Cleaning Up

Today has been a fantastically productive day; more so than usual.  Since my body decided I was done sleeping around 6:00am, I started my day a bit earlier than usual.

After breakfast, I finally decided to tackle the mess that was my dining table.  I sifted, threw, filed and cleaned until I could see its top, unobstructed.  Then I tackled stuff that had accumulated on chairs and did the same thing.  When all was said and done, I'd all but filled my kitchen trash can, which was both gratifying and unsettling; gratifying for having done it and unsettling for seeing what I'd allowed to accumulate.

Next was the stove.  Armed with a sponge, some water and a box of baking soda*, I went to town on the splatters and such.  Ten minutes later, my stove was sparkling clean and I was putting the burners (it's a gas stove) into the sink with more baking soda and hot water for them to soak.

While the burners were soaking, I vacuumed the downstairs floors, then came upstairs and tackled the toilet (hard water = tough stains!).  That done, I went back downstairs and gave the burners a super-light scrubbing then left them to drip dry and cleaned the sink and faucet.

All that's left is for me to vacuum upstairs and do some dusting, and my townhouse will be looking more than a little spiffy.

*TIP!  Baking soda is not just for baking and/or odor management.  Want to gently and thoroughly clean your appliance?  Sprinkle a generous helping of baking soda directly onto the appliance, dampen a sponge and go to town.  Make sure it's a lot of baking soda to a little water so the paste does the work for you.  No chemicals and it's easy on the budget, to boot!