Well, I had a friend call the other day and ask if she could stop by for an impromtu play date with her 4 yr old. I love having friends over, but with a 2 1/2 yr old and a 5 yr old, the house is frequently in a state of barely controlled chaos, and it looks it.
It isn’t that my place looks all that bad, it is just that nothing seems to stay picked up for more than a few seconds unless Buddy and Princess are asleep. And I had been over at this friends house with the kids a few weeks ago the place looked neat as a pin. (I think that her 12 and 14 yr old must help with the housework~or else her 4 yr old is a lot neater than my two)
One of the things that can really make a whole room look unkempt is if the floors are a mess. My floors always seem to be a mess. Not only do we still disperse crumbs liberally while eating (thank goodness we only allow the kids to eat at the table) but both kids LOVE to color and cut things up. There always seems to be little pieces of paper and sticker bits all over my carpets.
So when my friend called, I was a bit panicked. I quickly swept up the crumb piles from under the table, then sped around the den straightening up. Everything was put away in a few minutes, but the carpet still looked awful. I didn’t have time (or the inclination) to drag the vacuum upstairs and move around a bunch of furniture etc. I started thinking once again that I really needed to buy a power broom for those quick touch ups (I’ve been resisting buying a second appliance that really does what my vacuum already does, just less powerfully) I decided to see if I could use my regular broom to sweep all the bits over to the dining room floor where I could pick them up with the dustpan.
It worked like a charm! I had to take fairly short strokes, but I could get all the big bits of lint, paper and miscelaneous threads etc up off the floor fairly easily. In just a couple of minutes it looked presentable-and I didn’t even have to use any electricity. I won’t be buying a power broom any time soon now!
Now, I wouldn’t recommend this as a permenant replacement for the vacuum. I know from experience with my bagless vac that I get a LOT of dust and other stuff up off the floor every time I vacuum. With sweeping all of that stays down in the fibers. But it is a quick and easy way to sort of “spot clean” in between.
I do this, too, on my Oriental rug before vacuuming (or in desperation!). My stiff bristled broom gets all the Lego pieces, screws, paperclips, etc. into the dustpan easily, where I can pick them out without bending down a thousand times.
Good for you Jenn!! Personally, I never had the house spic-and-span when the kids were little….not on a consistent basis. I was often ‘playing’ with them!LOL. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Jen – I followed you here from my homesteadblogger blog, lol. About the greens – you pick the ones that don’t have blossoms blooming, then you soak them in salt water – that takes care of the bitterness part :-)They’re really quite good. I have some soaking right now. I’ll let them soak all day, change the water, and cook them tomorrow in place of collard greens with our black eyed peas and rice.
I used to sweep my carpets all the time when I lived in Colorado before I had a vacuum!! Then every so often I would borrow my friend’s to get a good cleaning. I finally found a good vac on sale ($50 ish) and then I was the one lending my vacuum to my friends who didn’t have one:)
Great Idea, Meredith, to sweep up the toy pieces to save your back!! Never thought of that…
I once read an article about mommies with messy floors, and I think about it whenever company drops by. Every mom knows that Cheerios are always on the floor of a home with a toddler/preschooler. It goes with the territory. Having a few pieces of cereal & colored paper on the floor is no big deal – it makes guests feel at home! Welcoming guests with a cheerful heart is much more important than welcoming them into a spotless home! 🙂
Meredith-You don’t need to be bending over anyway until after that little one gets here!
Eileen and Mommysecrets-well, there is no danger of anyone thinking my house is spotless anytime soon. I just didn’t want it to be too horrible 🙂 We wound up spending most of the time outside anyway.
Patty-Welcome. I’ve got to try dandelion greens sometime. I’ve been thinking about it for over a year now. And just think, it will give me something interesting to blog about 🙂
Amanda-I usually try to vacuum just for the dirt and dust that accumulates in the fibers with the kids, the sweeping was a neat quick fix. Who knows, maybe subconciously I remembered you telling me about it and that was how I thought of it!