Cleaning like My Mom

Yesterday, I Ping-pong cleaned. Bounced around from task to task, starting lots of things and finishing few. I did get the living room pretty well clean (except the boxes of toys), and four pints of tomatoes canned. I got the laundry caught up, using my solar dryer to great advantage.
The garden has been blessing us with so much good food, I am running out of places to put things.
Mr. C and I are discussing several options. One would be to move the washing machine and the dryer out to the well house, and turn the laundry room into a pantry. Drawbacks of this are carrying laundry in and out of the house and across the yard every time I need to do laundry, and we would need to install a water heater, 240 (220) electrical service, and a grey water dispersal system.
Another option under discussion is to tear out the built-in china hutch in the dining area of the kitchen, and build a bigger pantry in its place. The disadvantage there is mostly getting into said prospective pantry.

 As you may be able to see, the table has to be moved away from the hutch every time I need in it. The table also impedes through traffic to the patio door. The proposed pantry would go all the way to the wall where the plant sits, and come another 8" to 10" at the closer end above. To make it work, we may need to find a new home for the table.

For the present, I have to do the best I can with what I already have. Which brings me to cleaning and re-arranging. (I started writing this last night, but went to bed before finishing.)

I asked Becky where I should start on all the cleaning/ re-arranging that needs to happen. Then, I ignored her advice.
Not on purpose... I picked up something to put away... and the place it lived had other things in it, those things needed moved to their designated homes. Except, there were items that lived elsewhere in THOSE places.

It was a VERY nice day here for July, the high only supposed to reach the low 80's. A great day to clean the dust off the HVAC filters and wash the slotted door that covered the unit... which is in the laundry room.
The washable filters were hung on the clothesline and hosed off. The laundry room was already a mess, so I decided to start there.

Of course this meant I had to empty everything out of the laundry room.

 Because, you know... that's how I clean.
EVERYTHING out of the laundry room, except the washer and dryer, which I cannot carry out myself.
However, in sweeping between the machines, I found a microfiber cloth had fallen down behind the washer. I fished it out with the broom handle. It was wet.
NOT GOOD!
Instead of calling Mr C right away, I looked up the receipt of the washer. It was (of course!) out of original warranty by about five weeks. I did have an extended warranty plan! YAY! I called, and a repairman is scheduled for next Thursday.
THEN I called Tom and told him.

So, what did the rest of the house look like without anything in the laundry room? (So sure you want to know! I took the pictures and sent them to my Mom and Becky, as well as my DIL Paula... whose own house is  always an inspiration to me!)

Quite a mess, right?

 So many questionable items. Like, why do I still have cone coffee filters? I don't have a machine that uses them. And I cannot use aerosol air freshener sprays... the air borne particles shut down my voice in a matter of moments.

But this stack here... put together from a few here, a few there... We have 24 cans of bug fogger. TWENTY FOUR CANS. I usually have to fog at least a couple of times during the summer, with the fleas coming in on the dog, and with little fruit flies getting in through the screens. This is enough to fog the entire house, both inside and underneath (for spiders) THREE times.


I tossed some stuff. I think I am trying to overcome being an uber frugalist. I had to give myself permission to throw away several lengths of random string/ twine that turned up. All the zip ties that come home in Sam's pockets and get fished out of the washing machine get saved. All of the wee sprinkler head filters I find in Daniel's laundry get saved. The screw driver drill bits from Tom's pockets.
But mostly... earplugs.

This is a (re-purposed/ recycled) clear solo cup full of foam earplugs. My washing machine makes them. (The earplugs, not the solo cups.) I'm pretty sure it does anyway, as it gives me several every laundry day. And, since they have been washed, and are clean... I save them. (This gets really annoying when the cup gets overturned.) They may be worth as much as 11 cents per pair, new.
If we should ever have a grand party and the guests need slightly used but clean earplugs for whatever reason... I have them covered! (The solo cup has my grandson Connor's name on the side. He used it on his first visit to the house when we were moving in... over a year and a half ago.)

(I do NOT hold the solo cup frugality record. It was pointed out to my MIL that she was still using some of the same solo cups as she had used when the kids used to come visit during the summer. Her cups were being used over 20 years later!)

My cleaned up, re-organized laundry room. (I need a few more pegboard hooks.) My laundry detergent will actually live on top of the washer, but is going to stay in the cupboard until after the machine is fixed.
  Today... do I start with the lower kitchen cupboards... or the uppers? Decisions, decisions.  Pretty sure the lower ones will be the better choice this time. Guess I will get to it!