Cleaning Strategies for Vacation cabin Living
I’ll admit it – I am a neat freak.
And having a dislike of house dirt while living in the nation is, let’s imagine, a bit challenging.
Living in a rustic house while building a self-sufficient lifestyle can invite a lot of dirt, muck and clutter – not so comfortable for someone who likes things clean and orderly. Then there’s the largest challenge of living in a small rural home – the possible lack of space. All those beekeeping books and rural living magazines have to go somewhere. Without some attention paid to storage and organizing, the home might get incredibly cluttered incredibly quickly.
Just how does a neat freak stay sane residing in a rustic home, without having to spend hours a day cleaning or completely giving up, residing in filth and tripping endlessly over clutter?
There are definitely several tricks, and I’d like to share a few of them with you. I’ve arranged them by topic based on the things I find myself cleaning and organizing usually within our cabin in the woods:
Floor Dirt
It goes without saying that the house surrounded by gardens and gravel will end up with dirt inside. But there is a way to keep it in check without having to haul out the vacuum every single day.
Obtain a simple Asian broom (these looks nicer and are more effective than the plastic variety) to do a regular sweep, and get several colourful cotton and hemp rugs in strategic spots on the floor that you could easily shake outside, then toss in the wash once they get dirty. I love wool rugs – I’ve got a few gorgeous ones in storage – however they are simply not practical… if you don’t have a penchant for dry cleaning bills. Also it is obvious that shoes should stay outside or go in the armoire.
Finally, a highly effective, attractive doormat away from door Body you can wash – makes a massive difference to the quantity of dirt that eventually ends up inside the house. With these tactics in place, I’m not constantly cleansing the floor, which is great, because there are many other things I’d rather do with time!
Cobwebs
If there’s one thing that shocked me about moving to some house in the united states, it had been the cobwebs. They seem to spring up instantaneously after vacuuming. In fact, last fall, we really didn’t need Halloween decorations. The cobwebs appears so quickly and thus fiercely it was all I possibly could caused by keep them from weaving themselves into new drapes. Leave the ‘clearing’ for two days and I was living about the group of a horror movie.
So how do you battle the webs of armies of spiders you cannot see? I guess you could get eliminate the spiders, but I a lot like the very fact they’re on patrol, catching all the other bugs that could really do damage (ants, moths, wood bugs). I will not use toxic insecticides, anyway, so I’m sort of stuck with them.
The easiest way I’ve found to handle the cobweb draperies is by using one of those cylindrical dusters (wool or polyester) attached to a telescoping handle you can purchase at most hardware stores. This allows you to are as long as the peak of cathedral ceilings – way beyond where the vacuum can reach. Then just vacuum the duster off after each clearing. The cylindrical duster is effective for flat walls, although not so well on rough, hand-hewn logs, so for that walls I personally use the flat floor attachment on the vacuum. This prevents us pretty much cobweb free for many of the season – within the fall, I simply have to do double duty… or pretend we survive a film set.
Bugs
Creepy crawlies creep a lot of people out. When we first moved into our cabin, we were finding cave crickets within the oddest places, there were wood bugs everywhere. Maybe it had been a ‘spring’ thing, but after living for awhile, and allowing the spiders to do what spiders do, we seem to have less and less bugs. We all do, however, get big brown house spiders that give me the willies. There is a practice of crawling about the ceiling right above the bed as we’re going to sleep at night. Needless to say, I’ve become a bit of a spider wrangler – right into a plastic bucket with a piece of cardstock to keep them from escaping and outside they’re going.
Sealing up any insect access points, keeping food secure and ensuring there isn’t any rot in your home goes a long way in keeping the bugs at bay. Finally, screen doors are critical within our mosquito infested corner of the world, and they keep out the flies along with other flying bugs. I purchased some cheap wood screen doors that fit with the look of the cabin, and they’ve been a lot more than adequate to do the job. Living in the city, we just didn’t have many bugs. Flies, and the odd ant, but that was about it. In the united states, it’s a whole other story.
Mice
I’ve written previously about mice in the home, so won’t expand onto it (you can read the original article Reducing Your Kitchen’s Attraction Factor here). That said, do know that mice are ubiquitous in the country, and that they’re actually kind of cute. Messy, but cute. Best way to ensure that they’re from making a mess within your house is to ensure anything edible is sealed up, vacuum regularly, check drawers along with other places they may attempt to nest, and do not discourage predators like owls, hawks and other animals who choose mouse snacks. Of course, for those who have chickens, some of those predators may not be welcome, but that is a balanced exercise for an additional article. Some have suggested peppermint in sachets or peppermint acrylic in the corners mice frequent, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Clutter
If you are lucky enough to have a larger home in the country, this will not be because an issue, but even still, living on a homestead often means collecting books, storing food, and keeping your toolshed stocked with extra handles and equipment. If you’re a neat-freak much like me, you’ll need a plan along with a approach to keeping everything organized. Inside, use baskets, armoires, and under-stairs storage to keep small items both concealed and simply accessible.