In the bathroom, think mirror, lightswitch, door knob, faucets, sink, then toilet. That way, you don’t have to worry about transferring dirt to something that was mostly clean when you started.

I always start in one corner and work my way around the room. This time I started in the corner farthest from my husband’s desk and just picked things up and put them away as I went along. I didn’t get the job completely done, but I did work till all I had left was one small pile. I was able to run the vacuum cleaner for the first time in a while. It’s nice having a clear, clean floor.

The main problem in here is the remaining stuff my daughter left behind. Since she has a horrendous commute diagonally across pretty much the entire Los Angeles megalopolis every day, her weekends are filled with necessary errands and she seldom has time to get over here to sort out what she wants to keep and what she wants to get rid of, so we’re to the point where we’re just going to put everything in boxes as-is and haul it to her place one carload at a time.

I should call in a cleaning service to give my bathtub a good scrub. My boyfriend usually cleans it but he seems to be having trouble getting the bottom of it white again.

Another good suggestion? Move your furniture and clean behind/under them every few months! We tend to only clean what we can see. No wonder everyone is sneezing.. the dust bunnies are holding a convention under the sofa!