People who declutter, organize and clean their homes say not only do they end up with a cleaner home, but it is less stressful to live in a decluttered, organized, and clean environment which is beneficial both mentally and emotionally.
I find lots of surprises when I tackle an area of my home. For example, I threw away half of the boxed and canned foods in my pantry the first time I decluttered and organized as many of the items had expired. If you’re running to check the expiration dates on your food now, better check the expy dates on all the items in your medicine cabinet! It comes as a surprise sometimes that you could have held onto an item for so long without even opening it. Some items surprise me that they even have an expiration date.
Once an area of your home is decluttered, organized, and cleaned, you might be amazed at the time you have saved yourself going forward from not having to search high and low for your favorite shoes or pair of sunglasses. An old adage that helps keep a home tidy is, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” That’s the goal! That adage is what this challenge is all about. Oh, and checking to see if you’ve used something in the last six months. No? Then don’t keep it somewhere in your home hogging up valuable space. Either sell it or donate it.
When it comes to how to do a Declutter, Organize, and Clean Challenge such as the one found on my blog, Living With Dana, my best advice is that “you do you!” and I’ll do what works best for me. But, we can share tips and ideas! Do the challenges that will bring the biggest change to your living space – and your stress level – and start there. You can declutter by room, category, or as you go (when decluttering becomes a habit). Hold onto sentimental items when you first start your decluttering projects because once you have more space in your home, the sentimental items might find new locations in your home that work better.
Glad brand trashbags has an online article called, “How to Declutter Your Home Without the Hassle,” at https://www.glad.com/
This challenge is focused on cleaning your ceiling fan blades. If you don’t have ceiling fans, maybe your light fixtures and chandeliers need cleaning?
Home Depot is a resource for cleaning tips, such as this article about cleaning fans of all kinds including ceiling fans. https://www.homedepot.com/c/
Better Homes & Gardens also details how to clean ceiling fans.https://www.bhg.com/
I have not tried the pillowcase over each fan blade, nor am I enticed to try cleaning the blades using that method. I have seen products that mimic a pillowcase but still not interested. I also don’t cover the floor beneath the fan to collect the dust. Nope, I spray and/or wipe off the dust. Any big chunks of dust that fall to the floor will get vacuumed or mopped up after the fan cleaning is done.
We have five ceiling fans in my house and three of those are suspended from vaulted ceilings. One vaulted ceiling is 10-feet. The trickiest part of the whole cleaning process is positioning the ladder so that I can reach the entire length of the fan blade without having to do it blindly, over my head. The 12-foot celing fans are tricky because my ladder ALMOST allows me to see over the blades but not quite. That is why I use a good cleaner so I know my time wiping down the blades is not wasted time.
I have used a spray bottle of Windex without any paint stripping on the blades. I have also mixed Dawn detergent and water and wiped the blades with a sponge followed by paper towels. The ceiling fans in the kitchen are the worst as they get covered by airborne grease which holds onto all the cat fur and dust. Sometimes the blades look like they are growing a fur coat! I wash/wipe the blades twice a year: spring and fall. In the fall, I usually clean the blades in November, right before Thanksgiving when I know I’ll have company. In the spring, it’s usually a task for March or April.
Consumer Reports has an article about cleaning ceiling fans. They note that if it’s one of your least favorite chores that you should consider wiping the blades with car wax so that less dust sticks to the blades.https://www.
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If you can’t get up on a ladder or if your fan is over a staircase, Amazon has many brands that sell dusters with extension poles. Click on any of my links and if you don’t see that type of duster, type in “cleaning ceiling fan” and multiple pages should show up in the results.
Thanks for reading my blog! I’m working on the next challenge already. It will be one of the 52 tasks found on my Declutter, Organize, and Clean Challenge list. You can read that post again if you need more motivation today: https://livingwithdana.com/2024/02/the-best-organizing-challenge-ever/ Please follow me on social media and subscribe to my newsletter.
