@phoenixbrd wrote:
I can just smell how fresh and clean the house would feel after the "walls have been washed". Makes me think about the dirt remaining on the walls under the primer when most homes are painted today. This sounds like a process that is from a different era when women were housewives and had the time to really clean a house. My mom didn't work outside the home and I always remember her cooking or cleaning. However, I don't recall her cleaning the walls. Please don't rip me up, as I'm sure some of you are working full time and still able to keep the walls clean. I would love to do this to my home; how much time does it take to do all the walls in the house?
I worked full time for many years, was raising a child, and still made time every year to completely spring clean including washing walls. I think everyone makes decisions about what is of value in their lives concerning their time and how it is used.
Speaking only for myself, I will say that for me, completely cleaning my whole house (carpets steam cleaned, walls washed, curtains down,washed ironed and back up, all beds stripped to the bones, every drawer cupboard, closet emptied cleaned out and reorganized, windows washed inside and out etc.) is something that is worth the effort for the time spent. I refuse to live in an environment of dirt, clutter, and mess.
Even now, with most pets gone and child grown up, it is amazing the amount of dirt that gets washed off walls that look perfectly clean. We have electric baseboard heat (which is supposed to be one of the cleanest forms of heating) and it is still dirty.
The way I accomplished it (and still do today) is to not make the task seem overwhelming. Back in the day, I would take one of my weeks of vacation to get the whole project done at once. When I was younger, I could do that all in less than a week.
The key is to break it down by room or by level of the house, or any other divisions that make sense to you. Don't go through the whole house, take down all the curtains empty all the closets etc. all at once and make a mess so big you get overwhelmed and can't function (speaking from experience here, did it once!).
I begin with cleaning out every drawer and closet and cupboard in my house first. I simply take one room at a time, and don't move to another (no jumping from one room to another and getting off track or half complete things) until that room is done. Every item is either kept, donated or thrown away, depending on it's need/condition/usefulness to me. No piles made for 'to be decided later'. The trash and the donations go out immediately, so as to not make the house/room look messier and tempt me to work the things back in.
Doing the closets/drawers/cabinets first, makes sense because you will be generating a lot of dust in dealing with the things you take out and reorganize. Just makes sense to tackle that dirt making job first.
Once this has been done, and for me, I spread this out over a couple of weeks, working in where I have time, an hour here, a couple of hours there, the motivation is there to move on to real cleaning. You've gotten into the swing of it, and it actually becomes something you want to do, because you are already seeing results. Nothing like an organized closet or cabinet, where everything is accessible.
For the real 'cleaning' I start with the smallest and easiest room in the house. Because completing a whole room and seeing perfect results will inspire you to move on to the next. For me that is the guest bathroom. All linens that are in there come out for washing (decorative towels that are just for 'looks' rugs, shower curtain) While they are in the wash, I take down any decor on the walls, wash the walls (including the baseboards), then scrub and sanitize the toilet, sink/counter, and tub/shower. I grab the steam cleaner and do the floor, clean mirrors and light fixtures. Dry (iron if necessary) the linens and replace them.
It is amazing how just a couple of hours in this one small room, seeing the amount of dirt in the bucket of water from the walls, and the sparkling results motivates me to go on to the next room and then the one after that.
Sometimes I do one room per day, other times a bigger room (my family room is huge) will take a couple of days to get done.
If you feel like you can only work at something like this (whether it is time constraints or physical limitations) for a couple of hours per day, just break it down. It isn't a race, no one is competing to see who can get it done first. It is about the results you'd like to achieve.
For me, I want the whole house done in about a week or two. I don't want to be washing walls and doing curtains etc. all year long. Others will take one room each month and overhaul it, and keeping up that way. So in January they tackle the laundry room, February the kitchen, March the dining room, April is the master suit, and so on. They are keeping up with regular cleaning of the rest of the house throughout the year, but each room gets a thorough 'trashing out' once per year. For some, this seem much less overwhelming, and works better into their time schedule and their physical abilities to do more strenuous housework.
There is no 'wrong' answer in breaking it down, other than your own time frame and schedule. For most people, even if they break the whole 'spring cleaning' thing down over an extended period of time, it is about doing each thing once per year, so they know there is some level of 'clean' and organization in their home. Many people don't tackle it all in one big swoop.
And again, different people value different things. But at some point, when one lives in a place for years without cleaning a particular thing (be it walls windows etc.) they are living with a considerable about of dirt and dust (and possibly mold) that has the potential to be unhealthy.
With today's cleaning products and tools, it isn't as backbreaking to complete many of these jobs as it was back in the day. And even people who hate to clean, will usually admit they love to be in a clean environment.
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I always just those that smoked had to wash their walls.
