I'm always interested in seeing how others organize the preparation for Pesach. Here and there I've culled some useful tips that have made life easier for me. A friend mentioned yesterday that she uses the alphabet to organize her cleaning. She begins with A and moves forward. A few examples follow.
A is for artwork. She dusts and cleans the picture frames first thing and then she doesn't have to think about them any more. B is for books and beds. She cleans all the bookshelves and turns the mattresses and vacuums then early. All she then has to do is put on clean linen before yom tov. C is for carpeting. If she's going to clean them she does it now, not when she's crazy busy right before yom tov. C is also for curtains--no reason to wait to wash them until later. As she pointed out microwave, refrigerator and stove come late in the alphabet and get done close to yom tov. Even Z gets covered--the z'roah gets made right before yom tov.
She did admit that a few items get handled out of alphabetical order out of necessity. For instance, she spreads her shopping out over the weeks before Pesach. And laundry is an ongoing process. But she says that basically this works for her and keeps her from flitting from one thing to another with no organization.
If you're still looking for a method that might work for you, ponder this one.
7 comments:
artwork, books, curtains?
at what letter does she get to items that actually have something to do with pesach cleaning?
I can see some humor in this post and in using the alphabet. The letter F comes early in the alphabet, F for Fed up with the cleaning and prep. Followed by G for Give me a break, followed by H for Help! Followed by I for Insanity.
We all get nuts this time of year with the cleaning. Otherwise why would I, a pretty sane person the rest of the year, be getting up hours early to get cleaning work done before getting ready to go to work. But I'm allowed to be online commenting here because B is for Blog and C is for Coffee and Computer.
Our method is for The Lovely Wife(tm) to panic incessantly, while I repeat the Official Efrex Pre-Pesach Mantra: "Dust is not chametz. Crumbs don't count."
Anyone who takes more than a day cleaning for Pesach (I'm not talking about kashering the oven/microwave/ cookware) is performing an act of spring cleaning, not Pesach preparation. Save the energy for staying awake through the seder.
So true effrex. Unless you eat in bed or get into bed after getting crumbs all over your pj's, flipping mattresses has nothing to do with Pesach. How one would get chometz in their curtains leaves a lot to the imagination. Ditto for chandeliers and everything else that people clean for Pesach.
Of course it's spring cleaning Efrex--didn't anyone ever tell you that Pesach falls out in the spring?! Repeat the mantra all you want but women are hardwired to get antsy about cleaning at this time of the year. Even mention the word Pesach and they automatically reach for a rag and cleanser.
It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it--I guess we're elected. Don't suppose you'd like to hear that instead of mantra chanting you might pick up a mop and help?
Wouldn't it make sense to do the minimal necessary cleaning before Pesach, when we are also busy buying special foods and switching dishes and getting yom tov clothes for the kids, etc., and do the Spring Cleaning AFTER Pesach?? I mean, there is plenty of spring left after Pesach is over.
Most of us don't need to do Spring Cleaning, anyway. Spring Cleaning is a holdover from the days when houses were heated with wood and coal and the entire house was coated with a heavy layer of pollutants. I'd want to wash the coal smoke off my curtains, too! Most of our houses are heated with modern oil and gas systems which don't pollute the house.
If you really want to give your house a thorough cleaning, why not pick a month when there's no Yom Tov to prepare for? Like, July or November.
Interesting system but it wouldn't work for me--I like to see a room completely finished before I go on to the next one. Makes me feel like I finished something.
Not complaining, but multiple posts every day, and this close to Pesach? Either you need a break really badly or you are waaay ahead. Not sure which one to root for.
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