Not sure how to go about with my cleaning.

Seraph

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 7:07 am

Last year and the year before, I compacted my pesach cleaning into 2 or 3 weeks and got it done, because the first year I had no kids, and the second year I only had a nursing baby who didnt stop me from cleaning.
Now with a toddler and a housefull of 10 other toddlers all morning, how do you suggest I go about cleaning?
I know I can start with my bedroom bec the kids don't go in there. I'm not sure how to go about cleaning the toys- when to do it and how- because I dont want to get them full of chometz again by the gan kids. When to clean my son's room, bec the best cleaning times are when he's asleep... and the kitchen I'd obviously leave till last.

I saw shalhevets post in the "overwhelmed by the thought of pesach" thread, but I dont know how to tailor that to my situation.

Oh, and add to that the fact that I STILL don't know if I'm hosting my family for the seder or just making it with me and my husband....

shalhevet

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 7:34 am

When do you have gan until?

If you read my other post it isn't obvious to leave the kitchen for last. You can do kitchen cabinets before you do the gan toys.

Clean your son's room "with" him - it will go more slowly, but it's also fun for him and even though it takes twice as long, it will at least get done.

Seraph

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 7:40 am

what kind of cleaning can I do together with a one and a half year old?

yea, I read about the kitchen. I meant kitchen after bedrooms.

Gan until 2. Son sleeps 2:30-4:30ish. Bedtime at 8ish.

oh... u mean before pesach. I have to find out exact dates but I have off when the bais yaakov ganim have off.

estyk

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 7:47 am

Last year, my son's metapelet asked each parent to send in one or two toys the last week or so that there was babysitting before Pesach. That way, she was able to clean her toys before the last minute - and for each parent, it just meant one or two toys that weren't cleaned yet, which is not a big deal.

shalhevet

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 8:01 am

Seraph wrote:

what kind of cleaning can I do together with a one and a half year old?

You can do everything. Give him a rag of his own with a tiny bit of cleaning fluid (without that it's worthless Very Happy

). Put on a tape, and clean out his closets etc - give him toys to wipe down. As I said, it takes longer, but it's fun.

Quote:

oh... u mean before pesach. I have to find out exact dates but I have off when the bais yaakov ganim have off.

They finish hey or vav. In that case, I would leave the room where you have gan until last, and not start cleaning until gan finishes.

When I had only little kids, I found getting a teenage girl to take them out even for 2-3 hours a morning (you could even split the cost with a friend and she takes 2) was well worth it. You get 2 hours to clean in peace, plus your son is less antsy the rest of the day because he got out a bit.

Marion

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 11:21 am

Buddy up! My kids are in daycare, and I'm working, up to and including Monday (yud beit?). I have cleaning help coming a few hours on Friday and Sunday (Sunday...I hope), and Sunday night after the kids are in bed I have a friend coming to help me finish. Monday she's doing her place and Monday night I'm going over to help her finish the items that require a 2nd set of hands.

challi

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 2:43 pm

clean things hard to do with ds while he naps, start with the areas you really don't need food to go, ie bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. leave the dining room and kitchen for last. Make a calendar and stick to it. Write your daily pesach chore on each day and do it, and really space it out so you don't overbook and end up not getting it done. Oh and my last advice is give your son a snack (something not chometz, but it can be kitniyos to keep him occupied while you work.

The 1st yr I made pesach, my dd was 1.5 and I was 6 month preg, the most important thing I can say is pace yourself and don't try to get too much done at once, that way you won't fall behind.

mummiedearest

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 4:05 pm

first thing to do-

make sure that any food the kids have is not actual chometz. give them rice cakes instead of crackers, etc. you can cut out the chometz fairly easily if you provide the food. if not, inform the parents that bread products will be banned for a few weeks before pesach in order to allow for chometz removal. if they get kitniyos into the crack in the floor, who cares. no biggie.

next. the toys. if you have access to a washing machine, you can put the smaller toys in there. voila, chometz free. the bigger toys can soak in the bathtub with some form of soap. you can put the smaller toys in the tub as well if you don't want to do the washing machine thing. normally I'd say just look over the toys to see if there's any chometz and clean any questionable toys, but with a playgroup it's probably easier to just soak them all in the tub and rinse.

once you get the chometz and toys out of the way, you can do the rest as usual. it's easiest after the baby's asleep, but if you and dh can take turns watching the baby/cleaning, that works too.

good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.

mummiedearest

Wed, Mar 04 2009, 4:06 pm

oh, also, remember that pesach cleaning doesn't have to be spring cleaning. if you can't get chometz off something, spritz it with a household cleaning product and it's not chametz anymore. don't drive yourself crazy.