Have you started Pesach cleaning yet?

Meema2Kids

Tue, Jan 30 2007, 4:42 pm

We've started with the spring cleaning part.... which has to be done if we are going to be able to get to the chometz... we are moving this summer so hope to get some things packed or thrown out before pesach.

Mishie

Wed, Jan 31 2007, 2:09 am

I acutally cleaned my daughter's room this week, but I just "know" that it won't last, and will have to be cleaned again closer to Pesach.

That's life!!! (at lease with 5 little ones running around)

Cuz, Hey! You can't be running after them and yelling at them all day because you're a nervous wreck.

That's why I usually wait until after Rosh Chodesh (Nissan) to clean my house.

Motek

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 3:55 pm

If you allow food all over the house, or don't allow it but it happens anyway, then you have a lot of work to do. Though if you start two months in advance, how will you ensure the work won't have to be done all over again right before Pesach ..

For those of us who confine food to the kitchen and dining room, and who plan on eating chometz until the week of Pesach, there is nothing to do for Pesach right now. Those who claim to be Pesach cleaning are simply cleaning and I am not at all impressed. I think that simply asking one another the thread question makes people nervous unnecessarily.

shalhevet

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 5:07 pm

Motek wrote:

According to your theory, Motek, there is nothing to do until bedikas chometz night. Since the chometz will get back anyway, just do nothing and after you put the kids to bed that night, quickly clean the entire house from top to bottom.

Of course it isn't like that. You can clean cupboards and even rooms and explain to the children that they are ready for Pesach. Once I have started actual rooms I get my kids to brush themselves down from chometz crumbs before leaving the table. And I'm not going to do that 365 days a year.

Motek

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 6:54 pm

shalhevet wrote:

According to your theory, Motek, there is nothing to do until bedikas chometz night.

If the entire kitchen and dining room can be cleaned bedikas chometz night, yes. It's not quite practical, in my opinion.

Quote:

You can clean cupboards and even rooms and explain to the children that they are ready for Pesach.

Clean them from chometz? Or organize and spring clean them?

When asking whether we have started Pesach cleaning, I wish you had specified whether actually cleaning away chometz or doing non-Pesach related activities.

Quote:

Once I have started actual rooms I get my kids to brush themselves down from chometz crumbs before leaving the table. And I'm not going to do that 365 days a year.

But you do it two months in advance? You started this thread over two months before Pesach, so you think there are women who eliminate chometz in certain rooms in Shevat and monitor those rooms till Pesach?

shalhevet

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 5:42 am

I don't quite get all your arguments. If this thread sends you into a panic attack, please just skip it. I just put it here for fun/ curiosity- that's all.
I really couldn't care when you start cleaning for Pesach, Motek. As far as I'm concerned start the day after Sukkos or bedikas chometz night. If you want to turn this into being critical of everyone else, please start your own thread.

I think different women are in different circumstances. Some work outside the home, others don't. We have different numbers of children who are different ages. There are women with loads of energy and/or help who can finish in a week, and others who are pregnant or after birth or sick and/or have no help and need to take it slowly.

And Motek I don't finish rooms at this point. I do cupboards etc. Yes, some is general sorting/ cleaning but since they are low down and I have young children I also think they need to be checked al pi halacha. I start with areas where the little ones go less. OK?

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 6:49 am

Since I'll be about a month and half from my due date, I've started Pesach cleaning now.

Yes, PESACH cleaning, going through things, making sure the cats, dog and kids didn't bring food into rooms they're not supposed to and from now until Pesach, those particular rooms have the doors firmly shut.

This way, the week or two before Pesach, I have much less of a frenzy to take care of.

raizy

Wed, Feb 07 2007, 11:50 pm

kmelion I am with u. I clean draweres and bedrooms. and ull be surprised where the kids dump their chumatz junk. under radiaters or in hidden cubboards and draweres. even with dont take any chumatz out of the kitchen policy. it still doesnt work with small kids.

but this year I still didnt start to clean for pesach, help I am drowning. ....

I was much more ahead last year with a newborn baby 3 weeks before pesach then this year with no baby .... and none on the way~!!!!

I will try a new method this year . stop working 2 weeks before pesach. and then banishthe choumatz outright from my house from a day after purum till pesach there will be no bread in my house. I will make the lunches etc. and that all the bread that my kids will get to eat. same goes for all other chumatz food. I will only buy food that is peasachdic and lots of fruits . that what my kids are gonna eat... crazy and nutty but that what I am doing this year. with five little kids someone is always taking out a piece of bread etc. my dd is the worst offender she walks around the house with bread and drops them wherever she goes. aahahh why are the older children worse then the younger ones.?

Motek

Sat, Feb 10 2007, 10:44 pm

shalhevet - you asked a question in this thread and I responded. You don't like my response. Fine.

My opinion is that there is too much competition among frum women over Pesach cleaning. It's considered a badge of honor among some women to say how early they started, how much they've done, how late they stayed up, how their cleaning ladies are doing, how much they've cooked already, etc.

There are articles and shiurim each year by rabbonim, Rabbi Ch. P. Scheinberg's in particular, that says women are going about it wrong, are getting stressed out for nothing, are cleaning things that don't need cleaning etc.

They are saying this for a reason. Because too many women overdo it, their families suffer, and too many women have little appreciation for the Seder or what Pesach is about.

Surely there are women who do it right. But too many are not.

mumoo

Sat, Feb 10 2007, 11:03 pm

I don't 'allow' any food out of the kitchen and dining room. lot of good that does me-somehow it gets out. so even if I started early, as motek says I'd need to stand guard. clearly that doesn't work in my house.

I love the opportunity to clean inside cabinets (even if they get taped) and basically spring clean, but I have to reapeat over and over-"shmutz is NOT chometz!" or I'd spend Pesach in the nuthouse.

this year we are going away for Pesach iy"H, to my girlfriends' in New Jersey-the first time in my entire life I am going away for Pesach

MOM222

Sat, Feb 10 2007, 11:10 pm

"dust is not chometz and children aren't korban pesach" LOL

Motek, I think it depends how clean you are all year round. If you organize closets and clean the refrigerator weekly then starting now is like your reg. cleaning. But some people ignore there house all year round and need to really clean and that takes more than 2 weeks.

I personally take the opportunity to spring clean. I start early so I don't get stressed out!

ssbarnes

Wed, Feb 28 2007, 9:51 am

I usually don't start until after Purim, however, I will be going out of town 2 times between Purim and Pesach and I knew I needed to start early this year.

I can't postpone either trip.

I should have the upstairs finished this week.

raizy

Tue, Mar 06 2007, 11:48 pm

with little kids even if u think u are spring cleaning u really are pesach cleaning u never know where that piece of crumb or bread or cookie will end up!!!

I still didnt banish the chometz but I am not buying any new chometz food or nosh except bread. till pesach.

downsyndrome

Wed, Mar 07 2007, 12:04 am

Gosh, I just hate this. My personality and making Pesach clash terribly. I am a real social butterfly and I must have human connection. Therefore, for me the Pesach preparations are a real punishment - putting me into a room and having to go through it from top to bottom, inside out, and repeat in the whole house, just gets to me. I sometimes think I suffer from ADD when it comes to making Pesach.

Mama Bear

Wed, Mar 07 2007, 12:09 am

I always start around tu bishvat. BH, I am going to complete my dining room with the cleaning lady tomorrow. (2 bedrooms are already done.) I do slowly, but surely, a little bit every week, so I dont have to cram in at the last minute. after the dining room I can do the toys, and then the kitchen, which takes about 2 weeks, cuz I do one cabinet or drawer per day. as soon as pesach cookies are avilable in th stores, that's what I'll be serving round here...

dr pepper

Wed, Mar 07 2007, 12:41 am

I didn't start yet. I think I'll start next week. We asked our rav last year and we were surprised with what he told us we didn't have to clean. Now dh would love if I did a real thorough cleaning just to organize everything, but as far as pesach cleaning goes, I'm not going to go crazy with every closet and drawer if I don't have the time.

rainbow baby

Wed, Mar 07 2007, 12:35 pm

I've still not started to Pesach clean and probably will not do untill after my babies Uphshernish which is on the 2nd Nissan. If I do I might just do my bedroom and lock it off when we have the Upshernish. I just feel why stress yourself out especially when you have young children, you can have the house Pesach cleaned a month before Pesach and you then spend the rest of the month screaming at the kids for taking Chomatz everywhere. By the end of it both you and the kids and of course dh are totally fed up and wishing Pesach was over. Relax, as they say we will all be there at the Sedra night ready just some of us will be more relaxed then others.