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{Rebroadcast} The Modern Lady Cleaning Compendium
892 Plays7 months ago
This week, where we live, temperatures are balmy and warm, prompting us to begin thinking about spring cleaning! So we dug through the archives and found one of our favourite episodes, The Cleaning Compendium, from January 2020 to help inspire us:
“This week, Michelle and Lindsay tackle the MANY questions they received from The Modern Lady community and dish the dirt on all things housekeeping! From “The Friday Clean” to “The Five-Minute Tidy”, cleaning with kids to cleaning green, from laundry flow to listener tips and tricks – this truly is the “catch all” of cleaning resources from the ladies!”
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Listener Engagement
00:00:00
Speaker
But sometimes we recognize the need to be a little less verbose and a little more nuts and bolts. So today I was like, what are you gonna do here? Okay, I'm so sorry. That's okay. I'm gonna do one more time. Okay. Okay.
00:00:36
Speaker
Welcome back to the Modern Lady Podcast. You're listening to episode 54. Hi, I'm Michelle. And I'm Lindsay. And today we are talking about our favourite cleaning tips and tricks. We certainly love to wax poetic on the subject of homemaking here at the Modern Lady Podcast.
00:00:55
Speaker
But sometimes we recognize the need to be a little less verbose and a little more nuts and bolts. So today we are going to be sharing practical takes on housekeeping and sharing some great tips from you, our listeners, all in the name of the reasonably tidy home.
00:01:11
Speaker
But first, if you are enjoying the Modern Lady podcast, we would be so honored if you could take a minute to rate and review us on whatever platform you use to listen to podcasts. It only takes a minute, but it really helps our little podcasts stand out. When you take the time to comment on our podcast, it truly makes our day. This week's shout out goes to Maryu Lalia, who left us a five star review on Apple podcasts and said, quote, I'm a new stay at home mom in Houston, Texas.
00:01:41
Speaker
and I found your podcast through Mountain Butoric, who was our tour guide in Rome last year. I love the humor, practical tips, and encouragement packed in each episode. Thanks for sharing a little bit of your stories and lives with us in each episode." End quote. Well, thank you, Mary, for your review and your recommendation. We loved hearing that you connected with us through Mountain, our mutually favourite Catholic traveller.
00:02:07
Speaker
And if you would like to leave us a comment, you can do so on our website www.themodernlady1950.wordpress.com or you can leave us a comment on Facebook or Instagram where you can find us at the Modern Lady podcast.
Traditional Cleaning Techniques
00:02:27
Speaker
But before we get into today's chat, Lindsay has our Modern Lady Tip of the Week.
00:02:32
Speaker
So Michelle, listeners, join me now. The year is 1960 and we are young ladies in a high school home economics class. We have just learned the horrifying statistic that 85 to 97% of the dirt in a room is in the carpet. The Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Company did a lot of research into this, surprise, surprise. But I don't think that any of us are really all that shocked to find out that carpets hold onto dirt.
00:02:59
Speaker
Now, these young ladies would have been taught the basic strokes of effective vacuuming, such as the long draw, the graceful out and in sweep and a feather pattern, the short brush stroke, which is quick and choppy strokes layered over each other, and finally the edger sweep, smooth unbroken strokes with an edging tool.
00:03:20
Speaker
These home economic classes instructed the ladies on the different types of materials used in rugs and carpets, pile length, knowledge about different types of vacuum cleaners and how they work, and stain removal. They believed that women would enjoy housework more if they truly felt that they had been educated and were approaching it as intelligent work.
00:03:39
Speaker
The book I was reading, Biting the Dust, Joys of Housework by Margaret Horstfield, treated this home-ec education in a mocking and dismissive tone. But now that we are a few generations removed from this type of knowledge, I dare say that many women wish they knew these things and do actually believe that possessing this knowledge does help them understand that their jobs do take skill and require intelligence.
00:04:02
Speaker
After hearing you list all the different kinds of strokes, I must say I identify with the long graceful feather stroke. I just vacuumed this morning. And I was like, yeah, that would be me. Now, would there be any research indicating which is the most effective? No, I wonder if it was the different size room, right? Like a bigger room, you'd want the longer strokes now.
00:04:25
Speaker
My parents were very, very particular about their vacuuming strokes. So we had a room we didn't use in their house and it was vacuumed all of the time.
The Psychological Benefits of a Clean Home
00:04:34
Speaker
And if we didn't vacuum it properly, we had to redo it. And their vacuum strokes were so precise that one time our neighbor was house sitting for us and would just pop in and make sure everything was okay. And everybody on the street knew you don't mess with the Jones vacuum strokes. And he wrote his name in the carpet really big with his fingers. It just said Ron.
00:04:53
Speaker
really big across our living room carpet. This was a big deal in my house growing up. They don't cover that in home at class, I bet. No.
00:05:09
Speaker
One of the things we get questions and comments on the most is our housekeeping and homemaking. And we are always up for a great discussion on a robust clean. So we thought it was time to revisit this topic in an official episode of the podcast, right Lindsay?
00:05:25
Speaker
Yes, so you all asked and we are ready to answer. It's no surprise that I love cleaning. Is my house clean all the time? Nope. Michelle, is your house clean right now? Oh, no. There's just been like unforeseen circumstances that have completely derailed my cleaning the past couple of weeks. So it's very ironic that we are doing this episode today.
00:05:51
Speaker
Like we always say, we aren't the experts. We're learning along with you guys. But I think that what gives you and I this chance to talk is the fact that we both love it. And we both have kind of set the bar high and we both keep working towards it. And so it doesn't mean we're going to achieve it all the time. But what we want to share with our listeners is the fact that we think that homemaking and keeping your house clean adds value, not just to your home and to the items within it, but to your home life.
00:06:18
Speaker
Oh, it's so true. And you can really tell the moods, or at least I can within myself, but even amongst everyone else, the difference between when I am able to keep on top of the cleaning and the housekeeping, and when things naturally kind of tend to slide a little bit. It's not deliberate on my part by any means, but
00:06:40
Speaker
Definitely, there is a huge difference in mood, I find. I always say it's cheaper than therapy. And I'm not kidding on that. There's actually been a lot of studies done linking depression and anxiety to a messy house. And so I've always said, and I truly firmly believe this, that if you are fine with your house being in a state of disarray and messy or even dirty, and you're truly happy with that, then you're happy with that.
00:07:07
Speaker
But I've talked to a lot of women over the years about home making. And once you've kind of delved into that a little bit more, the answers start to come out that no, of course they'd like it cleaner. They just can't do it right now or they've tried and they can't find a system that works.
00:07:22
Speaker
and they wish they could do it. I think very few people can feel settled
Establishing Realistic Cleaning Routines
00:07:27
Speaker
and peaceful in a home that isn't as tidy as we know it can be. And again, we're not talking about perfection here. We're just talking about a home that you can truly enjoy and a home that you can welcome people into maybe spontaneously, right? Some guests who might pop by spur of the moment. We all want to host that would be welcoming for that kind of situation.
00:07:48
Speaker
And I think it's also probably a good thing to acknowledge some of the cultural things that are kind of stacked against this idea of a clean house. Because often when we think about homemaking, our minds tend towards the Golden Age, right? The 50s and the cleaning schedules back then. And though they did have much harder tasks because they don't have our modern conveniences and technology, some of the different challenges that we face today would be things
00:08:16
Speaker
um like bigger houses so just simply more square footage to keep track of um or less people around during the day either in your neighborhood or you yourself you're out of the house for much of the day like life is different and so if if people are struggling trying to figure out what it is and for everyone it's going to look different but what it is that's going to be your routine um just know that
00:08:43
Speaker
There are different kinds of challenges facing each person and even within each generation and time period. It's an evolving thing. That's right. And there's different seasons in our life. We talk about this all the time. And so we're not going to be able to get it all done all of the time.
00:08:58
Speaker
But again, the message here that we want to share is that we believe in trying and, and you know what, being gentle with yourself, but also pushing yourself sometimes going like, you know what, I can get this done today. Yeah, I've been on my field all day, but if I just go a little bit more, another hour, I could get so much done. And so this is the kind of thing we want to encourage everybody to do. Michelle, this lines up with our be better motto for 2020, that little bit extra.
00:09:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. And kind of going into that too, as you were just saying that I was thinking about the going through the motions thing. And cleaning is one of those things. Absolutely. Like don't underestimate the power of a day of puttering.
00:09:38
Speaker
Oh, yes. Like if you can just resign yourself, like today's just a putter day. It's not like an intense roll up your sleeves kind of a day of cleaning. Just like I'll just putter around the house and you just do it consistently. Yeah. Actually, I find I'm surprised at the end of the day how much I actually get done. So yeah, in the spirit of getting better, it can either be going through the motions or really getting down to the intense focus of a thing. But either way, cleaning is definitely achievable.
00:10:08
Speaker
That's right. Now we were asked questions and the first question is what we do daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, that kind of thing. And now we feel that listing our tasks like that might be a little tedious to listen to. Yes. It doesn't lend itself to audio. No, it doesn't. I started writing out a list and I'm like, and it'll just be 25 minutes of me reading this list.
00:10:30
Speaker
So we thought we could kind of answer this question in a roundabout way in a more general sense by sharing what our individual approaches are to our housework. So Michelle, how do you approach your housework?
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, so again, like we were saying, it's been a process of me figuring out how it's going to work for me over the years. I've tried many different systems. And I think I've kind of hit on one that seems to keep things at a really good pace for me. I'm on the go quite a lot. And so doing everything in big chunks wasn't getting done because I keep pushing it off day to day. So I really like the little bit at a time schedules.
00:11:12
Speaker
in particular recently I've been using the Clean Mama schedule. She's on Instagram and I like her because her posts are every single day. They just remind you what day you're on. This is very simple, right? And for that it really helps me keep on top of the little weekly things that need to be done in addition to she has some daily tasks like one small load of laundry, for example.
00:11:36
Speaker
Every day and it's sizable enough that I can fit it in even on most of my busy days And then you talk often about the Friday clean and I know you're going to expound on that in a moment But for me then the Friday clean is a catch all day What I was noticing is that when I saved everything for Friday, I
00:11:56
Speaker
I was only doing what should probably be daily tasks, but they became mountains. And so it took me all day Friday just to catch up and some of the deeper pain wasn't happening. You were holding on to it. So this will help other people understand. So you would kind of delay doing some tasks and save them for Friday.
00:12:15
Speaker
Yes. So yeah, like for example, I would do most of my ironing on Friday in addition to vacuuming the house and washing the floors. Okay. You know, very reasonable too.
00:12:29
Speaker
to expect that I could get that all done in a day. And then what would naturally happen is if anything came up, it would just completely throw everything off, right? Yeah. So I started realizing like, Oh, I need daily tasks. And then the Friday clean is
00:12:47
Speaker
like you often say, a little bit deeper. So that's been working for me and the Clean Mama schedule helps me visualize that in a way I wasn't able to put it together before. So that's kind of what my weekly daily routines look like. And I know you have something similar, but you're a little bit more precise, right?
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah, I've been doing this, obviously, for a long time. And so I have a habit and kind of a ritual and a rhythm that works for me. The biggest difference, though, is our situations. Because I am home all day and I can't get out during the day, I do have a full eight to 10 hours where I can just worry about my house. I don't have to do doctor's appointments with the kids or any of those things.
00:13:29
Speaker
So that's the first thing. I can just really have a different natural routine that I slip into. And so every day I do tend to do the same things. I'm going to jump right to the Friday clean first and then talk about my daily week. So the Friday clean came about many years ago when I started homeschooling about five years ago. I met with a mom who homeschooled her 11 kids.
00:13:52
Speaker
And they live in a house that's around 1,400 square feet. And every Friday, she wouldn't homeschool them. She explained to me that they only did four days a week. And a lot of homeschoolers will agree, you can totally get everything done in four days. And Friday was their family clean the house day. And this was part of their curriculum. The kids didn't just get off easy, right? They're learning life skills in this day. But her intention was that they could go into the weekend just having family time.
00:14:19
Speaker
And we don't do unnecessary labor on Sundays. I know you don't and I don't. And so we don't want to spend all day Saturday cleaning. So that was their Friday clean. And I was like, this is awesome. So that's where I first heard about it. So all day Friday. Now, do I get my kids on board? No, not all the time. And I'll explain that more when we talk about kids cleaning.
00:14:40
Speaker
So it's mostly me doing it, but that is the big clean. It's the bathrooms. It's all of the vacuuming. It's everything picked up and put in its home. Like Mrs. Beaton and her book of household management, I am a firm believer that everything has a home. So every single item in my house goes back to its proper home. And it's just everything is spotless, top to bottom. This is a massive job and I have a small house. My house is less than 1700 square feet.
00:15:07
Speaker
And it's about 11,000 steps you'll get in. Wow. Oh my goodness. So it's a workout. It's awesome. But that is my Friday clean. Does it get done every Friday? No. My mom happens to have Fridays off and we love it when grandma comes to visit. So sometimes grandma comes to visit and that time with family always trumps cleaning. Okay. If you can get family time. So it doesn't get done every Friday, but this is my goal.
00:15:31
Speaker
Now, once that's done, you have a spotless house top to bottom. And I promise you all, if you commit to a clean, a big clean week, maintaining it is really easy. Now, I'm going to scare a lot of people off because when I say maintaining Michelle, it's three hours a day.
00:15:50
Speaker
All right, to me it's not a lot of work, but to others my three hours might sound a little daunting. But okay, just to cut in here, but having said that, two things to remember is number one, you really enjoy it, like truly. I do. Yeah. Right? And number two, that's how you get how gorgeous your house is all the time.
00:16:10
Speaker
Like, you have to show for it. You know what I mean? I do. It takes hard work and you put in the hard work. But thank you for recognizing that. Because a lot of people love to be like, aren't you lucky your house stays clean? I'm like, lucky? Oh my goodness. Let me put a camera in here and show you. Yeah, it is work. And this is something we've talked about so many times. I have been asked for years about how I keep my house clean.
00:16:33
Speaker
And people do want tips and tricks. And while we have a few of those to share today, the truth is it takes hard work. I clean all day. That's how it stays clean. And and as we all know, especially if you have a couple of kids, a day or two off, well, it's snowballed into like a disaster.
00:16:51
Speaker
That's my number one thing flopping onto the couch at the end of the night or something like that. Especially Sundays. Like you said, we don't often do a ton of cleaning on Sundays. I look around and I say to Phil, I'm like, I don't even know why I bother sometimes. It's like I take one day off and this whole place falls apart.
00:17:09
Speaker
Sorry for interrupting. No, no, I have to joke that my Friday clean spills over to become a Monday clean because of the Sunday rest So Monday usually Monday mornings a lot, but again, I enjoy it. So back to my three hours a day So what this breaks down to simply is an hour in the morning
00:17:25
Speaker
an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening so after i get the kids off to school or when i was homeschooling all four the same pattern happened i go first of all i bring my black coffee upstairs with me and i sit and totally enjoy my coffee y'all can do that i open my laptop i do some social media i have my coffee and then i get to work so i'm all about building in incentives and breaks for yourself throughout the day as well so
00:17:49
Speaker
I start, I do all the beds. Yes, my kids know how to make their own beds, but I have a really particular way of making their beds. And I like my way. So while they're under my roof, I do their beds most of the time. I open the windows even in the winter to just get a little fresh air in while I'm making each bed. Five minutes is often enough. I pick up all the clothes that all of us, including me, drop quickly as we're getting ready. And I put away the load of laundry that I folded the night before at midnight. I'll get to that in a second by the end of the day.
00:18:18
Speaker
So I tidy up laundry, I make the beds and I clean off the bathroom counters. I will often take a dirty towel that we use to dry ourselves after the shower and wipe out sinks with it and wipe down the counters and then I windex everything. So that's the upstairs. The upstairs is pretty darn tidy at that point. I hang out with the kids, we do school, we eat lunch, all that kind of thing. And then we do a cleanup from three until four. The kids are often helping with this when they put away toys, they put away their school stuff, they put away shoes and coats.
00:18:47
Speaker
And what we're doing is we're doing the big cleanup before dad comes home, right? This is also the pretend I haven't been on Facebook for five hours cleanup.
00:18:57
Speaker
I love that. Let's be honest. Yes. So it's amazing what you talk about. I've been cleaning for hours. Right. Oh my goodness. I'm so tired. It's like 20 minutes. But no, there's a lot you can get done in that time. So I don't want to go into Jason coming in. Not that he would come in and expect a clean house. He never does.
00:19:20
Speaker
But it helps me then center my mind to getting the dinner hour mess going, right? So let's not compound messes. So everything gets cleaned and I turn to the kitchen and I am the messiest cook ever. I don't know if you're a messy cook, Michelle, but I use every item in my kitchen. Yes.
00:19:39
Speaker
It's so true. Sometimes I think I need more measuring cups and like the five that I own are in the sink piles. So yes. So we do and I try to cook from scratch and so we make a big dinner and then we do the evening cleanup. Jason always helps with that. I'm very, I am lucky to have that. Oh, again, I don't like the word lucky because this is something Jason and I discussed.
00:20:01
Speaker
While we were dating, he would come visit me in my apartment and he couldn't come visit unless he helped clean. So that was actually something worked into our relationship at the very, very beginning. So I have a very wonderful husband who does help clean that every night. Now, when we do that evening cleanup, I want to stress that we never, ever leave our main floor messy.
00:20:20
Speaker
and maybe once a year, but that's it. Even if we have company over, I'm cleaning till two in the morning. I will not come down in the morning to a messy main floor. It's not going to happen because it ruins my entire day. Talk about mood, right? I know this about me and I know this about Jason. And so we'd rather put in an hour up to two hours in the evening to get it clean, to start our day fresh. That's the best feeling for me.
00:20:44
Speaker
So when we do our main floor clean at night, the kitchen is spotless. I mean counters are done. Glass doors and windows are windexed. The stainless steel fridge is wiped down with stainless steel cleaner. The microwave and stove doors are windexed. Everything is perfect. I even have, oh my goodness, ask the kids, all of my bar stools have a certain screw in the base and I don't like that visible. So all of my bar stools have to be turned to a certain degree.
00:21:11
Speaker
and lined up on one of the pieces of flooring. And so it's very particular, but that gives us immense peace. We get to sit in that space once the kids are in bed and light the candles and love our home. So these things we put in the work, but we also draw from it great benefits every day.
00:21:32
Speaker
And I like what you're saying too, like this is what makes your family happy. Yes. Right?
Family Involvement in Cleaning
00:21:38
Speaker
Every family is going to be different and they'll have various degrees. Like you have to take the average of every person in your family, right? Some are a little messier, some are a little bit neater.
00:21:48
Speaker
But the idea of a family culture and marrying that with house cleaning is just figuring out that dynamic and then sticking to it. Like that's the two things that I hear you saying is figure out what the family culture is and then stick to it.
00:22:05
Speaker
I think it's really important to have a family conversation about this because it isn't just your home. And so whether you want it super clean or you're okay with it being a total mess, you aren't the only one that lives there. And so this is humility, right? It's not just my house. And so having a talk about the level and it doesn't have to be at my level. It's at your level, your house. What would give all of you a sense of peace and make you enjoy your space?
00:22:33
Speaker
And it's interesting too, like when you have really little kids, it is predominantly you and your preference. But I even find too, our oldest has just started coming to me and I was so taken aback because she said to me, she's like, mom, I could really use your help figuring out how to clean my room. Because before we just kind of had a system that made it easy for her as a younger child
00:22:57
Speaker
to just kind of put things in a basket that's at the bottom of her bed, right? But I think she's desiring a little bit, she's growing into her own preferences. And so I was like, yeah, we can totally sit down and figure out how you want your room and your space set up. And I just, I think that's so, it makes it so much more involved than considering only your opinion, which is easy to do if you're the only one at home during the whole day.
00:23:24
Speaker
So Michelle, I love that because I think it's really important as you work with Claire and as we work with our kids to see what cleaning method works for them, right? Helping them develop their own style of cleaning while teaching them along the way. But some kids do work better with baskets. Some kids work better with shelving, like finding out what works for them. So how else do you get your kids involved? So in terms of things that I do with my kids, I have daily chores with them in the morning before school.
00:23:53
Speaker
And this is really one chore each and it's a very easy one and it's not one that I'm really strictly on top of. So we don't rotate them very often so that they can get really used to each chore. So for example, one of my sons loves the dishwasher. He's been doing that for a year and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon. He's quite good at it now.
00:24:18
Speaker
The other son wipes down the kitchen table and takes out any recycling that's still on the counter for me out to the garage. And then my daughter, Claire, the oldest one, she's to go and straighten out the beds, the kids beds upstairs. And then the little one just kind of, she gets to choose who she tags along with that day. And I give her a rag and she kind of pretends to clean whatever everyone else is cleaning at the time.
00:24:44
Speaker
So I really find that with kids, consistency is the real key to give them time to practice it. Um, the other thing that I personally don't mind is correcting my child on the job that they've done. I don't mind it because I, I'm not mean. I'm just, I'm not cruel about it, but, uh, I think how else do we expect them to learn and to improve if we don't correct their mistakes and, and show them the proper way.
00:25:14
Speaker
So it's kind of like a teacher, if you submitted a paper and it's full of spelling mistakes, you don't expect them not to correct you because they want to discourage you from writing.
00:25:24
Speaker
you expect to get it with correction. So in any case, I'll just kind of walk by and make sure to thank them for helping. And then I'll say, oh, you know what really works for me is I just tuck it in just like this. And then do you see how it makes it tighter or something like that if we're making beds? And then the last thing I do to get my kids to help me out is good old fashioned bribery. It works, right? I mean rewards.
00:25:51
Speaker
And it's this idea of extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards. So like I read somewhere or I heard somewhere, I can't remember, but the children don't develop an intrinsic desire to do things or a reward for doing what's right, right off the bat. So that's like the feel good thing that we get. We clean because it feels good to be in a clean house. And we know that it's the right thing to do and we feel good when we do a good thing.
00:26:20
Speaker
Kids sometimes take more time to develop that intrinsic value. And so adding an extrinsic reward kind of helps them develop habits until such a time as they're mature enough to look for the intrinsic value in things. So it doesn't have to be money. I know some people do allowance for their kids if they do chores.
00:26:41
Speaker
Um, for me, we all really love food. So for example, when Phil used to work late for a time, um, I would get the kids to help me pick up their toys after dinner and we would make it into a race and I would clean the kitchen and they would clean the playroom. And if they could beat me.
00:26:59
Speaker
then they get a little bowl of ice cream. And it was a win-win for everyone. Of course, I kind of went a little bit more slowly because, you know. But, you know, it's just finding that balance between being playful, being encouraging, but also teaching them how to do things. And then when I really need to get work done, I often do not involve them because it is faster to get stuff done.
00:27:26
Speaker
that's all excellent i totally agree i have a few more things that we do um i'm a big fan of setting the timer like you're saying with the races and i do that for myself but the kids love it too um i think you're completely right about um teaching them to do it better and better each time i don't i don't think you or i would jump in with our three-year-old who's trying to make a bed for the first time
00:27:48
Speaker
and demand it to be a little bit better and we just ease into it and we go great job the first like three times and then great job let's just straighten that pillow out like you're saying and great job let's right and so because I know a lot of parents who just will go well they've tried and they leave it and that's good enough but no like we want them to get better and better at the skill and so there's nothing wrong with encouraging them playfully like you said to do a better job at it I tend to be a bit more sarcastic and
00:28:17
Speaker
But the kids are so the things I yell are are I think hilarious? Kids haven't done it up to my standard, but we all enjoy like I want it to be enjoyable and So I'm a big believer in that now the way my kids ages are structured or that I have two big kids and two little kids, right? There's a three and a half year break in between my two older ones my two little ones So I'm a big fan of the buddy system as well. So yes
00:28:42
Speaker
There is no reason, like you said, that Joanna will take along. There's no reason why if you have big kids and little kids, that you can't buddy them up. And then they have to learn how to work together, which I think is really important too. And it's funny that the big kids who might be hesitant or pretend like they forget how to use the dryer, when they're the one teaching the little ones, suddenly they can do all the tasks that they pretend they don't know how to do.
00:29:04
Speaker
It's a miracle. Yeah. And the last thing I want to relieve all of the mothers who have guilt about popping on Paw Patrol when they're trying to get their cleaning done.
Balancing Screens and Cleaning
00:29:13
Speaker
I'm a huge fan of screens. I have zero issue with my kids playing Minecraft or watching TV.
00:29:19
Speaker
while I get the house clean. Cleaning for me is relaxing. It's a stress reliever and I really enjoy it. And so I'm not going to involve the kids every single time because that just increases my stress level. And that is okay too. I mean, how else would I listen to a podcast?
00:29:34
Speaker
I'm supposed to be educating the kids the whole time. So my kids are likely not going to burn the house down now because my youngest is five and my oldest is 13. So I can put headphones in for years. It was just one headphone. And then before that, it was playing on speakerphone, right? No headphones in. But as your kids get older, you can kind of
00:29:54
Speaker
work a little more in peace on your own, let's just say. So I guess you and I are agreed that it's about being balanced and playful and still setting expectations high, but working alongside of our children.
00:30:08
Speaker
Right. Oh, and I just thought of one other thing, too. It was actually the homily for Mass last weekend, and we were at the same church this past weekend, right? So we heard the same homily. Yes. And I remember Father saying that, you know, something to the effect of there's a lot of value in parents just bringing kids alongside you in your tasks, not having to carve out anything special.
00:30:31
Speaker
or a kid's cleaning schedule or kid's routine, just even simply inviting them to come and stand beside you or keep you company can be so valuable to your relationship and their education when it comes to housekeeping. Michelle, another question we got is this person was wondering if we use any do-it-yourself cleaners, especially an all-purpose cleaner that is safe to use around our children.
DIY vs. Chemical Cleaning Solutions
00:30:57
Speaker
For example, like the Blue Dawn mixture of cleaner.
00:31:01
Speaker
So, I've made that one. I didn't love it. And for the most part, I have zero issue with chemicals around my children. My kids, go get mom the bleach. No, okay, I don't quite do that. So, I actually have zero issue. I love chemically cleaners. I know a lot of people move away from that. So, just being honest, you guys asked and I'm answering. So, no, I don't do any do-it-yourself cleaners, but maybe you do, Michelle.
00:31:29
Speaker
To be honest, I've also tried certain mixtures and do-it-yourself cleaners. I've tried vinegar and dish soap, especially to wash my floors, and I haven't had much success, so I just don't think I'm doing it right.
00:31:46
Speaker
But I do have friends that swear by it, so I'm not going to discount it totally. It's just maybe not for me. The only like clean cleaners that I say I would use is I do really love microfiber cloths.
00:32:02
Speaker
Oh no! No? What's wrong with microfiber? I just had to say this because I'm not alone in this because I commented or I did an insta story the other day but how much I because my dry fingertips stick to it like velcro. Do you feel that? And so I like it's one of those like nails on a chalkboard things for me.
00:32:19
Speaker
Okay, you are correct. Okay. I also feel that and I also hate it. So I'm glad you brought this up because it has become a weird little cleaning ritual that I run my my hands under the sink. I wet my hands before I use my microfiber cloth and then it doesn't
00:32:36
Speaker
Okay, now that's a tip. That is a tip tip. Okay, thank you Michelle. Yes. Yeah, because I totally understand that. It is the worst feeling. But I find it does. It gets such a great clean on my windows and mirrors. It's not streaking and I really love that I can just throw it to wash and reuse it. And so that would be the only clean cleaner that I use, but it does work.
00:33:00
Speaker
That reminds me that one of our listeners commented that instead of using paper towels all the time, I'm a massive paper towel addict and I know I need to get better at that for the environment. But this woman kept her paper towels for only a few specific things. And then apparently at Costco, she found this big bag of plain white cleaning rags. And so that's what they use around their house all the time. And she goes, and I don't have to stress about it. We use it a few times. We drop it in the laundry basket and they're always ready to go because there were so many in the Costco sized bag.
00:33:28
Speaker
Oh, well, that's really smart. I actually use my children's old undershirts. Oh, that's a good idea.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, as they grow out of them, I just throw them into a rag bucket in the basement, and they actually work quite well too. But I love that idea of reusing rags. I didn't know you could buy rags. I didn't either. I thought rags were literally rags. That's amazing. You have to cut up something. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, that's too crafty for me. I can't cut up an old t-shirt. What? You can't do that. Scissors. Yeah, thank you.
00:34:02
Speaker
Now another question we got is how do you keep your house clean when both adults work outside of the home? So I
Maintaining Cleanliness with Working Parents
00:34:08
Speaker
can answer this first. So I was a working mom when I had first two kids and I worked in the same way I work now. I've always had the same pattern whether I didn't have kids, whether I had kids and I worked, or whether I'm at home. I've always done an eight-hour clean.
00:34:23
Speaker
So, um, when I had my two days off a week, when I worked, um, one of those days was an eight hour clean. So it would be the Friday clean, but it wasn't always a Friday. Um, and then we would just maintain it. So I've always done that. Now I grew up in a house where both parents worked full time and we, there were three of us kids and there were extracurricular activities. And that house was spotless. Like if people think my house is clean, you need to go see my mom and dad because their house was spotless and still is. And I talked to my mom about this the other day.
00:34:52
Speaker
just to make sure that my memories are the same as what she was actually doing. And she just worked the whole time. My mom pointed out, and I think that this is mostly true, and I think we mostly have to accept this. If you're a clean person, you've probably been a clean person for most of your life before you had kids, whether you work or you don't work, and after you retire. I think while it is a skill a lot of us learn, some of us are just this way, regardless if we work outside of the home or inside of the house.
00:35:18
Speaker
My mom has been clean since she was a little girl. And so she just did it. And so I fond, I very much remember sitting and watching our cartoons in the morning before school and eating our breakfast. And she was already dressed up nice in her work clothes in her heels, standing at that kitchen sink, washing those dishes. Cause heaven forbid it just be left when we went for school. And then the truth is when you work all day, your house stays clean unless you have a living nanny and your kids are home with the nanny. Your house is clean all day. So you're only doing the dinner cleanup at night.
00:35:48
Speaker
The only difference is that you really do have to do all of your cleaning on a Saturday, right? Versus a Friday clean. So you do a lot more of the weekend cleanup. But my mom always said, like you were saying, keep a kid near you. My mom said, oh, my whole childhood was her going, follow me. If you want to talk to me, follow me.
00:36:05
Speaker
She always she first of all my mother always had a dishcloth in her hand to this day She always walks around with a dishcloth. She wipes handles. She wipes doorknobs. She wipes light switches She's always cleaning something and it always and then it sits on her shoulder. And so Everywhere she walked her hands were never empty. That was the other thing She carried something to every room all the time And if we wanted to talk to her she was happy to talk or listen to me read my journal entries or poetry whatever I want
00:36:37
Speaker
But she's like, that's fine. You can read me your sad poetry, teenage Lindsay, just follow me around. The other thing is that my dad did always help. So they they have my parents work
00:36:50
Speaker
They're very well together, but just like Jason and I, they have a standard of how they want their house to be. They're on the same page and they both put in the work. So my dad every Saturday would be outside the lawns, the gardening, restaining the deck up on ladders, cleaning the windows. Like they didn't stop, but they didn't feel the need to entertain us all the time. Like our generation feels the need to do, right? It was get outside kids and we would go and run off and play.
00:37:16
Speaker
I mean we our generation enjoys in a new way sitting down and engaging with our kids that was different than previous generations but there is also nothing wrong with saying get outside and play kids while mom and dad get the house clean.
00:37:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm, and I was actually talking about that very thing with my dad too recently and just saying like, you know The way our world works kind of makes it a little bit harder for parents to do all these tasks in the limited amount of time that we have Because you know, we can't really kick our kids outside necessarily until like dinner time. Yeah, like after breakfast on Saturday until
00:37:55
Speaker
nighttime, depending where you live and what conditions there are, what your neighborhoods are like, whatever, right? Whereas back in the day, that was kind of the norm. Yeah, it was. Now, one of the things that you and I both do to help us get our cleaning done is we listen to podcasts.
Incorporating Cleaning into Daily Life
00:38:13
Speaker
We talk about that all the time. We love to be up to date on the ones that we find entertaining or that have news. And this is how I do my laundry. So we often will send each other links, right?
00:38:24
Speaker
Darn it, I wish we had another basket of laundry. Yeah. Like, oh, now I have to wait until Wednesday to listen to this because I just finished my ironing. Yep. Because you and I actually stay on top of our laundry because we use it to do something else that we enjoy. Right. 100%. Right?
00:38:40
Speaker
And there are six people in my home and there are six people in your home. And I can honestly say that my laundry is done every day because I have made it into something enjoyable, just like my ironing. It's mommy's chance to listen to a podcast or to open my laptop and watch Escape to the Country on YouTube or something. So that's how I stay on top of it. Now, you and I also both live in an area that has time per use rate, whatever it's called, where it's like cheaper to do our laundry at night, right? Mm hmm.
00:39:07
Speaker
So, sometimes if I do it during the day, I'm like, oh, Lindsay, you're treating yourself today. What a luxury. You're going to spend double the amount on your laundry. But for the most part, I, thankfully, most of our washing machines have a timer. So I load my laundry in the afternoon. I set the timer for 7 p.m. so that it starts when it's cheaper. And then I do two loads a night and I get those loads and the last load runs through the dryer as we're sleeping, which scares me a little.
00:39:37
Speaker
of all the things of dryer fires. So I don't know, I'm a little on the fence with that right now. But regardless, I get that I do two loads a night, the second one's already in the dryer. And so as I was referring before to my morning routine, I always fold that load. The thing with me and laundry is that I will never fold and put it back in a basket unless I'm really time crunched.
00:39:56
Speaker
I fold right on the bed. I fold in the piles per person and I walk it away right away and it's done because if that laundry hits the basket, it's never going away. It's just going to be rifled through and everything's going to get wrinkly. So I am a firm believer in spending the extra three whole minutes of walking it right to the rooms and putting it away.
00:40:13
Speaker
And do you know what I find makes that task even easier too? Is if you are on top of clearing out your kids' drawers. Yes. I find if I slack off on that, either I'm not getting to the winter spring flip fast enough, or if they've grown out of things and I haven't taken them out yet and so I can't close the drawers, then I'm less willing to go and put my laundry away immediately because it's just an added hassle. So that's also another, it's kind of like if you give your mouse a cookie, kind of.
00:40:43
Speaker
builds upon laundry situation. Absolutely. And watching your Insta stories, along with everyone else, I notice you're such a huge fan of that five minute tidy. And I love it gives me motivation to see how much you can accomplish in
00:41:01
Speaker
five minutes. So do you want to just kind of quickly expound on that? Yeah, I realize that a lot of the things we've been putting off once you do it, you realize how easy it was, right? And how much quicker it was. So I thought, let's put this to the test. So I started setting my timer on my microwave as I was doing little chores and it gets you working against yourself. I always say you don't have to compete up against anybody else on social media or Instagram. Challenge yourself, compete against yourself. So that's what I love doing.
00:41:31
Speaker
And so five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, depending on the scope of the job. But start with five. And I guarantee you that the job you've been putting off when you start in five minutes, if it's not done, you will be compelled to just finish it. And it's just getting those first five minutes done.
00:41:47
Speaker
Um, so set the timer and a lot of people are sharing these online. I love seeing that and seeing before and after photos of what a five minute tidy can do. But I get a lot of messages from people who are like, I've been putting it off, but I see you talk about it. And I finally did it. And I absolutely love it. So, um, if you've been sitting too long on the couch and staring at that pile of dishes, set the timer, set the timer and you'll be shocked. And I guarantee you'll like the five minute tidy.
00:42:12
Speaker
And if you do that and document it on social media, would you tag us in it at the Modern Lady podcast? Because I think we would love to share that on our page. Yeah, it truly brings me, and I know you Lindsay, so much joy to see these types of things on Instagram. Oh my gosh, I get so excited. Me too. So if you're doing that, please, please tag us at the Modern Lady podcast because we would love to A, see it to motivate ourselves.
00:42:42
Speaker
And B, maybe to share it with your permission so you can help motivate everyone else in our little community. Okay, it's time for our What We're Loving This Week segment of the show. So, Lindsay, what have you been loving this week? Well, last week I talked about my new Fitbit and I'm going to sound so sporty because this week I'm loving my kettlebell.
00:43:07
Speaker
Ooh. Another thing on Instagram I talk about a lot is Kettlebell and I've been doing the 10,000 Swing Challenge for January. And I first started using a kettlebell in early 2017. I don't actually remember what first prompted me to get one, like they were still kind of a new thing at that time. But I immediately noticed they're so affordable. It's roughly a dollar per pound. So they're really, really affordable. They take up no space to store and they give you a killer total body workout.
00:43:35
Speaker
Um, my favorite YouTube channel is body fit by Amy. She has a variety of workouts, but she has a lot of kettlebell workouts and some of them are five minutes. Some of them are 25 minutes and everything in between. And, um, if you've been on the fence about it, like mine's 15 pounds, I have an 18 pound and a 23 pound, but my 15 pounder has lasted me these three years. It still gives me a very, very effective workout in 20 minutes. I dare you to try it people. I dare you. And you won't be able to walk the next day.
00:44:05
Speaker
So, um, yeah, I really think people should avoid the plastic ones, but I am just a huge fan of the kettlebell. Oh, we'll see. This is great because I, I happen to be on the fence about trying kettlebell. So, um, that's great advice. I'm going to look into that in 15 pounds then. So I was kind of wondering what to start with.
00:44:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think most good. And again, when I started, I was 50 pounds heavier than what I am right now. So it worked for me then. Like people think they need to start even smaller, but no, 15 pounds is a good place and it's still challenging me now. So, um, you'll pick it up and go, this is light, but yeah, you get six minutes into a body fit by Amy workout and then you tell me that that thing's light. Oh yeah. I'm not proud when it comes to working out. I, I'm very self-aware about my lack of muscle mass. So what have you been loving this week?
00:44:54
Speaker
Okay, so I'm still sitting on my couch with my what I'm loving this week. But this time I'm watching The Dick Van Dyke Show on Amazon Prime. I've been watching it with the kids after school. I have good memories of watching TV with my mom, watching her shows when we were growing up.
00:45:15
Speaker
And she'd be doing her crocheting or knitting or cross stitching. And so we would watch everything from like Family Matters, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Magnum PI, all those different things.
00:45:28
Speaker
And so when the Dick Van Dyke show came up on Amazon Prime, I turned it on one day and the kids, I don't make them come and sit and watch with me, but they often do. And what I love about this show is that it is actually funny. We're a family that appreciates humor, both witty and slapstick. And I find the show is both. So it's nice to be able to appreciate good old fashioned humor that's still tasteful and truly funny.
00:45:55
Speaker
And then also, of course, it just appeals to my vintage loving heart. I love the family dynamic and their friendships and relationships on the show. And I love Mary Tyler Moore's style. I know I messaged you about that the other day.
00:46:10
Speaker
And she truly is, like in the show, she's truly modern for her time and smart and fun, but she's still being a really awesome mom and wife and homemaker. And I just relate to her in that aspect and she motivates me, her character anyways, to kind of keep up with it.
00:46:32
Speaker
Okay, that's going to do it for us this week. And if you want to get in touch and chat with us about our topic today, you can find us on our website, www.themodernlady1950.wordpress.com, or leave us a comment on Facebook or Instagram, where you can find us at the Modern Lady podcast. I'm Michelle Sachs, and you can find me on Instagram at mmsax. And I'm Lindsay Murray, and you can find me on Instagram at Lindsay Homemaker.
00:47:00
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening. Have a great week and we will see you next time.