Passover Cleaning Tips
Hello dear readers,
Pesach is the holiday of the spring, so it’s a good time to turn over a new leaf, so to speak. Before pesach, that means spring cleaning, both cleaning the house of chametz but also cleaning the house in general. Here are some tips for cleaning the house before pesach arrives:
1. MAKE A PLAN. Some people I know (not naming any names or anything) get a very late start on their pesach cleaning. They’ll wait until the week before pesach, or even just a few days before, to get started. Maybe a last-minute mentality works for you, but it doesn’t really work for me! So, my first piece of advice is to make a battle plan, see how much time you’d like to devote to the task at hand and make a schedule ahead of time. I usually start cleaning after the Shabbat after Purim, so I can go room by room and do a thorough job of pre-pesach cleaning, or spring cleaning. That way, we don’t have to feel super rushed to do all the cleaning the night before pesach.
2. GET THE NON-PESACH CLEANING DONE FIRST. Obviously, the most important part of cleaning for pesach is making sure that there’s not one crumb of chametz anywhere in the house. But is that the only type of cleaning you should be doing? Halachically the answer is yes, but I say: Of course not, let’s go above and beyond! It’s time to vacuum in those hard-to-reach places, dust on top of those tall cabinets, scrub every inch of the bathtub, polish and scrape and wash and whatever else your house needs! While you might not be able to search for chametz in rooms you’re still using in the weeks ahead of pesach, you can still do the other cleaning ahead of time!
3. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. When you start on your spring cleaning, you might finish cleaning your house and think you’re done. But are you??? Sometimes you don’t realize that there are other places to clean as well. Did you remember all the areas in your house that don’t feel like part of your house, like your creaky old attic, or your dark and dank basement, or the gardening shed out back? Those are all places to clean, places to check for chametz and crumbs. Sneaky, no? So, get on it!
Another option is just to sell all your chametz, leave your house for the whole of pesach and just go away to a kosher pesach vacation. The only downside is that you’ll have double the cleaning to do next year!
More soon,
Ariella
Looking to relax this pesach? Consider pesach resorts with Leisure Time Tours and create an unforgettable experience with your family. For more information, contact us at 718-528-0700.