Odd Ball Of Cleaning

Well, as everyone might know, I am a single mother, and I have two kids. Soo keeping my home clean and in order is a task. One, I have to concur every day. But as the weather changes and it starts to get nicer outside. I have been trying to get things in order around my house. I will let you know how I will get my house in order before the hot weather rolls in.

It has been beautiful outside for a week now, and my kids have been going outside every day. While they are outside, I am working on cleaning my house and going through things I haven't wanted to look at for a long time. There have been boxes and papers around my house I have put aside for so long. Every day I look at the mess. It makes me not even want to start cleaning it because I know what I have in front of me.

But now I have a family that I have to keep healthy and teach them how to keep a clean and manageable house. If I can get it in order now and keep it in order, maybe my kids will try and help me keep it clean. I won't be the only one cleaning it all the time. They can help me.

So I have had tac boards hung in my living room and my upstairs hallway. I put the essential papers from the kid's school on them. I tack that month's bills, ads, and coupons. I put many things on the board so I can keep track of them. Also so the kids can see any essential days they have coming up in school.

I have been getting rid of old clothes and objects around the house. I do a little every day. I have been getting new things to make my house look better. I mean, I live in the projects, so you can only do so much to your house to improve it. I have been doing what I can to improve my house inside and outside.

I was outside yesterday cleaning the yard. Picking up all the garbage left in my yard throughout the winter. Left by everyone driving down the road and walking through my yard. That is one thing I dislike. When another person walks through your yard and leaves their garbage behind for you to clean it up.

I picked up the dead leaves throughout the yard and started fixing my flower beds. I love my flowers. I take pride in my yard. Even though I live in the hood, that doesn't mean I have to let my yard and house look as bad as the rest of the yard around where I live. I take pride in my yard and how it looks.

Now that the weather is becoming better, I can keep my yard clean, Not only my yard but the inside of my house too. I have been bagging clothes that no longer fit, and objects around my house were doing nothing but cluttering my house all winter long.

Being stuck in the house all winter long makes me want to go through everything and get rid of the things I don't use or want. That consists of a whole lot of things. I never wanted my house to look anything like what I grew up with. While I was growing up, my room was a maze. I had a path to get from my doorway to my bed.

My mother never made me clean my room. My mother never had many, if any, rules for me. I did what I wanted. Thinking back now, I wish my mom would have made me do choirs around the house. But since she never set any rules for me to abide by, I lived in filth—piles of clothes and garbage on my floors.

I believe that because I grew up the way I did, it made me more aware of my surroundings. It made me want to keep my house in order and not have piles of garbage lying around my house. I do my best to apply that to my own kids. I don't want them to grow up as I did.

My daughter cleans her room weekly. She is always getting rid of things. There is always a big bag of things to take down to the church and donate. While she is bagging things up, it makes me want to do the same thing.

So as my daughter cleans, so do I. We clean together. My daughter is a lifesaver. She is the one who makes me want to keep my house clean. Even though I hate to look at a mess lying around the house. It takes me longer to get motivated than it does her, but I do my best.

This season I have taken 100 bags or more of clothing to churches for donations. During 2020 I have gotten rid of more things I have been keeping for years. There were things that I had picked up from yard sales, thinking I would use them one day. But that day never comes. I decided to throw them out and let someone else be able to use them.

Now my home is free of all unnecessary things I will never use. Now that I am going on 4 years sober, I have gained a little over 100LBS. So I don't fit in any of my clothes. Instead of holding onto them and hopping, I fit back into them again one day. I have donated them and bought new ones that fit.

There are these stores where I live that you can go and sell used clothing to. What they don't buy from me, I donate. I believe it helps the person who gets the clothes next and me. So it's a win-win situation. The stuff the stores don't buy, I have this app on my phone where I take a picture of the object and give me a price they will pay for it. Then I send it through the mail, and they pay me.

Now it's a hassle to keep the laundry caught up. The Flores mopped and kept my house looking and smelling good. If I can keep a clean house, then it makes me feel better about myself. The more stuff I can clear out of here, the better.

The other half of this spring cleaning has to do with me cleaning all the windows. That includes cleaning the track of the windows inside and out. When I am done with the windows, I pull down all my curtains and wash them. I want them to smell fresh, just like the air outside. Then I keep my windows open all day to air out the house while I mop every inch of the floors.

While the floors are drying, I go outside and clean up my flower beds. Pulling all the weeds and turning the dirt. I have to split my plants this year and expand my flower beds to make room. The plants I have come back every year, and they grow bigger every year too. That's why I have to split them and make them smaller.

After I'm done with my plants outside, I have to bring the plants that I keep in the house outside to get fresh air and some good sun. I love my plants, and I try to keep them alive. I don't have a green thumb, but I do my best. With me not having a green thumb, I try and get the plants that come back yearly. Those are the only ones I can keep alive all year long.

I go back into my house and rearrange my living room cleaning everything before putting it in the new position it will be in. I sweep and mop everything while I am dusting all my nicknacks. There is a lot of dusting living in this tiny apartment. Everything is crammed into this small place, and I try and make it look like a home. Not just someplace we are laying our heads.

When I'm done with the living room, I clean the steps going upstairs. Sweep and mop those. Then I move onto the kid's rooms. The only room I have to clean between the kids is my son's room. He does his best, but he won't keep it clean enough so I can put his clothes away after they are clean.

I clean and mop his room, then move into the hallway to finish sweeping and mopping the hall. By the time I am done in the hallway, I am into my room, where I will dust, sweep, mop, and rearrange my room. Since summer is almost here, I can have my bed by the heater vent and not burn up at night from the heat hitting the bottom of my bed.

When I sone with all that cleaning I should be just about done with everything in my house. But when I head back into my living room, there are bags of things to drop into the church bin to get rid of.

I will be going through this all summer long. The only thing I won't be doing is moving my furniture around until it's about winter again.

Thanks for giving me a chance to get my cleaning story out. I'm sure there are a lot of people out here doing way more things than I do. More power to them, and keep up the excellent work.

Please, if you like my story, hit the heart. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.