finding YOUR bare minimum

[canadian gardener]

I was thinking about the bare minimum and how it is different for different people.

it's important to figure out what YOURS is, because it's a terrific tool in keeping things clean without making a lot of effort or expense.

What is your bare minimum and how did you figure it out?

When we discuss laundry, some people are fine with a bare minimum level using cold water washes in the laundry, while others prefer hot. Experiance usually shows us what we can get away with in our particular family.

I bared all and told you my dirty (well actually CLEAN) little secrets about how I keep my house clean in my 3 threads on the house, bathroom and kitchen that clean themselves.

I started in on a topic, finding a bare minimum in one of them.

Thinking some more, I thought it's a bit like Margins which I've also discussed. It deserves it's own thread.

Bare minimum. Finding the lowest possible level and doing that on your worst busiest or lowest energy days.

Bare minimums vary.

Did you realize that mine is a bit higher than normal, due to asthma? I'm caught in a double bind. I have lower than normal energy, but if I let the house go too far, I will get very sick with asthma. My immune system is a bit more prone to getting a germ than normal people so I've learnt the hard way, keeping things clean keeps the asthma from acting up and it can prevent me from catching whatever is "going around".

Someone who has a generally tough and healthy family could get away with more dust, and probably would fight off any infection a lot easier --and if they did get sick, they probably wouldn't be in for a month long chest infection as an afterthought of the cold they caught.

So minimums vary.

[canadian gardener]

to finding that bare minimum is the thought

What is the WORST thing that could happen if I don't do this task?

People do stuff because mum did it that way, therefore it's "right" without ever thinking whether it works for them, or even works at all.

Case in point washing walls
mum may have started from the bottom to avoid the bright clean trails of escaping cleaning water, rolling down the walls.

But starting at the top and going down erases those and saves a lot of extra work washing the lower walls twice. The second time being for all the liberated dirt dripping down the walls from the cleaning solution finally tackling the uppers.

BUT if you sit and think, you might not have to wash AT ALL.

what is the worst that could happen? NOTHING!!!! Maybe aunt bertha might comment, but it's not her house.

You realize that next year, you plan to paint. So spot clean till then

and when the time comes, grab a face cloth, wring it out in soapy water and put it on your swiffer and just WIPE the walls clean before painting.

Or use a good dirt sealing primer.

[canadian gardener]

Another bare minimum thought is decluttering.

Not what do I need, but how little can I manage on?

You might not get rid of it all, and live like a minimalist, but just for a moment, think like one.

Because the more you let go of, the less there is to clean around, lift, move and otherwise involve yourself with.

Margins come into it here.

Because I operate on a bare minimum in socks, undies and towels (and my bare minimum is more like a dozen of each) I find putting things away is very easy.

Open drawer, toss in. I NEVER pair socks or fold underwear or undervests. That is simply NOT a useful task, it wastes a ton of energy. I use socks that dh and I can both wear. I have exactly the same, bought in packs of dozen. Black cotton socks and white cotton socks.

he has some wool socks I borrow that he uses in winter for work on top of the cotton.

Open linen closet, toss in or fold the towels depending on how tidy I want it to look. (bare minimum is toss, no fold)

IF YOU NEED TO USE TWO HANDS TO PUT IT AWAY and you are kind of shoehorning it in there, you have too much stuff or not enough space.

Margins of room in the drawers, closet, shelves, etc keep the Put away task to a bare minimum of time and effort.

But first that involves thinking and maybe paring down to all white cotton socks or all black or both.

BTW, the sock drawer, it's white sox one side and it's a big drawer too, and a shoebox for the black sox.

[canadian gardener]

because I keep very little on my counters, they are fast to clean involving less than a minute to wipe down.

If I kept spice racks out, I'd have to wipe them too, as likely they'd get spattered in cooking.

I keep my counters clean apart from a few things I use every day or several times a week.

But even there I keep them "out of the line of fire" so I don't go out of my way to store them on the counter where I use my mixing bowl and electric beaters, or near a sputtering frying pan.

Because I keep very little out on horizontal surfaces thru the house, I can dust in the 3 to 5 minutes thru the house at a high lope, using my ostrich down duster.

(which in my minimalist view is the best most time saving dusting thing you can own, see the Clean Team online catalog for mine, but Flylady sells a beautiful purple one too now)

Think like a minimalist.

That doesn't mean I got rid of all my books and bookshelves. I have them still, jammed with books and ornaments but they are super easy to keep clean with that dusting tool.

[canadian gardener]

What ways have you cleared out the time wasters in your house?

[PrairieRose]

I haven't decluttered to the level that you have Margery b/c I'm attached to my "stuff" still. But I have done away with carpet except in the bedrooms and playroom (concrete floor underneath the playroom/office floor=very cold in the winter) and I find that this alone helps my house stay more dust free and easier to clean by leaps and bounds. You wouldn't know it to look at it right now as I haven't cleaned good since we got back off our trip.... but I'm gonna start in a few minutes.

[Darlene]

Not sure if this is what your talking about but I know they work for me. I like to group like things together and do so in many rooms.
I have a canister in the kitchen for all my "tools" right next to the stove. Easy to just pop them in there after washing and also easy to grab when I need them.

In bathroom closet I have big wicker basket for oral meds and eye stuff. Another holds first aid, another holds creams and salves. All right there in one place easy to grab and put away.

Bedroom has a big basket holding all my sprays, lotions, powder, deodorant etc.

Things picked up and bathroom & kitchen cleaned is my bare min. Dust is going to be found in my home, as long as people don't write in it, I don't mind.

[AmyBoz]

Excellent thread, Margery.

It certainly IS interesting how everyone's "bare minimum" varies.

[canadian gardener]

Oh absolutely Amy. what works for me would be overkill for anyone who wasn't struggling with asthma or fatigue problems.

That is exactly the kind of helpful tip I'm talking about Darlene.

You are putting like with like, and putting things near their point of use. Saves steps, and put away time and effort.

Exactly.

LOL Lisa, I'm not the minimalist people might think. I have at the present time 13 bookshelves, loose or built in, oops nope forgot a 14th. Most are filled with

forgot, make it 15

most are filled with books which are a bit dusty, so you might say I hyper clean on one side of the equation to make room for dusty books on the other.

And you don't even want to SEE the computer room which is dh's province. I'm not supposed to clean in here. He got crabby because I'm having trouble with asthma this weekend, and I told him I want to deep clean which means He PUTS HIS KEEPERS AWAY and the rest is fair game. He wants a few days, I'll give him a few days but by Thursday or Friday I'm CLEANING IT IN HERE!!!!

I've noticed since we tossed the basement carpets and put the laminate down it's been a BIG BIG help. I'm so looking forward to doing the upstairs when the budget recovers.

[homesteadmamma]

My bare minimum is totally different from others.

I wash in cold water (other than underwear and socks) even though we have 2 asthmatics in our home.

I don't wash walls, I paint them. Sorry I just hate washing walls. If I see a cobweb, it comes off immediately with the broom. However I love painting, so they get painted a whole lot more than would normally at someone else's home.

We do have rugs although we are now looking at putting in laminate flooring.

I'm also at the point in my life if a bed doesn't get made on any particular day it's okay. My kids have to make their own beds however when it comes to their rooms, they keep them clean themselves. Although I want them to learn to keep a clean home, my focus isn't on nagging them to keep their room spotless. I've learnt to pick and choose my battles even when it comes to bedrooms.

I've decluttered to a point that others would think is too extreme. Thats okay because I have way less to clean.

For me to have my living room and bathroom cleaned at all times is my bare minimum when it comes to rooms. Hence, I have little in both rooms.

Great thread Margery.

[canadian gardener]

well I think you are quite right. Public and private spaces enter into this bare minimum thing. Also where on the OCD scale of living you sit. I suspect I have more than my fair share of OCD traits. (and my nurses training made me worse!)

In fact it may surprise people when I say I DON"T usually make the bed these days. Haven't all fall and winter and nothing bad happened. (well lots of bad stuff happened in the news, but honest, s'not my fault! for keeping the bed unmade-- it didn't unbalance the universe!!!!).

For years I've left it open for hours to air out and used to make it last thing, towards the afternoon, but now I'm routinely tidying it up just before bed as dh and I climb back into it.

People don't see it, and if they do come over and the bedroom door is open, they usually don't comment since the rest of the house is fairly clean and tidy.

I just like it better. And it saves a bit of time.

I've been leaving the window open, a pillow over the heat vent, and closing the door.

A few hours later I open the door, and close the window, to allow it to heat up but it's leaving a really fresh open air scent in the bed and it's nice to climb into.

Now if I got all silly and made the thing, I would still enjoy some fresh open aired out smell, but I'd be going to a lot of bother for something that is no longer in my bare minimum.

which brings up another point.

Bare minimums can change.

I may yet lose my OCD impulses to do all wash in hot, and do some in cold just to be wild and crazy






but don't anybody hold their breath ok?

[Nath.]

My bare minimum...hummm....

I don't do spring cleaning. I try to do a little each day and can live with it. I don't wash my wall entirely, just the kids fingers spot here and there. I rather paint every two years.

I don't fold much laundry...rather hang it in the closet, or throw it in the drawer....if it's wrinkle, I put it in the dryer. I don't have a iron and ironing board...anyways most of our clothes are "carefree, wrinkle free".

I have zero plants....no time to dust thems.

I don't do bed in the morning, no time...I close the door and do thems at night.

I can live with vaccuuming only 3x wks, and washing the floor only every 2wks.

BUT I can't stand dishes in the sink, dirty clothes on the floor (DH underware!!) or a dirty bathroom.

Things I hate, but still live with everyday (hopefully this will change this year with the decluttering) Piles of paper, bill and books on the kitchen counters, dust on the TV and computers desk....and dirty windows.

[canadian gardener]

GREAT post Nath! Exactly!

I am hoping that as we share different bare minimums, each of us will grow in our confidence to say

yes, that is nice, but I don't bother, and I survive and my family loves our home just the same and life is simpler and richer as a result.

People don't need to be driven by other people's standards or other people's minimums.

That list of yours, and the others who shared are EXCELLENT.

Keep it coming ladies.

Remember, Dare To THINK FOR YOURSELF, DARE TO DUMP other people's expectations, Dare to do it YOUR WAY!!!!

[Early Bird]

Sigh. Bare minimums. Not there yet. Gotta get rid of stuff. STUFF. Lots of STUFF first.

NOW this morning, I came up with a thought. Instead of "This will be handy," I've got to focus on "Can I live without this?"

[Nath.]

[i] Dare To THINK FOR YOURSELF, DARE TO DUMP other people's expectations, Dare to do it YOUR WAY!!!! [/B]

ohhh! CG I luv' this one


MAY I.....

steal it and put it in my signature ?


Please