going to get my wonderful husband to help with this high stuff too.
Good idea, Jaclyn!
I’m in, too. I’m on maternity leave with a 4 week old baby (today!) and 1/2 an hour seems doable.
Yay, Dana! You’re ambitious – but I totally know how good it can feel just to accomplish something when you have a wee little baby. Definitely let us know how it goes!
This is a great idea–I’m particularly interested because these sequences usually go room by room, and that doesn’t seem to work for me. Doing all the high spaces first, though, seems like it might.
It just seems to make more sense to me to group things together by height – that way if you need a ladder for the up-high stuff you can just keep it out for a little while, you know? The only room I think I will attack more “all at once” is the kitchen.
I’m in! I have family coming into town and my daughter is having her first birthday party with friends (including parents I have yet to meet) in 2wks. I needed something like this to help me find a start place 🙂
Great idea! I just read a fantastic book called The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (HIGHLY recommend it…it has completely changed how I am looking at my belongings) and am in a huge de-cluttering phase but I am going to do these when I am finished. The zone idea is brilliant. Thanks!
As a mom with a busy household I find it manageable to stay on top of the day to day, but the deep cleaning seems to require a huge effort.