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Company’s Coming and the Couch is Cruddy

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What you cannot see in this picture is my couch. Is it clean? Or is it cruddy?

I do not love to clean.

However, I also cannot tolerate true squalor. 😀

And I’m not financially in a position to do my bit to help our nation’s economic recovery effort by hiring someone ELSE to do my cleaning. At least, not when I can get to know about the best vacuum cleaners from this website.

 These opposing needs that I have (not liking to clean, but hating squalor) cause me a bit of internal conflict and aggravation.

But…you know…

…that’s why God gave me teenagers.

😀

(Now, anyone who has ever been around MY teenagers knows that they create a whole LOT more mess than they clean up, but, for a moment, it sounded like a viable solution to my problem, didn’t it?)

So, anyway, as a Mom, I WOULD be doing my kids a disservice if I didn’t teach them how to clean, right?
And to learn to clean WELL, you need a lot of practice, right? Like, on a weekly basis, right?
Of course, right!
So…that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ with it. 😀

Cleaning tip #1: The kids vacuum, and clean the bathroom,  each week.

It’s a good tip, yes?

But how do I prepare my house for the holidays, other than doing the usual weekly chores?

Well, I try to pick up a few of the piles of schoolwork and recipes that I leave lying around most of the rest of the time. Which makes me feel good, momentarily.

And then I go and stare in horror at my couch.

Because that couch is over 20 years old, and covered with beige chenille, and over the course of those 20 years, it has endured the abuse of two children and 3 large dogs.

A couple of years ago, I decided to clean my couch myself. I was inspired by one of my friends, Chloe.
 Chloe’s couch is covered in the same exact beige chenille fabric as mine, and she told me she had successfully laundered her couch’s cushion covers, using a mild detergent and Oxi-clean. I was doubtful, but desperate, because company was coming for Christmas, and my formerly light beige chenille couch had become pretty nearly a dingy brown.

Well, sure enough with a gentle detergent, and the addition of Oxi-clean, with the washer set on gentle cycle, and using cold water, I was able to get my couch cushion covers remarkably clean. I don’t necessarily recommend that YOU try this, because I have no idea what kind of fabric your sofa might have. (And certain types of fabrics might shrink, for example, or not be able to withstand a machine washing.) But I did want to say that I was impressed by how well Oxi-Clean worked on MY couch cushion covers.

 

So there you have it: what do you do when the relatives are coming? Well, sometimes, if you’re desperate enough, you clean your cruddy couch.

What do you do to get your house ready for the holidays?

I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners.