Pesach is march 30. Make my life easy

FranticFrummie

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 12:56 am

Sorry, you lost me at "preschoolers". You're doomed.

Do bathrooms first. Usually there's no chametz in there, so a quick wipe down is all that's needed.

Then your bedroom. Then the kid's bedrooms. Put a cute "NO CHAMETZ" sign on their doors to remind them of how nice and clean their rooms are, and not to bring food in there. If you have them "help" to clean, they will feel more invested in keeping it food-free.

Living room, check under all the sofa and chair cushions for pretzels, cereal, etc. That should take you a whole day, LOL.

Save the kitchen for last. Just tape up your cupboards. Don't go crazy. Shove things in the oven and dishwasher if you're not going to be using them for that week.

If you have a patio, deck, or mirpesset, make picnic style meals. Kids love to eat outdoors, weather permitting.

imasinger

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 2:51 am

Lol, FF. Doomed indeed.

OP, work backwards. Decide what dates you need to have each task completed. When will you kasher? How big is your home? Are you just doing Pesach cleaning, or are you talking of a yearly organization, too?

FF's advice is good for the first option. Shouldn't take long. If you want to do the second, then list each thing you want to go through. Kid dresser 1, kid closet 1, toy chest, kid dresser 2, etc. Think through every room and closet in the house.

Then pick 20 minutes you will spend on the task each day. Post your list, and check it off as you go.

You may want to get all actual chametz out by a week or two before Pesach, and offer the kids kitniyos snacks instead of chometzdik ones. Think corn based cereal instead of Cheerios. That way, even if there still are a few things dropped, you won't have to worry as much.

B'sha'ah tovah!

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 3:30 am

Doomed? Maybe, but I definitely found it easier to work differently with kids. Different order and different priorities. Take what you like and leave the rest.
Start with least used to frequently used.
Top things first (kids can't reach)
Inside closets to outside.
Things that haven't been touched the entire year don't have to be done at all, there's no chumets there.
Storage is stored pesachdig, so no cleaning there.
Chandelier can be made for Tu Bishvat or Purim.
Beds- only once -the last time linen is changed for yomtov.
Food is only allowed at the table all year round.
Outside the window -no chumets, no cleaning specifically for pesach.

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 5:40 am

I'm in the same boat. I work FT so I need to be very organized. I've made a schedule of when each room or area needs to be done by. Eg I'm planning to do our room and our office by the second week in Feb. I'm going to get a babysitter for the day I turn over the kitchen. DH and I have also made some plans re: how to minimalize the amount of cleaning/cooking/other prep that usually gets done either before or during Pesach. I'm also doing my spring cleaning/decluttering now so that I'll have a much easier time actually focusing on just getting rid of chametz when I'm very big/have a newborn. Hope that helps.

southernbubby

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 6:12 am

Having never been the organized type, and having to learn the hard way, and possibly not giving my children the happiest memories of getting ready for Pesach, I would say:

1) Sit down and plan menus so that you can figure out in advance how much you will need to order in terms of fish, meat, chicken, paper goods, and matza.

2)Don't make any meals that require lots of preparation. Those beautiful pictures of high effort food should be in cookbooks and not on your table.

3) Read articles on Kashrut.com about the minimum cleaning requirement and don't compare your efforts with any crazy person who cleans the ceilings on her hands and knees.

4)See how much shopping can be done online or now if you are going to stores. The more we interrupt the cleaning to run errands, the harder it is to get back to the task.

5)Make a list of everything that needs to be cleaned and a separate list of everything that needs to be bought and see what things on that list can be delegated to DH, MIL Wink

, the kids, and the cleaning help. I mentioned MIL because if she lives nearby, maybe she can take the kids for haircuts before Yomtov or cook some Pesachdik food for her pregant DIL. If no family lives nearby or can help, factor that in to the delegation.

amother

Bronze

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 11:24 am

I always start Pesach the day after Tu Beshvat.

No food in the bedrooms, ever.
This is the rule all year around, ALWAYS, no matter what.

I start with all the bedrooms, but if I had a basement I'd start there.
Organize, sort, store, give away, all clothing.
Throw out old Arts n Crafts.
Certain toys can be cleaned and put away up high and not used again until Pesach.
Once cleaned- bedrooms are locked and only opened by am adult once the child is inspected to be chametz free. Make sure you know how to pick the lock.
Bathrooms.- deep clean- and then weekly regular clean.Throw out anything not needed. Fix nothing needed.
Closet, storage rooms, laundry room

Then I start with the kitchen pantry and freezer try to make meals out of all the chametz I need to get rid of.
Also- I try to do some bulk cooking and freeze some meals so that the hectic pre Pesach time is easier. One pan meals, crockpot meals, some Shabbat things, challah, pre made proteins, soups, basic things to make life easier, and use up the chametz.

The rest of the house depends on the layout, if your dining room, living room, kitchen is seperate or its open concept,
But
If the rest of the house is done before Purim that's a big accomplishment and I'm ahead of the game.

Basically Pesach for me takes 2-21/2 months, but I work slowly.

Last- Purim- please make your life easy- the mitzvah is 2 foods.
Seuda- when I'm doing my bulk cooking I keep this in mind.
If I'm having the Seuda in my home.
I lock ALL the bedrooms and anywhere else I ve cleaned already.

southernbubby

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 11:45 am

I would add to switch brands of cereal because apparently one Cheerio is a bigger deal in terms of chometz because it is a whole item, then are a few scattered crumbs that no one would really eat. Maybe try some rice krispies or rice chex after you clean to keep the rolling Cheerios out of your clean stuff.

amother

Blue

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 1:16 pm

I had a baby a week before Pesach. I started after Tu Bishvat, had a cleaning lady weekly for 2 hours who did only pesach cleaning. We did one thing each time she came and were done before the baby was born. DH kashered and we cooked bare basics pesach menu.

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 2:06 pm

I'm due on Pesach as well. It was a long awaited pregnancy after a miscarriage, so the "timing" of the whole thing didnt sink it too early. But now as its getting closer and I realize I will be staying home for Pesach for the very first time.... I am getting nervous.

Following for tips. I also have small kids.

ggdm

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 3:20 pm

Time to re-read this classic post: How to clean for Pesach in one day
http://outoftheorthobox.com/ho.....-one/

My summary:
- Basement, garage: don't clean, no chametz there ever
- Kid's rooms: don't clean, no food allowed (ever!)
- Bathroom: Don't clean, check for chametz toothpaste, medicine
- Living room, couches, playing area, my bed (breakfast in bed), guest room: vacuum thoroughly, nothing else
- Kitchen, dining area, Extra fridge, food storage area: clean thoroughly - yes I take more than a day, but only because I distribute it hourly over several evenings

Repeat after me: SPRING CLEANING IS NOT PESACH CLEANING!! DIRT IS NOT CHAMETZ!!

southernbubby

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 3:24 pm

I hope that Duby Litvin publishes her helpful Pesach list this year because:

Mazel Tov
Baby boy to Shmully and Duby Litvin - Louisville, KY
Jan 4, 2018

She just gave birth herself and I hope that she can still get her list out. For those who never saw it, it lists everything you will need from new toothbrushes for the kids to every type of fruit or vegetable, to what you will need in the days leading up to Pesach.

LittleDucky

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 4:40 pm

Bottom line for me (I have had a Pesach apartment every year since marriage, even if we went away for the Yomim Tovim so we could come back Chol Hamoed) is to start early.
I know I can’t do actual cleaning early as my kids are chometz producers (how do so many crumbs get in their bed when they are in fresh PJs??) so I am doing spring cleaning now. I am boxing away too small clothes, organizing terrible areas, throwing out obvious garbage etc.
it will make the actual cleaning easier. I will also be able to do some of the extra stuff now (like clothes shopping if I see they need new dressy pants etc).

southernbubby

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 5:06 pm

LittleDucky wrote:

crumbs in the bed are not a halachic issue

unexpected

Thu, Jan 04 2018, 6:00 pm

When I had my Erev pesach due date I did the exact opposite of everyone else here. 2 weeks before Pesach I did my kitchen. Then I worked backwards: kids rooms, my room, play room, laundry room. The dining room I did with my husband on bedikas chametz night.
Because the food was pesachdig I didn't worry where the kids were going. I didn't clean each room a hundred times. I was able to clean while the kids were napping/in school and cook at night. It was just amazing. Baby arrived right after first Pesach Seder

amother

Chartreuse

Fri, Jan 05 2018, 4:17 am

I'm due a week after Pesach, also have preschoolers/ toddlers. Although we have a no food out of the kitchen rule, there are still crumbs all over the house (get stuck on clothes, tracked from the kitchen to other rooms etc.) I don't even trust that the bathrooms are chometz free - just that they get cleaned often enough not to have to worry!lol. The only idea that is really speaking to me, is as someone said, to clean the kitchen first - except there is no way I can clean the house in two weeks - just staying on top of my regular stuff takes all my time and energy, and it's too early to clean the kitchen now...unless I do it twice... Once just to get chometz out and once to Kasher closer to pesach? that adds alot of work! Any ideas?

A couple comments on previous posts:
- rice crispies have barley malt - chometz.
- crumbs in the bed/ residue of chometz on the wall is not a problem to own - but is a problem to eat - so some are careful to remove so little kids don't touch then eat etc... Farfetched a bit but any chumrah goes on pesach - as long as it doesn't make you crazy! ( Lemaaseh, I'd be careful of crumbs - I don't think I'll be scrubbing my walls!)