In the category of “It’s easy for her to say because she has a staff”, Martha Stewart has taken time from her busy schedule to provide us with her valuable expertise on household chores. (** See disclaimer at the bottom)
First of all, let me say that I have nothing against Martha Stewart, because many people, especially women, love her. It must be a guy thing. Our idea of managing clutter is to throw our empty beer cans in a paper bag instead of leaving them on the table.
So, before I manage to enrage all of our female readers (I know, too late), let’s move on.
According to Martha (can I call you Martha or do you prefer Ms. Stewart?), here are the 6 household chores you should do every day.
1. Make the bed. While I agree that a neatly made bed makes the whole bedroom seem more organized, who’s going to see it? If you are expecting company, it would a lot easier to just close the door. This has the added bonus of being able to take all the stuff you have hanging on chairs, sofas, and exercise equipment and tossing them on the bed making the rest of the house less cluttered. Close the door and problem solved.
2. Manage Clutter. See tip number 1. Just throw it all on the bed. Works great until bedtime, but you can’t expect me to have all the answers.
3. Sort the mail. I admit that this is something I should pay closer attention to. You should take a few minutes as soon as you bring the mail in to sort through it. I have a habit of sorting through it, taking out the important stuff, and leaving the rest in a pile to go through later. But later soon becomes a day, then 2 days, then 2 weeks, only to find that what I though was junk mail turned out to be something important. Oops.
4. Clean as you cook. While I don’t do a lot of cooking, I do make a meal once in a while. Of course, my idea of a meal is a box of Hamburger Helper or a tuna casserole, but it’s still cooking. This is one tip that I actually follow. Few things are more frustrating than trying to clean dried-on food. I rinse everything off thoroughly before it goes in the dishwasher. It also makes your dishwasher more efficient.
5. Clean up spills as they happen. See tip number 4. I’m not saying I’m a klutz, but I get a lot of practice at this. Just like with the dishes, trying to clean dried up spills is a challenge to say the least. Its best to clean them before that happens and if you need a personalized instruction, I have the equivalent of a PHD in klutziness.
6. Sweep the kitchen floor. This falls into same category as a young boy washing his hands. What’s the point in washing his hands when they are just going to get dirty again? Or taking a bath or washing his hair, or you fill in the blanks. And why only the kitchen floor? Does that mean it’s okay if the rest of the house is dirty as long as the kitchen is clean?
Seriously, I suppose that these are all very useful tip, but how would I know? This is woman’s work. (Oops, did I just say that??)
** Disclaimer: Please don’t fill my email box with hate mail. The viewpoints in this article are just my attempt to provide a humorist look at a serious subject. I don’t hate Martha Stewart and I’m not a sexist. I’m just bad writer.
Click here to download and print this checklist and visit marthastewart.com for more housekeeping tips.