If you can’t be the good example, be the horrible warning. That’s where I come in.
Our house gets messy fast. Generally, I don’t stress over it. I’m a terrible housekeeper, husband doesn’t really care, and the kids make a minimalist, magazine ready home nigh impossible to keep up.
Let me just say, in my defense, I did just have a baby. Okay, it was 6+ weeks ago but still. That’s good for at least a 6 month free pass on cleaning, right?
There are times that I wish I was a little more obsessive about our baseboards. And cobwebs. And mopping.
This is one such time. I was happily ignoring my dust bunnies (which, let’s face it, are really dust jackalopes) and tweeting about the Great Shrinking Grocery Conundrum. Companies put less stuff in the same size bag, but charge you the same in a sneaky back-door way to raise prices.
So I started a discussion about it on my blogfrog and tweeted the link. Someone saw the link and was interested to find out more. That someone was a reporter. She interviewed me over the phone, and we got to talking about price books.
A few hours later, the NYT calls me to ask if they can send a photographer out. Tomorrow. In less than 24 hours. Holy wha??? And I said yes. Holy WHA???
So of course the first thing I did was go to Target. Naturally.
After mightily resisting the urge to buy all new throw pillows, I settled for new guest towels, without marker stains, for the downstairs bath. A bottle of GooGone, some jeans without an elastic maternity panel, and a new lipstick, and I’m ready to take on the world.
Of course, I still have to muck out the toilet. On the plus side, I’ve found a lot of our missing spoons. It’s been like a giant game of hidden picture. There’s a spoon nestled in the cookbooks, in the drawer where we keep the bike helmets, next to the PS3, and two in the couch cushions.
Back to cleaning. I’ll probably replace the burned out bulbs in the ceiling fans and possibly- dare I say it- wash a window instead of closing the blinds. Just in case the photographer wants natural light. And I’ll have to wipe out the pantry, just in case we need to take a look in there since the story is about food and all.
But as is usually the case, Baby J needs her mommy rightthisveryminute. She’s extra clingy tonight and doesn’t want me to put her down, and I can’t babywear AND fumigate the bathroom at the same time. So we’ll just chill and I’ll try to update my price book with one hand while nursing. Thank goodness my blog isn’t called “Organized Mom” or “Fresh and Clean” or something that would make me look like a hypocrite.
Nope, I think the photographer is just going to have to realize that “discombobulated and disorganized” isn’t just my tagline- it’s my life. The good thing about having nine children is by the time they all find a place on the couch, you can’t see any of the stains on the cushions. Actually, you can’t see the cushions at all.
Maybe we should just take pictures outside. In the neighbor’s yard.
What’s the first thing you tackle when you panic clean?
Karen (1)
Raso @ lasagnarec... (1)
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
First thing I tackle in an emergency clean case, the living room and bathroom, places that will be seen the most. Start at the top of the room and work your way down. I don’t even vacuum the house until all the rooms are clean, that way your not tracking dust bunnies and dirt back onto the clean floors.
Oh my!!!! Good luck today!!
When I panic clean the first thing is the bathroom the guests will be using – which is always a mess because my daughter dyes her hair red (as in the candy apple red, not an auburn shade) and she’s got stains all over the white marble of the sink and countertop so I soak it in bleach to get the most recent stains out. The bathtub and tile surround is a shade of pale pink – I just pull the shower curtain shut. Next I clean the family room. We have a roll top desk in the living room that looks rather stately and is great for hiding junk – I just stick it all in the drawers and pull the roll top shut
Then I clean off the bar and the kitchen – change the cat litter then shut the doors to all other rooms 
As a habitual panic-cleaner (aka Someone Who Waits Till The Absolute Last Minute To Begin Cleaning), I am nearly hyperventilating for you!
Anyway — the kitchen is always the first thing I tackle. If I can get it sparkling and organized “looking” the rest of it is easy.
After that, it’s all about floors and surfaces — getting rid of the clutter, toys, coloring books, lidless markers, etc. If all of this is accomplished, and I STILL have time, I do a quick vacuuming session and dust.
As far as the guest bath, it’s small so really easy to clean — takes about 10 minutes. Toilet first . . . then sink . . .then mirror.
AHHH — good luck today.
The guest bathroom and the kitchen counter. If they are relatively clean, the house looks pretty good. If I have time, a quick mop of the kitchen floor, depending on the depth of the dirt!
I’m a big fan of child labor to clean my house. Everyone does the “Flight of the Bumblebee” and picks up whatever they can reach. Baskets of laundry go back into the laundry area, stacks of coupon inserts go into a tote, toys go in the bucket, etc.
Floors. In a panic clean, always the floors first. Seems like after that I begin at the front door to the main bathroom. While my panic cleaning is ongoing I send the teens to the front porch to sweep off and make sure entrance looks inviting.
I will admit long ago, in a moment when I had my third son(9 months ten days after the second son-preemie) I tucked my dirty dishes under my sink and washed the countertops…no one knew until this day. I am not ashamed-time for mommas is very precious. Now I have much more time and less work, as the kiddos are all older.
Jennifer
My kitchen can be seen from my front door, so the kitchen is always the primary focus when we panic clean. It’s so hard to keep that room clean when it always seems to be full of people working on something! Thanks to constant enforcement on the kids’ chores, my entryway, living room and dining room are usually within 20 minutes of looking great.
My panic clean is always guest bathroom, living or family room, and the kitchen. I figure no one has any reason really to go in the rest of the house
Always a quick floor sweep/ vacuum. I have a long haired dog and so the floor and furniture has to be cleaned everyday or the house never looks clean.
Good luck! You’ll do great!
It’s all about the kitchen and the floors (we too have a shedding dog…). I’m great at hiding, things though. Our washer & dryer are behind a curtain in our kitchen. I’ve piled dirty dishes [that I don't have time to wash] there more than once.
Congrats on the NYT! Please blog about what it’s like to go through that!!
A large walk-in closet is my best friend in this case.
I feel pretty okay if I can get our livingroom in order, with a vase of flowers to cheer, and if I can have the bathroom in order, with a clean, pretty handtowel. BTW: Congratulations. 
The floors, guest bathroom and living room/dining room area. Especially the toilets and sinks. And probably the kitchen. However I also try to hit all the other rooms at least a little because our how is so small you can see most of it in about 3 steps. hehe
I hate panic cleaning. If I was as clean as my mom then I would never have to do that.
Panic cleaning. I love that term. I remember as a child, someone would pull into the driveway, and my mother would shriek at us to move it! Now I find the same thing. The dog barks, my mother-in-law is pulling in, blah!!! Run, move! It is amazing how quickly we can move when our very pride depends on it! If I have a bit more notice, I make sure the dining tables are clear, then work on the stuff scattered all over the floors…..then the kitchen counters, then the shoes by the door….in no particular order, I just go from one thing to the next trying to make it look like we are not total slobs.
Too funny. Love your blog and congrats on the NYT interview.
Clean different parts of the house during different days. The whole cleaning process cannot be completed on a single day. You can consider cleaning toilets on one day and furniture on the other. This way, you can split the burden of house cleaning and enjoy the process.