Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Welcome to the Weekend, warriors Home Improvement Show, built by Par Lumber when it comes to big or small projects around the home. Tony and Corey, you've got the know-how and the answers to make your life just a bit easier. Here they are, your weekend Warriors, Tony and Corey.
Speaker 2 00:00:24 Hey, welcome to the Weekend,
Speaker 1 00:00:26 Warriors Home Improvement Show,
Speaker 2 00:00:27 Built by Par Lumber. I'm Corey Valdez. And I'm Tony Crookston. <laugh>, thanks for, uh, checking us out today, our our Weekend Warriors podcast. Today we're gonna talk about spring cleaning. Yes, it's that time of year, Tony. Well, let me tell you, um, I can sum up, um, a, a detailed plan on how to get the house, um, deep cleaned, uh, in a very short period of time. Here it is, bullet point, <laugh> one, pick up the phone, two, dial the maid, <laugh> three, write a check. Right? There you go. Hey, can you come deep clean my house, please? That's probably the easiest way to go about it. Yes, <laugh>. If only hire somebody to clean your house. If I had your money, that would be my first phone call. If I had your money, I'd burn mine.
Speaker 2 00:01:22 So, since we can't afford, uh, um, what do you call? We call it a housekeeper. A housekeeper. Housekeeper. Since we can't afford a housekeeper, we made a list of, um, the things that reminders really everyone knows how to clean, but there are some really good tips when you're setting a plan to get it done. Spring is here. It's here already here, right? Um, yeah. Any day now. I mean, I remember Groundhog Day and the guy comes out and he is like, Hmm, March 20th or something. The official, uh, spring Equinox. Yeah. <laugh>. Anyway, it's spring, it's Springish. And so, um, we made a detailed list, reminders and sort of a pattern how to get through a cleaning day or a couple of cleaning days. If you choose a weekend and you're going to plan the thing, the very best, uh, recipe for getting it done is having a plan.
Speaker 2 00:02:19 I'm starting here, I'm doing this, and this, and this, and this, and I'm ending here. And Corey and I have found in our experience that having certain things planned ahead of time, make sure that you have the people that you need. Make sure that you have the equipment that you need. Maybe it's Swiffers or maybe their garbage sacks or whatever. Yeah. And make sure that you have, um, some sort of, uh, something to look forward to at the end. Maybe it's dinner out or Pizza Inn, or maybe it's a movie on pay per view or something. But a reward helps, especially if you're including the family and something to look forward to. One of the tips that I've always used in my own life and in our house is to plan something. Have a party, put a, put a summer party together and say, you know, June or July or whatever that date is, maybe you want a spring party.
Speaker 2 00:03:18 You know, maybe you're having everybody over for, I don't know, something, a birthday party or Easter or something. Maybe it's maybe you're having everybody over for, uh, may the fourth be with you. <laugh>, star Wars Day. Yeah. Which is coming, coming around very soon. Yes. Uh, spring was March 20th. Oh, Easter. First day. Easter. Easter. Easter's coming up. Yeah. If you're having people for Easter, this is something you need to schedule right away. Yeah. So set a date and then take a list, put this list together, take our tips, and then just get it done. And the thing about spring cleaning is you don't have to get it all done in one day. No. You really don't. You can do it in two days. Absolutely. Or three or a week. Saturday, Sunday, <laugh>. I mean, ideally you can split it up and do whatever you want.
Speaker 2 00:03:58 But the whole idea is if you don't start with something, you'll never get it done. That's right. You gotta start somewhere. That much is true. That's right. So Tony and I are giving you the motivation and the information today to get off the couch and clean your hoose, your hoose <laugh>, your moose. Yeah. So where does it start? What's the list look like? Where are we at? So the very first thing that is probably the most important is to declutter. Everybody's got stuff stashed away in their closets, in their dressers, in their kitchen cabinets that you've probably haven't used in 500 years. Well, I'll tell you what, sometimes it's not stashed away. Sometimes it's the pair of boots you took off Monday night, the pair of tennis shoes you took off Tuesday night, and the slippers that you had on Wednesday night. And, um, and they're just at the end of the couch.
Speaker 2 00:04:54 You know, they're just right there. You have to, you gotta first start, pick by picking all that stuff up. Are you the sort of person that takes, like, say a pair of pants and say, well, I only wore these for a couple of hours today, so I'm gonna leave them here on the floor <laugh>, and then I'll put 'em on tomorrow. Well, and then the next time you move them is into the washing machine a week later. Are you that person? I'll tell you what, I would say yes. Just to, you know, just to be your huckleberry, but if I leave anything on the floor, it gets dog hair on it. Mm. And I cannot do that. So, but I would tell you that I am guilty of wearing, um, a pair of pants, jeans, or slacks or whatever for a few hours in a day, and then hanging them back up or draping them over the dresser, because I'm going to be getting back after me.
Speaker 2 00:05:43 Don't lie, you drape it over the, uh, treadmill, drape it over the treadmill. <laugh> treadmill's downstairs. It's got plenty of stuff hanging on it. Um, but yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know that you're exactly right. Declutter starts with putting things where they belong, and if they, they don't have a place where they belong, then that's out. Yeah. Maybe you're starting a garage sale pile. Abso that's a good idea. So one of the things with decluttering is you wanna really sort it into categories divided into your, keep your donate, and then you throw away pile. There is stuff in your home right now that probably just needs to be thrown away, but if you're not using it, donate it. And if you want to keep it, find a home for it, because everything in your home should have a home. You know? So that's kind of the, the center of having clutter.
Speaker 2 00:06:31 You have stuff and you have nowhere to put it, so it just stays out. Right. Yeah. And it's very stressful for me anyway, I like to look at the things that I own. And when I do my decluttering, or when we do spring cleaning, I look at stuff and I say, I haven't used that in a year. If I haven't used it in a year, I take a hard look at it and say, do I really need this? You know, a lot of people have things, of course, that you've had for 20, 30 years, and sometimes those things don't come out as often as you'd like, you know, like a, a painting gun, you know, or a house painting gun. You know, it's like, I'm not gonna use that every year. Yeah. I'm not gonna throw it away, but, you know what I mean? Things like that, that you just wanna take a hard look at.
Speaker 2 00:07:17 And if you haven't used it, get rid of it. So the next one on the list here is, uh, is getting rid of duplicates. If you have multiples of the same thing and you can only use, um, one of them, then the other ones should be donated or given away, or, or discarded in some other way. But here's the thing, Corey, I can't jump on board with you on this one, and I'll tell you why. Something you know about me is that I really like to wear hats. I'm a hat guy. I always have a hat on, whether it's my favorite hat or, or honestly, most of my hats are my favorite hats. You have tons of hats. Here's the thing, at work, I wear a work hat and away from work, I wear an away from work hat. Um, but I can't have one.
Speaker 2 00:08:01 I have to have like 20 of these to keep it looking fresh and clean. I mean, if I'm wearing the same hat every day, it's getting, you know, pretty gross. Yeah. <laugh>. But here's where I will reconnect with that thought after it's reached a point where I'm not gonna wear it anymore. You can only turn so many hats into your gardening hat or your painting hat. Right. Or your mechanic hat or whatever. You get one or two of those, and then the rest of them have to be gone. Um, how many painting shirts do people keep? Right? How many painting shorts or pants do people keep? <laugh>? Um, if you don't need all the different clothes to paint in, right, you're gonna paint one time or two times, and a couple of shirts will be fine. But we make the excuse that we're, oh, save it for a gardening shirt.
Speaker 2 00:08:50 <laugh>. This is my work shirt. We never get rid of it. Now, I almost have in my shirt drawer, I probably have at least five or six work shirts. Right? Paint shirts, yeah. Yeah. Covered in grease, covered in paint. And you're right. I mean, I'm not gonna wear those over and over again. Also, it's super funny that we're doing this show now because only just recently, within the last two weeks, I took four boxes of old dirt, older clothes to the Goodwill. Oh, good job. Four boxes. And, uh, I told my wife, I said, I'm, I'm digging up these boxes and I'm filling up these boxes and I'm taking 'em to Goodwill. And she was like, what? You are getting rid of clothes? I'm doing it. I'm, I'm doing it. Well, but the reason why of course, as you know, is we're preparing to remodel our master closet.
Speaker 2 00:09:40 Oh yeah. Master bath and closet. And so in order to do that, we need to get it down to its minimum contents, move those to a smaller closet in another room, and then begin that process. But yeah, needless to say, I've been doing it. Deep cleaning has been in my world recently. Good. Good. Well, again, you've, you've started small. That's kind of the, one of the next thing on the list is to start small. You know, you declutter small areas, one at a time. You started with your closet. That's a great place to start. You're in there every day. You are getting dressed, you're putting your clothes away. So I, I like that idea. Start small, move from area to area and declutter as you go. I have to take another exception. I hate to do it so early in the list, <laugh>, but I have another exception.
Speaker 2 00:10:24 This is consider sentimental items. Okay. You are not nearly as much of a sentimental si sort of person as I am. Yeah. But I mean, you have some things that you're not willing to. I have some collections. Yeah. Yeah. There's some things you're not willing to, to compromise on. I don't have a lot of, you know, shelving of tchotchkes. Right. I don't, I don't have that. Right. Well, unfortunately, I have many collectibles. NASCAR die casts, hundreds of them. I don't have Spider-Man comic books, um, you know, paintings, original paintings and drawings, and I've got tons of stuff. So I have to be careful about that because sometimes I'll let things with no value be as important to me as things with value. And I need to be able to just because it's a picture of something I like, a drawing of something I like, or a model of something that I like.
Speaker 2 00:11:17 Um, if I'm going to be realistic, then I need to separate the things that have value, sentimental value or resale value. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative> from the things that don't. And then, uh, and then parrot back that way. I watched this show on Netflix not too long ago about a guy who collected Pez dispensers. He collected and sold Pez dispensers. Oh really? I think really? It's called the Pez Outlaw maybe. Wow. Anyway, this guy totally skirted these international trade laws went overseas, bought Pez dispensers. Anyway, he sold them. But his, he started with this love for cereal boxes, and he has no tens of thousands, no, maybe hundreds of thousands of cereal boxes that he has broken down nice and flat. And he stores them in all these files and he is showing it on the show. And he's got just like, cases and cases and cases and cases of wow.
Speaker 2 00:12:15 Cereal boxes. You know, he loves the artwork, but it's like, I mean, I feel like that's a hobby. You do. You have, you love Spider-Man, you help, you love comic books. Yeah. You love nascar. Yeah. So you collect those things as a hobby. I mean, I have my hobbies Sure. Into RC cars. I have tons of RC car stuff. I'd never throw it away. Right. You know? Right. Yeah. I haven't driven that car, or I haven't done, you know, that particular thing, but it's part of my collection. You know, I don't think that's what we're talking about when we're talking about decluttering. My stuff's in my garage. I like to declutter and clean my garage on occasion and keep it nice and organized, because that just helps me get work done. Yeah. I think that ra it runs right into the next point, which is once you've decided what you're keeping, you just need to make sure that it has a spot.
Speaker 2 00:13:05 Yeah. Find a home for it. Everything that you have that has a home or a spot. Alright. We're not talking about that. Right. We're talking about the things that have outgrown the spot when the spot is a two foot by two foot spot in the corner, and now there's stuff stacked in a four foot around it. Yeah. Then it's outgrown its spot. It's like, you know, when people grow older and they downsize, you know, kids leave the house, you know, they empty nesters. You've heard that term, you know, and then they, well, we need to downsize. Yeah. Could you ever downsize? I mean, your kids are gone <laugh>, I mean, have you just turned their bedrooms into Yeah. NASCAR, utopias. You know, it's so funny, I feel since the kids have gone, we've just gotten more stuff. More stuff. Yeah. All the stuff that you wanted to do, but couldn't afford it because your kids made you broke.
Speaker 2 00:13:55 Yeah. Well we've got, you went out and bought that. Yeah. We've got cricket cutting machine and, and an ex exercise room and TV room. I mean, yeah. We have, we have lots of stuff. We've expanded, we've spread our wings a little bit. Yeah. You know, after the kids left. Uh, but we also have a guest room and you know, that kind of stuff. But it allows you to have a home for everything now. Yeah. And, uh, we can enjoy those hobbies. We're at an age where we can afford to do some of those things that we couldn't afford to do when we had a 10 and 12 year old at home. Right. And so now we're enjoying some of those things. And are you setting up that 3D printer? <laugh>? I have a 3D printer. How did you know that? How did I know that?
Speaker 2 00:14:31 Come on. Yeah. No, I, um, I still haven't successfully printed anything with it. I want to really bad, but I have not yet. I've got some things I need you to print for me. Um, so yeah, if you've gotta find a spot for it and it has a home, um, then that's not the thing we're talking about. But, um, don't be afraid to ask. This is the last point. Don't be afraid to ask for help. I am afraid to ask for help. I don't know if I want just anybody, you know, fingering through my things. Oh, you don't need this. Oh, you don't need this. You don't need this. Is this Spider-Man one that I just spilled coffee on Worth anything <laugh> you, I say to them, you don't know. I watched a TV show on HGTV or something called, I don't know, whatever might have been called Declutter.
Speaker 2 00:15:16 I have no idea. But the people come into the house and they're like, you need some help. A hoarder house or whatever. Oh yeah, you need some help. And then they're, they're like, you gotta get rid of this and you gotta get rid of this. You gotta get rid of. And they're like, there's no way I'm getting rid of all that stuff. Marie Kdo, that's that one girl who comes in and, you know, finds a place for everything. Yeah. And organize and Yeah. But when, well, you know, that's, that is really tough. And I underst I understand it to a point, you know, and, and people that have hoarding tendencies, you know, that you think, you look at something and you say, well, I'm, I'm going to have a use for that someday day. You know, it's really hard to part with it. Or you've spent money on it and you have all of these things that you've spent money on.
Speaker 2 00:15:57 But, you know, maybe you look at it like that. Maybe you look at it and say, okay, this is worth this. And if, and if you're not gaining anything from having it, or it's turning, if it's becoming ruined, you know, if you don't have a home for it, it's just getting beat up or destroyed Yeah. Part with it. Sell it. You know, may maybe you have a garage sale, like you said, or maybe you have a, an estate sale or something. <laugh>. But I could have a couple of estate sales probably. You know, one of the best things that my kids have learned about decluttering is garage sales. We've had probably three or four garage sales over the last few years. Nice. And the kids really learned a lot about going through their stuff. The, you know, the first time we had a garage sale, they didn't wanna part with anything.
Speaker 2 00:16:42 And then they started selling some things. We allowed them to take that money and use it towards other things. And then the g next garage sale, they said, whoa, whoa. Well wait, I don't use that anymore. You know, I'll sell that and then make money for this other thing that I want yeah's. Right. You know, and by the third garage sale, they're walking around the house looking for things. Yeah. They're like, they don't use anymore. Do we use this anymore? It's like, yes. That's the dining room table. What are you talking about <laugh>? You know, they just, they love the idea of being able to sell their things. Yeah. Take the money and, uh, and reuse that on, on nicer, newer hobbies or, or things that they want. Uh, they are irreplaceable life lessons. No question about it. Alright, next one on the list is dusting.
Speaker 2 00:17:22 I mean, this sounds crazy, you know, to say dust because everybody knows you need to dust your house. But doing a spring cleaning dust is a little different. <laugh> don't know. Dusting. Keep talking. I might be inspired. Dusting. Tell me more. Well, you have to think about dusting. You know, uh, you should dust your house weekly, but you know, superficial Right. You're not going in and taking everything out of a cabinet and dusting. You're not taking everything off of every surface in dusting every single week. Of course, of course. So the springtime is a good opportunity. Spring cleaning you, you know, you don't think about the very tops of your curtains. You don't think about the tops of your doors. Fan blades. Yeah. Or your doors, or your door trim. All of those things will get layers of dust collecting on them over time. And your walls, you ever dust your walls.
Speaker 2 00:18:19 I mean, I've seen walls that have collected dust on the texture Yes. That's on the walls. Absolutely. And you don't really realize that it's there until you take like a broom or a rag. Yeah. And you swipe across the wall and you're like, holy oli. Wow. Yeah. It's, uh, it's depending on your situation, you know, I, I've been in homes where, you know, it's windy, you know, like out in certain areas. Sure. It's just windy, you know, and plus more rural areas have less things to knock the dust down. Right. And when you get in areas like that, dust just gets everywhere. Infiltrates every single surface. Yeah. So really, you gotta take a look at it. And if you really want to deep clean your house, start dusting everything, including your walls, you know, the tops of your picture frames, lamps, the picture frames, you're, mirrors, all of that stuff.
Speaker 2 00:19:12 Books, books, cases. When you haven't read a book in a long time and you look at the very top of it, it will be covered in a layer of dust. Oh yeah. You know, so taking things off them, shelf off the shelves, dusting them individually, you know, blowing them off, cleaning and then putting everything back, it will look way better. And honestly, as difficult as, as it is to get, move through and do all the things, you feel better about it after you, you, after you take a clean rag and you clean off around your television on top of the television cabinet mm-hmm. <affirmative> or whatever mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you clean all that off and wipe off the TV in the top of the tv, in the back of the TV and all that, and you covered that dust, you know, that rag and dust, you feel better about it.
Speaker 2 00:20:00 You're like, Ugh, I'm so glad to have that done. You know, what I like to do is take electronics, any sort of electronic that is plugged in or used on a regular basis, your computer, your, you know, receiver, your DVD player, your Xbox, your PlayStation, all of these things that are plugged in and just drawing electricity and being used. A lot of them have fans. So they're drawing air across the circuitry inside the electronics, and it exhausts the air out the top or wherever. Well, by doing that, it's drawing in dust. So if you've ever taken part an old computer and seen the dust bunnies that live inside that computer. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's incredible. Incredible. So what I like to do is take my electronics out to my garage. I'll get my air compressor with a, you know, an air Yeah. A little, little nozzle air gun on there.
Speaker 2 00:20:57 Yep. And clean 'em out. Blow 'em out. Just blow all that dust out with a vacuum. Suck it up. You know, you can have a vacuum right there sucking all that dust up so you're not breathing it in. But I'll tell you what, if you want to extend the life of your electronics, you will do that. Yeah. Regularly. At least once a year. Right. So get that done. It's super easy as if you have an air compressor, you can use compressed air. Like you can buy those cans of a compressed air. Um, they don't work as well, in my opinion, you know? Yeah. You wanna put a hundred psi through that baby. Yeah. And on top of that, those cans don't last very long and they're kind of expensive. Totally. You can go through a lot of cans trying to get done what you want to get done.
Speaker 2 00:21:37 Absolutely. Um, uh, another really good one that people think don't think about is plants and fake plants. Oh yeah. And you know, the other things that are, that you use to decorate inside there, if you go into the bathroom, to someone's bathroom and they have a little plastic fake plant on the sink or near the sink, it's cute. Except when it's covered in dust. Correct. And then you're like, really all you gotta do is take that thing, put it in the sink, run water over it, put it back up there. Yeah. And now it's fresh and clean for another, you know, three, six months. Well, and depending on what taip is, you know, I've seen some that are, you couldn't get wet. Right. You can't physically wash them. Take it out in the garage and blow it around with the airgun. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:22:23 Blow all that dust off and then bring it back in. I absolutely love that technique. I use it all the time. Another one that people forget is the exhaust vents in the bathrooms. Yes. Those things. Oh, yes. Those things are running. Oftentimes you turn the light on, the fan comes on. Yep. And those things are running all the time. And they get so filthy. I mean, filthy, filthy. You know what I think it is, this is my theory, you know, a you've got towel, you know, towel particles coming off your little pieces of cotton towels, cotton, whatever, you know, the fabric's coming off of that just a little bit at a time, and it's getting drawn up into the air. But I think a lot of it is toilet paper. Oh yeah. Toilet paper also has little fuzzies. It's like, and the fuzzies come off of it as you open a brand new pack or you're rolling through it, you know, it's, you're getting those little fuzzies.
Speaker 2 00:23:11 And I think a lot of it is that, and it, you'll look up there, if you haven't cleaned your exhaust fan in your bathroom in a while, <laugh> take a look. Yeah. I'll bet you it is caked. Yep. If you've got a fan in the bathroom on the ceiling, it is a exhaust fan and it sucks air out of the room. It doesn't add air to the room. And when it sucks air out of the room, it takes everything that's in the air with it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it doesn't have a filter. You know, honestly, those probably should have filters. Yeah. I don't, I mean, you would typically put a filter on something that's bringing air in, you know, since it's drawing it out. I know, but where is that air going? It's sucking it out and to guess it's taking out hopefully outside.
Speaker 2 00:23:52 Outside, you're not reusing that air. Yeah. I don't think pumping it back through the dryer <laugh>, you're sucking it up and pumping it into your bedroom. Yeah. I don't think that's a good idea. <laugh> probably don't need to filter the air fan that's going outside. It would, however, if it was filtered, you could replace those filters easily enough. But, uh, I think just cleaning up Yeah. Getting a vacuum with a long stick on it. Yeah. And just sucking that, that stuff up. Um, another one along those lines is your cold air returns. If you have a cold air return in your house or any sort of events, uh, you can hire companies that come out and clean your vents. They'll pull all the stuff off, they'll run, you know, their duct cleaning, duct blasting, and they vacuum it out and clean that people will say that you should do that yearly.
Speaker 2 00:24:40 I don't agree with that. Um, I, I would probably go out on a limb and say maybe every five years or maybe even longer. It just really depends on how often you're changing the furnace filter and how dirty your house is, but at least the vent cover. And you'll know it, you'll look up at it, you'll, you'll see it and it'll be covered in, in dust. Just vacuum it off. Yeah. If your dusting off clothes that you have on the top shelf in your closet, <laugh>, those clothes should be donated. <laugh> if your clothes are folded, stacked neatly and have dust on them Yeah. Please donate those clothes. Yeah. Um, I mean, who doesn't have a funeral suit? You know, who doesn't, who doesn't have a wedding sport coat Sure. That you're not wearing all the time. Sure, sure. But I remember the last time I put on my wedding sport coat Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:25:44 And it had like literal dust. Oh yeah. I, I, we had to, I had to dust off. You had to dust it off my shoulder, you know, the padded shoulders in there. So, but it fit pretty good, huh? It still fit. The last time I took a dusty jacket out of the closet to put it on, because it was a jacket that's only called for, you know, periodically. Sure. Yeah. It did not fit me <laugh>. And that was another bit of an eye-opener, if I'm being honest with you. Um, I thought, sure. I I'm the same size I was then in 1997. Nope. Uh, so yeah, if it doesn't fit you, so you know what? You really needed a dust off, you gotta donate it. You know what you needed a dust off, Tony. What's that? Your treadmill? Yeah, my treadmill. <laugh>. Yes. Uh, of course, here we are spring.
Speaker 2 00:26:34 So if you are still exercising inside the house while the sun is out, don't do that anymore. <laugh>. Go outside. Go outside and breathe fresh air while you're exercising. It's good for you. Yeah. That's not even, that's anything to do with cleaning. That's just a tip. All right. Last last tip for dusting is always start at the top. Start at the top and work your way down. Ceiling fan. If you start at the bottom and work your way up, you're just knocking that dust off on all the stuff that you just already dusted. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, the other thing is, and this is controversial, Tony and I have talked about this on this show before and have gotten hate mail, believe it or not, but microfiber cloths, yes. Work phenomenally for dusting because they trap dust inside the microfiber. However, however, there are some people, and this is true, but microfiber cloths are made from plastics, and they actually have microplastics that come off when you wash them.
Speaker 2 00:27:34 And then they make their way out into the ocean. And these micro fab microplastics are very, very difficult to filter out. Um, using, you know, the, the whatever filtration services that they, they provide Right. When they filter your sewer water. Uh, so something to keep in mind, microplastics bad, bad. So if you have the opportunity to use cotton, uh, it's probably a better alternative. Yeah. Uh, just before we move to the next thing, real quickly, I noted here that we have pet toys, dustier pets toys. That's the dumbest thing ever. Um, dustier pets toys, but not the bones. <laugh> dogs don't wanna put a bone in their mouth after you've been sprayed some dusty with your, some lemon wet. Maybe they make beef flavored. I, I do agree with dusting. I do agree with washing the pet bed if it's washable. Um, pet bed, you know, they do get a little stinky after a while.
Speaker 2 00:28:36 Yeah. Probably don't need to dust the toys. If you're dusting a cat, a dog's toy, maybe time. I mean, he must not like it. Or see, right now, I, I do have a tip for you. If you have a couch or anything, like Tony just said, the the pet bed, a lot of times you can, you can unzip Oh, and take the unzip the cushions, take the cushion out. Smart. I would say at least two to three times a year our couch sofa, our sofa couch, <laugh> sofa, our Davenport. I mean, what do you want? What do you want from our furniture? Yeah. Okay. If it has, if it has a cushion that has unable, we'll take those out and then zip them back up. Yeah. And just wash the covers. Yeah. Smart. We throw 'em right in the washer, pull 'em outta the dryer and they smell great and they're clean, you know, and all that dust.
Speaker 2 00:29:24 This is also unrelated, but if you are taking the covers off of the cushions on your Davenport, <laugh> <laugh>, um, if your couch is getting worn in to the point where you're like, oh man, it's, it doesn't feel like it's supporting me like it used to, you know that you can replace those cushions. Yeah. You can buy new foams. You can buy new foam inserts for the cushions on your couch and extend the life of your couch as well. Just, it's a good tip. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. There are, I actually did this on an old couch of mine, but you can, so like the underside of the couch that has, uh, the springs in it, you know that you put the cushions on mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I had a couch that was fairly new and I feel like maybe some people or some kids jumped on it, you know, and kind of wore it down a little bit prematurely.
Speaker 2 00:30:12 You know, we had little kids, <laugh>, Tony, Tony coming over and flopping down on you caught me, copy me jumping on your couch. But I, I watched a video on YouTube and they cut the top off the, there's a layer of fabric there. And right under that layer of fabric was this woven spring. You know, it was like this big metal spring that you would take. It takes all the weight. Yeah. And so this guy took, and he weaved this, you know, uh, I don't even know what you would call it. A spacer? No, like a fabric. Oh, okay. Almost like, um, a mesh fabric, like really tough, doesn't stretch. Okay. And he bound it and he wove it in between each of those back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. He weaved it. Yeah. He weaved it in, in around the, the springs and it stiffened it back up to the point where when he put his cushions back on, so he brought life back to the couch.
Speaker 2 00:31:14 Very cool. It was very cool. Or the sofa, the davenport, the daven. That was all, yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's good tip. Anyway, not really part of spring cleaning, but, so after we have, um, completed the other two tasks, of course, the first one being decluttering and the second one being dusting, and we've knocked all of that stuff down and we have now a new thick layer of debris on the floor. It's time to vacuum. Or in some cases it's time to shampoo the carpet. If you have carpet. If you don't have carpet, you have hard surfaces, then it's time to Swiffer or mop or sweep or all of those all. We're definitely going to address the floor at this time. Yeah. No, it's a good time to clean the floors. Absolutely. I always like to vacuum the floors first before sweeping, before suffering. Um, you know, vacuum them, vacuuming them.
Speaker 2 00:32:15 You could most vacuums have a spinning, rotating thing in it, right? Absolutely. Yep. But there's also usually a setting that you can turn that off. Cuz if you vacuum hard surfaces with that little spinning thing. Yeah. That little, the beater bar. The beater bar, that thing will just shoot the dirt and stuff right off the back and it won't suck it up. Interesting. So you can turn that off and vacuum all the hard surfaces first and then run through with your Swiffer or your dust mop or your broom or whatever, and really deep clean it that way. But I like the vacuum first. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. Um, it's a funny thing about the carpet. I feel like there's less and less carpet as the years go on. There's le I feel like there's less and less carpet. Yeah. I mean, I think it's trends. I think it, you know, trends go from hardwood to soft to carpet, to hardwood to carpet.
Speaker 2 00:33:05 You know, it kind of just depends on your living situation. And you're talking pets, you're talking specifically about the Pacific Northwest. Well, anywhere. I, I mean, I was in Arizona in no carpet. There's not, I don't, I I didn't walk into a single place that had carpet. Everything was tile everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's interesting. I think, you know, if it's gonna be, if you're gonna live somewhere that's dusty, that place is dusty <laugh>. Yeah, true. I didn't think of that. Yeah. Now you go down south and it's definitely, uh, but carpets a lot of hard surfaces. Carpets have, um, carpets have some really good qualities. They also have some really bad qualities. Yeah. You know, depending on how your home was built, you could potentially have the largest air filter in your house. Right, right. Is the carpet. And older homes, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, they were built on a post and beam.
Speaker 2 00:34:00 They have two by six T and g. And when you turn your furnace on, it's moving air, sucking air out, creating a vacuum, that air is being replaced. And a lot of times the easiest way to replace that air is through the floor or right up through the crawlspace and it's drawing air in. It's capturing all that dirt in your carpet. So getting them cleaned is important. It prolongs the life of your carpets. Right. You know, and the air, the air quality, the indoor air quality. Yeah. And so the, the other important thing to remember is that your carpet is taking damage, um, as it collects dirt and debris and things that shouldn't be on the carpet. As it collects that. And you live during that time, walking back and forth, doing all the things as you walk back and forth on a carpet that is not clean.
Speaker 2 00:34:53 It reduces the lifespan, it breaks down those fibers and causes it to, you know, it causes, what do you call those patterns or Oh, wear marks. Like wear marks or, you know, trails. We actually, um, 20 years ago, um, the house that we owned, we had a hard scape, uh, in the entry and a hard scape in the kitchen. But you had to walk across carpet to get from the entry to the kitchen. Sure. Which is where we always go in the front door, straight to the kitchen. Right. Uh, and we wore a path in the carpet where we would just walk the same place all the time. Uh, so you are forced to vacuum it more often, uh, in order to make the carpet last longer, that becomes the key. But it's not just air that gets filtered by the carpet. The carpet is holding all of the stuff that falls from your body.
Speaker 2 00:35:52 All of the stuff that falls from your dog's body, from, you know, all of the, I mean, there is some really, really gross stuff in the carpet. Yeah. Skin. I've replaced thick skin. I've replaced more carpets than I want to recall. And, um, it's, it's, yeah, it's not good. Keeping it clean is the only way. And that is, uh, persistent, persistent vacuuming, uh, with a really good vacuum and also regular shampooing of the carpet. <laugh>, if you're gonna have carpet, but solve that whole problem and get rid of the carpet. <laugh>, I like carpet. Or don't let anybody in the room. You could be just a room you look at. You get, nobody gets to go in there like with plastic over the furniture. Yeah. Sort of has the Exactly. Yeah. That is the, that is the, what do you call that room? <laugh>. It's the room.
Speaker 2 00:36:41 Nobody uses the fancy room. It's the plastic room. Yeah. It's the fancy room. Yeah. Anyway. All right. Next couple things on the list is next. You wanna wash your windows, wash them inside and out. I always like to use glass cleaner with a squeegee. The squeegees gonna give you the best absolute clean. Actually, what I like to do with my windows and I, I research this on how to wash windows. I bought one of those squeegees that you see the professionals, you know, we have at Par Lumber, we have people come in all the time and clean the windows and they have these little handheld squeegees. One side with the scrubber. Yep. One side with the squeegee. Yep. And they scrub it. And I ask the guy, I'm like, what are you using that he's like, Don dish soap. Just a little drop of don dish soap.
Speaker 2 00:37:27 Wow. Scrub, scrub, scrub. And then he squeegees it and then he has a microfiber towel or just a regular towel, wipes that off, squeegees all around the perimeter and then wipes the sill and holy cow. Crystal clear. Super clean. Yeah. I mean, I've used glass cleaner on our windows and sometimes there's just whatever it is, there's like a film that you just can't wipe away. Yeah. You can wipe and wipe and wipe and wipe. And it's still has like this weird film. So that method, using that squeegee with a little bit of dawn dish soap, boom, that's the way to go. Yeah, that's a good idea. Uh, as long as you're working at the windows, um, make sure that you are cleaning the window covering if you are, I mean, curtains get dirty. Oh yeah. Um, if you have a pet <laugh> pets like windows, and if they can reach the window with their nose or if they can, you know, get their paws up onto the windowsill and get their nose up there, they will drool and sneeze and leak fluids all over the window.
Speaker 2 00:38:27 Coverings and the window. And you'll just see this layer of, uh, you know, filth. Filth, yeah. Organic material that has come from your pet. And uh, yeah. You gotta remember to take those. If they're blinds, they need to be washed. If they're drapes, they need to be washed in the washing machine. But you have to remember to, to clean the window coverings. I'll tell you another place you see that if you have pets is if you look around your doors in all the entrance where dogs walk in, they always rub against the jam. The door with the jam. Yeah. <laugh>. And if you go to get down on your hands and knees and look, you know, the, cuz if you got a little dog, especially like the last six to 12 inches of that door frame, you'll see it's dirty. It is filth. Yeah. And yeah, dogs do rub against stuff when they walk.
Speaker 2 00:39:17 Yep. Past it. They absolutely love it. Alright, just a few more minutes here. We've got, uh, jump into the kitchen, clean your kitchen cabinets, deep clean. 'em, I always like to empty out at least maybe not every year, but once every other, we empty out everything. We take all the, the, uh, dishes. Dishes. Yeah. The dishes and, and take, you know, the drawer that's got all the stuff in there. Appliances. Yeah. Just empty everything out. Vacuum, vacuum out all of the, uh, the crumbs and just little things that get stuck in there. Yeah. And at that time, go through 'em, you got that spatula that you absolutely hate that you haven't used in five years. Wait, the empty toss it, the empty sour cream container that once it was cleaned, you were like, oh, this is a perfect plastic container <laugh>. And now you have like 22 sour cream containers.
Speaker 2 00:40:05 Yep. And, and it's, it's just a good opportunity to go through that stuff and then throw away all of the other stuff and then reorganize it. Yeah. If you can go out and buy different things that help you organize your cabinets, you know, like a, you know, a little lazy Susan that goes in the cabinet that holds all of your spices so you're not having to pull 'em out and move them around every time. But little wire rack to hold your lids. Absolutely. All organized. Yep. But just take it a little bit at a time. Do it looking in your whole kitchen and doing every cabinet. Just do one a day, pull a stuff out, vacuum it out, clean and wipe. You gotta think your clean dishes are going in there. Yeah. It needs, you want 'em be clean in there. Absolutely. I agree with that.
Speaker 2 00:40:45 Uh, this is a big one. Washing the bedding on the, the bed in the master bedroom. Right. It's nothing better than climbing into a clean, clean seat. Well, the thing about bedding in, I think a lot of people are in this boat is you have your bedding that you sleep in, you know, your sheets, you change your sheets probably pretty regularly. Yeah. I'm thinking once every six months whether I need it or not. <laugh>, your wife would probably shoot you. Um, but no, you, you know, you have that and then you have your other stuff. You have the duvet and you have the, the things, those fancy pillows and things that go on there Yeah. That don't get cleaned every single time. You watch your, you don't typically pull that off, but springtime is a good time to do that. Yeah. It's a good time to do that.
Speaker 2 00:41:29 Absolutely. It's, I'll tell you what, um, sometimes you'll have a comforter that doesn't just go in the washing machine. You have to take that comforter to a laundromat to get an, an oversized washing machine. Or in some cases you have to have it dry cleaned. Did you know that they recommend you replace your pillows every year? I did not know that. Yeah, they actually say that, but I actually watched a video the other day of a girl who was showing how to strip your pillows. You take the cover off obviously and wash that like most people do your pillow case. Oh, okay. Right. Sure. But the actual pillow itself, you can, uh, soak, you can make a mixture of different things and, and like, um, soap and vinegar and then soak it and then it'll strip all of that stuff off the pillow and then dry it and use it for much longer.
Speaker 2 00:42:28 Because I tell you what, I use feather feather pillows down down feather pillows and they're expensive. Yeah. I don't wanna buy new pillows every year. Do you not have a problem with the little feather things poking out through the pillow and poking you? If you buy decent quality feather pillows, they don't do that. Wow. The, the casing on them is, is really, really, I feel like every single down pillow I've ever owned has poked me <laugh>. And so I've had such bad luck with them. I do not have that problem. Interesting. And you can buy, you can actually buy pillow cases that have a really, really tight fabric as well. Anti poke proof. Yeah. Literally they're, they, they make 'em for that. Alright, last couple things here on the list is to, um, clean your, well clean your air vents. We talked about that. But to organize, so you've decluttered you know, just a recap.
Speaker 2 00:43:18 You know, you've decluttered, you've dusted, you've cleaned all the floors, you've cleaned all the cabinets. When you're putting everything back, it's a good time to get organized. That's great. You can definitely add, um, some elements of organization. I know my wife keeps Tupperware containers large, not Tupperware rubber made. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> rubber made containers large. Um, shallow in height, but, you know, um, long and wide. And, uh, she, she collects Christmas presents all year long and whenever she sees something she thinks would be great, she's got one of those bins under the bed for each one of the kids. Nice. And then so when she buys something she just tosses it in there. And of course what she does for one she does for another. Cuz you know, you don't want to get too <laugh>. You got more than I did. Um, but, uh, that's a very cool way to get organized.
Speaker 2 00:44:11 Yeah. Um, the same thing goes with your files, your personal files, your shoes, all of the things that you have a lot of, um, organizing them in a way that works for you and makes you feel organized. It will help you moving forward. Yep. Spring cleaning is a good time. Absolutely. I agree. This is a, it's a good show. It's really, um, a reminder more than anything. We're probably not telling you anything you don't know, but we are reminding you that it's time to get it done, get it done, get it done. All right. Thanks so much for listening to our Weekend Warriors podcast today. If you haven't already, go check out our Facebook and Instagram pages. We are at WW Home Show. You can also make sure you hit that subscribe button on this channel here and don't like and follow all of our other channels. We are uploading all kinds of YouTube videos every day. So go check that out. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time. Take care.
