Last summer we taught our kids how to cook. This summer, I’m teaching them how to clean. We’ve been away from home for four weeks. We camped, we visited family in Georgia and Florida, we vacationed on a Gulf beach, and the kids and I traveled north to Charlottesville to visit my childhood girlfriends and … Continue reading 2014: Our summer of housekeeping training
There are few things as gratifying as fresh vacuum marks on carpet. I don’t need them to be evenly spaced or perfectly parallel, but I do love to see those neat rows, like a freshly mowed lawn, where just seconds before there were footprints and dried play dough and leaf detritus from outside. The best … Continue reading All the picture frames in our house are crooked
My husband had barely gotten his foot in the door last Tuesday when I pounced. I grinned up at him, “I learned how to do podcasts today!” I could feel my whole body sparking with excitement. He looked at me blankly, suitcase in hand. Like most of the world, he discovered podcasts years ago. “You … Continue reading I’m a genius at the end of cleaning day
Having changed dwellings 11 times in the past 15 years, my husband and I have cleaned a lot of houses. We’ve washed baseboards and ovens, shampooed carpets and vacuumed under beds. But we’ve always done it when we move out, when we’re fixing up the place so we can get our deposit back, or making … Continue reading Spring Cleaning Checklist
I’m a scheduler. A list-maker. A spreadsheet junkie. If I’m going to make a resolution work, I have to make a plan for it. And while I like having a plan, I don’t like making a plan. I find putting all the pieces together, and remembering all the pieces, to be incredibly taxing. On our … Continue reading Housekeeping schedule: Dailies & Weeklies
Butterfly Mind 