I hate household maintenance. I've seen too many clients obsessed with taking care of their possessions.
But this week I interviewed a woman with the canny ability of making cleaning fun. Her enthusiasm for brighter washes and a dust-free life gave me the energy to go home and clean everything. I left no possession without a shine.This cleaning guru is Mary Ellen Pinkham. You may have read her column in Woman's Day magazine or her new book, "Mary Ellen's Clean House" (Crown $20).
While hundreds of cookbooks are published each year and fix-it books proliferate, no general household cleaning books have been written in 20 years.
She began her career as a cleaning expert 20 years ago when her husband lost his job. She thought about what she knew best; taking care of her home.
She self-published a little book of household hints and filled orders from her basement. To date that book has sold 4 million copies.
One of the most common housekeeping Waterloos, she complains, is failure to read instructions.
Manufacturers, she says, have spent thousands of dollars figuring out just how much of a product to use to get the best results. But instead of following their advice, we often think more is better, double or triple the recommended amount or combine it with other products whose chemicals may not mix well.
More often than not, we are sorry we didn't pause long enough to read.
Susan Valaskovic, a professional organizer, writes this column weekly at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Send comments to: Your Personal Organizer, P.O. Box 6690, Denver, CO 80206.