Cleaning Utopia!

I was a messy kid. My room was always a disaster unless I had JUST cleaned it. it wasn't until the last couple years, but really the last year, that it got really bad/good depending on how you look at it.I have done a 180.

I used to be a messy adult. When Keegan was a baby and we were in our first house I vividly remember friends coming over and having piles of mail and magazines, and well CRAP, sitting on a bar stool where my friend was trying to sit down and I was like "oh sorry, I meant to move that earlier!" yeah probably not. Then flash forward to 5 years ago when we were moving and Joe was yelling "How embarrassing, when was the last time you vacuumed behind our t.v. cabinet in our room?!? The guys were picking it up to move it and there was red dust all underneath it!!!!" And I was like "What?!? Vacuum?!? Underneath?!? Behind?!? Vacuum?!? What?!? I had better things to do then vacuum under things. I am pretty sure there was no one under there until well...now"

Now flash to present day :) I still don't vacuum under or behind things. But I am a messy turned neat freak when it comes to the picking up of things. I tell Joe ALL THE TIME! It feels like I am swimming against a current ALL day! I pick up the upstairs come downstairs...it's a mess. I clean up downstairs go upstairs...it's a mess! Again anyways. It's a battle I know I have to fight and I am actually coming to terms with it. But there are things I wish I would have thought of before building our house, and things I have found that make it manageable.

Why I thought stainless steel was a good idea in my kitchen, the place we spend 90% of our day, is beyond me. I think I was just thinking it would look the best (ahem, BRAND NEW:) So I have tried to win the battle with them since. I have tried stainless wipes, sprays and polishes and the BEST thing I have found to defeat the fingerprints and smudges...

GLASS PLUS!!! with Jet Dry

It cleans the crap off and it makes things sparkly shiny. It also does, I know this is shocking, but glass really well! I have been a loyal Windex fan forever and someone told me about Sprayway Glass Cleaner a while back. Which I will say makes your glass beautiful, if you are just cleaning off smudges and dust and a couple fingerprints. If you are like me and have fingerprints that are squished into a piece of banana. Then Glass Plus is more your thing :)

Now we also have granite. The pieces we picked, you have seen in some of my pictures, are so busy, that half the time they "look clean to me!" But I have found a great "Daily" Granite Cleaner that makes it look beautiful, doesn't leave a greasy finish on it and actually cleans it. It is not antibacterial but you can wipe it down with that first and then clean it with this if you want.

Granite Gold-
Granite and Natural Stone Daily Cleaner

It makes everything look clean and shiny.

Next we live in Washington, and moving here at 12, I was very confused when people would always take off their shoes upon walking into your house. In California, the only people I knew that did that was my very good friend in elementary school, who happened to be Chinese, and it was part of their culture. My family was very taken back by this custom up here, and really stuck to our comfort zone and never removed our shoes. Well, for those non Washingtonians reading I'll break it down for you.
Moisture/Rain + Dirt/Dust = Really freaking dirty carpet.

Now all these years later I get it, but I'm still not a fan of the shoe removing. This is ironic, in that I will never put a pair of shoes on a table or counter. My Nana, who was very superstitious as well as a good cook and hard worker :) Always said it was bad luck to put your shoes on the table. When I asked her one day why it was bad luck. She said in her thick Hungarian accent "Ashley! You 'valk' on the street, and 'een the twoilet' and 'een' the grass, Do you 'vant sheet' on your table?"

Translation- Ashley! You walk on the street, in the bathroom and in the yard, do you want shit on your table?

I like it better the way she said it, but Yes, I guess you're right Nana, that would be bad luck! :) Needless to say, we still don't take off our shoes. And I never expect anyone else who visits to either. There is nothing worse then going to a party at someone else's house and you walk in the door, see a pile of shoes and think "NOOOOO! I totally have a hole in my sock! Or if you're me, I plan my whole outfit around my shoes. Whereas I am respectful of their wishes. Some of you may be those hosts, and maybe you don't "Vant Sheet" on your floor :) That is your prerogative. I am a guest, I thank you for having me over, but please excuse my mismatched socks :)

So on that note- I should just buy my own, but I have not been in the mood to spend $250.00 on one...for the last 8 years. My parents have a...

Bissell ProHeat Steam Carpet Cleaner I have borrowed it a million times (perhaps an exaggeration:) but a lot and I love it. I would be lost with out it! And I am thankful they let me borrow it!

Lastly, I got my hands on a Shark Steam Mop last summer. And I will just say that it is kind of like a car wreck, you can't take your eyes off of. The amount of dirt that comes off my floor is CRAZY! I even like to do the mop my floor regular and then use the steam mop and see what else comes up and it is gross and cool all at the same time! Please remember that we have 4 kids, a large dog and a lot of comings and goings in our house :)

Now I have a weird thing that I HAVE to have my whole kitchen/family room area, picked up before I can go to bed. I have been known to try and leave it after having people over and I have also been known to wake in the wee hours of the morning, say 4 am and go downstairs to clean it! Because I can't sleep knowing it's a mess. It's a far cry from my childhood ways!!! I also can't come downstairs unless my laundry is started, all the bedrooms are picked up and the kids have made their beds and I have made mine. I just have this thing in me saying..."Get this all picked up and then go start your day." Well last week I tried to break my habit and teach myself that Yes indeed I could actually leave the upstairs and go do something fun like swimming and worry about it later. I left the house with a sense of confidence and freedom. We went swimming at my in-laws and had a great day. We got home I was busy making lunch and probably picking up down there, perhaps blogging etc:) We get lots of questions and inquiries because Joe built it himself) So when Keegan's friend's mom and aunts came to pick him up and were asking about our house and the upstairs, I was so used to everything being picture perfect up there. I Didn't even think twice but to say, "Well come on up, I'll show you around" It was about halfway up the stairs when I noticed the pajamas lying there, that I remembered HOW I'd left it!!! OH S@%*! HOW EMBARRASSING! I started to warn and explain what I'd been trying to teach myself. That any other day, my house would have been pristine, but it was too late they'd seen too much! I feel like I need to have them over again, for one they were fun, nice ladies, but for two I need to prove and redeem myself.

"I'M NOT REALLY A PIG! I WAS TRYING TO TEACH MYSELF THAT IT WAS OK TO LEAVE AND LEAVE A MESS FOR LATER! And I learned a great lesson...

It's NOT OK!!! :)