My wise old grandmother, the one who adopted me as a juvenile delinquent and raised me, forced me to do things that I disliked intensely:

1. Mow the lawn twice a week during the summer. If she would have quit fertilizing and watering it, I wouldn’t have had to mow it! I have never had a lawn that needed mowing, prefering lots of flower gardens, Arizona-type xeriscape landscaping, or container gardening.
2. Eat grilled-cheese sandwiches. This type of sandwich was a quickie meal for when she ran out of time. I have not eaten a grilled-cheese sandwiches in 39 years.
3. Clean the house for Spring cleaning, specifically the bathrooms. For some reason I was always in charge of getting the Clorox and steel wool, and cleaning the mold out of the showers and bathtubs. I haven’t had mold in my bathtubs and showers for 39 years. First I simply kept a towel handy and dried the bathtub or shower after each use. I also used the exhaust fans to remove the damp air. Now I also use Tilex or whatever similar product is on sale.

I have never done Spring cleaning, mainly because I never let my home go. Here’s how to keep your relatively clean, at least clean enough so that you’ll never have to do a Spring cleaning again.

1. Do just one thing each day. Clean a mirror. Clean a countertop. Reorganize a drawer….
2. On the first Saturday of each month, clean a room… curtains, carpets, walls, doors, windowsills….
3. In July and January — pick a date — go through the house and donate to charity anything that you haven’t used in six months that doesn’t have memories connected to it, such as old shoes and clothing, the doohickey that you thought you would use but never have, etc. I use July 4 and January 1, because those are holidays and I’m always off from work and home during the day.

It works. Been doing this for 39 years.

Once you have your place clean, and can easily keep it like that, you will have room for some flower bouquets that you can cut from your own garden or buy them for $4.99 at the local grocery store. Then you can take close-up pictures of the flowers and wow everyone!

Try it! And report back to let me know how it’s working for you.

SNIPPETS are short posts about anything and everything.
Each SNIPPETS will also have a picture.
After all, this is Russel Ray Photos.