Spring Cleaning

April 1, 2012 by The Minnesota Farm Woman

Spring is almost my favorite time of the year. The robins and ducks return to the Northland and begin nesting. Bunnies, Easter eggs and baby chicks abound. The snow disappears until December. At least we hope it is until December. Spring would be more than “almost” my favorite except for one thing: Spring cleaning. In the old days, real Farm Women would hang their carpets and rugs on the line and hit them with a wire contraption called a rug beater. They would scrub their floors on their hands and knees. My mother-in-law would take down her curtains to wash and wipe down all her walls while she was at it. My former neighbor in Florida changes her decor from winter to spring, and has no need to do any spring cleaning because her house is spotless all the time anyway. She even (somewhat obsessively, I might say) cleans her bathrooms every day. I often wonder where people find the time and energy to do things like cleaning. I had always used the excuse “….but I work all the time!” only to find out that some people actually work many hours and have clean houses, too. I had a housekeeper once, who came twice a month and took care of the vacuuming, dusting, and bathrooms. It was pure heaven, until HE put a stop to it. “We have to save more for college,” he would point out in that darned levelheaded manner of his. “We can ALL help with the housework!” Right. Like that happened. My daughter, a young teen at the time, thought that cleaning the house involved shoving things under beds and in closets, never to be seen again until you needed that birth certificate for something important, and didn’t much care that the towels were damp when she kicked them under her bed and everyone thought something had crawled under the house and died. As soon as he put the kibosh on the housekeeper, he started working a job in which he was on call 24/7 and took up golfing, which was for some strange reason the only time he wasn’t on call. That left me to do the cleaning, and I would rather be doing just about anything except for maybe having a root canal or giving birth than clean the house. I half-heartedly pass a duster over things. My counters are cluttered. My bed is made….sometimes. My oven needs cleaning. My porch needs a good sweeping. I’m a great cook, though. I go to work, and work hard. I write. I take care of my chickens. I daydream, thinking of things to write about and of someday, getting a housekeeper again. Him? Well, he’s pretty good at cleaning, but it’s golfing season again, so I guess I’ll see him when the first snowflakes fall. The daughter? She has a paid-for college degree, a great husband and two yellow labs the size of ponies who shed and slobber all over the place. Despite having two jobs, she still manages to go to the gym and keep her house neat and clean. At least I think she does. I haven’t checked under her bed in a very long time.

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

13 Responses

on April 1, 2012 at 11:14 pm | Reply Sandra Keith (@sandralkeith)

My mom believed in spring cleaning and boy, did she clean. When we three girls were old enough (I’d say seven or so) we had to help. Curtains came down, windows got washed, storm windows got put away, closets were de-nuded of everything that didn’t fit anymore, furniture got moved, rugs got rolled up, walls got scrubbed with Spick and Span. I detested spring for that very reason. Mom never did anything half way. Either everything got cleaned or she would die trying. Does it surprise anyone that I have never given my own home a spring cleaning in my life? She warped me.

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- on April 2, 2012 at 5:27 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Spic and Span…..oh how I remember that powdered stuff! Storm windows were a big thing at my house, too! Ick!
  Thanks for reading!
  Chris
  
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on April 5, 2012 at 6:02 am | Reply pixilated2

My mom was never a ‘spring cleaner.’ In fact, she wasn’t much of a cleaner at all, she had me for that. But, there is one thing she did that could have ruined me for life:

She never folded anything. Nothing. Nada!

If you wanted it, you had to go find it in the hall closet and try to iron the perma-wrinkles out of it. I finally learned to fold clothes when I was 18 and joined the Navy. Now my clothes get folded or hung up right out of the drier. However, spring cleaning was never taught to me and now it simply seems too ambitious. ~ Lynda

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- on April 5, 2012 at 6:31 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Thanks for reading and for commenting, Lynda!
  
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on April 5, 2012 at 7:25 am | Reply Tara

oh how the cleaning in my house never ends. two young girls running rampant and a husband that carefully (i could be exaggerating) places his dirty clothes on the floor next to the hamper. I don’t have any excuses since I do stay at home and don’t have an outside job. my house is neat and probably to the average person it looks pretty dang clean…. but I see the dust on the blinds, wipe my finger on the top of the fridge, and have been meaning to clean my oven for sometime now. I have decided that life is too important to worry about the little stuff. I get what I can done when the girls are in school and spend my time with them in the afternoons. weekends are family time. I imagine that your daughter looks back and can appreciate a mother who worked, and took care of her family, provided home cooked meals… not having a spotless house?!? eh, not important in the whole scheme of things. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!

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- on April 5, 2012 at 7:42 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  …and thanks for reading and writing great comments!
  Chris
  
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on April 5, 2012 at 9:35 am | Reply btwmommy

Oh my gosh – Spic and Span! What a trip down memory lane…..Interesting how a lot of those commenting that they never spring clean now
because they were forced to take part in the horrible task as children. Word is your former neighbor grew up in a house filled with 7 people and a myriad of smelly pets, thus said house was NEVER clean. It is also evident that she appears to be the mutant of the family, because none of her siblings learned to clean, nor see the need to. Unfortunately, same said neighbor was unsuccessful in passing any of her cleaning genes on to her offspring, either. However – she was most appreciative and envious of your ability to come home from work and absolutely relax. How wonderful not to stress and become anxious that the ceiling fans and all of the picture frames need immediate dusting, or to watch a movie with the family instead of feeling an overwhelming desire to clean and rearrange the pantry while they are busy. (It isn’t easy being the unappreciated mutant clean freak in a long line of the domestically-impaired)

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- on April 5, 2012 at 12:34 pm | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  I remember when you came over once and were quite surprised that there were vacuum cleaner marks on the rug. Yep. Every once in a while it must be done.
  Miss you, Neighbor!!!
  PS….you’re supposed to dust picture frames, too???? Oops.
  
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on April 7, 2012 at 8:24 am | Reply Donna

I have braided rugs and I collect old rug beaters (guess you know where this is going) I use the beaters on those rugs and take out any & all frustrations I might have…Works wonders, the cleaning and the frustrations…Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!

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- on April 7, 2012 at 10:46 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  I have my great-great grandmother’s rug beater, but I have never used it. Maybe I should start…..
  Thanks for reading, and for keeping up with a lost “art”.
  chris
  
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on April 7, 2012 at 8:56 am | Reply Sharon Kearsey-Hilaire

I remember doing the spring cleaning with my Great Grandma. We would take down the heavy winter drapes and replace them with white sheer curtins which had to be washed on the glass washboard in blueing and starched with a starch made out of potatoes, and then ironed to perfection with the flat iron that was heated on the huge kerosene stove. She always told me to pay attention because one day I would be married and would have to know all these things. I think of her every spring and smile when my white sheer curtins blow in the soft spring breeze.

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- on April 7, 2012 at 10:45 am | Reply The Minnesota Farm Woman
  
  Love it!!
  
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- on April 7, 2012 at 12:49 pm | Reply Donna
  
  Sharon, I love hearing that…Memories are so precious to have
  
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