11 Things Making Your Home Harder to Clean (That Mexican Households Got Rid of Long Ago)

📖 Get Bertha's Cleaning Book, every method for the whole house, written down: https://berthacleans.com The cream couch with the gray shadow on the arm. The carpet with the path worn down the middle. The glass table with the rings. You cleaned it all on Saturday and it already needs it again. It is not because you are bad at keeping house, mija. Half your house was chosen to look good in a photograph, and the other half has to clean around it. The Mexican mothers I grew up with would have refused almost all of these at the door. Here are the eleven, and what we used instead. THE ELEVEN: 1. THE WHITE COUCH. Warm, darker fabric that forgives, or a washable funda or a sarape over the light one 2. WALL-TO-WALL CARPET. The thirstiest floor there is. Our floors were tile, loseta, washed in an hour, with the shoes left at the door 3. THE SHAG RUG. Small flat rugs you can carry to the line, beat and wash. If you cannot carry it outside, it is too big to keep clean 4. OPEN KITCHEN SHELVES. Lo de diario y lo de lucir: everyday dishes behind doors, the good things in the vitrina 5. GLASS TABLES. The hule oilcloth wipes clean in one pass. Keep a glass table nearly bare 6. DARK GLOSSY SURFACES. Plain wood, barro, light colors. Dark only in matte 7. THE GAS STOVE, the one we never got rid of. The comal on the burner, wiped while warm, grates soaking in bicarbonato every Saturday 8. MARBLE COUNTERS. It drinks every stain. The molcajete is the only stone near the salsa. Never vinegar or lemon on stone 9. VESSEL SINKS AND FREESTANDING TUBS. They make gaps. The Mexican bathroom: a plain sink and a tiled shower with a floor drain 10. FLAT PAINT WHERE PEOPLE WALK. The lambrín: glossy enamel on the lower wall. Satin or semi gloss where the family walks, never flat in a bathroom 11. HEAVY TEXTURE. Smooth azulejo behind the stove, smooth plaster everywhere else The same mistake wearing eleven faces: chosen for the first day, not the thousandth. TWO HABITS: la cocina no se acuesta sucia, and cada cosa en su lugar, a bowl by the door for the keys. ONE WARNING: you do not need to replace anything tomorrow. Most of these have a small fix this week, and the big ones wait until they need replacing anyway. WHO PROFITS: every one of these is sold in a photograph with no family in it. Lo que no se cuida, se acaba. Count how many of the eleven you have, and start with the one that tires you most. Tell me in the comments which one it was, what your mother had instead (I know some of you had the plastic on the sofa), and your county. I read every one.