Two of my roommates went on vacation this week, two of them moved out at the beginning of the week and the other one has been spending the week at her grandparents in Orem. So, I have had the house to myself and I decided now was the best time to take advantage of the emptiness and clean out my house. When I say clean I mean take everything out of each room and scrub the walls, doors, & furniture and get all the gunk out that has sat there for the past few years. Also, giving me the chance to go through what junk accumulated as girls moved in and out and toss stuff that had no owner. It feels so good!!! Before this adventure, I hated being home. It made me feel claustrophobic and dirty and I never really felt like I could settle in and relax. Now I love to be home. Everything is so clean and organized. There is no clutter, counters are cleared off and corners are cleaned out. I think my biggest pet peeve (especially in kitchens) is having appliances and things on the counter or shoved in a corner. It gives the room such a cramped feeling.
So how did I manage to do such a big task? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret... Little sisters can be bribed with anything. I told my sisters that they could have a sleepover at my house and eat all my junk food if they would help me clean. It's summertime, they were bored, and so they agreed. The first night we were only able to get the kitchen, bathroom, and living room done, but we cleaned them so well that I feel we were efficient with what time we had. Andrea was excellent at scrubbing base boards and Rebecca is great at decorating and organizing. Each girl put forth their talent and the end result was worth it.
The second day, I left the girls at home to play with Izzy and Daisy and finish a couple more chores while I went to work. When I got back, we started on the impossible task: cleaning the basement. Our basement is no ordinary basement. It is literally a hole dug out of the ground under the house with room enough for a furnace, water heater, and some old, dusty shelves. Oh yeah, and lots of spiders. Over the years, ppl have stored stuff down there while living here and things just accumulated. So we took everything out (ewww!!!) and threw away all the garbage. When we had it all cleaned we used a shovel to even out the dirt on the floor and made it look somewhat not as creepy. Once we finished this we moved on to our back room and cleaned out more junk that had accumulated and cleaned off the washer/dryer and the vanity area. It's disgusting how much make-up and hair products can get stuck on a counter that never gets cleaned.
And thus completes the cleansing of my house. To finish off such a fantastic adventure we made homemade hot-pockets (biscuit dough, ham, and cheese), played Phase 10, and made a maze of DVDs for Izzy and Daisy to run through. This adventure was a 100% success!
I forgot to take 'before' pictures but here are some 'after' pictures from our adventures as well as a few things we did to spruce up each room:
Living Room:
We moved some furniture around and
it really made the room feel more open
Bathroom:
There isn't a hair or dust bunny
to be found anywhere. Yay!
Kitchen:
All the dishes got washed and cupboards cleaned out.
Kitchen 2:
Got rid of an unsightly table cloth and
cleared off the window sill
Evidence that Rebecca helped:
Rebecca put a flower arrangement in both the kitchen and living room.
Andrea and I couldn't help but laugh.
Washer/Dryer:
Okay, this doesn't look all that clean but you should have
seen it before. The shelf above was chaotic and covered
in dead ants and the washer lid was super linty and grimy.
Vanity Area:
The counter used to be brown and covered in hair,
curlers, combs, and other such things. Now it's clean :)
(Don't pay too much attention to the mirror,
the junk behind it is stuff from our basement)And thus concludes my cleaning adventure. Too bad I'll be moving out of here in a few weeks :(
