You’d think with only two weeks left till Pesach everyone would be home pulling their hair out with worry about getting ready for the chag—but uh oh! Cedarhurst Park is packed today with loads of people on this beautiful day equipped with specialized sunglasses, waiting to view the solar eclipse rather than staying home and burying themselves in Pesach cleaning.
I get it. Anything to procrastinate starting the job—probably all of us are like that, so maybe addressing it a little differently will help some.
With all the stuff that is likely to be needed, the most important job before you start is putting together your team (everyone cleaning for Pesach should have a team), who, after grunting and complaining about other obligations, will eventually (and graciously) come together to get the job done. Toward this end, it is your job as team captain, to get everyone into cleaning mode and come up with ideas on how to make the job of cleaning more appealing.
Make it a group effort. Cleaning the right way should be a team sport. Enlist your kids, friends, or any particularly nice strangers you happen to come across. Splitting up the tasks and having someone to talk to (or whine to!) will make it easier and make it go faster.
Make it fun. Cleaning and fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I mean, it’s never going to be a picnic, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a misery either. If you’re tackling a big job, take your time to enjoy the process by reminiscing while you clean. Come across photo albums? It’s okay to take a break to look through them and share stories. Taking small moments to appreciate friends and family and remember the good times will make tiresome tasks less so, but be careful to allot only small breaks or you’ll end up losing the whole day to nostalgia.
Make it a race. You can do this room by room or break it up into smaller chunks. First one to have their bathroom sparkling or their closet cleaned gets a prize. This category especially includes husbands: I find husbands are the hardest members of the team to get into cleaning out their closets, so you need a really good prize for accomplishing this task!
Make it competitive. Nothing motivates people to get moving like a little healthy competition. So, devise a competition with prizes involved (Extra allowance for your kids? Favorite dessert for your husband? A big night out for the whole family? A mani-pedi for the girls or batting range for the boys, depending on who the winner is. Then watch them make an effort like never before. Need a little motivation yourself? Make yourself a deal to buy yourself a present for a job well done—you know what prize to dangle for this purpose!
Make it a workout. Put on your comfy clothes and sneakers. As you’re cleaning, incorporate some exercises. Instead of sitting on the floor, cleaning out that box, stand, bend, and stretch. Take items to the trash one item at a time so you take more steps. Set an alarm so that every fifteen minutes you take two minutes to run in place, do jumping jacks, or work your abs.
Make it a dance party. Same sneakers! Same workout clothes! Dance as you work with the music turned up (shades closed)!
Make it easy. If you set your expectations too high, you’ll probably end up disappointed if you insist on cleaning out every drawer and cabinet at the same time and end up making a bigger mess. If you’re not the type who can move through tasks from beginning to end without distraction, take the easy way out: Turn on the TV and watch your favorite show. Get up during commercials and clean for the few minutes until your program returns. It may take all day to finish, but at least you’ll get caught up on your DVR. Then, when you see how much time you wasted, panic and call a cleaning service!
Make it profitable. How much stuff do you have that is stuffed in boxes, closets, or sitting unused in the garage? Now is a good time to clean it out and make some money on the stuff you never use anyway (and who are we kidding—you probably don’t even remember half of what you have in the recesses of your hall closet anyway!). Schedule a yard sale, snap some pics, and put it up on eBay or Craigslist, and whatever doesn’t sell can be donated for a tax return.
If all else fails, pick up the phone and make a reservation to go away for Pesach! There are lots of great places to forget about the mess you left at home for those eight blissful days! n
Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services. You are invited to visit her website at www.avcrealty.com. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to anessa@avcrealty.com.
