Sunday, March 27, 2011

Simplifying Passover Cleaning

Yes, post-Purim, it's that time of the year again.  Although the weather makes us pine for spring cleaning, Passover cleaning does not have to be so vigorous and all encompassing.

Unless you eat in your bedrooms or store food there, you don't have to take apart the beds.

Unless you eat off your windows, they really don't have to be cleaned, nor do the curtains have to be laundered.

If I were to open and shake out all the books in this house, I'd be busy for a decade.

I do have to clean very thoroughly the entire kitchen.  And I do have to go through all of my pocketbooks and backpacks, since I frequently take food along with me when traveling.

When cleaning bathtubs and tiles, I use a long-handled brush to apply cleansers.

What are your tips?

4 comments:

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
This is more of a morale booster, but it helps me to get the job done: I list all rooms on my to-do list, even the bathrooms, in which no-one eats. It gives me a few rooms that are cleaned easily. The "done" marks on the list are encouraging. I also break up rooms into a few tasks so that I see "done" marks piling up more quickly than I would if each room was singled out.
My toddler tried to put a cracker in a dresser drawer last week, 8o) so I basically have to take apart everything.

Batya said...

Thanks for your input.
I try to do the "not really chametz cleaning," like the laundry room and bathrooms first, or I'll suddenly find myself without time. The really necessary stuff gets done...somehow...

Hadassa, I left out one of my basic ALL YEAR LONG rules. Kids, adults, toddlers etc aren't allowed to walk around eating anything more "dirtying" than an apple. This rule pretty effectively keeps the chametz out of the bedrooms.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
Our upstairs is chametz-free and the bedrooms are supposed to be chametz free. Unfortunately I've been busy and let Devora wander with types of food with which I usually don't let her wander. A good thorough cleaning once a year is good anyway. Rav Schrieber alway mentioned in his pre-Pesah classes that spring cleaning should be done early so that Pesah cleaning can be done properly without stress.

Batya said...

Sounds like you're on top of things. G-d willing your older kids will help.
My bags have to be cleaned out well, because I take food to work and to Matan. I don't eat sandwiches ,but still.