Episode 12
What is Cleaning Anyway?
Summary
Cleaning isn’t just about making things look pretty; it’s all about how your space feels! Lacey and Sara dive into the overwhelming world of cleaning products and tackle the big question: what is cleaning, anyway? With so many products claiming to be the magic solution—from natural options to high-tech concoctions—it's easy to feel lost in the cleaning aisle. The hosts break it down into three simple steps: picking up, cleaning, and sanitizing, while emphasizing that cleaning is about removing dirt and grime, not just chasing after that “perfect” shine. So join us as we explore the ins and outs of cleaning, share some laughs, and remind you that it's perfectly okay if your home isn’t always Instagram-ready!
Takeaways:
- Cleaning is more than just a chore; it's about creating a space that feels good.
- The aisle of cleaning products can be overwhelming, but starting with multipurpose cleaners is a great approach.
- Understanding the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting can help simplify your cleaning routine.
- Everyone has their own comfort level with cleanliness, so focus on what works for you and your home.
- It's important to find the balance between cleanliness and time management in your daily life.
- Cleaning doesn't have to be shame-based; it can be about maintaining comfort and utility in your space.
Full Description
In this episode, Lacey and Sara dive deep into the philosophy of cleaning - not just what products to use, but questioning WHY we clean in the first place! We had such a meaningful conversation about the shame and guilt many people carry around their cleaning habits. We talked about how important it is to find YOUR comfort level with cleaning, not what someone else thinks you should do.
We explored how cleaning standards should reflect your current life situation rather than some arbitrary ideal. Lacey shared her personal journey with cleaning shame and how she's healing from it, focusing on how her home FEELS rather than how it LOOKS. Sara made this great point about asking yourself whether an unclean area bothers you genuinely or if it's just societal expectations making you feel bad.
We ended up transforming what was supposed to be a simple Q&A about cleaning products into this wonderful philosophical discussion about removing shame from home maintenance. Lacey even shared a funny moment about cutting her daughter's curly hair in the kitchen and only cleaning up that specific spot while leaving other messes - and being okay with that! Sara mentioned her gratitude for routines, and Lacey couldn't agree more. This episode really embodied our podcast's mission: No Shame in the Home Game!
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:The Home Game, the podcast that cares how your home feels, not looks.
Speaker B:I'm Lacy, your fellow learner today.
Speaker B:I'm really excited about today's topic here with our expert and my co host, Sarah.
Speaker B:Hi, Sarah.
Speaker A:Hi, Lacy.
Speaker A:I love sharing my nerd wisdom on cleaning.
Speaker B:Today we're going to be talking about something that I think a lot of people like me get very overwhelmed with, and that is cleaning products.
Speaker B:Like, there are so many cleaning products out there.
Speaker B:They all do these different things and then they come out with a new, like this is oxy cleaning, and this one is all natural, and this one's vinegar.
Speaker B:Like, I don't know what any of that means.
Speaker B:And then I also know that if you combine some, you could blow your house up.
Speaker A:Yes, you can make chemical.
Speaker A:No nos on accident.
Speaker A:Let's stop and acknowledge the grocery store aisle alone of cleaning products is so much.
Speaker A:I mean, I personally love walking down that aisle because I love seeing what products are out.
Speaker A:So it's actually fun for me.
Speaker A:But it is a lot.
Speaker A:I feel like growing up, it was Comet and Windex and Pledge.
Speaker A:I feel like those were kind of the basics.
Speaker A:And yeah, it has.
Speaker A:It has blossomed.
Speaker A:So if you feel overwhelmed, you're not alone.
Speaker A:And it is.
Speaker A:Okay, those are three very different cleaning products.
Speaker A:So let's start off with what your intention is with what you're cleaning.
Speaker A:Surfaces need different products, so let's start there.
Speaker A:Remember, the goal with cleaning product is you're trying to remove anything that is not that surface.
Speaker A:So for example, if you're looking at a window, you want to remove anything on there that's not just the window, whether it's dirt that's accumulative or maybe some adhesive from a sticker your kiddo put on the window.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You're trying to get it back down to that.
Speaker A:Or if we're talking about your sink, if it's like a stainless steel sink, you're trying to remove any residue.
Speaker A:So all we're ever trying to do is loosen up any substance.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:Lacy already looks bored.
Speaker B:No, I'm actually really interested.
Speaker B:This is my concentration phase.
Speaker A:And keep in mind, that's cleaning.
Speaker A:So there's three steps.
Speaker A:There's picking up cleaning and sanitizing.
Speaker A:I'm not even talking about sanitizing.
Speaker A:We're really just talking about cleaning, which is removing dirt.
Speaker A:I'm trying not to go too deep dive here.
Speaker B:No, my brain makes cleaning and sanitizing the same thing.
Speaker B:So that's something that I have to work on separating as we're talking about.
Speaker A:Yeah, and sanitizing.
Speaker A:Yeah, sanitizing is cleaning those little things, those invisible things that could make us sick.
Speaker A:So you really do need a different host of products to truly sanitize.
Speaker A:Cleaning I think of as removing the visible dirt and grime on a surface, whereas sanitizing is invisible stuff.
Speaker B:So why wouldn't you always just sanitize?
Speaker A:Because to truly sanitize correctly, you need something a little bit more extreme.
Speaker A:But you either need like really high hot temperature or you need something very strong like a bleach.
Speaker A:Or there's a lot of products like a Lysol product to truly sanitize, you need to completely spray and cover the surface.
Speaker A:And it needs to dry on the surface and it takes like six to 10 minutes.
Speaker A:So sometimes you just don't need to.
Speaker A:Like if you're cleaning a mirror because it's got splatter stains from brushing your teeth, like, do you need to sanitize that all the time?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:I mean, maybe if somebody's been sick, sure.
Speaker A:But, you know, it's more about just removing those splatter stains so you can look in the mirror and see like a clean reflection.
Speaker A:We'll focus just on the cleaning and then going back to like, what kind of surface are you cleaning is going to dictate, like, which section of the cleaning product you're looking at.
Speaker A:If you're cleaning stainless steel, that's going to be different from cleaning a mirror or a window.
Speaker B:By the way, I'm adding sanitizing products to a future Q and A episode.
Speaker A:No, that's okay.
Speaker A:This is again, no shame.
Speaker A:Like, no, we're not taught this stuff.
Speaker A:There is no shame.
Speaker A:So there are specialized products for different things.
Speaker A:But let's actually just take a huge step back.
Speaker A:If you just wanted to just have the simplest approach, like, where do I start?
Speaker A:Grab a multipurpose cleaner and some microfiber towels or cloth towels or even a paper towel, something to wipe it with.
Speaker A:And a multipurpose cleaner is gonna help you loosen the dirt on most surfaces to be able to wipe it up.
Speaker A:It's gonna do a pretty good job on most every surface.
Speaker A:The issue is, is it gonna leave like a residual wipe?
Speaker A:So for instance, if you use a multi purpose cleaner on a mirror, you might see like a streak or a smudge.
Speaker A:You're still gonna get off all that toothpaste splatter, but you might end up with like a smudge.
Speaker A:That's where you would go.
Speaker A:If that bothered you, you'd go do a specialty product.
Speaker A:Like a specific Windex or some kind of window cleaner for that particular surface.
Speaker A:Let's say we talked about showers.
Speaker A:You use it on your shower, that's going to loosen the dirt, it's going to remove a lot of stuff, and then whatever's left.
Speaker A:Then you can think about a specialty cleaner.
Speaker A:Something like.
Speaker A:Let's say it's soap scum.
Speaker A:Like something that's dried and hardened.
Speaker A:You might want something that has a little bit more action.
Speaker A:Like we talked about.
Speaker A:You can either use elbow grease or chemical power.
Speaker A:Something with a little bit more chemical power that's gonna break up those deposits.
Speaker A:If they're mineral deposits or soap scum, you just might have to get like a stronger sponge or more elbow action.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So that's where you would go down the road of like, okay, now let's look at the cleaning products that are specific to cleaning a shower and a tub.
Speaker A:Then it's like, what am I cleaning off?
Speaker A:Is it soap scum or is it something growing we talked about in the shower episode?
Speaker A:Wet plus dark equals yuck, fuzzy.
Speaker A:Is it growing?
Speaker A:Does it look like mold or mildew?
Speaker A:Then you're gonna need something that actually is going to kill the mold and mildew and potentially do a little bit of bleaching action.
Speaker A:Cause that can leave some stains.
Speaker A:So again, go back to good, better, best.
Speaker A:That first level, we're just talking multipurpose cleaner.
Speaker A:I feel like I've already gone deep end.
Speaker A:So, Laci, I want you to ask questions.
Speaker B:So my questions are still back at base good, but okay.
Speaker B:So like we say, this is the podcast that cares how your home feels, not looks right.
Speaker B:And it sounds like there's almost good, better, best of cleaning of like best is like making it get to and look the how it looked originally.
Speaker B:Right now when we talk about better, bad or good and better, I'm thinking about cleaning just for looks and cleaning for.
Speaker B:And this is where like my brain and I think a lot of people like cleanliness equals like godliness or just, you know, like the judgment of cleaning.
Speaker B:Like, where is it unhealthy?
Speaker B:Especially people who are constantly beating themselves up because it's not to best.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Like, if your toilet has some mineral stains, that's not hurting your health.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It is a visual thing that could down the line lead to a problem.
Speaker B:But day to day, that line, it's not going to hurt anyone.
Speaker B:I guess I'm just trying to find kind of that dance between health necessity and looks priority.
Speaker B:Does that make sense?
Speaker A:Oh, it's, it completely makes sense.
Speaker A:And I love that question because with all the people I've worked with and houses I've visited, the universal truth is everyone has their own barometer for what that looks like.
Speaker A:Like, I've met people to them, they're good.
Speaker A:Is somebody else's best.
Speaker A:And yes, what, what passes for like, I just don't want to get sick.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:I mean, sometimes in our lives we're in different phases of our life.
Speaker A:We're absolutely like, that's what we're aiming for is like, let's just not get anyone sick in this house.
Speaker A:Which means removing the mold and the mildew.
Speaker A:Anything growing.
Speaker A:Like, if there's just grime that's building up on the surface of your shower, like, like you said, mineral deposits in the toilet, that's not gonna make you sick.
Speaker A:That's just how it looks.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:You can focus on that if that's the stage of your life that you're in of just removing the.
Speaker A:Like, I don't want to get sick.
Speaker B:And like, we're constantly in a battle right now with food on the floor because without our wonderful dog Indy, who always kept our floor sparkling clean, we are constantly cleaning up stuff on the ground.
Speaker B:What I keep saying to the kids, I'm realizing is like, the food on the floor is going to bring bugs in.
Speaker B:Do you want bugs on the floor?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:So that is why we are constantly cleaning that up.
Speaker B:And so there isn't a one size fits all answer of why we quote, unquote, clean.
Speaker B:The point of picking up is to be able to find stuff later on, to be able to move through your home.
Speaker B:Like, I can see the outcomes of that.
Speaker B:And then sanitizing.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We're getting rid of the germs and the microscopic things too, that could harm you.
Speaker B:But cleaning, I feel like, is kind of a little bit of a grayer area than the other two.
Speaker A:I love, I love how you broke that down.
Speaker A:You're absolutely right.
Speaker A:You're right on the two ends.
Speaker A:Those things are a little bit more defined.
Speaker A:But yes, cleaning is such a personal standard and I think it has a lot to do with what you grew up in is where your standard is kind of based around or if you've ever gone into the dorm room of like a newly on their own.
Speaker A:I'm trying not to stereotype, but let's be honest, like 18 year old boy, like their standard of what clean is is very different.
Speaker A:Somebody who has all the time in the world to clean their house.
Speaker A:So yes, start with that, like, what is your comfort level?
Speaker A:And if you live with other people, you absolutely have to find that point of cleanliness that both or all parties included satisfied.
Speaker A:For instance, on the top of my trash can, it's a flat surface and it's, it's like two.
Speaker A:It's like recycling and trash in one.
Speaker A:So it's like this big flat surface.
Speaker A:And yeah, like, it icks me out when it starts to accumulate in like little droplets that have dried.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know, it feels weird to want my trash can to be clean.
Speaker A:But yeah, if it didn't look shiny and clean, like, that's fine.
Speaker A:It doesn't, it actually doesn't matter.
Speaker A:But in my mind, like, I want that surface to look clean.
Speaker A:So that's a really good distinction.
Speaker B:Well, and I just think that there's so much shame, right, if cleanliness is next to godliness and your house needs to look a certain way and whatnot.
Speaker B:A lot of my cleaning up until this point has been purely shame based.
Speaker B:But it has, as I've worked with you and gotten to know all this stuff more, it has transitioned to utility based, not shame based.
Speaker B:And it does feel so much better.
Speaker B:But as we're talking, I'm realizing, like, oh, this is a big sticking point for me idea of cleaning things and things being clean.
Speaker B:Because I think my brain, as you heard earlier, meant clean equals sanitized.
Speaker B:And that is not necessarily the truth or it's not necessary.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And that's why I really came up with those three steps.
Speaker A:Pick up, clean, sanitize was because I started to realize people used the word clean to mean a lot of different things.
Speaker A:Trying to take away that interpretation to be very clear and going back, and I'm, I'm glad that it's helped you and I hope that this helps other people.
Speaker A:Going back to kind of like, where do you start?
Speaker A:Like, what is the starting point of cleaning?
Speaker A:So let's say you've got the multipurpose cleaner and a rag and it's like, okay, where do I start?
Speaker A:What do I do?
Speaker A:Talk about, like, the prompts, like a time prompt.
Speaker A:I'm going to do this every Monday, or an occur prompt.
Speaker A:So if you notice a surface, like, let's say you walk up to your stove and you're going to cook something on a burner and you just notice there's a lot of splatters and crumbs.
Speaker A:Okay, great.
Speaker A:Grab your multipurpose cleaner, that surface, catch all those crumbs and clean that surface.
Speaker A:When it, when you see It.
Speaker A:That's your prompt.
Speaker A:Like, that can be your end.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That is not a failure.
Speaker B:I think sometimes again, for me, that can feel like a failure of like, oh, it's gotten this dirty.
Speaker B:I have failed.
Speaker B:Who cares now?
Speaker B:But I'm again, as we're talking, I'm like, no, I.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:But I'm asking for the people listening.
Speaker A:So I met a woman.
Speaker A:I think I've mentioned this on a previous podcast.
Speaker A:I met a woman who was asking me how often she should vacuum.
Speaker A:And I said, how often do you want to vacuum?
Speaker A:And she said, well, my mom gets on me if I don't vacuum every day.
Speaker A:And this woman lived in her own apartment.
Speaker A:And I said, do you want to vacuum every day?
Speaker A:Does it bother you?
Speaker A:And she goes, no, I don't.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:It's just my mom told me I have to.
Speaker A:I was like, no, that's her standard if you are okay vacuuming once a week.
Speaker A:And again, I don't know this person's traffic pattern.
Speaker A:I don't know if there's animals in the house.
Speaker A:I don't know what her tolerance is.
Speaker A:But if it doesn't bother her.
Speaker A:And you're not dealing with a mouse infestation or a cockroach or an ant infestation.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Find your own comfort level for how often you're going to vacuum or if that stove surface gets dirty.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you've been making food.
Speaker A:That's what a kitchen is for.
Speaker A:And if your reset point is not every once every hour, then just wipe it up whenever you notice it and it bothers you.
Speaker A:I do love that this has become more of a, like, why do we clean?
Speaker A:Like, what is everybody's.
Speaker A:I think we should rename this one what is our Cleaning?
Speaker B:Cleaning products Cleaning.
Speaker B:Existential questions.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:This whole premise of no shame in the home game.
Speaker A:If everyone could open up their doors at the exact same time without any preparation, we would see how people truly live, not how they live.
Speaker A:When they know that you're coming over 24 hours in advance, which is a prompt.
Speaker B:And that's okay for that to be a prompt.
Speaker B:That's another thing of like, oh, if I have to do a whole house clean because people are coming over, that's not a failure.
Speaker B:That is.
Speaker B:That is a thing that I'm doing to prepare.
Speaker B:That is a prompt.
Speaker B:It's an okay prompt.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:That is ab.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I'm so glad you highlighted that.
Speaker A:And at the same time, if we could all.
Speaker A:All open our doors with no warning and see how everyone actually actually lives, you would realize that whatever shame your guilt you're carrying, it's not, probably not realistic.
Speaker A:Most likely.
Speaker A:I can't speak for everyone, and I'm not saying this again.
Speaker A:I'm not speaking from the top of a mountain.
Speaker A:I deal with this all the time.
Speaker A:I notice things in my house.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:Sometimes I look under my bed and I see the dust bunnies and I'm like, how in the world did it get that bad?
Speaker A:But then I just take a deep breath and it's like I have a hundred other things to do every day.
Speaker A:Then clean under my bed every single day.
Speaker A:So when I notice it, that's the rhythm that works.
Speaker B:This was very soothing for me.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I just, I do.
Speaker B:I carry a lot of shame around cleaning.
Speaker B:And it just reminds me so much of our tagline, it's how your home feels, not looks.
Speaker B:I often feel not good when my house is not picked up or when I feel like my house is quote unquote gross.
Speaker B:But that's what I actually want.
Speaker B:Not based off of somebody else's thing.
Speaker B:And so I've been doing a lot of healing.
Speaker B:I'm realizing I've made it.
Speaker B:I've come a long way.
Speaker A:This is like, I would love to do a whole seminar with people, like a three hour seminar of really breaking that down and thinking about when an area is irking you.
Speaker A:Is it because you would truly feel better if it was cleaned up or is it because you carry some kind of guilt and shame that it isn't cleaned up?
Speaker A:And then finding that balance point between how much time and energy can I devote right now to clean that up and is that gonna cause me more stress?
Speaker A:Maybe you don't actually have the time to do that right now.
Speaker A:So which is gonna cause you more stress?
Speaker A:Saying I'm going to do that tomorrow at 6pm or trying to hurriedly do it right now.
Speaker A:And it's like constantly weighing that back and forth of why is this making me feel bad?
Speaker A:How much time and energy do I actually have to devote to this right now?
Speaker A:And these standards are just a reflection of where you are in your life right now.
Speaker A:If you're training for a triathlon, I'm guessing you don't have time to be cleaning the top of your stove and your shower and under your bed every single day because you're really focused on something else.
Speaker A:But you're right, you might want it picked up to a certain degree so that you can find your items.
Speaker A:And that brings you comfort and ease to get to your goal of the triathlon.
Speaker A:So it really is a bigger conversation.
Speaker B:I feel like this became not a Q and A episode, but like a philosophy episode that I'm very okay with.
Speaker A:Well, and for anyone listening, please share your questions and your thoughts in, like, maybe there's a specific cleaning product you want to know about, or maybe you want to just hear more about this topic.
Speaker A:That's what this platform is for, is to remove those walls of shame.
Speaker A:So please feel free to share your questions and comments on this topic.
Speaker A:You can go to noshameonthehomegame.com and submit.
Speaker A:You just click on, you know, have a question and you can submit your own question or comment there.
Speaker A:And we'll take the ball and roll with it.
Speaker B:Yeah?
Speaker B:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker B:Well, I My moment of gratitude.
Speaker B:So last night we cut my daughter's hair, which Iris's hair is curly and it is a important aspect of her, but it was getting gross and awful and I cut it and I'm having this moment of gratitude just that we did it.
Speaker B:It's so much more manageable now in so many different ways.
Speaker B:But I'm grateful that we did it.
Speaker B:But as you know, we were talking here, I thought about how I cut her hair in the kitchen, like on our dine, inside on a mat.
Speaker B:And really.
Speaker B:And then after I finished cutting her hair, I cleaned up just that section, but there was just food still on the floor.
Speaker B:Other places I was like, well, at least this part's clean.
Speaker B:And so as we were just talking, I had this amount of like, well, I can go back and cut a little bit more or try to style it a little bit different.
Speaker B:There's no, like, end goal or end game here.
Speaker B:And it's going to grow.
Speaker B:So I'm grateful for kind of this mindset coming in.
Speaker A:When I spill something on the ground, instead of getting mad about it, I'm like, oh, that means I'm going to clean up that spill.
Speaker A:And I'm also going to clean wherever this spill gives me the perfect excuse to actually clean an area that I wouldn't have given attention otherwise.
Speaker A:Like, that.
Speaker A:You brought that up.
Speaker A:My gratitude is for routines.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:It is so lovely to go out of town.
Speaker A:It's so lovely to, like, have guests in town and be doing things that you wouldn't normally do.
Speaker A:But after a certain extent of doing that, I love getting back into a routine so that my brain can relax and not have to think about so much planning.
Speaker A:So is Monday, I'm getting back into my weekly routine and I'm really thankful for that.
Speaker B:Love it.
Speaker B:Well, as always, thank you for joining us on no Shame, the home game.
Speaker B:We'll be back in three weeks.
Speaker B:You can always check out our other podcasts of the joyful sport movement, sharing the middle and joy moments.
Speaker B:And see us in the village, the joyful support village.
Speaker B:And we thank you for being here and being part of this movement.
Speaker A:Thank you, Lacey.
Speaker B:Thank you, Sarah.
