Products I Love / Chores I Hate

I would like to start by saying that I haven't found a magical product to ease the pain of every chore I hate. Nor are some of the cleaning products I love necessarily used for chores I hate. But when I find a product that does, indeed, soften the blow of one of the chores I hate, it makes me smile. This post is dedicated to: products I love, chores I hate, shortcuts I've found for accomplishing chores I hate, products that ease the pain of chores I hate, and chores I love. This post makes me realize how much of a grown up/housewife I am. Ok...here we go :)

1) I've never really minded doing laundry. It's not a chore I actively avoid or try to figure out short cuts for. BUT, I really don't enjoy folding sheets - especially sheets that are larger than, ooooo, twin size. And there is (of course) a reason for this - I'm a bit of a perfectionist. And getting that darn fitted sheet folded neatly is just DIFFICULT! 

I realize I said earlier that I don't actively look for short cuts when it comes to laundry, but I do look for short cuts when it comes to folding sheets. Here's what I've come up with: instead of folding the sheets when they come out of the dryer - I just put them right back on the bed! Genius! 

Now, I do try to change which set of sheets we're using every few weeks so we don't have one set that is completely worn out and another set that's barely been used. But it has cut down on my sheet folding significantly, and it (generally) ensures that I don't put off folding the sheets until the next day which results is terribly wrinkled sheets.

 

2) I have a love/hate relationship with my Swiffer WetJet. I love it because it makes cleaning the floors so simple. But, I hate it because I often don't feel like it cleans ALL the dirt off my floors. I've been debating getting one of those swiffer mop/vacuum thingys - it would really help with the bigger pieces of dirt (even though I sweep before using the Swiffer WetJet!). I'm just too cheap to buy one yet, and I'm skeptical about how great it will actually be.

 

3) I really dislike dusting. It's not so much that I hate the actual chore of dusting. I just hate that two days after I spent an hour (or more!) dusting it appears that I didn't dust at all - or at least it feels that way! I've tried using Pledge, but it doesn't seem to help. It also drives me nuts that I have to remove everything from the surface I want to dust in order to clean the area sufficiently. Because then I have to replace all the STUFF and it just reminds me how much I want to get rid of all the STUFF (and sometimes sends me into a purging tirade, which I suppose isn't necessarily a bad thing). I haven't tried the Swiffer duster - it looks like it may be promising, but I'm not ready to pay for it unless I know it's going to work. Has anyone used this product before?

4) I love Comet. That stuff is just amazing. I use it to clean our kitchen sink (and sometimes the bathroom) and it just makes the sink shine - and with very little effort! If there were a "Comet" Facebook page I think I'd have to "like" it. Ok, not really. But Comet is awesome. This is how it makes me feel (but place a can of Comet in the woman's hand instead of Joy - or maybe you can just think of "joy" as the emotion I feel once I've used Comet):

5) I hate. Let me repeat. I HATE cleaning the bathroom. (My husband can attest to this.) I don't mind cleaning the sink so much, but the toilet? the shower? the floor? No thanks. And for some odd reason I always seem to forget to clean the mirror. And it's not because I dislike cleaning the mirror. I think it's because I'm too busy thinking about how much I hate cleaning the rest of the bathroom. By the time I finish cleaning the rest of the bathroom I'm so happy to simply be finished that I don't even think about cleaning the mirror. Regardless of the way I feel about cleaning the bathroom I would like to point out the silver lining here: 

1) I've begun to try and think of cleaning the bathroom as good mortification. This can be very difficult to do, but I'm trying.

2) I have recently discovered Lysol 4-in-1 Bathroom Cleaner (the foamy spray stuff). It's one of the most amazing products available. You just spray it on the area of the bathroom that you want to clean, let it sit for a minute, then wipe clean! Seriously, cleaning the bathroom has become much more tolerable since discovering this product. 

 

6) When I'm in the mood I LOVE cleaning/purging stuff from the house. When I start cleaning in a room and have a box (or two!) of stuff that I can give away it makes me feel like I've accomplished something. And it makes me feel less overwhelmed - like things aren't taking over my life. And it makes dusting easier :)

 

7) Along with cleaning/purging stuff, I really enjoy organizing things. This may not be apparent if you were to walk into my house, but it's true. I love the saying "a place for everything and everything in its place." If only I were better at organizing...then my house would no longer have ANY piles of stuff (I would like to say that these "piles" are generally kept to one room/area of the house, so it's not like my entire hosue is full of "piles"). Suffice it to say, I definitely enjoy organizing I'm just not very good at it. 

Ok - this post makes it official that I'm not longer an "amateur" housewife. I actually think about (umm...and blog about) which cleaning products and chores I like and dislike.