Today, day 1, surface clean one room. I'm going to do my living room right now. It's a little funny/irritating that in the comments there are people complaining because the vacuum and dust their whole house every day, and doesn't everyone do that? Umm...no. Hell, no, in fact. If I had a live-in housekeeper, sure, or if I didn't have two kids and a job, then maybe. I'm wondering if I can get Kevin to do this one with me too -- he's super-swamped at work right now, but maybe he can spare 20 minutes a day. We'll see.
I did it, and in about twenty minutes, so yay! V. satisfying.
But then I found this posted in the AT comments, which makes clear that I skipped some bits. (Forgot to dust the ceiling fan / lights; didn't vacuum the upholstery or curtains.) I'm saving it here for reference; I'll do another room soon.
"When I was in college, I worked for a maid service, where we were taught to clean a room from top to bottom, and move clockwise around the room. For example, dust first and start at the top - dust off all ceiling fixtures, lampshades, picture frames and any hanging items over furniture. Second, dust wood furniture. Third, dust baseboards. By dusting clockwise, from top to bottom, you allow any dust that your dustcloth made airborne to settle on the soft furnishings (sofa, chairs) and carpets. Fourth, vacuum the upholstry and any curtains and soft furnishings. Fifth, sweep any hardwood floors in the room/vacuum carpets; moving furniture once a month for a deep sweep/vacuum. Sixth, damp mop any uncarpeted floors. Remember, top to bottom, clockwise in the room for each pass (type of cleaning). It is a really efficient way to clean." - SumoCat
Hmm....now I'm not sure how often I need to do surface clean. Let's say deep clean once a month (moving furniture, etc.). Does each room need a weekly surface clean too? If I count pantries and walk in closets and such, we have a LOT of rooms -- that would mean surface cleaning multiple rooms daily. Okay, now I'm feeling overwhelmed.