There was WHAT on my kitchen appliances??

Let me tell you a little secret about me: I have never ever been good at cleaning, or keeping my house clean.

Like seriously, if you've ever come to my house and it's appeared clean, its usually because I spent the last 15 minutes before you've come over making things appear clean.  If you had looked a little closer though, you would have noticed that it truly was just appearance.

My mom used to go CRAZY over how dirty my room was.  She finally figured out that at some point it would drive me crazy too, and I would clean it.  That's pretty much how our house has gone too...it'll be dirty until it drives me crazy.  I used to use the excuse that I worked 40 hours a week, and therefore didn't have time to really clean.

Well, a couple weeks ago, I realized that excuse was going away (read about that here).  I also realized that one of my responsibilities as a mom is going to be to help our kiddos learn about keeping a clean house and why it's so important: keeping germs that will get a sick to a minimum, and allowing the spirit to be in our home more easily (Helaman 4:24, D&C 42:41, and D&C 88:124...I think these apply both literally and spiritually).

I remembered a "cleaning plan" that my mom tried when we were younger, and I decided that this would be what I would implement to try and keep myself on track.

I have a little 3x5 notecard organizer with five different sections.  Each section has notecards with chores listed that need to be done at different times.  For example, the first section has things that need to be done daily, the next bi-weekly, the next weekly, etc.  Each notecard has two chores listed that need to be done for that time frame.  For example, in my daily section I have wipe down the counters, dishes, and pick up the floors.  In my bi-weekly I have vacuum, and sweep the kitchen.  Then I can write the date that I did that chore in a list, so I can keep track of when it was done last, so I can make sure it's being done often enough.  That way I can't say "oh I've cleaned the bathroom recently" (because I hate cleaning the bathroom, and will avoid doing it at all costs).

When I had made cards for every chore I could think of, I realized it wasn't very many, so I started Googling cleaning lists.  I found a whole bunch of chores that I wouldn't have ever thought of doing, but that would be good to do in the "2 week" and "Monthly" time frames.  One of those things was cleaning the outside of the appliances in the kitchen (I know, duh, but I didn't even think of it).

Well, today I cleaned the outside of all the appliances in our kitchen, and all I can say is I am grateful I did that Google search.  Our appliances looked "clean" but once I started actually looking at them, and looking at the cracks and crevices, I realized they were SO GROSS!!!!!  Haha.  So now, we have beautiful looking appliances too, and I've learned my lesson about cleaning in spots you may not think of.

So, moral of the story?  Its ok if you suck at cleaning, too (because you're so not alone) and just because things look clean doesn't mean they actually are.  (Also, doing a Google search about a project may not be a bad idea....)