A heavy-duty dust-mask. And a gripper. Yes, one of those as-seen-on-TV grippers. I have it because it is the single most useful item for a slob to have when nine-months pregnant with a second or third child. Picking things up off of the floor is pretty much impossible at that point, so I always made sure to have one of these.
Here’s the view of one teeny-tiny portion. Imagine more of the same all around the bed.
And here’s what I pulled out of one side.
This is where I had to stop being delusional. Without any real schedule of doing major cleaning tasks, it’s easy to let time slip by, but it’s also easy to convince yourself that maybe it hasn’t been THAT long. Not as long as it seems. No, I don’t remember the last time I did that, but . . . .
What did I find? Well . . . . I found a pink pacifier. My only daughter just turned 4, and she was the only one who lived in this house as a baby. We moved in when she was 3 months old. And really, I don’t remember her ever using a pacifier. It was probably there from the first week or two we lived here. There were other miscellaneous infant toys, the What to Expect in the First Year book, etc. Clear evidence that I had NEVER cleaned underneath our bed. Ever.
I pulled everything out, vacuumed as far as I could with my beloved Oreck, and then put the attachment on my little vac and got the middle. On my hands and knees, but totally worth it.
One other thing I found? A fabulous under-the-bed storage thingy. On wheels, with lid, perfectly sized.
Empty.
Seriously, that thing was completely empty. I really can’t think of anything to say about that.
And here’s the after:
Yes, the totally empty storage box is there, waiting for a moment of brilliance from me in deciding what to put in it.
And then there’s the other storage thing. And it still has “stuff” in it. “Stuff” that probably doesn’t need to all be in there, or need to be under the bed.
I have so far to go, but I’m getting there. Little by little.
You go girl!
Just think how much easier it will be next time you go to clean under there! Whoo!
(I'm not a stalker, I promise) I've already learned sooo much from your site! The grabby thing – so perfect for cleaning under a bed. I never thought about it. I have objects, lots of objects under mine, but I can't reach them & I'm tired of taking a stick & trying to knock them out. I may have to pick one of those up!
Lisa from Hixson
No worries! I LOVE comments! Hey, at least you've tried to clean out under there. I've just pretended for four years that "under the bed" didn't exist.
Good for you! I love your B&A pixs. It looks wonderful!
We moved recently and one major goal of mine was to put NOTHING under the bed. So far, so good. It's such a relief to sleep on top of nothing!
Sigh. I think I found my kindrid spirit. LOL. You and are are SOOOO much alike. I never just have maintenance cleaning. I WISH! It's always huge projects for me. Goodness.
That cracks me up that the storage thing was empty. 🙂 So something that would happen here…
Hi! *waves*
I found your blog a few weeks ago and I've been reading oldest to newest like you suggested. I'm not sure if you have figured out what to do with the empty storage tote thing, but if you haven't, I use mine for extra blankets and sheets.
I also want to say that I have been reading your blog religiously for about three weeks now and I feel like you know my thoughts. I can't completely blame it on my childhood, but my mother cleaned and cooked for me until I moved out of the house a few weeks before my 19th birthday. Since then I've been struggling to learn how to properly clean and cook mainly for my children. I love my mother, but I wish she had forced me to do chores or something so that I would've been more prepared for the real world.
Sorry for writing a book in your comments! I hope to get up to this month's posts fairly soon. Oh and thanks for that BBQ chicken recipe, my family loves it and it was so easy to make!
Thanks for writing this blog, it has really helped me to try to keep my house clean.
-Julie
I'm starting to run into some real problems with things I NEVER do because usually we move at least once a year… so I don't EVER clean out from under my bed… or inside of the refrigerator… or any other number of things. But we're actually going on our 3rd year in this house, and well, it's starting to matter than I never do these things. Luckily, my bed is just a box springs and a mattress that lays straight on the floor, so there's nothing hiding under there!
Grabber thingy for pregnancy. Check. But, yeah, I hate bending over so I use it all the time.
Chicken chunks from previous post. Check. We call ours Salty Chicken Bites. It’s easier to hack up some frozen chicken and fry it fast if you forget to thaw. Kids dig it.
I have an under the bed storage container…I know this is old I figure you found something to do with it by now….I store pictures in it. From the actual film days, I put the best ones in photo albums on the shelf. The rest I stick in the storage container. Also put them in there after they are developed and I will ‘get to them later’ to put in the albums. Hubby’s mom died a couple of years ago. I put all of hers in there as well.
I was just thinking about this today (also) because I wanted to go through two plastic boxes I have standing against our dining room’s wall and see what I could throw away, maybe condense everything in one box and eliminate the other. But as I went through them, I realized that most of the stuff were old photographs and pamphlets from trips abroad, and train schedules and plane ticket stubs and museum entrance tickets, and… well, you get the picture. I figured that this was going to be a huge organizing project: creating photo albums, choosing the best pictures for scrapbooks, framing some of my most cherished photographs. So I put the boxes back against that wall, and decided not to touch them until I have decluttered at least most of my books in what someday will officially become “the guest bedroom”. I, too, have a looooong way to go.
Oh, how this post hits home. About a week ago, we got new furniture. The day before the new furniture needed to be picked up, my boyfriend and I decided to move a lot of our current furniture to more practical places. When we moved our bed there was so. much. stuff. He was visibly stressed (messes really stress him out, poor guy. I’m trying to fix myself, but it was terrible luck on his part to fall in love with a slob.) While I already know how much the mess/ clutter bothers him, I NEVER CONSIDERED, not even once in my life, that a messy under-the-bed would bother anyone. I guess I still have a lot to learn. And to clean.
I realized when I was a teenager that it was easier to clean under the bed if my bed was on the floor and no on a frame and I’ve been dong it ever since. Also not as far to fall for kids who love to sleep with mommy.
Actually laughed out loud about the empty storage container!
Glad to know others also call that tool “the grabby thing”! Thank you!