Pesach Cleaning, Time to Begin

SixOfWands

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 1:16 am

southernbubby wrote:

so throw out the broken toys and torn books, and stuff that nobody wears and wash the curtains and get rid of expired food that no one eats, broken small appliances or furniture that you never bothered to fix or clothes that no one ever bothered to tailor or mend...

dust the pictures and the frames, put the seforim in some sort of order, toss out old cosmetics and expired medications

toss old worn out pillows and replace

All noble things. But not a single one has anything to do with Pesach.

We have about 3 months until Pesach. If your family was unable to keep Chametz out of wherever for the past 9 months, what makes you think they’re going to for the next 3.

etky

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 5:13 am

SixOfWands wrote:

It's spring cleaning, as per what OP said she wanted to accomplish, well in advance of Pesach. It makes sense to me to get all the extraneous projects out of the way so that when it is time to actually clean for Pesach she can focus solely on that.
For me, Asarah b'Tevet is the date when I take stock of the groceries and start to buy mindfully so that we are not stuck with the chametz close to the chag.
I might undertake a cleaning project or two once Tu b'Shvat comes around, if I have time and cheshek to combine spring cleaning with Pesach cleaning.
Real Pesach cleaning begins the day after Purim and gets into high gear from Rosh Chodesh Nisan. There have been years when I have been very pressured and have managed to do it all, (a halachic cleaning - not Spring cleaning) including the cooking, in the two weeks between Rosh Chodesh and the chag.

southernbubby

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 7:15 am

SixOfWands wrote:

She mentioned that she has not organized the house in 3 years and the clutter is apparently becoming a nuisance.

I found that getting rid of clutter did help with Pesach cleaning when it was actually time to do it. Why check pockets or wash coats that need to be given away? Why check toys that nobody plays with? Why vacuum a broken sofa?

southernbubby

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 7:18 am

etky wrote:

Exactly! It always stymied me when I would see mothers running to buy last minute items that should have been first minute items!! You know that you will need coffee and tea, sugar and foil, plastic cutlery, etc, and children's clothing items as well as for the mother, so why can't that be figured out well ahead of time?

etky

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 7:38 am

southernbubby wrote:

I have a shopping schedule as well as a cleaning schedule that I keep in a Pesach file in my computer. From after Purim it's on my desktop until after the chag.
I start buying Pesach food and supplies right after Purim. I start with things like paper goods and other disposables, the next week I'll do dry goods and things for the freezer (which is the first thing I always clean for Pesach), the week after more dry goods and then another trip later in the week, when it is time to cook, for produce, dairy and other perishables.
I keep a detailed shopping list that I add to every year. I also keep my menus from previous years. After Pesach I write myself notes for the next year, including cooking tips, recipes that worked very well (or bombed...), utensils that I may need to purchase or replace as well as the amounts of staple items that we consumed that year (matzo, eggs, oil, potato starch etc.) so that I can estimate how much to purchase before the next year's chag. I even write where I've stored things that aren't with the bulk of the Pesach dishes, like the Pesach linens, because sometimes you forget...

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 7:43 am

southernbubby wrote:

I have a lot of dealing with stuff in the moment that stymies me from dealing with pesach other than last minute.

southernbubby

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:06 am

amother wrote:

I have a lot of dealing with stuff in the moment that stymies me from dealing with pesach other than last minute.

The average person, however, who is dealing with the average amount of stuff, and not something of a catastrophic nature, or even a simcha in the last weeks leading up to Pesach, can figure out in advance what they need, either by making a list, finding one online or purchasing one. I hope that your situation will soon revert from difficult to average to good!

Imamother itself has tips from past years such as:http://www.imamother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=312002

Now that it is January, there are sales on many things that people use on Pesach and because it will still be cold weather presumably, those who live in cold climates could buy clothing for Pesach at winter clearance sales and go to January white sales for linens. There may be cookware on sale as well.

Most people complain about the difficulties of making Pesach and part of that is inflated expectations and part of that is spring cleaning but part of that is poor planning.

When Chanukah supplies went on sale after Chanukah, I bought for next year. Chanukah is not a tough holiday however, and if I could tell mothers today anything, it would be, shop now for Purim costumes and supplies. Look at children's consignment stores because there are loads of costumes there. Shop around for gift bags or baskets and treats to put inside. Don't go broke making all of the season's purchases in one six week period. If bubby is willing to help, ask her for something specific such as the girl's tights for Pesach or a toddler's Purim costume.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:18 am

southernbubby wrote:

I’m not an average person. I’m me (and I’m also not complaining about last minute sugar purchases, it’s how I roll.)

southernbubby

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:30 am

amother wrote:

I’m not an average person. I’m me (and I’m also not complaining about last minute sugar purchases, it’s how I roll.)

Listen we all have our things. This year I am going to my daughter I"Y"H" (Hi honey if you are reading this Wave

)

I have a Pesach kitchen so I can bake some things to bring along but I don't have to prepare the house, unpack the toys, etc.

But I spent years in the trenches making Pesach the hard way and always wondering why sugar was a last minute purchase. Not only sugar but one year, the kids woke up in the morning of bedikas chometz, and 5 of them had chicken pox. What a Pesach! Add that to all the asthma attacks that I always blamed on moving around the dust.

My youngest child spent 157 days in the NICU and although he was born on chol ha moed Succos, he was released the day after Purim. My sister came and cared for him while I made Pesach because he was twice the work of the average 5 month old.

Some of my kids were married between Purim and Pesach so those years were also more hectic and needed more advance planning.

So yes, I am sure that there are those who simply order Pesach take-out, hire a crew for the cleaning, buy the new clothes online, and that's how they roll.

Raisin

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:34 am

Its much easier to clean a decluttered house. For example, if the underneath of your kids bed is crowded with toys, bags of outgrown clothing, books, papers and rubbish, its easy to miss the cheerio that a kid drops there. If the underneath of the bed is clean, maybe with outgrown clothing placed in plastic tubs with lids or other underbed storage, its easy to sweep the week before pesach.

I declutter and tidy rooms all year round. Whenever I have time. But if its not done by the time pesach comes around I have to do it before then.

I bought some yom tov outfits in the sale last week. Smile

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:36 am

southernbubby wrote:

Listen we all have our things. This year I am going to my daughter I"Y"H" (Hi honey if you are reading this Wave

Right. So perhaps don’t allow yourself to be stymied by folks like me - we’re doing ok, just doing it different.

southernbubby

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:41 am

amother wrote:

Right. So perhaps don’t allow yourself to be stymied by folks like me - we’re doing ok, just doing it different.

It's one thing if they don't complain and they feel that they are doing OK and it is another thing if they are cranky and hard to get along with because they exhausted themselves at the last minute and then they make the holiday difficult for everyone around them.

Ditto when people are paying interest on credit card purchases for several months after Pesach rather than to have made small purchases over several months before Pesach and now they are broke, stressed, and are taking it out on everyone else.

So if you are doing OK by making Pesach at the last minute, then fine, I am not stymied.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 8:50 am

southernbubby wrote:

Great. I’m sorry you have to deal with grumpy complaining people over Pesach.

Bsimcha

Mon, Jan 01 2018, 7:22 pm

I start getting more serious about decluttering about this time of year.
I work long hours, no cleaning help, so it's the only way I can do it.

I start with closets, dressers, getting rid of unused, old, broken clothes and stuff.
I usually make a list of things I'd like done every week, some weeks it happens, some times it doesn't.
It's totally spring cleaning, but it makes Pesach cleaning way easier and I have time now and know I won't later.