This month at Ruly we discussed cleaning–the routine tidying and sanitizing tasks that everyone has to do every day to one extent or another. The focus of this month’s discussion was to consider cleaning from a variety of perspectives and find new insight to inspire our own cleaning strategies.

For me, the two posts this month that had the biggest impact were Don Aslett’s low maintenance home design ideas and the discussion of Hilton hotels cleaning strategies. Why? It seems an odd combination to me too but these two posts gave me the insight I finally needed to figure out our master bathroom remodeling plan. This is a project that has been in limbo for years now as we saved money and dreamed big. The two key insights these posts gave me were to think low maintenance first (I want to spend more time enjoying the master bathroom than cleaning it.) and to focus on a 10-year replacement timetable. Voila! The pieces fell into place. I zeroed in on the materials and came to the realization that we don’t need to save for the “perfect” solution, just the 10-year solution. Of course, if our design can last longer than 10 years, so much the better!  With these ideas in mind, some creative shopping and design, we came up with an extremely budget conscious bathroom remodeling plan. Over the next several months, we intend to start implementing it.

We reviewed cleaning tips  from the Queen of Clean and professionals in the hospitality industry.

We discussed social expectations about cleaning, both when entertaining guests at your home and at the office. Mary Randolph Carter offered the most relaxed perspective, indicating that you should take some minimal routine cleaning steps but focus most on creating an inviting ambience and living the most interesting life possible to entertain your guests with stories and experiences.

In the comments on the cleaning at the office post, Lou shared a particularly terrible anecdote:

My boss came in my office one morning and started running her hands over the wooden arms on the three chairs that were for guests. ‘Did you feel how smooth these arms are now? I had the custodian wash them. They’re not sticky and greasy to touch anymore.’ I also had an artificial ficus tree near the door—and she could not pass by it without dusting off a leaf or two. I simply thanked her, but I really wanted to chew food with my mouth open in front of her.

Ruly Ruth offered a perspective on minimum cleaning standards for your home to comfortably entertain guests.  The comments on this post were fascinating and also somewhat anxiety inducing. The message of the comments seemed to be. “Of course your house doesn’t need to be perfectly clean, just so long as your definition of clean includes _________.” By the time you satisfy everyone’s laundry list of irritations, you are back to the perfectly clean house. It can be very frustrating.

When I have seen similar posts about cleaning for guests on other blogs, it is always the case that many people are of the string opinion that they simply can’t stand to be in someone’s dirty home.

One of the most difficult times in life to keep your home up is when you are caring for small children. It was sad for me recently to read a comment on a mothering blog where a mother said that she just couldn’t cope with the cleaning pressures when her children were small (nor could she afford a cleaning service) so she and her husband basically isolated themselves from society until their children grew old enough to help. She was glad to finally get her life back. You would think that every young mother would sympathize and not be so judgmental but not every young mother struggles with this problem. From the comments on Ruth’s post you can see that some are cleaner than the Queen of Clean!

Ruth’s post and comments foreshadow next month’s topic. But that’s all the hint you are getting for now and will just have to come back Tuesday to discover what we are getting into next!

Finally, this month we also discussed New Year’s resolutions, posting a compilation of New Year’s goals from around the web.  If you have not yet finished your 2011 goals (or the goals you initially set have already been abandoned), this weekend would be a good time to sit down, reflect and finalize them.  Real Simple sent out a great tip recently that you might consider adding financial savings to your goal list, setting aside a small amount of money each month.  The money can be used either to help you achieve a goal, like remodeling, or as a reward for achieving your goals, like a vacation or shopping indulgence.

What posts were helpful to you this month? What cleaning topics would you like to see explored further in the future? Please share in the comments.