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Moving in with Master by kessia{Sage} When considering this column, she thought about how hard it was for her when she newly moved in with Master. Cooking was the least of her worries. She could follow a recipe and get just about anything to come out decently, but she was a ways away from being able to manage a house. Getting all the work done and still having enough energy to make dinner took a good deal of time to learn, and she thought it would be helpful if overall household management was the direction this column took. This month she is going to talk about the first big issues in a new home: Stocking it and cleaning it.
So here we are, at the beginning. Probably some of these hints and ideas will be old news to some of you. Hopefully, some will help. Questions, concerns, ideas and criticism are always welcome. Her email is kessia_s@yahoo.com and it is always open. She has heard many stories from girls moving into their owners’ house only to find a tv tray, recliner, empty cabinets and no idea where to begin. She recalls the first time she saw Master’s apartment. He was rooming with two other male students about four and a half hours from where kessia was attending college. She drove the 4 and a half hours (drinking coffee all the way), got there, turned around and left rather than catch amoebic dysentery from the facilities. Three hours and two bottles of Lysol later, she was ready to tackle the kitchen. No dish soap, no flour, no spices, no sugar and three trash bags. None of the men were entirely happy with the lack of amenities, but none were emotionally invested in making the lovely, clean, convenience laden nest that a woman would. Genetically, this makes sense. Men have evolved to be hunters, not nesters. They’ll make a nest, but generally speaking, it’s a pretty sparse one. One of the more famous quotes from her male college dorm-mate: “What do you need toilet cleaner for? It cleans itself when you flush it!” He also believed that towels did not ever need washing since one was clean when one used them. Dry them with a dryer sheet and voila! Clean towels. Let’s assume you walk into a situation like kess faced about a decade ago (it was 15 years, but who’s counting?): A huge mess and a shoestring budget. What do you get? What do you do? For kess, cleaning priorities have always been bathrooms and kitchens. Living rooms and bedrooms draw mostly clutter and you NEVER clean a man’s computer room or garage without explicit, detailed permission. Well, you can, but only if you have a death wish or an iron butt. Let’s start by stocking the house. She knows, moving is expensive so some of these things may need to be added over a couple of weeks or months. Obviously, what you purchase will depend on what your Master considers a priority, so kessia has added explanations to some of the items so a better assessment can be made of the household’s needs. Spices: garlic, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg are good basic “starter spices”. If you want to add some to an existing spice cabinet: Bell’s poultry seasoning, Lawry’s season salt, dill, marjoram, thyme, sage, allspice, and cream of tartar can be useful to have on hand. Another way to purchase a decent basic kit is to head for a discount store and look for a stocked spice rack. Usually they can be found for $10-20 at places like Walmart, KMart, or dollar general. No, the spices are not the highest quality, but they work just fine and you end up with a place to put the things. Condiments: Mayo (or Miracle Whip which is basically spicy mayo), ketchup, mustard, Worstershire sauce and Italian salad dressing. Even if you never eat salad, salad dressings make great speedy marinades for meats so they are pretty useful to have on hand. Tabasco and honey are also nice to have on hand, but not a must. Dairy: Butter or margarine--Some of each is ideal, as they do perform differently in foods. Milk-- If no one drinks milk, consider powdered. It tastes the same in baked goods and won’t spoil. 1 or 2 cans of evaporated milk--This can be substituted for half and half in coffee, used in baking, used to make white sauce, chocolate sauce and a few other things. Dry goods: Flour, sugar, baking soda (2 or more if you’ll be using it as a cleaner as well), baking powder, white vinegar (a large jug if you use it as a cleaner) and corn starch. Eventually, it would be nice to add corn meal, chocolate chips, food coloring, bread crumbs, confectioner’s sugar and brown sugar to your on hand supplies. Cleaning supplies: For these, she highly recommends finding a dollar general, big lots, or other major discount place. While kessia’s mom would disagree, kessia believes that $20 for a Bed, Bath and Beyond broom is absolutely ridiculous. You can find a similar item at dollar general for $5 and they both do the same job. The same applies for most cleaning supplies. Cheap mops tend not to last very long, but kessia has found it more cost effective to get a cheap one and replace it every couple of months rather than search (usually fruitlessly) for the right replacement head for a more expensive mop. Below is a pretty basic list of cleaners; they’re inexpensive and are useful for lots of different things. Some of the more expensive products work really well, and do make some jobs easier; those will get tackled later.
One third of a cup of bleach in 1 gallon of water will disinfect and clean most surfaces. Don’t use it on fabric though or on surfaces that will fade if bleach is applied. Counters, sinks, tubs, toilets, dishes, vinyl shower curtains, are a short list of things that can be bleach cleaned. Fill the spray bottle and away you go. A 50/50 mix of vinegar and water in the other spray bottle will shine windows, stovetops, glass and stainless steel, without the worry of ammonia (found in windex) and bleach becoming a deadly chlorine gas. **A cheap way to add scent to the cleaners is to add a small amount of lemon juice to either of the liquid mixtures. A tablespoon or two does just fine. Use baking soda for things that require a mild abrasive, like stained counters or baked on ick. As a gentle scrubbing agent, sprinkle some on a stain then add enough water to make a paste and scrub away. To remove burnt on stuff from the inside of a pot, sprinkle some in the pot, add water and bring to a boil. She has no idea why, but this little trick of her Gram’s works really well and the stuff just peels up. Armed with cleaners, paper towels and trash bags, you stare at the kitchen. Now what? Set a timer for 15 minutes. This is a tip she took from flylady.org (a wonderful website), and it really does help one see how much can be accomplished in a short time. The first 15 minutes: pick up trash, shovel out the fridge and start doing dishes. If you are blessed with a dishwasher, then load it. When the timer goes off, sit down and look at what got done, have some coffee and rest for a few minutes while thinking about what you want to do next. Re-set your timer and go go go! Below are kessia’s move-in cleaning list and her usual kitchen cleaning list. Move-in:
**A small note about oven cleaner. It works wonderfully on just about every stain or mess that could happen. It works so well because it is almost pure lye. Lye is caustic and will burn the living hell out of your skin if you are not careful with it. Wear gloves, open the windows, do the oven last, and wipe your arms down with vinegar. Lye is a base and will be neutralized by an acid (vinegar). Once you’ve done that, she suggests a shower so your scent is not reminiscent of salad dressing or those other vinegar containing products that women use. ~grins~ Usual List
Once every couple of months, she does the “moving” cleaning list. It keeps unwanted clutter to a minimum and keeps the kitchen looking spiffy. One often teases Master by announcing he has become awfully fussy about a clean kitchen, considering his could have once been condemned as a hazardous waste zone. With the kitchen done, it’s time to tackle the bathroom. The move in list for this room also gets done every couple of months or so. The first time is the most time consuming and difficult because there’s usually a build up of clutter and out of date junk. Start with drawers, cabinets and other clutter catch alls. You might want to re-think piling perfumes on the back of the toilet, like kessia used to do. Perfumes contain oils which go rancid over time, and moist humid air speeds up the spoiling process. Pitch the old odd smelling ones, and keep the new ones in the fridge or on a dresser. Check dates on medicines, throw out unused antibiotics, or anything that is so old it doesn’t have a date. During kessia’s first bathroom foray, she threw out hand me down medicines from the 1970’s, so please don’t feel alone if some of your bathroom products pre-date home computers.
If you have a tile or fiberglass shower enclosure, once you get the soap scum off it, dry it and lightly spray a thin coating of furniture polish on it. Wipe it down, and you’ll see a shiny enclosure that will repel water stains and soap scum. This trick also works very well on counters. Also, rather than tackle a seriously mildewed shower curtain, you could replace it or run it through a delicate wash cycle. The only type of curtain that won’t endure washing in the delicate cycle are those mega-cheap ones. It’s easier in that case to beg to spend the $1.14 on a new one at walmart. The usual cleaning list is the same, with the exception of drawer and cabinet cleaning and curtain washing, so she won’t repeat the list. If you are new to cleaning, she cannot stress enough how much a list can help. It will help show what you have accomplished as well as keep you on track. Eventually, you’ll get habituated to the new tasks enabling you to putter from room to room, cleaning and putting away without a whole lot of concentration. This girl still uses lists, even for the stuff she does every day. Making her daily list is an opportunity to consider what needs to be done, gather up energy and have some coffee or tea. It helps plan her week, and Master consults it to see what is going on in her day. Now that you are fully stocked and good to go, next month we’ll tackle living areas, making a menu plan and shopping for it. Also, she’d like to hear from you all about your favorite products. What cleaners, foods, and/or good do YOU swear by and why? She hopes you have all enjoyed this foray into the more glam side of being a slave, and looks forward to hearing from you. |
