You’d think by now I’d have enough sense to not make New Year’s resolutions. Well I don’t. This year I’m resolving two things; to cut out the single-use plastic under my control and to seriously up my game as a commercial cleaner; i.e. one who cleans during the commercials while watching television.
I will keep the first one because what’s happening in our oceans is horrifying. I will try keep the second one because I’m always looking for a way to encourage myself to keep the Department of Health at bay.
To this end you can imagine how thrilled I was to find online a checklist for the commercial cleaner. (And I thought I had coined the phrase.)
An hour long TV show has about 15 minutes of commercials. The average person watches about five hours of TV a day which gives you over an hour to clean with time left over to raid the fridge, pour a drink and go to the bathroom. And nobody can accuse you of sitting around watching too much because you’re always up moving around cleaning.
I find checking things off a list to be very satisfying. It can be like a game.
OK, maybe game is a bit overstated, but a fun challenge.
OK, maybe fun is a bit overstated, but you know what I mean.
There are over a hundred things on the list that you can do during commercial breaks such as:
Spray and wipe appliance fronts.
Purge a shelf in the refrigerator of expired foods.
Wipe a shelf in the refrigerator.
Change the liner in the refrigerator crisper drawer.
Clean crumbs out of the cutlery drawer.
Clean crumbs out of toaster or toaster oven.
Wipe stove knobs and oven door handle.
Wipe spills in the bottom of the oven (or soak until next commercial).
Deodorize the garbage disposal with ice or lemon slices.
Clean the inside of the microwave.
Spray and wipe kitchen cupboard fronts.
Get coffee maker ready for tomorrow.
Wipe kitchen table.
Wipe kitchen chairs.
Microwave wet sponge to sanitize it.
Clean the sink.
Polish the kitchen faucet.
Dust kitchen blinds or windowsills.
Dust kitchen baseboards.
Toss junk mail.
Take out the kitchen garbage.
And that’s just the kitchen.
There are some chores that get done every day anyway, like loading and unloading the dishwasher but I printed the whole thing and I made two copies for the two TVs that are a vital part of our household harmony.
Then I discovered a potential problem with this particular list; it doesn’t have little check boxes. They suggest that you print the two sheets, slide them into a plastic page protector and use a dry erase marker to check off the chores and see at a glance just how much progress you’ve made. That’s a good idea and I’m committed, resolved even (ha ha) to try it, but precise and orderly that I am, I fear that the lack of a little box in which to place my tick may put me off.
There are many cleaning list templates on line. I don’t know why I never looked before. Ha ha again. It makes perfectly good sense that such a thing would be in demand. It is important however, to remember that while all check lists are lists, not all lists are check lists.
If your temperament is such that it doesn’t take much to make you lie down ’til the feeling goes away, choose carefully.
There are also templates for making your own lists. What I want is the commercial cleaning list with boxes i.e. a checklist. Maybe Newman can figure out how to make one (two) of those for me. It would be in his best interests.
I wish you all a peaceful and contented New Year, resolutions or not.
Janice Wells lives in St. John’s. She can be reached at [email protected]. (or [email protected].)
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