mr. clean owes me one

Let me preface this post by stating that this is a NO-JUDGE zone.  So all you people with clean houses and sticky-free kids move right on past this post.  Love me or leave me baby.  Mr. Clean and Friends will be grateful for this unsolicited shout out.

If you do have kids with dirty hands, those hands are guaranteed to drag along the walls leaving behind a tell-tale trail of PB&J, dirt, and who knows what else.   I have let those smudges accumulate mostly because I hate scrubbing walls, but also because I wanted to show y'all the power of the Magic Eraser.   

I couldn't look at the grossness of the walls anymore (plus, the terrible lighting in here accentuates the grossness--yikes).  So I bit the bullet and did some scrubbing.  But not just regular scrubbing 'cause that makes me grumpy.  It's way more fun with the Magic Eraser.  Here's the before...

various nasty walls. yuck 

...and the after!  Here's a side-by-side. Remember people, No. Judge. Zone.

before

after

before

after

before

after
Dayton cleaned this spot.  Not bad, eh?

    

Now that the walls are clean, a certain handsome preschooler will be wearing gloves for the remainder of our time here.  Like I was saying about the Magic Eraser, it's great.  Removes almost all marks (my walls had pen, jam, dirt, yogurt, old stubborn marker stains, and other normal gross stuff...it is normal, right?)

Here's my cleaning list.  Or should I say Dayton's list?  He totally loves scrubbing walls.  Anything to feel like a grown-up.  Wish I had a picture of his little hands in those big rubber gloves. 

• wash blinds (some I could take down and wash quickly in the tub, others I had to scrub with a sponge and towel)
• scrub marks off the wall with magic eraser
• spackle holes in wall from nails 
• shampoo carpets
• wipe off cupboards shelves and cabinet doors 
• sweep behind fridge, washer & dryer
• cobweb check
• rinse out light fixtures (how do bugs get inside light fixtures??)
• bathroom deep clean
• wash windows
• deep clean kitchen: sink, oven, & stovetop
• last thing before moving: spot clean, sweep, vacuum

The goal is to have everything done before packing the truck so that all we have to do after loading the truck is a quick spot clean.  This is a great cleaning checklist from Apartment Therapy if you're interested.  What's your least favorite spot to clean?  Maybe a better question is where do you find cheap labor?