The Lazy Girl's Guide to Cleaning the Bathroom In 10 Easy Steps

Keeping the bathrooms clean is a major issue for us.  I guess maybe it is because we have 5 people who shed hair, leave dirty clothes on the ground, leave the cap off of the toothpaste, and most importantly, don’t like to clean bathrooms.  I am implementing these steps and have posted them in the bathrooms in hopes that when I declare that the bathrooms need to be cleaned we will know exactly what to do.  It is always easier to do things if you have a plan. 

As usual, the Lazy Girl doesn't like to be overwhelemed, so I also am going to try to do the daily items in the bathroom each time I go to potty.  It should only take a couple extra minutes and if I am drinking as much water as the Fly Lady suggests, then I should be in there a lot.

Do these things daily:

1.      Remove all clothing, dirty towels, and personal belongings. Put away all other items.

2.      Take out trash, clean can if needed, and replace bag.

3.      Swish and wipe the toilet (use all-purpose cleaner or good ol’ liquid soap with brush for inside, paper towel or wipe for outside)

4.      Shine sink and counter with used hand towel.

Do these things weekly:

5.      Spray sink with all-purpose cleaner, wipe with rag.

6.      Spray bath/shower with all-purpose cleaner, use rag to wipe down top to bottom, rinse as needed.

7.      Polish mirror (use ammonia solution and paper towel or newspaper).

8.      Wipe down fixtures, walls, door, and cabinets (as needed)

9.      Sweep floor.

10.  Mop floor.

What are your steps for keeping the bathrooms clean? 

The Lazy Girls Guide to Grocery Shopping: 10 Easy Steps

1.       Make a master List of regular menu items that you are sure to use every week. On this list write down other items you run out of through the week.

Lazy Girl Tip: Either save the copy of this to your desktop, not hidden in a file, or print many copies out and keep them in the baggie drawer.

2.      Look at the ads when they come in and circle good deals, add to your list, and set ad aside to be used at that store or for price matching.

Lazy Girl Tip: Think about stockpiling on really great deals.

3.       Go through coupons if you use them, add items to your list.

Lazy Girl Tip: Coupons are great if you match them with sales.  Otherwise, you can usually get just as good of a deal if you wait for a sale or if you buy store brands. The best deals are to be had with stacking (coupons and sales). 

4.       Things to take with you: list, ads, coupons, and water.

Lazy Girl Tip: Shopping for big families can take so much time.  Take a cool bottle of water to help recharge during or after your trip. 

5.       Pick a time.

Lazy Girl Tip: Wal-Mart at 5am, but that’s not what a lazy girl would do, so I just try to avoid the weekends if at all possible.

Lazy Girl Tip: Don’t take tired, cranky, or sick child.  Helpers are wonderful, but not if they are going to slow you down or make you miserable.

6.       Hit the non-perishable items first, then the perishables.

Lazy Girl Tip: Order your list at home to match the store you most often shop. 

7.       Self-Check out. 

Lazy Girl Tip: Bag like items (dairy, meats, cans, boxes, etc.)

Lazy Girl Tip: After a bag is full wait a few seconds before you remove the bag, this will allow the scale time to reset and will avoid the pop-up that asks about double bagging an item (a.k.a. putting it in your bag without paying). 

Lazy Girl Tip: Let the kids help.  Train them for bagger, scanner, and cart un-loader. There are tricks to all jobs. This will keep their hands off the candy and toys they put there to tempt our babies. :P

8.       Load the car with purpose: heavy stuff first, bread and eggs where they won’t be smashed.

9.       Have the kids or husband unload the car.

Lazy Girl Tip: Keep the troops happy by either buying them a treat like gum to have upon completion of their chore, or make them a big glass of ice water while they are unloading to show you appreciate their effort.

10.   Put away.

Lazy Girl Tip: This is where bagging like items comes in handy.  Put perishables away first.

The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Doing Dishes in 10 Easy Steps

I mentioned in a recent post that laundry is by far my favorite chore.  As much as I love doing laundry, I hate doing dishes.  What I hate even more is not doing the dishes, because it creates a huge, stinky, overwhelming mess in my kitchen.  This mess prevents me from enjoying cooking, which in turn leads to eating out.  So, I have come to accept that dishes must be done. 

What is odd about our dish situation is that we no longer have a dishwasher.  In the five years we have lived here it never worked great, but last year it finally started getting dishes dirtier rather than clean.  It became the dishdirtier.  When we replaced the kitchen floor, it found its way to the dump.  What I have noticed is that it makes no difference whether we have a dishwasher or not, it takes just as much time to rinse, load, and unload the dishwasher (not even considering when the dishes don’t get clean) as it does to wash the dishes each meal.  You can even combine the breakfast and lunch dishes into one load if you aren’t cooking complicated meals.

As the months have gone by, I have found a system that works very well for our set up.  This may take some tweaking for you exact situation.  We have a double sided sink with a faucet that has separate hot and cold nobs and a sprayer.  We have very little room on the left side because the sink is nearly in the corner.  There is more room on the right side and that is where we have the dish drainer set up. 

In developing this plan I have also taken into consideration my washing team made up of myself and my 2 daughters, 12 and 7.  The seven year old is being taught how to wash dishes right now, but her main duty is drying and putting away.  My older daughter is then stuck with washing unless I feel sorry for her, which doesn’t happen too often.  She has had somewhat of a hard time following the steps so I finally printed them out and taped them to the inside of a cabinet so she could look at them as she did dishes.  They are as follows:

How to do the Dishes in 10 easy steps

1.       Fill left sink with hot soapy water half way. Right side should have enough room to rinse.

2.       Wash dishes in this order: silverware and utensils, glasses and cups, plates and bowls, mixing and cutting dishes, pots and pans. 

3.       Wash each piece and place it down in the hot soapy water after it is clean.

4.       When soapy side is full, rinse dishes in cold water, place in drainer

5.       When drainer is full, stop to dry and put away. (This can be done by the dryer.)

6.       When the water no longer has suds or if dishes don’t smell like the soap, stop, drain, and refill the sink.

7.       Follow those steps until all dishes are done.

8.       When dishes are done, wipe down counters, stove, and table. (This can be done by the dryer between loads)

9.       Wash, drain, rinse, and dry around and in the sinks.

10.   Take all towels and rags outside to dry or take to washer.

Lazy Girl Tip – Do the dishes frequently so that the job is quick and painless.  Reward yourself with an icy Vanilla Coke afterwards (or your beverage of choice).