winter cleaning

Christina first started coming in September 2007.  

Christina would come every two weeks to clean my apartment.  Later, when I lost my job, I had her come once every three weeks.  She is very efficient.  In and out in three hours flat.  Sometimes less, rarely more. Now she doesn't come at all.

Christina is a feisty woman, originally from Mexico, but she has lived here a long time.  She has a great sense of style, a daughter who graduated college and is about to get married, a husband who works, and two homes.  I like Christina.  She is a hard worker, reliable, and knows her craft.  It wouldn't have felt right to fire her when I could no longer afford a cleaning person, but I didn't have to.  In June, Christina had to go to Mexico to visit her mother. I'm not sure if she decided to stay, change careers, or drop me as a client, but I never heard from her again.

So now I'm learning how to really clean.  

Today I am tackling my small kitchen (roughly 7' by 11') and my even smaller bathroom (roughly 7' by 5').  For inspiration and tips, I google How to Clean a Bathroom Floor and find some great videos from Better Home and Gardens. Turns out that 1/4 cup of vinegar, 1 T of dish soap, and 2 gallons of water do a great job. 

It takes me two and a half hours to do both rooms.  

my tiny bathroom 

my tiny kitchen

Two and a half long hours with no interruptions.  No phone calls.  No texts.  No emails. Not even a break.   And that doesn't include the top or inside of the refrigerator, the inside of the stove, or the inside of the toilet bowl (I couldn't open the Mrs. Meyers Toilet Bowl Cleaner I bought two days ago).

But I do have to wonder.  Am I that much less efficient than Christina?  

True, I have less experience.  But how could she, in just three hours or less: clean my bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining area, hall and Alexander's room; do four loads of laundry, fold and put it away; change the linens in both my room and Alexander's; vacuum everywhere;  and still have time for a few phone calls and a quick snack?

I still have a lot more cleaning left.  I figure I should be done by Valentine's Day.