I posted about Cleaning Chemistry in the last March posting, which you may find interesting as you think about the up-coming spring clean.
March, a pretty exciting month. Spring rains, snow melts, there's a dance between below freezing and above freezing temps. Air is on the move, busy blowing out the winter. It will take some doing, but it will be done. This is a great time to consider the air, temperature and humidity situation in our homes.
Before we open everything up to fresh spring air, I suggest we capture as much dust at we can. Once the windows open, all that old dust is gonna blow around and we don't want that. I use the following technique on kitchen floors and uncarpeted dining rooms all year, but now is a good time to go around the edges of all the hard floors by hand. I "go around the perimeter" you might say, with a nice, fat, damp cleaning cloth right where the floor meets the wall. It only takes a quick but focused swipe to get what naturally builds up on the edges. It's more fun if you look at it like a game. Style points really count, so stretch your back out first and take some good breaths, then either
* drop down a bit by bending the knees and reach low with the right hand along this wall, then try the left hand.
* do a touch-your-toes bend and reach with your hand down to the edge. Not so easy, I have good luck going backwards so I go "beep beep beep" like a work truck as I go slowly along, ass first, wiping the edges like a street sweeper. Why not? it's also cool to check out just how "righty or lefty" you are and how clumsy your other hand is.
This is one place use paper towels. The dust here is about as yucky with impurities as dust gets. We don't want to breath this so keep a slightly wetter paper or cloth wiper. When you first place your fingers down to hold the wiper to the dirty surface, pause and look at your hand. Take a second to set your fingers where they'll do the most good, like into crevasses or on a lip. Wiggle the finger just a bit to gather more wiper into the little edges. You shouldn't "really lay into it" as you wipe, it's a gentle action, as long as your fingers are keeping the wiper against the edges you're good. You'll gather dust quickly and so you need to dispose of the spent wipers or stop to rinse out your cloth often. Think about other "old dust" places you could wipe right quick, under and on top of fridge? window sills? under computer desk?
I know you've been vacuuming the edges every now and then but I think it's beneficial to wipe with wet cloth around the edges of your floor space, it's good to know where your edges are and good to actually look at and maintain the edges of your domain. Safety first. Be careful, I was always surprised at how much broken glass and otherwise dangerous bit of debris I would find around the edges of people's kitchens. Have a look along the edge first and still wipe slow enough to stop right quick.
Fluffy dust + changes in humidity + time and gravity = grime, which has to be wiped, it's become too sticky for the vacuum or the dust cloth. This goes double for mini blinds. Dust often, while it's still fluffy.
As to the fresh Spring air, bring it in. Unless you have windows that face a busy street, open every window. I love doing this, I put incense in the hallway and various doorways, then open everything up and watch how the air moves the smoke around. After about 10 minutes, it'll settle into a pattern. Stairwells in particular move a lot of air up and down. This activity leaves a lot of dust and dirt to collect when the air goes still again in this relatively small space. I suggest not opening windows on the street side until the car traffic is gone and the dust has settled, like in the middle of the night.
Road pollution is of such fine grain thanks to the violence of combustion and the rugged friction of the rubber tires on the road, our lungs are not able to expel the tiny shreds of debris it causes.
Don't breath in the black dust that will collect on these window sills. Always wipe it up with a wet cloth and rinse well or use a paper towel and throw it right away.
For a more controlled freshening... Cool, moist air is relatively heavier than the warm, dry air in the house, so a well placed, small fan sitting on the floor can really bring in the fresh air and move it along. Open one window and close all the doors but one in a room with a ceiling fan. Have the fan set to blow down and open the window from the top. The cool air will pull through the room and out the one open door, perhaps to a strategically placed fan, to further draw the cooler, heavier air on through. Opening one window upstairs and having one window open downstairs will bring in fresh air efficiently in the common areas, the side rooms can to be freshened by closing and opening different upstairs windows.
Bedrooms should have fresh air brought in every week, even in the dead of winter, crack a window just a bit for a few minutes. There is a micro-environment around the head of your bed that is slightly more humid and less rich in oxygen because you lay there and breath in and out for hours at time. The sheets and pillows see great increases in humidity when you lay in there and give it to the air when you toss back the covers. Dust mites like the extra humidity that exists around us where we sleep. Check out my January posting: Dust mites, et al for more on those guys. Open the nearest window to the head of your bed just a crack and determine if the air is blowing in or out. Probably in. I keep a 2 feet square or so piece of firm cardboard (or two thicknesses, or a piece of matte board or foam core) to fan the air with. Work with the natural air flow and fan fresh air across your bed and out of the room. It's fun to see what flutters or skitters when the air starts to move. Give it about 20 reps with the manual fan (or plug in an electric one if that's how you roll), experiment with fast and slow and in various directions. The air will tell you how effective your fanning is by fluttering the curtains or lifting the edges of the bed skirt. This is a great time of year to take all the pillows, comforters and cushions outside to sun and air out. Sun light, air and water all cleanse in their own way.
Once the temps are reasonably warmish, I take advantage of an easy rain by sticking my houseplants out in the yard. They get dusty like everything else and it compromises them. Some houseplants don't do well with water on their leaves, African violets come to mind first thing. Some plants don't like to be moved, ficus trees for one. But generally, letting them be rained on is easy on them and gets the dust right out of the house. Shake them off gently, to get the drippiest of the water off then bring them in. If they'll drip on your nice furnishings, you may have to dry them a bit more manually, but they'll dry and the indoor air will moisten and that 's not a bad thing.
Then if it's been raining for days and you're really bored, consider oiling the door hinges and tightening the door knobs or taking a soft toothbrush to the fine details of the baseboards and trim. Once all my chores are done, I like to put the kettle on and kick back with some old cartoons. I like Betty Boop and Underdog. Mighty Mouse rounds out my top 3. Welcome Spring!
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