Why I hate spring cleaning

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Most obviously - the effort to move and dust every knickknack and replace it. However, I always manage to break something. Yesterday it was a solar powered dancing flower that was given to me by a co-worker years ago. I knocked it off the window sill when replacing a curtain I had taken down. The lacy fabric caught on it somewhere and it smashed on the floor. Today I was dusting a chalk (or plaster) Scottie figurine and its ear broke in 3 pieces and I can't figure out how they fit back together so I might glue them.

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Do you have a light feather duster for the delicates?
I guess that won't help knocking it off.
One of the only things I have from my Dad is a wood carving of an antelope. One of the antlers broke years ago. I glued it back but over the years, if there's some way I can knock it off and rebreak that antler, I will do it.
 

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The house is kept picked up and kept uncluttered daily. Then, every 2 weeks, everything on shelves is dusted and the house is vacuumed. But I thought spring cleaning was under beds, behind windows, blinds, closets, and so forth. I do that when I think it's time, but not necessarily in the spring.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
The house is kept picked up and kept uncluttered daily. Then, every 2 weeks, everything on shelves is dusted and the house is vacuumed. But I thought spring cleaning was under beds, behind windows, blinds, closets, and so forth. I do that when I think it's time, but not necessarily in the spring.
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Same here. Dusting isn't saved for March/April.
Spring cleaning is deep cleaning, and is not limited to the springtime. I do it when it needs to be done.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
The house is kept picked up and kept uncluttered daily. Then, every 2 weeks, everything on shelves is dusted and the house is vacuumed. But I thought spring cleaning was under beds, behind windows, blinds, closets, and so forth. I do that when I think it's time, but not necessarily in the spring.
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Me too. I do my "spring cleaning" twice a year, usually December 26 and June 26.
I dust and vacuum every Monday. I did it today with my left hand because my right shoulder is sprained and it took twice as long.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
What's the point of having "dustables" if they don't have dust on them. It's called getting a patina. 300 years from now, some expert on the Antiques Road Show, will ooh and ahh over the wonderful patina.
Works for me. At least, I'm thinking of our future generations.
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Keep on thinking. I do not care for grit between the teeth. That was a big problem for some of our further out ancestors.
 
I used to absolutely love spring cleaning. No longer. I guess because in AZ the dust is so horrid (we live on 5 acres) that it's all undone within a few days. Before I could relish in clean. So that means I got rid of a lot of dustables, except books. We're getting new flooring in a few weeks and all had to be removed from the house. I culled, but more needs to be. Maybe then I can go back to enjoying the process.
 
Spring cleaning for me is window washing, damp wiping each slat on every window blind and washing the window toppers(valances). I have a small house but with lots of windows and it is a 2 to 3 day process.

Fortunately for me, I'm a minimalist when it comes to decorative stuff. I have only a few shelf sitters to dust. :)
 
debodun said:
Into the delicate stuff. Each knickknack has to be removed from the shelf and dusted, the shelf dusted and the pieces replaced. Of course, they never go back exactly as they were before. Now imaging doing this dozens of times for all my precious keepsakes.

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Now I better understand, after seeing your pictures. I posted earlier that I dust and vacuum each 2 weeks, but I meant tables, and objects in the room, lamps, etc. - But no, I wouldn't want to dust all the small items you pictured but once in a great while. There is one wooden case here with wooden shelves like yours that has a glass door in front so the items can be seen. They collect little dust and are seldom removed.
 
Man, do I ever remember spring cleaning when I was a kid. My mom turned into Atilla the Hun.

Mattresses were taken outdoors to sit in the sun, rugs were thrown over the clothesline and beaten to death.

All the lace curtains were taken down, handwashed, bleached, and pegged out on "curtain stretchers" my dad had built for her.

Dad washed the windows outside, we kids washed the insides and heaven help the soul who missed a streak. Corners of baseboards were attacked with toothbrushes. Floors were freshly waxed before the rugs went back down.

Everything smelled like bleach and vinegar and ammonia for a couple of days.

Mom kept a clean house year-round (though not obsessively like some of my friends' mothers) but went into maximum overdrive in the spring.
 

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