The Great Wall Clean-Up: Tips, Tricks, and Tales

Foreign.

To no Shame in the Home Game, the podcast that cares how your home feels, not looks.

I am Lacy, your co host who is currently being kicked by a being inside me.

So I'm sorry if I get distracted because it very distracting here.

Hi, Sarah.

I was not expecting that.

It caught me off guard.

You got a really good chuckle out of me.

I thought you were gonna say something's kicking me, like under the desk.

And then when you said it really caught me off guard.

No, I mean I am pregnant.

I want to be clear.

Nobody's kicking me at the moment, but I sympathize with you being kicked from the inside.

Well, today we have a Q and A episode.

We're going to talk about essentially walls, which I know doesn't sound super exciting, but there were some questions about cleaning walls and baseboards.

And I'm over here like, you clean baseboards?

I don't know.

But then I also had my own wall situation recently that I thought we could talk about and problem solve together as well.

So.

And I want to say right up top, this is one of those good, better, best situations.

Well, everything is a good, better, best situation.

I'm going to start off sharing some things about what you can do.

And you might be listening, going, this chick is crazy.

And I in no way expect everyone out there to be doing this.

I am merely showing you what can be done.

And then we're gonna right, size it into what makes sense on a daily or weekly or monthly basis and then you'll see what your options are.

So if we go all the way to the best, I mean, first of all, why would you clean your walls?

I'm sure people are like, how much free time do you have?

So think way up high on your walls.

Sometimes you get cobwebs up in the corner, so there is stuff that can gather.

And then if you think about your wall going down, there could be dust that accumulates for sure.

Especially if you're in an area where there's any other material being dispersed, like the kitchen.

Right.

If you have like greaser.

Yes.

The walls will get a little sticky.

They'll grab a little bit more of dirt and dust in the bathroom, if there's any sort of hairspray or something.

Right.

You're creating a situation where more stuff is going to grab onto the wall.

And then my favorite, because I love before and afters, highly touch, highly touched surfaces.

So if you think about around light switches, I know this isn't a wall, but the door, like where you grab the door and then if you think about the wall from about three, around three to four feet, where hands sometimes are, so oils get picked up, splashes, all that.

I mean, there's all those things that can happen.

And if you have kids, which spoiler.

We're going to talk about, we're going.

To talk about some other situations.

And then if you go all the way down to your baseboards, most baseboards have some kind of ledge where dust is easily collecting.

And again, this is not a what you should be doing.

This is a what some people do.

And then we'll go to reality.

Are you with me so far, Lacy, or are you just, like, bored out of your gourd?

No, I am.

I'm actually over here, like, thinking about when we moved into our house.

The people had lived here for a long time, and they did a great job keeping up the house.

Man, you don't realize how dirty a wall is until you paint it and you're like, whoa, that coat of paint changed a lot.

So I.

I do recognize it's definitely one of those, like, things that builds up over time that you don't notice until you have that big transformation.

I have cleaned a lot of empty houses and for transitioning, for people moving out, people moving in.

And yes, when you get bucket of diluted Murphy's oil soap and a rag and you start just washing the walls.

Holy moly, Batman.

Yeah.

There's some history that builds up there, for sure, that you don't realize.

And for the most part, I just want to clarify, too.

I am talking about painted walls.

Wallpaper is a different beast.

I would not recommend using anything that's wet.

You could definitely dry dust wallpaper.

If your wallpaper has texture to it, that's really going to hold on to some dust.

And if you're somebody who has allergies, it really becomes a little bit more important to make sure that there's not dust and allergens living on your wall.

But going back to what you could do, so always clean top to bottom.

If you see some cobwebs, definitely get those.

And I like to use the attachments in my vacuum cleaner.

I think attachments are the most undervalued tool.

So you can start from the top, gathering what you do see.

And then even if you don't see anything, if you wanted to, you could either vacuum the wall with some kind of attachment.

You could also use a microfiber mop head that's dry and go down and just grab all that dust if you want it to, and then baseboards if you to dust those again.

Attachments don't be getting on your hands and knees.

Nobody wants it.

Unless you have a little kid who's super excited, which, by the way, I've done this.

I've been like, look at this.

Do you want to find all the dust and get them down there wiping the baseboards, but use your attachment.

If you've got the one that's kind of like furry and kind of like a little brush, just run it along the side and get that dust and then boom.

Pretty easy peasy.

I will say picking the attachment.

That's actually what I was over here thinking about of like, I get overwhelmed by the attachment because there's the one with the brush and there was the one without the brush.

Oh, my gosh.

I think we're gonna have to have another episode all about vacuum attachments.

So if anybody listening has questions about vacuum attachments.

I have so many feelings.

You will have to keep me from being too boring.

I could do like a five hour course on vacuum cleaning attachments.

My big pet peeve is different vacuum cleaners come with different attachments and they're not standard.

So if you're going up to grab a cobweb in the corner, I would recommend the narrow, the thin one.

And it's.

If you're trying to brush dust, let's say you're doing like a lampshade or I love cleaning the.

You know in your house, you have those grates that either pull the air in or push the air out.

Taking the fuzzy one, it helps to knock the dust up and then be sucked in.

Yeah.

So I mean, there's no.

Dusting is never on my radar.

It's one of those things where it just does not occur to me.

Now, I will say when baseboards get gross that I see.

You know what I mean?

Yes.

And like when you have a small child who's crawling, you see that real, real in your face.

But even that, I'm like, man, I don't like that.

But I never do anything about.

Well, and that's actually a really good point about when I start talking about cleaning.

There's two different ways to think about it on a schedule, which is, I'm gonna dust once a week, once a month.

Whatever works for you or as you notice.

So what you're saying is like, when you notice the baseboards.

Right.

So yeah, if you notice it and it bothers you, then.

But if you notice it and it doesn't bother you, and then this is something I heard on social media, which I thought was such a great indicator of cleaning.

And I was like, if it's not making anyone in your house sick, like if it's not gross, if it's not growing mold, if it's not.

You know what I mean?

And if nobody has severe allergies in your house, then okay, I am never again.

Name of the podcast no shame in the home Game.

I am never looking to hand out any sort of cleaning awards.

I'm merely telling you if you are interested and you want to do this, you can.

If you want to know what other people are doing or if you notice something and you're like, I don't know how to best clean that because it's bothering you.

So dusting, if you do the dust first, that's going to be good.

And then go with a wet cleaner and that's going to actually clean the wall and the baseboard.

Side note a lot of this, your level of success depends on what kind of paint is used on the wall.

So I have a client and it was one of those houses that were built en masse, so they used the least expensive paint, which is very flat.

So cleaning those, the paint basically comes off.

It's so dissolvable.

I don't know what the word word is.

It will just kind of come off and then there's different grades.

What is it?

It's matte.

Semi gloss.

Semi gloss.

Eggshell is one of them.

I don't know.

I get very overwhelmed when you have to pick one.

Here's the thing, the shinier the paint and I know we don't really use oil based paints in houses anymore, but there are non oil ones that basically look like oil based paint.

So the more shiny it is, the easier it is to clean.

I will say I do see shinier in bathrooms and in kitchens.

And so that makes sense.

Cause that is easier to clean.

I painted when we moved into our house.

My son was young and I was at the hardware store getting paint.

I was flummoxed.

I was like, I don't know which one I want.

And he said, do you have animals or kids at home?

I was like, both.

And he's okay, go for the middle of the road.

Then he's like, you want to be able to wipe these easily.

Because I told him I didn't like the real shiny.

And he's like, well, don't go flat or matte, it won't last.

And again, in my client's house, I've seen that.

So the easier it is to clean if it's shiny.

But you can still do it.

Even if it's matte, it just might not get as clean.

And again, you could just look for the spots.

Like, if you see where it's a little bit grimier, then just do that.

You don't have to do the whole wall.

You don't have to do anything.

So you.

You said wet towel, or I mean, I'm assuming just water.

Do something.

Right.

What about, like, cleaner?

I also get overwhelmed by cleaners.

Yes.

This is.

I know.

It goes hand in hand.

It's one of those things where it's hard to stay in the lane of just walls and baseboards because then you branch off into cleaners, which I think we'll have a whole nother episode about cleaners.

So good, Better, Best.

Yeah.

If water is what you have available, try that.

If you use a little bit of either a multipurpose cleaner or if you dilute something like either dawn dish soap or Murphy's oil is a great multipurpose, but you need to dilute it.

Those will actually help break down the dirt.

Water is just gonna pick up whatever's super easy.

But if you use a multipurpose cleaner and you don't have to get anything expensive, and like I said, you could just dilute.

You could put a tiny squirt of dawn in a bucket, fill it up with warm water.

The warm is gonna help the dirt dissolve and then wipe.

And then when you notice your rag is dirty, rinse it out, get it clean, and then wipe again.

And then that's really great on the baseboards, too.

If you notice, you know, scuffs and dirt, it'll help grab some of that.

Yuck.

A little bit better.

That is a little hands and knees.

Yeah.

So but another option, if you don't want to go hands and knees, if you did have some sort of microfiber mop, you could also spray the wall with a multipurpose cleaner and then just scrub the wall with the mop.

No bending.

But again, whatever you want to do, if it's not bothering you.

But if you are in a rental and you know they're going to be sickler about getting the deposit back.

Something you want to do before you move out.

If you're moving into a new space and you want it to feel like yours, this is a good deep clean to do.

Or like I said, just spot clean.

I actually have.

I repurposed a spray bottle, but you can buy spray bottles at the hardware store, and I keep a bottle of diluted Murphy's oil because it is Such a great spot cleaner.

So now knowing everything you know, Lacy, what do you want to do?

Let's go into a little bit, like, more advanced specific situation.

So I really thought we were away from the stage of riding on walls.

I just.

I really thought so.

Joe's a feisty one.

You just.

You just never know what Joe's gonna do for the listeners.

Joe's an adult with a job and a driver's license.

That's my husband.

One night, my husband said, lace, come here.

He was putting Iris, our younger one, to bed.

And he has never really done that before.

He's never.

Cuz, like, me getting up is a big deal.

So if he wants me to get up and come somewhere, there's a reason.

And he just was like, I'm gonna wait for you to notice it.

And then I did notice that there is not quite a mural, but a large drawing now above my daughter's bed.

That it was a collaboration between my daughter and my son, Which.

Yeah, I'm like, man, you know?

You know, Anyway, it's either pen or pencil.

I'm not totally sure which one.

It's like a dark thing.

Then there's this question of, well, what do we do?

I will say the part that my son drew was actually such a sweet thing.

It's a like, two people, him and his sister, and they're like, get about to give each other a hug, and there's, like, hearts.

And so it was.

It's kind of sweet.

We haven't really done anything yet.

We've.

We've had discussions about it, because I just.

Honestly, it doesn't really bother me that much.

But I also know that I have to act in accordance to what I would like to see in the future, which is not this, because I just don't want to deal with it.

And so we made sure that they both knew not.

Okay.

I had a much deeper conversation with my son of like, dude, you.

I know you know better.

And so.

But I do think what we're gonna do is we are going to get rid of some of it, but keep some of it.

And we're gonna put washi tape around it so it's like a frame, because it is sweet.

It is right above her bed.

And it is very indicative of.

They have a very sweet, loving relationship.

They also, like, terrorize each other.

So, I mean, you know, but they do.

There is no ambivalence between my children.

They either are so super affectionate, or they're actively fighters.

No, in between, so.

And we actually found a spots Places.

So girlfriend must have gotten a pen or a pencil without us knowing and then just kind of did her own thing.

There's one on a different wall in her room.

There's one at the.

The family room.

And I was just looking at my husband.

I was like, how did she do that?

We're all in this room together all the time.

It's so conf.

Confusing.

So I know people love magic erasers.

For this particular situation, I'm pretty sure we might be able to just get away with water.

But when it comes to magic erasers, what are.

What are your thoughts there?

What makes that special?

I don't know.

Right.

And somebody commented because I was asking people about their cleaning questions, and somebody said, I heard magic erasers are great for the wall, but now that I've used it, it looks polished.

And so again, this goes back to what kind of paint you have on your wall.

Because remember, the paints we use nowadays are water soluble.

So depending on how much you're rubbing, that's going to start to break down the paint.

So if it has that shell, you're a little bit safer.

Magic erasers are basically in abrasives.

And you know, you have to get them wet.

Yeah.

So think about when you use as an abrasive comet or barkeeper's friend, that is a powder, or even sometimes use baking soda.

Those are all abrasives.

Imagine the magic eraser is like that, but in a bar form.

So when you get it wet and then you go on the wall, it's almost like you're using very, very, very fine sandpaper.

If that makes sense.

That does make sense.

Going back to what kind of paint you have, you never want to scrub too hard because you will make that polished surface.

And some paint, you can get away with it and you won't see it.

Some paints, you're going to use that magic eraser and you're going to notice it's a lot fainter because you've actually removed a layer of paint along with the drawing.

That's why I go back to the Murphy's oil soap.

Because yes, you're using water, but if you use a rag, it's not as abrasive.

Yeah.

Like you're still loosening it.

And if it's pencil, you're gonna get away really easily.

If it's pen.

I know.

I think as we're talking about it, I'm like, okay, this is what I'm gonna do.

And I think I'm gonna try just some dawn soap diluted in water.

Cause I know we have plenty of that and see what it looks like.

So I'm gonna got my washi tape right here.

Will you please post a picture when you're all done?

I want to see this.

I was going to do a before and after.

And so I'll put.

I'm going to put a frame around the washi tape, and then I'll go around with the dawn and we'll.

I'm going to use a paper towel because I don't really have any rags.

So that's going to be my plan of attack.

We'll see how it goes.

Wait a second.

Hot take.

You don't have any cleaning rags?

Not that I can think of.

Tell me more.

Mostly just paper towels.

How interesting.

We use a lot of Clorox wipes as well.

Okay, so like in the bathroom video that you did recently, I would just be taking a Clorox wipe to do the first one.

And then I would go back over it with paper towel.

That would be my version of that.

Yeah, we most use paper towels in Clorox wipes.

We don't really have any cleaning rags.

So for anyone who's interested, I have rags stashed all over the house.

I have a pile in the upstairs bathroom that serves the whole top floor.

And then I have a pile in the laundry room, which is on the first floor.

And so if anything ever spills, like in the kitchen, we get a lot of spills.

But I don't want to use the kitchen.

It's like a reusable cloth that you can get wet.

Okay.

I use that on the counters.

I don't want to put that on my floor.

I have categories of dirt.

So for something on the floor like that, I'll use one of my cotton ones for that.

And then I also have microfiber ones around the house because.

Oh, that's another thing you can use.

If you have a good quality microfiber, you can get that wet, wring it out.

So it's just damp.

If it was pencil, you could try to wipe that off with.

With the micro.

Just a damp microfiber.

Or the.

Like the dust on the walls we were talking about.

You could try that as well.

Well, I'm realizing as we're talking, I'm like, oh, I'm just gonna grab a Clorox wipe and see what that does.

Because we have those stashed around the house strategically.

Because what that does is that combines the wipe and the cleaner.

And so that's a shortcut type thing that we use in our Home, especially for me, because then I'm not looking for multiple things and that kind of stuff.

So, yeah, I'll just try one of those with it.

That makes sense.

And that would work because if you think about that, those, they have a little bit of texture to them.

It's a softer abrasive.

And that's the thing with microfiber.

They have a little.

They have some texture to em and that's what's helping to break down and grab whatever's left behind.

There's a lot of ways to do this, and there's no right way or wrong way.

I do want to do a little side note that Clorox wipes.

So Clorox is going to disinfect.

So anyone wondering about a Clorox wipe versus a multipurpose cleaner?

A multipurpose cleaner is just helping you remove visible dirt.

Clorox wipe will actually kill any germs.

I did want to share a funny story, too, about my son drawing not on the walls, but on the door.

So you know how some doors are completely flat, but then some doors have, like, decorative recess?

Yeah, I'm talking about.

Yep.

So when we moved in and my son was little, I didn't realize he was actually jealous and mad of how much time I was painting.

And I didn't see him do it.

And I don't know how long I'd been there, but one day I was in one of the bathrooms, and I was like, why does that look weird?

And I'm looking at my door and it was this really light green, like, neon green crayon.

And he'd gone around the recessed part.

I'll learn it in.

And I actually left it.

You can barely see it.

And it.

It's not.

It makes me happy.

But, yeah, it's fun.

What kids will make you learn about cleaning.

It is, I will say too, one of the things that I told my son, and I genuinely believe this, I'm like, bud, because you put that on the wall, that's the only place it can be now.

So that's one of the reasons why I would prefer you put things on paper, because then we can move that around and we could hang it up places and that kind of stuff.

And so what we did end up doing, and this was Joe's idea, and I thought it was brilliant to scratch that itch.

We got some of those big post it note, like, pad things.

And he will put one on the wall and be like, you can color on this on the wall.

And so that was a nice compromise.

And again, you know, it's one of those things where I'm not really mad about it.

It doesn't look great, but also, it doesn't look awful, so whatever.

But, you know, we wanted to.

I don't know.

I.

I feel like it's a small parenting win.

I mean, you know what I mean?

Of, like, not trying to overreact to a point where they're, like, afraid, but trying to redirect, Use that energy in more positive places.

Yes.

Oh, no.

And I would have handled it the same way.

Like, not ideal.

Let's get you something that you can do on the wall.

Another tip for people listening about the Clorox wipes.

And especially because this is the season of illnesses, if somebody in your house is sick, Clorox wipes are great.

Or anything you have that's gonna kill germs.

Go around those high area touch spots.

Clean the light switches again.

You don't want to be too wet because you don't want to get into the electrical, but you can wipe everything.

And the doorknobs and the refrigerator handles and the faucet sinks, like, go around and hit those.

There's a lot of different ways to do that, but that's one of those.

I don't do it all the time, but if something occurs like this, that's a really good time to go around your house and clean those high touch areas.

So, Sarah, I have to say, you were so worried about this being boring.

We're at almost 30 minutes, and we have been actively talking about walls and cleaning.

Wal.

Well, here's the thing.

I could talk for hours and it would be boring.

Guarantee.

I have to find the intersection.

I love Venn diagrams.

I have to find that slice where I can share information that people will find useful and applicable to their lives.

Because I could talk about different cleaners, different rags.

I could go all day.

I do think you're right, though, about cleaners, though, because it's so funny.

Every once in a while, you'll see a commercial that's like, it's an organic cleaning thing.

And they're talking about, like, you know, caring about what you use to clean in your own.

And I'm just sitting there like, I have never once thought of.

So there's a whole world to it that I'm oblivious to, but also okay about.

We say this all the time.

It is one of those, like, what are the priorities in your life?

What values are you making decisions around?

Yes.

If what you bring into your house, as far as chemicals are concerned, if that is one of your main pillars, like absolutely.

Find the one that you like.

Side note though, I had a friend who went deep dive and she actually researched some of those quote unquote earth friendly brands and some of them were actually ranked very poorly for what they had inside of them.

So some are deceiving in their advertising.

So if that is something that's really important to you, do your research.

I also know for a fact some of those do not perform as well as others.

I've seen whole blogs on those eco friendly laundry detergents that don't do jack.

There are some that do.

You just have to experiment for your home and what works.

I.

I agree with you.

The amount of cleaning products that are available is so confusing.

Yeah.

So if anyone listening has questions, please, please ask your questions.

I love this.

I wish I could go with people to the grocery store and like help them pick up they're cleaning.

Start here and then if you want to go specialty, go to this.

It's confusing because of the advertising and because of the market and because of these pressure, we have to have our homes.

Like cleanliness is next to godliness, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

I'll just end with, you don't need as much as society is imprinting on you.

And we'll do another episode just about cleaning stuff.

Absolutely.

Well, at the end of our episodes, we like to do a moment of gratitude, something that we are thankful for.

And I have mine.

So I'm gonna go, if that's okay.

Yes.

When we moved into this house, our ice maker and our refrigerator just randomly stopped working.

And we love ice water in this house.

It is a priority for us.

That is the only thing really that we drink ice water.

I convinced Joe, my husband, to get one of the nicer table or countertop ice makers with the pellet ice.

And so we've been living in our house now for about a year and like three months or so.

And let me tell you the joy that I get from eating that ice after I finish a big old glass of water.

Like so much joy.

I love it so much.

It makes me so happy.

For someone who's really struggling with food right now, it is a pleasure to just have.

And I am just so grateful that we made that investment because it is an MVP at our household.

And it makes me so happy.

It makes me happy just hearing you talk about it because I love that kind of ice.

I make a mental note when I get to a gas station or convenience store, like which ones have that kind of ice in the dispenser versus the cubes.

How does it work?

I mean, you have to plug it in, right?

And then how does it get a water source?

So it, it has.

The water essentially sits underneath the ice bucket that it puts ice into.

So it'll tell you when it's out of water.

And we actually have it right next to the sink.

So you just fill up a big cup, pour the water in, and then it goes back to making ice.

Oh, you don't have to plummet completely.

Plug in right there.

And then when it gets full, it stops.

And then what's really nice is it gets full and then as the ice melts, it goes down into the, the water container and so it'll then make ice again.

So shut the front door.

Yeah.

The joy this brings me.

I didn't know that existed.

Oh my gosh.

Your kids aren't gonna know like what a treat that is because they always have it on hand.

It is, I will say it's only been recently that they've started getting ice themselves.

So I'm gonna take that.

And then I'm gonna go off on a tangent.

I love watching videos with dogs.

I mean, that is my absolute happy time.

Have you seen a video of dogs where they like to play with ice and they've learned how to push the dispenser?

Oh my God, that's the cutest thing.

Andy used to think ice was a treat.

And literally anytime someone would open the door to get ice out, he recognized the noise and would run over to get a piece of ice.

I have had three dogs as an adult and none of them have been ice dogs.

I'm gonna just fingers crossed one time I will have an ice dog.

Yeah, he did.

He did it.

And it was just so funny.

Cause then we would go to like my parents house, my dad would be getting ice, and Indy would come over and my dad would be like, yeah, give you some ice.

And it just was a sweet moment.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Well, my moment of gratitude is it hasn't actually happened yet, but I am leaving today to go see my sister.

And we live in different states and so whenever we can find time to overlap our schedules and hang, I don't even care what we do, I don't care where we go, but it's just fun to hang out.

So I am looking forward.

And also change of scenery, man, it's winter, it is gray.

Like, just to shake things up a little bit, I told my son this morning because he didn't ask where I was going.

And I was like, Aren't you curious?

And he's like, I want to be in suspense.

I'm going to imagine you're either going to Hawaii to sit on the beach or you're going to Vermont for a boring business meeting.

Extremes, my man.

Too.

Very.

And for how long?

I'm going to be gone.

I wouldn't even make it to Hawaii and back.

So I was like, okay, you sit there and hold both realities true at the same time, and you'll be in suspense.

I love that I would be in suspense.

That's the opposite of me.

I want to know everything right now.

So I respect that restraint.

I know.

I know.

I was like, I can't imagine hearing a family member saying they were going on a trip and not asking them.

I know everyone's brains works differently.

And I guess listeners imagine me either in Hawaii on a beach or in Vermont at a boring Mrs.

MUNICH.

I do love.

You're gonna leave to go to the airport after this, I believe, and then you're coming back Sunday night.

So I'm like.

You would literally get to Hawaii and then get back out of state.

Yeah.

Oh, it would not.

Logistically.

Yeah.

But I.

All right, well, thank you for teaching us about walls and cleaning walls, Sarah.

It is my deepest, passionate pleasure.

So thank you for listening.

Absolutely.