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How do you manage work and pesach cleaning?
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How do you balance Pesach Cleaning and Work?
I cut back on sleep and work late nights  
 23%  [ 10 ]
My husband helps alot  
 25%  [ 11 ]
cleaning help  
 27%  [ 12 ]
taking some time off work  
 6%  [ 3 ]
other (explain in your post)  
 16%  [ 7 ]
Total Votes : 43



mimivan




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 31 2008, 1:42 pm
I tried to do stuff ahead of time, but some things, like bedrooms, just need to be done all in one go. I'm curious to see how other working women manage in the push before Pesach. I'm having to do the late night cleaning "shifts"
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chocolate moose




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 31 2008, 2:06 pm
Pretty much all of the above!

IMO, our life is busy enough that Pesach doesn't just happen easily.
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yo'ma




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 31 2008, 3:41 pm
I don't work. Sad
My husband helps. Very Happy
I have cleaning help. Smile
I guess I'm a bit spoiled. embarrassed
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amother


 

Post Mon, Mar 31 2008, 6:09 pm
First of all, I know the diff between Pesach cleaning and spring cleaning, and I start spring cleaning somewhere in the dead of winter. I do the work in dribs and drabs, and once it's done it's done. If I dusted my ceiling fan in february, there's no need to do it again till September. if I washed my windows in March, and it rains afterwards--too bad. Yes, there were years when I didn't--gaspppp!!!!--wash the windows at all till Rosh hashanah!!!!

second, I enfrce certain rules like no books at the table, ever, all year round.

Third, I start pre-cleaning somewhere around january-February. IOW, I start scrubbing all those things I never usually do, like grunge that splashed on the kitchen walls and those pesky crevices in the fridge. Then I do mintenance cleaning every now and then to keep the surfaces relatively clean for the duration. That way, when it comes time to clean the things for Pesach for real, all it needs is a lick and a promise, and I don't spend hours scrubbing and scrubbing.

Fourth, the month befoe pesach I do as much baking as I'm going to do and freeze everything. I clean the oven about 2-3 weeks before Pesach and don't use it so it's ready to kasher. The stove top of course I still use.

fifth, I have a master pesach shopping list and I start pesach shopping weeks in advance, buying a little bit here & there while doing my regular shopping. there's always a major pesach shopping at the last minute, but it takes an hour, not half a day.

sixth, the kitchen gets turned over about 5 days or a week before pesach, and for the duration we eat outside the kitchen and heat things in the microwave. Ah, what did we do before the microwave? outdoor campfires, maybe.

somehow no matter what I do, I always end up staying up till the wee hours turning the kitchen over. I haven't figured out wy that is. I'm pretty meticulous about covering things neatly with foil or paper and taping them securely down, which takes a lot of time. also we have to pretty much pack up the entire contents of the kitchen in cartons and cart them to a bedroom closet, which is also extremely time-consuming, especially since I usually do moast of that work myself.

The kids and dh are responsible for their own rooms, closets, drawers etc.
Of course when the kids were little I did their room and when they were bigger I supervised their cleaning, but dh has always been responsible for his closet, desk, dresser, office and so on.

I've only recently started taking a few days off before pesach but truthfully I don't accomplish any more than I did before--it just takes me longer! work expands to fill the time allotted.
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mimivan




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 12:00 am
amother---you are so organized b'h...

I won't give you a hard time for being anonymous Wink

I did do some spring cleaning before, so it isn't so hard...but not enough...I'm very tired in general...but b'h what little a did ahead will pay off..

two questions

1) how do you do baking weeks in advance if the kitchen isnt' kosher until a week before
2) do you check or have to clean over again after the kids have done their rooms or can you trust them 100%..?
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shalhevet




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 2:54 am
mimivan wrote:


1) how do you do baking weeks in advance if the kitchen isnt' kosher until a week before


I think she meant chometz baking.

Quote:

2) do you check or have to clean over again after the kids have done their rooms or can you trust them 100%..?


I now have 2 dds over bas mitzva. If the Torah trusts them, so do I, and if they've cleaned I don't go over it again. (Since it's okay halachically, I don't feel it matters in practice whether they really did everything 100%) But for things where Pesach food goes eg fridge, something I'm going to put Pesach pots or food or kasher it, I (or dh) check again.

For what the younger kids do, if it's a place that is likely to have chometz, I check. If they do things like clean puzzles, or shake out their books, I don't check again. I don't think you have to even clean these things al pi halacha - it's only on the offchance that a crumb fell into them. If it was a kzayis they'd notice too.
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catonmylap




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 3:12 am
Am I the only one who hasn't started yet?

I'm relying on dh to help. It will be rough. He has miluim on Thursday before Pesach.

It's the only time of the year I'm thankful that our apartment is only 3 rooms.
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pinkbubbles




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 3:36 am
Haven't started eitheir.. but I have good reasons Very Happy

anyways I'm leaving my job a week before Pesach (I hope I find a replacement on time) so I'll get the rooms done quickly and then work on the kitchen a couple days before. I'll get my hubby to help I'm sure. But he'll do take the cars for cleaning and running errands anyways. I have a small aptmt but we eat all over it. In our next apartment it will be a rule to eat in the kitchen only. Also when the kids come along.
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chavs




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 10:09 am
I'm not cleaning dh is. so I wrote other. I might have to help at some point we'll see.
my dd is a month old and ds 21/2 by day I have zero time and night I am beyond exhausted 9come to think of it I am by day as well)
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flowerpower




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 3:29 pm
I only work part time so that helps. I do a little each day
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cassandra




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 3:36 pm
shalhevet wrote:

I now have 2 dds over bas mitzva. If the Torah trusts them, so do I, and if they've cleaned I don't go over it again. (Since it's okay halachically, I don't feel it matters in practice whether they really did everything 100%) But for things where Pesach food goes eg fridge, something I'm going to put Pesach pots or food or kasher it, I (or dh) check again.


I thought bedikas chometz was one place where women were excluded from "eid echad neeman b'issurin" since they are "atzlanos"
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amother


 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 4:17 pm
mimivan wrote:
amother---you are so organized b'h...

I won't give you a hard time for being anonymous Wink


I'm conceited enuf to think I'm the sole woman on earth who does this-Very Happy -despite the fact that I got many of my ideas from others.

mimivan wrote:


1) how do you do baking weeks in advance if the kitchen isnt' kosher until a week before


that's chometz, whatever is needed for the last weeks b4 pesach. the 3 weeks or so b4 pesach I have challah, kugel & chicken in the freezer, & if I run out we have stovetop chicken, rice or some other stovetop starch side dish, and worst comes to worst I buy challah. If need be.

Halevai I culd bake for pesach weeks ahead! tho technically I could b/c the oven is already clean but then there's the sink, a whole 'nother story.

mimivan wrote:

2) do you check or have to clean over again after the kids have done their rooms or can you trust them 100%..?


they're over b. mitzvah. if they do a rotten job, it's on their head.
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mimivan




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 01 2008, 10:20 pm
I just spent all night on the bedrooms...I am working today and my eye is twitching...I guess the "3 all nighter plan" for my small apartment (plus stuff I can do with the kids during the day) is going to be tougher than I thought...

B'h it isn't 3 all nighers in a row, like it was practically the first Pesach...but one a week...(and not realy all nighter, I slept two hours)
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Tamiri




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 12:36 am
amother wrote:


Halevai I culd bake for pesach weeks ahead! tho technically I could b/c the oven is already clean but then there's the sink, a whole 'nother story.


If the oven is clean, why not. I have done it.
I lined the countertop or dining room table with a covering (depends where I was working that year).

I did all the measuring and mixing on the covered surface.

Popped everything in the oven (I did multiple batches of, for example, Pesach rolls and did not wash the utensils between batches).

Froze in the KFP freezer.

Put all the dirty utensils in the Pesach dishpan (I never had a KFP sink) and then washed the whole mess in either the tub or utility sink and left them to dry far away from the kitchen.

As Ruchel would say, voila!
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 1:04 am
since you mention me Wink I'll say after what I heard at a shiur recently (my community just started to have a shiur every other week by a chabad rav) I believe even more that Pessach cleaning should be as easy and simple as possible, it's not the time to organize, remove dust from places you don't touch during the year, or re-paint the walls...
Clean where chametz is/could be. Yes for on the shelves, NO for the side of the shelves that faces the floor, the place that will need sports to clean, or the ceiling.
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mimivan




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 5:02 am
Ruchel wrote:
since you mention me Wink I'll say after what I heard at a shiur recently (my community just started to have a shiur every other week by a chabad rav) I believe even more that Pessach cleaning should be as easy and simple as possible, it's not the time to organize, remove dust from places you don't touch during the year, or re-paint the walls...
Clean where chametz is/could be. Yes for on the shelves, NO for the side of the shelves that faces the floor, the place that will need sports to clean, or the ceiling.


Actually, I often eat pizza upside down on the ceiling and the crumbs defy gravity and fall upwards sticking to the ceiling and the light fixture...It is a trick I am perfecting for kids' parties, but it is not very convenient when Pesach comes around...so that's why I clean the ceiling.

But seriously, I do think painting some of the kitchen cabinets is relevant to Pesach, because there are some spots that would take more trouble to scrub than to just paint (and anyway, the kitchen badly needs it...but you're right, that is a side-issue not related to Pesach)

I went to a shiur today in which the rabbi reminded us not to go crazy...I'm glad more rabbis are talking like this...but who knows how much of us really tone it down...

It's a case of "What will the Cohens think if I don't clean my ceiling?" LOL
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 10:12 am
The Cohens probably are like most frum families I know, not so much into cleaning! lol (sometimes I even feel like a decent balabuste).
Yeah BH rabbis from all sides and hashkafos are talking against Pessach madness...
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Carefulmom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 10:22 am
I come home from work around 6:00 PM eat supper and work until I can't anymore. I do try to do as much as I can everyday. I keep in mind when I want to finish and just work work work.....then my back "screams" ENOUGH all ready. LOL

Once I get into it I just do it without thinking not looking at the time.

Just remember We all sit down at the seder the same time.

Good Luck.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 12:09 pm
shaindym wrote:


Just remember We all sit down at the seder the same time.

.


all except one neighbor of ours. they usually make kiddush around the time that we're benching. I am not making this up.
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Barbara




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Apr 02 2008, 12:25 pm
I'm of the *don't go crazy* persuasion.

The rule is *no food in bedrooms,* so while they get cleaned for Pesach, I don't go crazy. We'll vacuum the livingroom furniture the week before Pesach (one couch is only a few months old, and the other was just professionally cleaned after an *incident* at a birthday party, and no one is supposed to eat in there anyway) and do the usual cleaning there. The dining room will be thoroughly cleaned, as will the kitchen, BUT since we don't use any of the cabinets for Pesach, I don't go crazy with them, either.

I'll enlist the help of my babysitter but, otherwise, its me at night and on Sundays. This is the only time of year that I'm glad to live in a small apartment.

And, finally, YAY!!! We bought a self-cleaning oven a few months ago, and this is going to save me hours and hours of work.
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