Here's an alternative to house cleaning. Several decades ago, an artist named Frances Gabe invented and actually built a functioning self-cleaning house. There are many innovative and intriguing details to its operation but the main plan was that all furnishings were plastic and at the push of a button water would rain down from the ceiling to wash the whole works, then drain out through the floor. Dirty dishes were included in the clean up.

If this isn't for you, hiring a house cleaner is the next best thing!

​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shcZmbnJM54

I've been reading a an excellent book on the development of world cultures called Germs, Guns, and Steel, and it has a chapter on epidemics. Originally, epidemics spread from cattle and other domesticated animals. That's why Europeans, from lands with livestock, were able to bring such devastating germs to the New World. Today, as we know, epidemics are spread from wild animals in the interface between civilization and the wild. But another important factor in the rise of more infectious diseases in recent decades is the increasing travel between continents. Even aside from the current pandemic, this has made hygiene and sanitizing more important than it had been previously.

If you often have laundry piling up and creating more to do than you have time for, here is a simple idea to get some order in the situation. This works especially well if you have some space by your machines to work with. It's simply a matter of installing baskets for different purposes. You can be flexible with this but a good example is: one for clean clothes for when you take them out of the dryer, one for dirty darks, one for dirty lights, one for laundry accessories like hangars and laundry soap. All in one place--ready to go. 

It doesn't decrase the load but sreamlines the process to save you loads of time! 

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/laundry-sorting-system-for-families-36833272

Table tops also have bottoms. And finger marks, other smudges, and films adhere on both sides. Glass table tops show these clearly. So in cleaning a glass table top it's important to be sure to do the bottom surface, not just the top.

And here's a shout out to Needel's Janitorial Supply in downtown St. Paul who sell the best glass cleaning cloth you have ever seen. (If you go there, ask for the yellow one!)

It's unfortunate that the best bathroom cleaner I have found over the years is no longer distributed in the U.S. and has to be ordered from Britain. Ecover Bathroom Cleaner is powerful, nontoxic, and easy to use. It works great on shower doors that have gotten cloudy over the years--and that's not a common thing. If you want the best bathroom cleaner, you can order it online.

I came across the Cuban mop some time ago and found it a very simple and clever idea. A Cuban mop wraps a towel around a dowel-like piece of wood at the end of a handle and uses it to mop the floor. I have adopted this idea for myself with the variation that I use a flat surface rather than a dowel to press down on the towel mop-head. This allows me to use a single towel (wet) and progress through sections of it to mop a wide area while keeping the mop-head clean. My floors have never been cleaner!

I have been in the cleaning business since 1982. But there are other aspects to who I am that I'd like to share with you so you know a little about who you might like to hire.

I came Minneapolis to be Zen student from Detroit where I grew up. Over the years I've been a writer, teacher, and political activist. I'm currently working on a book that's been rattling around in my head for a long time. (Ask me about it--I love to talk about it!) I also play flute and piano and was in a Klezmer band (Old Tymey Jewish music) several years ago. I'm also a movie buff and love a good novel.

Through all of that cleaning has been my constant livelihood and I enjoy it now as I did when I started, hundreds of clients later.

Last post, I talked about my beginnings in cleaning as a Zen student. Zen instills in its students and practitioners a unique attitude toward the everyday, including the activity of cleaning. I would sum it up in this (slightly quirky) way:

Out of all the sensations and preoccupations that engage us through the day, we tend to prioritize based on the importance of certain things. Getting to work on time is more important than eating a balanced breakfast, mulling over a paper one is writing for school is more important than being aware of one's surroundings. Zen doesn't change these priorities but it brings out of the woodwork the essential equality of everything we encounter. A mote of dust has as much claim to the dignity, if you will, of being part of reality as I do. 

That doesn't mean that I stop what I'm doing for a mote of dust. But a Zen awareness changes the balance of value between foreground and background. Whatever I'm focused on is done at the same time with the awareness of the grandmotherly presence of all those little things looking lovingly over my shoulder. ​So cleaning is a way of showing respect for this greater set of presences that are always there with us in the background.

This is the first of several blog pieces to share some background about myself. 

I got my start in cleaning very soon after I moved to Minneapolis in 1982 to become a Zen student at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Cleaning as a profession is a tradition among Zen students at Zen centers across the country. It goes with Zen's emphasis on simple attention and it allows the flexibility for a lot of meditation.

It's been many years since I've been an active Zen student but I still honor the deep appreciation of ordinary life that Zen practice instills and am grateful for the time that I spent in it.

Here’s a super simple tip that can help you with a vexing problem. Natural stone shower walls tend to be straightforward to clean but sometimes the stone has a rough surface so that any sponge or cloth that you use on it will get torn to shreds. So instead of standing there scratching your head and saving it for another day, here’s an easy solution: use a scrub brush! And use a good, nontoxic stone cleaner while you’re at it (and lots of water). I use Simple Green Stone Cleaner, available at hardware stores.