cleaning house question. | ADHD Information
I use the Swiffer Dust system in the yellow box. A box comes with the handle and 5 disposable dust things (can't find the word). Anyway, I have a big house and one dust thing will do most of it and the dust sticks. It is so easy to use and I do it once a week with loud music on. Then when done, you just rip it off the handle and throw it out. It's the only way I can keep the dust down.[QUOTE=floofthegoof]....dusting....[/QUOTE]
what is this?
what does it mean?
is it something that only rich people and home-owners do?????
sonya_h38478.3528935185pffft yeah but without the dog you'd have to clean your kitchen floors....#1 suggestion, get a dog.... no more sticky kitchen floors.... non-shedding is nice but not a requirement....#2 get a funky vacuum cleaner you like.....sounds dumb but it works....I vacuum EVERYTHING because I got a super-vac with this and that and it's freaking cool.... that's my part of the housework 'cuz I'm willing to do it...
they have those roomba vacs that drive around and vacuum things... they don't work too well.....
but the best suggestion? I know you'll hate it, I do too but HAVE LESS STUFF. Put it away into bins and boxes.....
Seriously less stuff is less to clean. Get RID of furniture, junk and things you don't need for more than 6 months. If you can go 6 months without it you probably don't need it at all.... hell pile boxes in your basement or have a garage sale, it doesn't really matter...
It sucks at first until you realise how much easier it makes cleaning....
I agree. After getting on my meds, I got rid of SO much stuff. Who needs all the stuff laying around that makes it harder to clean. So less on shelves, less on counters, etc.
Which Super Vac do you use? I want the 9 Pet Vac, but gosh, that is expensive. It seems no matter how often I vacuum, there is always freaking dog hair stuck in the carpet. Makes me nuts!
[QUOTE=sonya_h]is it something that only rich people and home-owners do?????
[/QUOTE]I've seen people do this on television. However, since I've never done it, it was predictable that, after 5 years, all my stuff was *really* nasty. Other people's houses weren't like my house that way. I'm allergic to dust too. Lol. The move has been really hard with my allergies. I guess I have to learn to dust.
Isn't there some kind of animal that eats dust that I can have for a pet?
Some of you know I just bought a new house. Most of my stuff is moved now, and I'm noticing how spotlessly clean my new house is. My old place is caked with dust and spiderwebs. I don't want my new house to become like that. How much work is involved in keeping a house clean? To prevent dust buildup, what can I do? Do I have to spend hours every weekend dusting to prevent it from building up?
I don't know what it's called but there is a cleaning item that consists of a stick with thousands of threads attached. The threads are treated with something that makes dust stick to it. If you use that you can dust pretty quickly.
I have a smallish apartment and it takes about 5 minutes per week and it's a pretty active process so not as hard as some household activities. So, it would take you longer than 5 minutes with a big house but certainly not hours...
Every week?
Do you have to do every little surface? or can you still get benefits from doing the larger more obvious surfaces?
[QUOTE=floofthegoof]Every week?
Do you have to do every little surface? or can you still get benefits from doing the larger more obvious surfaces?
[/QUOTE]
I found that the lighter the wood, the less you have to dust. 
But dark wood constantly looks dusty! I don't dust every knick knack every week, but mostly the large surfaces and darker furniture. It really takes no time at all and I usually put it off until people are coming over. If you can live with it, then don't worry so much. But I know what you mean about a new clean house. I wish we could start over and have that new house again. No matter how much I clean, it always feels dirty. Maybe it's OCD.
Anyone else have cleaning tips?? If I didn't have my hairy dog, half my cleaning would be gone. grr.
Another option, if you can afford it, hire someone. Around my area house cleaning runs about U.S./hour.
I tried Fly Lady and found it was too many messages and it felt like my Mom was dictating my day. Oh well, I tried.Has anyone tried those 'Ionic Breeze' filterless air cleaners? I wonder if I could stretch it to two weeks per dusting. Definitely get rid of knick knacks. They are awful for dust collection. Or, if you have some prize posessions that will probably collect dust, get one of those curio cabinets with the glass doors- that way you can still see them, but they're all in one place and out of dust range.Yeah, Dusting? I don't know what that is either
I feel for you, we're moving this month and while I did occasionally dust the visible stuff like the tables and bookcases in the rooms we are in the most, now that I'm packing up stuff I'm finding areas that haven't been touched for many years and it's kinda shocking. yuck!
I agree with the get rid of nick knacks idea. When my kids were toddlers I packed up all my little things like that so they wouldn't get broken. I found I really didn't miss them, especially since they needed to be dusted so much. My girls are now 11 and 14 and those things are still in boxes! lol!
Of course in the meantime we've gotten a whole new collection of crap to dust!
I hate dusting,and that was always my job as a kid. Could be a connection there.
Did you get rid of a lot of stuff when you moved? How did you choose what to toss, if you did?
Last time I moved was in 1984 from my mom's house, and just had a couple of boxes and a suit case. We have so much stuff now, I'm just dreading going through it and packing! In fact that's what got me to go to the doctor to get diagnosed. I suspected I was ADD for a long time, but didn't do any thing about it. But with this big move looming, I knew I had to get some help or get swallowed by all the junk! Still think I'm gonna drown in a sea of material crap! Yikes!
But about the dust, I think I'm going to see what we can do without in the budget, cause I really want to get a cleaning service this time. Around here a two person team charges 0 to clean twice a month for four hours. I don't know what that is per hour.(any math wizzes out there?)
Anyway, congratulations and good luck!
Barb
I refuse to get knick knack crap as well I see it as dust collectors. I normally do the dusting on surfaces you can see 1x every 2 weeks and we do have dust allergies in the household. I try do the woodwork unfortunetly 1-2x per year and hate it more than the regular dusting. [QUOTE=TheDog]I don't know what it's called but there is a cleaning item that consists of a stick with thousands of threads attached. The threads are treated with something that makes dust stick to it. If you use that you can dust pretty quickly.I have a smallish apartment and it takes about 5 minutes per week and it's a pretty active process so not as hard as some household activities. So, it would take you longer than 5 minutes with a big house but certainly not hours...[/QUOTE]
I was going to suggest this method of dusting...I use it when I clean houses occassionally. It works great! No polish needed. It's kind of like a magnet. When it stops working so well....just dust it against your TV screen (preferreably when it's on), and it regenerates it.
[quote]they have those roomba vacs that drive around and vacuum things... they don't work too well.....[/quote]
Don't know if it's the same thing, but if this it the little ball that sits in middle of a round ring...it actually works great on wood floors...I LMAO first time I saw it running around the room in my friend's kitchen.
dust..............hmmm.......
never done that myself. I know how you feel about wanting to keep the new house clean. I felt the same way, moved into my first house a couple of years ago. I tried, really I did! Hiring a cleaning person might be a good option, I didn't know they were that inexpensive.
I would recommend the one room every day approach: kitchen on Monday, bathrooms on Tuesday, etc. That way it doesn't become over-whelming, which is not good for us ADHDers.
Another product good for cleaning is those wipes that already have window cleaner (like Windex) or furniture polish (like Pledge) already on them. It makes it go a lot faster.
Ack no, those IONIC air cleaners are actually terrible for you...They work by taking oxygen (O-2) and removing the stuff by turning it into Ozone (O-3)
So instead of having breathable oxygen around you end up with non-breathable Ozone.... they're actually bad for you...air filters are great but the ionic ones would suffocate you if left in an enclosed environment...
Oh and the pet vac is one I'd LOVE to get I saw this yellow one that I'd really like but I just use a nice expensive Dirt Devil with pet attachments and stuff.... :P it was my birthday present last year....
Doesn't always get EVERYTHING up and has troubles with pet hair on furniture but M'eh! it's still fun!
[QUOTE=arbiterxero]Ack no, those IONIC air cleaners are actually terrible for you...
They work by taking oxygen (O-2) and removing the stuff by turning it into Ozone (O-3)
So instead of having breathable oxygen around you end up with non-breathable Ozone.... they're actually bad for you...air filters are great but the ionic ones would suffocate you if left in an enclosed environment...
[/QUOTE]
They create ozone!! Lol. That's not what comes to mind when I think clean air.
[quote=BarbJ]But about the dust, I think I'm going to see what we can do without in the budget, cause I really want to get a cleaning service this time. Around here a two person team charges 0 to clean twice a month for four hours. I don't know what that is per hour.(any math wizzes out there?)[/quote]
I clean my friend's house once a month, and I get ...for about 4 hours...but remember that's for a friend, who's NOT AD/HD. And it usually includes lunch, too.
Just don't become like some people...and clean your house before the cleaners come. 
Otherwise, what's the point? Eh?
And, floof, if you have to do windows (at least once a year!) or more to get those dog nose prints removed, I recommend using a spray cleanser or windex, but use newspaper instead of a cloth. It doesn't leave streaks or fuzz, and does a nice job. Some people complain because they may get news ink on their hands...so wear gloves or just wash your hands when you're finished.
Check out this website-lots of great ideas and keeps you on track!
Here are some ideas from the fly lady-unfortunately my house is one big "hot spot"
What are the zones?FlyLady breaks the house into five manageable sections. Once per week, FlyLady and Kelly concentrate on one zone. They announce the monthly schedule for the zones in their email messages. Don't worry if you have a missed a zone, just start where you are. The missed zone(s) will show up again next month. Check the FLY Zone for more information about the current zone.
What is a Hot Spot?A Hot Spot is an area, when left unattended will gradually take over. My favorite analogy is of a hot spot in a forest fire, if left alone it will eventually get out of hand and burn up the whole forest. This is what happens in our homes. If left unattended, the hot spot will grow and take over the whole room as well as making the house look awful. When you walk into a room, the hot spot is the first thing you see. Your eyes are locked on it. Over the years my hot spot has migrated. As a child it was a chair in my bedroom. I would pile it to the ceiling. Right now I have two hot spots in my home: the dining room table and the bed in the extra bedroom. The dining room table is a staging area. We put the unopened mail there, as well as any thing that needs to go to the basement. Some times you cannot see the top of the table. This is the first thing I see when I walk into the kitchen. Granted, the pile has only been there since last night, but if I don't deal with it first thing in the morning, it will collect many more items by evening. CLUTTER ATTRACTS CLUTTER. The Bed in the extra bed room is just the same. I use it as a place to put things that don't have a home. Do you have areas like this that continue to grow if left alone? Does the rest of the family see this as a place to put things when they do not want to put them where they belong? It is our job to NIP this in the bud. Get rid of that pile, find the surface underneath, and stop the Hot Spot from becoming a raging Clutter inferno! - FlyLady
What is a 5 minute Room Rescue?This is a reminder to spend just 5 minutes clearing a path in your worst room. You know this area of your home: the place you would never allow anyone to see. Just 5 minutes a day for the next 27 days and you will have a place you can be proud to take anyone.
What is a 27 Fling Boogie?This is a tool to help you declutter your home. Do this assignment as fast as you can. Take a garbage bag and walk through your home and throw away 27 items. Do not stop until you have collected all 27 items. Then close the garbage bag and pitch it. DO NOT LOOK IN IT!!! Just do it. Next, take an empty box and go through your home collecting 27 items to give away. As soon as you finish filling the box, take it to the car. You are less tempted to rescue the items. If you have two of any item and you only need one, get rid of the least desirable.
What is a mission?The missions are Kelly's brainchild. She sends out a daily (well, almost daily LOL!) email announcing the mission of the day. The missions are a fun 10-minute mini-project in the current zone. It might be a treasure hunt through the pillows on your sofa, it may be an opportunity to visit the spider family that has taken up residence in the dining room chandelier, or perhaps you will conduct a science experiment in that green goo growing in the back of the fridge. Who knows where you will end up when you are doing one of Kelly's missions! Check out the FLY Zone for more information about the latest mission.
What is the Weekly Home Blessing Hour?The Weekly Home Blessing hour is the time FlyLady spends slipshod cleaning her home. No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the middle of the floors only!
FlyLady sets her timer for 10 minutes to work on each of 7 tasks:
Vacuum
Dust
Mop
Polish Mirrors and Doors
Purge magazines
Change Sheets
Empty all trash
This takes approximately one hour; some tasks take less than 10 minutes.
"Don't obsess, set your timer for 10 minutes for each task, then QUIT!" ~ Kelly
Floof,
I am building a new house too, and am pretty freaked out about what'll take to keep it clean. I have darker wood now, and probably am weakest about dusting, so that'll have to change!
I think I might get a notebook and create a daily/weekly/mothly schedule so I can check off to see my progress, and not lose track of things. I wish flylady.net had something that I could buy!
I saw another poster that likes to vacuum stuff. I have to agree with that. I think it's easier, and does a great job, although furniture polish/rag are neccessary on occasion too, so your wood doesn't dry out.
I had our builder get our ducts cleaned out because my son has asthma and it cuts down on A LOT of new construction dust. That means a company comes out with a truck and runs big vacuum type hoses to your ducts and they suck everything right out of your house! Also, change your furnace filter a lot! it helps. Can you tell that I'll do anything I can to save on the work?? LOL
I'm kinda depressed that my meds don't give me that "clean everything" urge anymore. I do clean, but I don't feel the effects as much as I used to. I loved those first few days where I wanted to clean EVERYTHING!!! Did you ever watch the Gilligans Island episode when they all got the super powers? My husband was calling me "Mary Ann on sugar beets!" LOL
Good luck to you!
[QUOTE=sonya_h][QUOTE=floofthegoof]....dusting....[/QUOTE]
what is this?
what does it mean?
is it something that only rich people and home-owners do?????
[/QUOTE]LOL!!!
The only method that has ever worked for me is to totally remove all the distractions by dumping the whole room into a box/boxes and then concentrate on picking out items one at a time to put away. Another method is to mark a box each with a room name. Sort from your main box and don't think about the item just it's room. Dump it in the appropriate room. Then when done, take your room box & start slowly putting away. It takes me forever if I do it, but at least it makes me do it.I'm odd because I like cleaning, it's a stress relief for me though. My boyfriend told me this weekend I clean like I'm hiding evidence from a crime, LoL! (I clean very fast, very focused (hyperfocused), and very thorough.)
But I'll agree with the 'no clutter' helping. I have reached a point where I don't have many knick-knacks or things out like that. I keep as much off the floors as possible and hide (aka put up) as much as possible. So my cleaning is sweeping/vacuuming, cleanign glass, and dusting. And since I don't have to move stuff, it's quick...and i don't have to dust much.
I love the Swiffer type products, and they are coming out with so many cleaning products that make it easier to clean. But spending a small amount of time every week helps keep the house cleaner....because after it gets dirty, it takes a lot longer to get clean.
[QUOTE=addbec] I tried Fly Lady and found it was too many messages and it felt like my Mom was dictating my day. Oh well, I tried.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=floofthegoof] I might try the flylady thing. Part of my problem is simply not knowing what to do.
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A note to both of you....you don't need to register to use the tips, etc. and get the benefit of the Flylady. I also registered, and thought, Oh No...I don't want all those emails! I also didn't want to register w/Yahoo.
So you CAN get the benefits from her site, just don't register.
Good luck! 
[QUOTE=addbec]
I agree. After getting on my meds, I got rid of SO much stuff. Who needs all the stuff laying around that makes it harder to clean. So less on shelves, less on counters, etc.
Which Super Vac do you use? I want the 9 Pet Vac, but gosh, that is expensive. It seems no matter how often I vacuum, there is always freaking dog hair stuck in the carpet. Makes me nuts!
[/QUOTE]
Hey! Are you referring to the purple upright that they call "The Animal"??? Sounds like it. Mine stays full of dog hair. -YUCK- If you want a review of it....Well it is excellent. I thought it was too expensive too,,,but it works REALLY well. Lots of people get a cleaning person tp come in a couple of time a week....I don't particularly like the idea of someone else in my house like that though-...
I might try the flylady thing. Part of my problem is simply not knowing what to do.Trust me if you can afford it a cleaner once a week = SANITY!
Otherwise you have to make a routine and stick to it. EG. I will do a general tidy up two days a week. Try to keep your bedroom tidy or at least your bed made. Dishes suck but they have to be done. Just do them! lol
Chuck on some music when you are cleaning. Write down your chores and tick them off. Who are you living with? If it is with someone else get them involved and you can work together
I wish I had one!
I have that one! The Dyson animal. I asked for it for my birthday/Christmas gift because it is expensive. But its great!! I really sucks! I've never had such a powerful vac. I vacuumed with my old vac. with a new bag, then went over the rug with my new Dyson and I could not believe how much dirt and hair my old vac. had left behind! It was kinda gross Plus it doesn't use bags, so you do save there. And it's HEPA filter is washable so you don't have to pay to replace it.
They stand behind the product 100%. Mine got some gear or belt twisted and because they didn't have a service contractor near my house they paid for it to be shipped to their repair center in NY(I'm on the west coast) and shipped back for free. (It cost them over to ship it) plus it only took about 8 days and it only took that long because it was Dec. and all the holiday mail. It usually takes about 4-5 days turn around.
Customer service was awesome! Very helpful, friendly and intelligent. Do keep copies of your receipt handy when you call them, but if you register on their web site you don't even need that, you are in their computer system every time you call.
I've had it over a year now, and I'm still very impressed with it.( the proceeding was not paid for by the Dyson company)
Barb
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Hey! Are you referring to the purple upright that they call "The Animal"??? Sounds like it. Mine stays full of dog hair. -YUCK- If you want a review of it....Well it is excellent. I thought it was too expensive too,,,but it works REALLY well. Lots of people get a cleaning person tp come in a couple of time a week....I don't particularly like the idea of someone else in my house like that though-...
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Thanks! Yeah, the purple one. I want it bad! Thanks for the recommendation!