Hurricane Cleaning

Something like spring cleaning... but not.

In preparation for the hurricane, while we were stuck inside from the rain, we completely cleared off the kitchen counter and wiped it down.  This may seem like something that needs to be done often, which it is, but we removed all of the constant items like my spinning kitchen tool holder and my platter of tomatoes and cleaned underneath them too.

I also vacuumed the bedroom! all by myself, and I vacuumed a lot of the cat hair off of the futon in the living room.

We cleaned out the refrigerator as best we could, since it's fairly likely that our power will go out.  If it's off for 4 hours, we will need to throw away perishables in the fridge.  My flour and vegetables will be fine.  I think my pickles and roasted cherry tomatoes packed in oil and homemade whole grain mustard will be fine too.  Milk, soymilk, 8 eggs, 2 pint cartons of egg whites will all have to go, and we'll have no way to cook them.  This is a good opportunity to use things up, so we're making "hurricane pasta" with some tomato sauce and roasted vegetables that are lingering in the fridge, plus mozzarella cheese.  The plan is to grab a plastic bag full of icepacks from the freezer immediately when we reach the 4 hour mark, put it in a cooler, and take all perishables out of the fridge into the cooler - then eat them as soon as possible.

Today showed me that individual cleaning things don't really take that much time.  If we can try to do them more often, instead of all at once, we will be doing the same amount or maybe even less work and things will look and feel better on a regular basis.

Small Win #1

Today I Windexed the bathroom mirrors while my hair straightener was heating up.  I wasn't too thorough but it made a big difference.

This is the first tip I've discovered: if you keep the cleaning supplies in the room in which you're going to use them, you're more likely to use them.

Small Wins... No Wins

So it looks like I am slacking off after all.  I did empty the produce drawer today and wash it with soap.  I think that can count.

Here are some things I thought about doing - that's half the battle, isn't it?
- Take stuff off bathroom counters and wipe down.
- Clean bathroom mirrors.
- Make bed.

Making the bed is the #1 "small win" for me.  It pulls everything together and takes attention away from the piles of clothes or messy nightstand.  I can't bring myself to spend the one minute on it in the morning, though.  Maybe tomorrow...

Small Wins

Each day this week I will post a quick little thing I did to clean up the house.  To me, "small wins" are those things you usually neglect, but they take very little time, and make a big difference to how clean the room looks.  Here's hoping I don't slack off.

Hello...

I am an adult.  There are good things and bad things associated with this.  Most of them are bad.  Some of them are good - like being of the age to purchase and consume alcohol.  But most of them are bad - like being of the age where you have to work for a living and take care of your household and survive on your own.

I want to make things easier on myself, and the only things I really feel I can have control over are my home and my money.  I want to make it easier to take care of my house and to be domestic on a budget.

Right now I live in a small space - technically a condominium, but since I don't own it, let's call it an apartment.  So here's my attempt at Home Economics for apartment living - and for the working girl.  Full disclosure: right now I'm a part time intern.  I finish grad school in December, so I want to start learning before I'm fully kicked to the curb by my parents.

I learned to cook by blogging about it, so I thought I'd take a similar approach with this project.  Hopefully I'll figure out things that are actually worth sharing.  For now, I'll be linking to various corners of the internet and writing about my experiences.

I was an Economics major in college, and now my hobby is food.  I'm nurturing an interest in the future of our natural environment and green living.  So expect to see some numbers (probably with dollar signs), lots of food, and efforts to "go green."