Hallo mainemary, are you bragging or apoligizing ? In the last 24 hours we got hammered with 20" of snow, not to mention all the blowing and drifting. I plowed Friday 10 PM when there were 5" in the drive way. Now when I open my garage door, there is a 15" wall of snow. Other surrounding communities also checked in with 19" to 20" inches. We only qualified for a "Blizzard Watch", not a warning, because we needed 35 MPH wind, with less then 1/4 mile visibility sustained over 3 hours. We missed it by 30 minutes. After we get rid of all that snow, we will start working on Tips number 1 to 9, mentioned above. Manfred

I agree with painting in Spring. Love to touch up the baseboards and such. Our bark in the yard needed filling in, last time done was about 3yrs ago. It is amazing how fresh and new it makes the yard look, plus it was way lower than we realized. I have not attacked the cobwebs in a while so I got out a huge extention thing and attached a swiffer to it. Got all the critters down. I like to clean all the shutters and windows really well a few times a year. Light dusting regularly but they need washed off a few times. I like to gather things over the year and have a Spring garage sale. Sometimes do in Fall if we don't have enough stuff. We always have kids clothing and toys, not too much other stuff so we did nothing last year. Will need to do something this year, have some car seats and lots of toys. It feels good to purge and make room for new. I live next to busy park and actually have friends ask if they can have a sale in my yard when I am not home. One did when I was on vacation and did great. I like to also clean out the utensil drawer, go through the plastic wear- again good for yardsale.

Yes, Babushka, cleaning does lift the spirits. Such a good point! Sunday is the only day the crew doesn't work on the house. So Sunday is always a glorious day: first because we have the house to ourselves and second because I can create the illusion of order in the few rooms of the house not under construction. (Demo started on May 17 and we are still without a kitchen or any bathrooms other than the half bath in the construction zone. Good thing I adore the crew and our contractor!)

You guys are all full of good tips! Hope it's going well ATK. We have four cats. Although we are pretty tidy, and have gotten rid of stuff as a results of a few moves over the last 16 years, it's crazy keeping up on the cat hair, dust and litter boxes, so I totally get where you're coming from. I recently bought a stick vacuum and I love it. I didn't spring for the Dyson, but it was another one recommended here somewhere and I found it on Amazon. It probably doesn't work as well as a Dyson but it works pretty darn well and has been life changing when it comes to cleaning. I no longer have to get the central vac out or lug our full size Dyson around the house. I vacuum up the tracked litter more often because the stick is so easy to carry around. It's super each to grab each day or a couple of times daily to hit the higher traffic spots. Another thing I did is created "cat designated" spots around the house so they don't sleep just anywhere. It took some experimenting to find out what they each prefer as far as pet bed, quilt, blanket, etc., In the winter I use heated beds or put heated mats under their cat quilts. So now they sleep on only those spots and I no longer have to clean cat hair from non-protected spots. I also throw a light quilt or sheet over our bed so I'm not constantly washing quilts and comforters. I also began using Dr. Elsey's Ultra litter just recently - while it still tracks, it's not nearly as bad as all the others, and it's less dusty, too. And believe me, I've tried them all. One other thing that has helped is that once everything has a place, I have to take care of items as soon as I'm done using them or come across them. When I'm done with laundry, I fold and put away - I don't save it for later anymore. When I find an oddball thing, I go put it in its place rather than stash it somewhere to try and remember to deal with later. I got sick of trying to remember where I stashed those things when I finally needed them, or frantically cleaning before someone was coming over. It's nice to have kitty cat company, and I love our cats dearly, but I do wonder (and fantasize!) what it's like to have a house with no pets in it. We have probably 6-7 more years at most with our current cats, and then may just foster. A friend of mine is a single woman in her 40's and she loves fostering one cat at a time. She has fostered three cats for the local shelter during this time of Covid.