How do you manage work and pesach cleaning?

dora

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 5:58 pm

We moved 5 months ago so this year im not cleaning anything except the kitchen and dining room. try it for next year- just move.
All other years I'm proud to say that I am super orgenized, I have LISTS that I keep from year to year with tips of what works and doesnt, how much I bought and what was actually needed (matzah, wine etc.) menus, timetable of cleaning and cooking. I turn over a week before and spend first day baking for entire y"t, second day soup for entire y"t, then kugles, frozen desserts, then meats then fish, etc. I am lucky that I have 2 extra refrigerators and a standing freezer. My family barely helps (with some nagging) dh does nothing except pay for everything. I only have my regular cleaning help of 6 hrs. a week. LESSON FOR LIFE: I learned a long time ago that this y"t is for me to enjoy too so I truly do. I dont go crazy with the cleaning, I love to cook and bake so that part is a chance for me to "show off" and its not worth it to make my kids resent y"tthe idea is to learn and enjoy Pesach and not to resent it.

louche

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 8:40 pm

imaof6 wrote:

I have LISTS that I keep from year to year with tips of what works and doesnt, how much I bought and what was actually needed (matzah, wine etc.) menus, timetable of cleaning and cooking. I turn over a week before and spend first day baking for entire y"t, second day soup for entire y"t, then kugles, frozen desserts, then meats then fish, etc.

Aha, just as I always suspected: I DO have a twin sister from whom I was separated at birth.

dora

Wed, Apr 02 2008, 11:22 pm

louche:
Aha, just as I always suspected: I DO have a twin sister from whom I was separated at birth.
dont tell me, you keep your papers in a 2 gallon ziploc bag in the linen closet so they are available when needed and like that you can add recipes or whatever important stuff throughout the year.
I love you sis.

Ruchel

Thu, Apr 03 2008, 6:46 am

mimivan wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

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...

I think they should ban it! (not the cleaning, the madness!) So people who don't scrub legos with toothbrushes (I used to, now I sell them) don't feel like chopped liver....

wow!!! definitely no reason to feel bad for not scrubbing legos with toothbrushes (not that I have heard of doing anything like this irl!! lol).

shalhevet

Thu, Apr 03 2008, 7:57 am

To wash Lego and other small plastic toys (don't use for intricate, delicate pieces or those with a paper label):

Put them into a pillow case. Tie the case very well (otherwise you'll be scooping all the little pieces from the bottom of the machine - BTDT). Run with a 30 wash in your washing machine. And voila!

BrachaC

Fri, Apr 04 2008, 9:37 am

This is the first year I am working full time and it has been more difficult. By the time I get to 10 PM I usually am sick with exhaustion and 5:30 is coming up quickly! My DH has always been a big help with the Pesach cleaning, and we stepped up the cleaning help. It is much easier to clean if the house is going to be cleaned up afterward (if that makes any sense). I am just about done the upstairs. Motzaei Shabbos and Sunday we will do some BIG jobs: play room, cars, office. Also we do sell chametz so any toy that looks too dirty gets thrown out (who wants grungy toys lieing around anyway), others get thrown in the washing machine, and things like the kitchen set usually get sold. For some reason we always have an incident or two a year where a child (mine or a guest) insists that the kitchen set must be used for real food, and I wipe it down, bt with so many tiny pieces I would rather just put it away and let my kids enjoy it more when it makes its way back out!

Starhavah

Sun, Apr 06 2008, 9:39 pm

imaof6 wrote:

We moved 5 months ago so this year im not cleaning anything except the kitchen and dining room. try it for next year- just move.

One year my sister had her kitchen ripped out and replaced all the cabinets, the stove/oven and refrigerator. She said it was the easiest Pessach ever. She said if it weren't so expensive she do it every year. LOL

Star Havah

amother

Wed, Apr 09 2008, 8:02 pm

Lots of tears. I am in that nauseous exhausted stage of my pregnancy (10 weeks), and have a baby under 1. Add my older 2 into the mix I'm not sure if Pesach will ever get made. My husband is not involved in the yom tov prep (CPA - works 75 hours a week), and I only get home with my kids. I did take some cleaning help, but I just hope G-d forgives me if things are not perfect. AAAAAHHHH!!!!

Marion

Thu, Apr 10 2008, 6:42 am

1. We don't take food off the main floor, and bichlal try to concentrate it in the kitchen and dining areas.

2. I don't spring clean for Pesach. Dirt is not chametz.

3. Some years I'm lucky enough to have help. Not this year.

4. I suppose this could fall under the "take time off" category, but I had an anaphylactic allergic reaction last night that bought me 2 sick days (today and Sunday), so guess what I'm doing?

mimivan

Thu, Apr 10 2008, 7:06 am

amother wrote:

Here is a good mantra:
Dirt is not chametz (has been repeated many times here, but needs to be repeated again)
It is only a problem actually to see a kazayis of bread...if you happen to spot crumbs, it is not a crime
Infinitesimal bits of chametz are only a problem for things to that come in contact with food and your mouth...

There...that helped me a lot to remember this constantly while cleaning.
I think from the sound of it, you may need more cleaning help (and I hope I'm not being intrusive...but with your dh ba'h working so many hours at a good job, I think you may be able to get more. help. Wink

b'shaa tova...

I've got a busy husband too and an umbilical hernia..b'h it is not acting up today...good to know someone else is out there going through almost the same thing

mimivan

Thu, Apr 10 2008, 7:08 am

Marion wrote:

I wish you a refuah shleima but an extension of sick (or cleaning) days!