From The Mud Puddle

I rarely read women's magazines aimed at helping a woman keep house. I find most of the articles fluff.

This past week, as my husband was off, we were at a used bookstore in Greensboro. As I usually do when there, I checked over the free shelf. I found a box of magazines there, most of which were decorating magazines. Tucked in between were a couple of Good Housekeeping issues. They were from within the past few months. I took them along with the other magazines as it is always nice to have some of these to take on temp jobs to flip through.

Yesterday as I was in the kitchen, I started reading the cover of one of the Good Housekeeping issues, the November 2006 issue to be exact. On the cover it promoted 59 smartcuts to a clean (enough) house...(yes that was the exact wording)

So, curiously, I flipped the magazine open to the article. Who among us cannot use another tip or two in cleaning house quicker? What I soon discovered was funny. Who exactly thought these ideas up? Who was their mother? I certainly never had a particularly finicky mother where cleaning was concerned, but our house was clean. I personally have a clean (enough) house...but even some of these suggestions are beneath my standards. Let me show you a few examples that stood out to me in the article. My comments are in red.

1. Cut cleaning in half. Wash just the bottom part of a window. Forget the top, which is usually covered by a shade or blind. (uh huh-it really says to do this)

2. Vacuum selectively. Think high traffic: Run your machine in front of chairs, around the sides of the bed, and on the bottom or top two steps of the staircase. (what exactly are they thinking...that the rest of the room doesn't get dirty because you dont walk on it? I know for quick vacuuming this is fine if you need a touch up...but it isnt really vacuuming unless you have moved furniture and really cleaned the WHOLE floor)

3. Try the paper-towel shuffle. Spritz spray cleaner on two paper towels, put them under your bare feet and slide around to spot clean a dirty area on your kitchen floor. (What...do they not sell mops anymore? Is it beneath you to get down on your hands and knees and REALLY wipe up the floor the regular way with a rag?)

4. Beat dusty blinds in an instant. All you have to do is close them in reverse-and no one will know. (I will know...enough said)

5. Dishes in the sink. Quickly move them to the dishwasher. Or if that's full and you're desperate, rinse them off and stash them in the oven. Just dont forget to take them out or the baked on food will be really hard to clean. (Or perhaps you can just throw them out the back door and get new ones....or just use paper plates and cups instead)

My mother taught me better than this. I've taught my two teenagers better than that. I'm thinking the writer's mother did too and they are just in denial.

These are not suggestions in cleaning house, but just ways to put off the cleaning. What has become of Good Housekeeping that they would publish such an article? I find it interesting that they do not tell you what to do with all those table cluttering magazines (such as GH) in all of these suggestions LOL

posted by Muddy at 2:53 PM