The Lazy Genius Podcast - #52: The Lazy Genius Spring Cleans

Episode Date: February 19, 2018

Spring cleaning is just doing the things we don't do on a regular basis, and you don't have to reserve a horrible weekend to make it happen. In this episode, figure out the three steps to doing spring cleaning the Lazy Genius way. Mentioned in the episode: The Swap: The Lazy Genius Guide to Decluttering for Life The Lazy Genius Guide to Cleaning the House The Lazy Genius Does Laundry This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon presents, Laura versus Fruitflies. Swarming your fruit and terrorizing your kitchen, these little freaks multiply at a rate that would make a rabbit say, yo. Chill. But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Everyday with Amazon. Hey everybody. You're listening to The Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today's episode does not need to make you shaking your boots. It's episode 52. The Lazy Genius Spring Cleans. That phrase, spring cleaning, it carries with it about 75 pounds of guilt and overwhelm because it takes so much time and there's so much to do. And is it really worth it and all the things? In this episode,

as always, we're going to spring clean like lazy geniuses. There are three steps. Assess, categorize, and set your intentions. We will unpack those in more detail over the next 20 minutes, so let's get started. First things first, though, let's talk about why we might spring clean at all. This gets muddy if we don't pay attention. So let's call a spay to spade. We think we clean to make our house look the best it can be. And yes, it is super fun to have a house that shines from ceiling fan to baseboard, but it won't last very long, right? If you get through a weekend and it still looks spring cleaned, you are a wizard.

It's just entropy, y'all. Like stuff moves from order to disorder no matter what you do. Now that said, there are good reasons to do this spring cleaning thing, even though it sounds awful. At first, you're eliminating. It sounds so gross, that you're like eliminating the chance of mold and dust mites and ants and like other fun bacteria and growths and all that stuff. You really don't want your house. You lower the chances of allergies and sickness and all the things.

It's annoying, but it's true. Now let's not shame ourselves into anything with that, though, okay? This is a gift you're giving yourself and anyone who comes into your house, especially when you handle the actual cleaning part. like a lazy genius and we'll get to that in just a minute a second reason to spring clean our house is it's a way to make sure that tiny problems don't turn into huge expensive ones changing out your air filters to keep your furnace running efficiently for longer rather than replacing the whole dang thing re-grouting an upstairs shower before it leaks into the laundry room defrosting a freezer before the ice takes over and shuts down the motor and you lose all the meat inside

small tasks make a difference over time we all know it we all kind of hate it but we know it's worth it too now you can super outsource this puppy like get your crew out of the house for a day and hire professional to spring clean your house that's a thing and could be worth every single penny for you at my last look a deep clean for a 2,000 square foot house is anywhere from 300 to 600 dollars. Now that could be a no-brainer, like, or that could be something that's absolutely out of the question. But please know that whatever you decide on the hiring front, you are a unique butterfly with wonderful ideas and you should feel no guilt either way. Amen. All right. Now, if you're here, you're probably looking for ways to do this yourself, though, right? So let's just get into it.

The first step in spring cleaning is to assess. You have to know what needs to be done, right? Now, before we talk about actual cleaning tasks and how to make them happen, we have to talk about your stuff. My motto is, stuff is the enemy of clean. The more stuff you have, the more stuff has to be cleaned or moved in order to clean. So much of our cleaning time is spent putting stuff away or just moving it from place to place and surface to surface. If you spend more time tending to stuff than actually cleaning, it might be good to consider your stuff with new eyes. That's why, before we assess our spring cleaning situation, I want to remind you about an ebook I wrote called The Swap, the Lazy Genius Guide to Decluttering for Life. You guys, ever since I started using the principles of the swap, my home is a different place. It is cleaner more consistently.

I don't want to burn it down. and spring cleaning is way less scary. I'm telling you about this now because this is the last week you can purchase the swap before it hibernates for at least another year or so. And I just don't want you to miss out on it, especially when it could give you so much freedom as you move into the spring and any cleaning that accompanies it, right? So pause the episode and jump over to store.

Dot the lazy genius collective.com to learn more if you're interested. Or you can keep listening and check it out at the end. It's available until the last day of February, 2018, depending on when you're listening to this. So please don't miss out. Okay, so as you assess a room, you might discover the figuring out your stuff problem is a priority. Spring cleaning can wait, you guys, okay? Get that taken care of first. If your stuff is mostly under control, though, what are you assessing?

make a list of everything that could be cleaned in your room every single task that could happen change your perspective sit in different places lie on the floor like brush eyes are so very helpful the other day i was lying on my bed with my daughter annie and she loves to play on my bed and like hide under the covers and stuff and i noticed a mess of cobwebs in our light fixture i was like i mean i made a noise it was so gross because usually when i'm in my bed it's dark, right? And I'm asleep in a coma. So I hadn't noticed those cobwebs from my usual perspective. So it really is helpful to have fresh eyes. Like I really mean like sit in different places of the room that you don't normally and you might notice things that you didn't see before. Okay. Now, you might think I'll just Google spring cleaning checklist or find one on real simple or HTTP or something like that. And then you set aside a day and you try and do the list. You certainly can do that. but I find that there are two main problems with using someone else's list. First, you won't do everything on it.

Some things just don't apply to you, but you don't always know that. You don't always know that it doesn't apply to you. And then you wonder if you're missing something and you feel dumb for not understanding the entire list. And y'all, if you're not going to do someone else's list entirely, you don't even get to check all the boxes. That is a tragedy. Like, you want to check all the boxes. The second reason using someone else's list doesn't work is because those lists don't tell you how to do something or always break it down into steps.

You stop almost immediately because you don't know what to actually do. Like how do you regrout the shower that's looking a little janky? But you spread grout on without really knowing you're supposed to take the old off first. You just kind of like move automatically without really being prepared because those lists don't necessarily prepare you. So make sure, I just think making your own list helps you be sure. And it gives you like your own template. It gives you only the boxes to check off that you need. It gives you the format to be able to look up the tasks specifically that you need. Like if you don't know how to do something, you can look it up if you know that you need to. And you're not

beholden to someone else's list and opinion of your house. So it just allows you to take time to figure out what you need before you get started. So step one assess. So take half an hour, maybe, I don't think it'll even take that long, with a paper, with paper and pen, and walk through every room, one at a time, and assess that room. Write down all the tasks, okay? For example, I am in my living room right now. So if I were assessing this room, looking around, my list would include, put all the stuff away, vacuum the rug, shampoo the rug. Sweep the hardwoods, mop the hardwoods, dust the furniture, dust the light fixtures, wash the curtains, clean the windows, purge the toy baskets, dust the bathboards,

dust the walls, get cobwebs out of the corners of the ceiling, vacuum the HVAC returns and a floor, dust the tops of the mirrors and the clock and things that are kind of up high, wash the couch cushions vacuum underneath the couch cushions, wash the pillow covers, wash the blankets. As you can tell, this list includes many different tasks that require my attention at different frequencies, right? And I get to decide when things get done. And that is step two. Categorize. Okay, so you assess and you make a list of everything. And then you categorize. Okay, so you make a list of every possible task. And you make a list of every possible and then we're going to put those tasks into categories of time, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Those are the easiest to remember, I think, but don't get too particular

with your timings. They're really just placeholders, as we will soon learn. Okay, so for that living room list, only two of those things make my daily list. Put all the stuff away and sweep the hardwoods. Those are things that happen at the end of every day for me and are already part of my routine. weekly i might like quickly dust the furniture and vacuum the rug that's about it monthly um mop the hardwoods quarterly vacuum under the couch cushions dust the light fixtures and the tops of mirrors and other things that don't get dusted regularly run a vacuum over the baseboards and in the corners of the ceiling and purge the toy baskets those are quarterly things and then annually shampoo the rug wash the curtains clean the windows dust the walls a swiffer by the way is

totally your best tool for this. Like just run it across the walls. It's actually kind of fun. Kids can do it too. Um, wash the couch cushion coverings, the pillow coverings and the blankets. Okay. Now, this is just an example. Um, you might be feeling a little wonky about a couple of my chosen categories. Like, I wash my blankets once a year, you know, you guys, this is the most important part of categorization for you. Categorize based on what you're likely to do, not on what you should do. Yeah, I should probably wash our blankets more than once a year. But if I say I'll do it quarterly, I won't because I don't. I just don't. Quarterly is my should range. I should wash the blankets every quarter. But if I'm honest with myself, I know I won't. Now, I might not wash them just

once a year, maybe twice a year, but I'm removing the mantle of pressure by identifying that should timing and moving toward less frequently than more frequently. Okay. So if you say, I should sweep my floors every day. That means you're currently not sweeping your floors every day. And guess what? You won't start now. Shoulding never leads to something long term. It just doesn't. But if you approach it differently, if you say, I should sweep my floors every day, so I'll do them once a week. That's way more likely to happen. And you're being successful at something. You're not failing at an arbitrary should timeline. So be honest, categorize based on what you're likely to do, not on what you should do. Need a vehicle that isn't afraid to make a splash? That's the Volkswagen Touse. Capable and

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categorize. You're going to go through the list, and I want you to write down, I sound bossy. I don't mean to sound bossy. But this is what I'm suggesting. Go through your list and write down next to every single task, D for daily, W for weekly, M for monthly, Q for quarterly, and A for annually. to every task. Do that for every room in your house and consider your task done for the day. Like, that's what you're doing that day, right? We're not jumping into any spring cleaning. We're not doing that yet.

This exercise might really be motivating for you, but we need to do things in the right order if we want this to last. So don't jump again. Now, before we get to our third and final step, let's acknowledge something really fast. Spring cleaning is simply doing things we don't do on a regular basis. right? One of my favorite house cleaning tricks is knowing when you're done, having an endgame, having an idea of your baseline clean for every room is so important. So that like on a regular Wednesday, if you're cleaning a bathroom, you know what clean means. It doesn't have to be a deep clean, spring cleaned bathroom, like just a baseline clean bathroom. So as you categorize, recognize what tasks are part of your baseline and what tasks are not at all. I consider anything

done daily or weekly as contributing to a baseline claim. For the most part, that just means that things are tidy, surfaces are cleared, floors are swept. They're not really mopped or vacuum, but they're swept. And the kitchen is mostly shiny just because that's my room that has the biggest emotional impact on my soul. I mentioned that in the blog post, the lazy genius, guide to clean in the house that I will put in the show notes. Basically, you need to prioritize tasks that have a big emotional payoff for you. And that is different for everybody. As you name those tasks and as you're honest about how often you really do something, not how often you should do something, you'll see your baseline clean. And guess what? Whatever it is, you're doing great.

You get to decide your priorities and timing and what makes you feel like a person. once those shoulds fall off your shoulders, you have a lot more freedom to do things because you want to because you are keeping your home, not cleaning your house. Also, the nice thing about this process of assessing and categorizing is that once you have written these things down for your house, you won't have to again. You can keep returning to this list because everything's already thought through. I love that. So you have assessed and categorized. Now, Let's do our third and final step. Set your intention.

This is kind of the most important part. It also can be the most overwhelming part at first, but it is the most liberating for sure. When you set your intention toward these cleaning tasks you've just categorized, you take the power back. You can do quarterly and annually spring cleaning tasks all at once if that makes you happy, for sure. You could go through the list, estimate how much time each task will take, out of the time, and figure out how long you'll need. It'll be easier to judge if you need like a day or a weekend to get

everything done. But if you have any number of children or just a life in general, it is unlikely that you'll be able to do everything at once. That is just not normal for most folks. And that can feel frustrating because it feels like it should be the normal, right? So here's how to rethink actually doing spring cleaning and setting your intention with freedom. Okay. All right. So here's what you do first. you're going to take that list that you just made and write down all of your daily tasks for the whole house. Okay, so run through your list, notice all the Ds, and write them all down in one list. Now, be honest, if you set a graceful intention towards doing all of those tasks more or less every day, do you feel empowered and motivated or scared to death?

If you're scared, you have too many items on that list. You're working from too many shoulds. So cut the list in half. For real. Change half of those Ds to Ws. Set a daily intention you can actually do. An intention that creates a home you love and that fits your overall purpose. My daily list for the house is put things away.

Sweep the main living area floors. So it's like our open kitchen dining room and family room. and have a baseline clean kitchen, which is wiped off counters and an empty sink. That's all I do every day. No vacuuming or dusting or bathrooms or even made beds. Like, I've tried to set an intention to make a bed every day, and it stress me out.

I just don't care if the bed is made. But I get to decide, and you do too. Okay? So look at your daily list and notice if it fills you with dread or calm. Now, I'm not saying cleaning should make you feel all jazzed and stuff, but you know what's doable for your soul. If it's making you crazy, cut it in half. Now, do the same thing for the weekly list.

Write down in one list all the W items, including any of those daily items that have been kicked to the next level because they meet you feel crazy. If you set your intention to do all of those tasks every week, do you feel empowered and motivated or scared to death? Same thing. If you feel scared, cut it in half. Move half to the monthly list and just keep going. this will help you identify what your soul is actually capable of when it comes to keeping your home. Okay, now time out. If you push almost everything to the end until you're basically cleaning your house just once a year,

I need you to step back. Is it about time? Are you stressed because you just don't have enough of it? Are you overwhelmed because you've never actually been taught how to do a lot of things you want to do in keeping your home? Are the tools you have so janky that you just hate cleaning with them? if you keep pushing away your tasks, step back and figure out why. Only then can you come up with a better solution. You might need to hire a cleaning service.

You might need a vacuum upgrade. You might need to get specific on Google and search like how to do, whatever it is you're feeling unsure about doing. This exercise is a really helpful one in naming your intention for your home, an intention you can actually do. So pay attention if you keep pushing tasks away. and create a solution for them. Okay, so now you have set your intention and made your lists based on the categories you set

of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Now, I guess you have to do all the stuff now, right? You can track this or not. You can be super organized about it or not. You can create a family chore chart from it or not. How you keep up with it and remember what you've done or intend to do is up to you and how you think. The great thing is that as you get in the habit of those daily, weekly, and even monthly tasks, your quarterly and annual tasks will be so much easier.

You're working from a really doable baseline. So when it's time to spring clean, you're not having to just like regular clean first, right? But let me give you one strategy that might help when it comes to those quarterly annual tasks. Take one room a month. use that month to do every task on the list for that room and then never touch it again outside of your baseline daily and weekly tasks with zero guilt so and then the next month new room okay you'll never have an entirely clean house but for most of us the mountains that must be moved to have an entirely clean house are beyond the strength we possess so as an

example, spend the first week of the month taking care of the stuff in that room, little by little, take care of your stuff problem. Take the next two weeks of the month getting into a baseline cleaning rhythm and then use the final week to tackle any extra tasks on your monthly, quarterly, an annual list. If you get in a big general rhythm of spring cleaning one room a month, your house will never become too overwhelming. Hear me, though. your house becoming too overwhelming is not the worst thing it's really not be kind to yourself with your temperament your life stage the living situation all of it your value does not rest in the cleanliness of your home cleanliness is super not next to godliness you're fine covered in dust and all

this is just a way to help you think through what might matter and what's worth prioritizing to live a home that you long to be in. So assess the room, write down every single task, categorize them by time, set your intention, be sure that you choose an intention and tasks and timing that don't make you feel crazy. Keep bumping tasks further on. And guess what? If you do that, you're less likely to feel like a failure because you're doing things within a time frame that actually makes sense. And then you can decide to track this however you want. You can put your list on your fridge. You can put it in your planner. You can put it in your Google calendar to just, you know, have like tasks that you are alerted to. You can set alerts of like this month is master bathroom

month or whatever it is. You get to decide. There are so many ways that you could do this. This is where Pinterest might actually be fun because you have a purpose behind it and you can go in and maybe look for other creative ways to to kind of keep up with this kind of thing, but you do you. All right. These are rules. These are not rules. These are principles. Okay.

These are not rules. These are principles. These are intentions. They are not like severe expectations. You will always have a home to clean. There is no need to put pressure on yourself to figure it out in 20 minutes. Okay, so just please be kind to yourself in this whole process. All right.

Before we go, let's do our lazy genius tip of the week. If you have kids who are relatively the same size as each other and you spend a million hours figuring out whose underwear is whose, especially if you live with hand-me-downs and every item of clothing wants belong to someone else. Oh my gosh. Consider doing loads of laundry based on the person. We talk about the order of laundry loads. in The Lazy Genius Does Laundry podcast episode,

but it's likely you will save more time by doing individual person loads if your individual people have similar clothes. My boys are six and eight, and they seem to go through more clothes this year than last. I'm not really sure why, but a lot of times we actually are doing two loads of their clothes. Now, I loathe sorting, like their socks and their underwear

and their D-shirts because they're all the same. I don't know whose belongs to who. so frustrating. I often have to ask them, like, who's this? I don't even know. And so the last few laundry days, I have sorted their clothes before I wash them to see if that's easier, just to try. And it is, it is. Now it's time to get two separate hampers. So they do the sorting when they put their clothes away. That's the next task for us. So if you're in a similar situation, don't wash based on color or type of clothing. Wash based on the person. One. One. load per kid. Amen. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast for joining me this month

as we've talked about cleaning and organizing. If you have questions or thoughts, you can join me live on Instagram every Thursday at 1215 Eastern or you can leave a comment on the show notes. Those today are the lazy genius collective.com slash lazy slash spring clean. And if you're enjoying this show and have noticed a difference in your lazy, genius ways. Consider sharing it with a friend or a sister or a coworker. Word of mouth is absolutely the best way to share podcasts. So while I love when you leave reviews on iTunes, please do that if you are so inclined. I will always, always be grateful for those. I would love it even more if you use your words to talk to another real human and encourage them to try out the lazy genius way. The more, the

Marrier, right? So thanks so much for listening, you guys. And remember to be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'll see you next week. If you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life, it's so dangerous to live that more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, There is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.