June Cleaver, from the
television series Leave It to Beaver, doesn’t
live here anymore, but many years ago I married a man whose mother could sure
have given June a run for her money. In fact, back in the sixties, my
mother-in-law, who raised three boys, was nominated for Suburban Homemaker of
the Year of St. Paul, Minnesota. Her home was described as “a model of neatness
and comfort.” No kidding. For years this has been scary, motivating, and
intriguing to me. I wondered: How can I ever keep as nice a home? Gosh, I had better get my act together.
And, most important, how did she do it? I finally got the courage to ask her
and this is what I learned.
Laundry practices were
first on my list of questions because my husband still speaks longingly of his
childhood underwear drawer, always magically tidy and full. Did she do laundry
all the time? Many people who
attend my clutter control classes say they are constantly doing laundry. My
mother-in-law said no. She did laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. She used
bleach alternate times on her whites, so whites would stay white without
getting holes in them. She put a fabric sheet in every dryer load so things
wouldn’t have static and stick together.
How often were sheets and
towels changed? (Do you ever wonder how often other people really do this?) My
mother-in-law washed towels every time she did laundry, and sheets got changed
once per week and washed on a laundry day. How about the rest of the bedding?
The beds got stripped down, and everything on the beds got washed, and the
mattresses were turned in the spring and in the fall. She demonstrated how to
neatly fold a fitted sheet by tucking the corners into each other, smoothing
the sheet flat, and then folding it neatly. Cool.
With three boys and a
dog, she must have dusted and vacuumed constantly? No. She said she dusted and
vacuumed once per week unless there was a specific mess that needed to be
cleaned up. Did she move the furniture every time? No, she only moved it once
in a while. Did she clean the baseboards and curtains every time? No. She did a
thorough room-by-room cleaning once each spring and fall. What about
windows? They got cleaned every
six months, including the storms and the screens.
Did she empty closets out
all the time? No. She would just cull out extra stuff in closets when she was
in them. She didn’t empty out the closets at all. Most toys were kept in a
central spot downstairs. I am guessing this helped keep the bedrooms tidier and
easier to straighten.
Maybe the kitchen and
bathroom were getting cleaned all the time? Did she spend all her time mopping?
No. These rooms got scrubbed down once a week. As a little preventative
maintenance, she did quickly swish out the tub each time. The toilet, tub, and
the rest of the bathroom got cleaned weekly.
Did she have special
cleaning products that did a better job than anyone else’s? No. She used a
solution of one-part vinegar to three-parts water for cleaning glass mirrors
and windows. She used an over-the-counter product in the kitchen, a spray
product for soap scum, and a clinging product for the toilet bowls. She liked
non-sudsing ammonia in water for general cleaning. After wiping down fixtures,
this same water would be used to mop the bathroom and kitchen floors. It was a
simple effective system, and it didn’t waste cleaning water either.
What was I learning?
There were no astounding discoveries here, but I began to see a pattern. My
mother-in-law had very thorough organizational habits. Also, almost every time
I asked a cleaning question, her answer included “unless there was something
more important going on that day.” Keeping a clean house was important, but it
was clear that people and activities came first. She wasn’t one to waste time
lingering over partially completed tasks. When I asked about laundry, she said,
“If I’m getting tied down doing laundry, I might as well get it done and over
with.”
Her secrets to nice
housekeeping didn’t include fanatically frequent cleaning schedules or special
mystery cleaning products. She had developed regular routines, including a
twice-per-year system for those nagging big projects. I often waste time
pondering and worrying about some of the big cleaning jobs instead of just
doing them. I think it would be very freeing to establish a better weekly
schedule and to practice a twice-per-year spring and fall deep cleaning
schedule.
