Turning over house for Pesach

amother

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 7:41 am

I didn't want to be the first pesach post LOL but I see others have started.
I'm curious pple's opinions. I plan to hire a cleaning crew and I'm trying to decide for when. I want to turn over right afterwards with no more chametz allowed in the house. My dh will help me turn over, he's working so it's not like he get off from rosh chodesh nissan or something but he said he's fine with whatever I decide,
I have a crawling baby and I don't want stuff being dragged back in to the kitchen....
We don't have a pesach kitchen.

I want to schedule it now before they get booked. I recently used them to deep clean my house to stage it so I know their work. I recommended them to a realtor so I have a feeling they might start to fill up.

We plan to stay home for Pesach, we haven't yet decided if we want company or not , or just for the second days....

I want to come in to Pesach calm and not completely sleep deprived. I want to give my older dc pleasant memories... In the past when we didn't get help I fell apart and don't want that to happen this year so being proactive. One year my dd got sick right before pesach... not pleasant.

We live someplace that's not Brooklyn Smile

but we do have pizza, chinese, fleishig takeout... places. We do have a backyard where we can eat if its nice.

ok... thoughts?

Iymnok

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 8:32 am

Pesach is Fri night, turning over Sunday gives you a whole week and leaves shabbos hagadol normal. DH won't miss work as well.

imasinger

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 10:04 am

We turn over the kitchen early, too, but move the microwave to the DR, and do kitniyos on paper plates there. Some years, if I think the kids can be careful enough, I'll include a toaster oven out there sometimes.

In addition to planning what I will clean and when, I am planning meals and snacks for the week before and the week after turnover.

amother

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 10:14 am

op here.

imasinger- can you give me a sample of your planned meals and snacks?
how early do you turn over- a week before?

Ruchel

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 10:49 am

I do everything before but the kitchen as late as possible. If you can institute a rule to not eat outside of it (hard if you have a small, apartment type kitchen with no sitting space) or at least living room, and NOT bedrooms, it will help +++

amother

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 10:58 am

Ruchel- so when do you do the kitchen and are you a rag at the seder?

SingALong

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 11:00 am

I have a pesach kitchen and even with cooking in advance and freezing, I'd like to turn over Tuesday before. I'm at work all day Monday. Sunday I'll be cleaning up after Shabbos. Meals Tuesday-Thursday will be takeout eaten in garage on folding table and chairs. I have a mini fridge I'll plug in there for milk, cream cheese, etc. and keep bread, crackers and cereals in garage too. Friday morning chometz in garage gets thrown out.
If I didn't have a garage I probably would turn over later, like weds night or kids only eat pesach food from Tuesday on. And go out for suppers.

flowerpower

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 11:03 am

Can you turn over like Monday? You can eat food outside on your steps or in the hallway for the next few days and carefully shake off before coming back into the apartment. Is that an option?

Ruchel

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 11:06 am

The kitchen, I discuss with dh when we are both free to handle it (he does the heavy things, it's a bit a tradition in my family). I do have a cleaning lady, and an attitude to halacha vs spring cleaning that is different from the Imamother traditional one. That helps.

amother

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 12:04 pm

op here: SingALong- do you have a lot of company or not used processed food?
we do have a garge but its not heated so if it's cold outside....

Miri7

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 12:43 pm

We will have the house clean by Sunday. Will move out a lot of the chametzdik kitchen stuff by then too. Will Turn over kitchen probably Monday night.

If I didn't work full time I'd probably have a cleaning crew come Monday. I'm trying to figure out what days I'm going to take off that week - probably depends on whether I am hosting one or both sedarim. I usually host both.

marina

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 2:48 pm

Everyone who posted in this thread (except for me!) is fired from imamother.

Barbara

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 3:01 pm

marina wrote:

Everyone who posted in this thread (except for me!) is fired from imamother.

Yeah, well, you probably just use some spell to clean for Pesach. And make the house elves cook. The rest of us muggles actually have to ~~hire cleaning crews~~ do it ourselves.

imasinger

Sat, Feb 21 2015, 8:56 pm

amother wrote:

op here.

imasinger- can you give me a sample of your planned meals and snacks?
how early do you turn over- a week before?

People here call me insane, but too bad. I refuse to let my yom tov be ruined by stress and lack of sleep during the leadup. (Marina, my friend, if my way of avoiding stress causes you any, then don't click on the thread. If you can't stand the heat... Twisted Evil

) I usually do it more than a week in advance.

This year, I debated turning over on Sunday, 6 Nissan, a little less than a week ahead, but decided to push it back. Why? Because once the sinks are kashered, there is still a lot of work covering counters and unpacking dishes and arranging staples. (I work, and spend a lot of time shlepping SN kids to therapies.) I want at least 4 or 5 days free to cook, finish shopping, give kids enough attention to keep them sane, etc.

So, I'm gonna do it on the previous Sunday, 2 Nissan. After that, I will have 2 shelves in the freezer with prepared chametzdik meals that we can eat in the dining room. My youngest is 8, so as long as I set up rules about the prepared chametz, I feel OK about having it in the house. For Shabbos, I'll have baked and frozen challah rolls in advance, use a chametzdik crockpot in the DR for lunch, and have fresh veggies/salads and either cooked meat and rice from freezer, or takeout.

When I was in your shoes, a week of dinner menus might be: Turnover day, eat out or eat takeout. Day 1, pea or vegetable soup from freezer, day 2, scrambled eggs and home fries from pesachdik kitchen, day 3, chicken, either prepared fresh from pesachdik kitchen, or prepared in advance and frozen, day 4, rebaked potatoes made in microwave.

Once the kitchen is done, I use prepacked snacks, or prepare my own sandwich bags of chametzdik snacks to be eaten out of the house. They are kept out of reach of Cheerio droppers, and plopped into lunch bags/backpacks.

During these 2 weeks, DH is okay with my putting dirty chametzdik dishes in the dishwasher and running it as needed. Stuff to be washed by hand gets handled out of the kitchen. Warning: be careful of bathroom sinks; they tend to clog, so scrape well first.

A day or two before YT, I clean out and deal with the microwave, and clean and turn over the DR. Then, we tape up the dishwashers, and get rid of last garbage at the same time as everyone else.

Hope this helps!

granolamom

Sun, Feb 22 2015, 9:23 pm

I vote for sunday. unless your kids are especially picky eaters, they will be fine not eating chometz in the house for an additional few days. you will be able to space out your cooking. I think you're wise to plan it so that you arent stressed.