LAUNDRY AND IRONING
Decide which clothing and linens you will need for the
week of yom tov. Then wash and iron only
these items, and set them aside in a safe place for
Pesach.
Sell everything else, including the hamper into which
you toss the last set of "chometz" clothing on erev
Pesach.
KITCHEN CUPBOARDS
The following approach may prove useful to you:
Buy a collapsible set of plastic or metal shelves that
will be stored away, unassembled, during the year, and
kept only for Pesach use. Keep the box to stash away
the unit again after Pesach.
Use this for your Pesach utensils, and leave your
chometz dishes right where they are. Sell the cupboard
and any stray chometz in it, but not the dishes! You'll
be ready to start cooking much sooner, and with more
energy to devote to the essentials.
Some might protest that this makes the kitchen less
tidy and elegant than it is for the rest of the year.
Ask yourself what's more important: a happy, patient
mother who is in good spirits and can function well
during the busy week of Yom Tov, or a tidy, elegant
kitchen for seven or eight days of the year.
Other kitchen tips:
* Clean out food cupboards in advance. Organize all the
chometz items in cartons that you can throw out or burn
on erev Pesach.
* Do the refrigerator early, even if you're still using
chometz dishes and pots. Then cover the floor of
refrigerator and maybe one shelf.
Cover other shelves and door parts for Pesach and store
in a safe place.
LISTS and PLANS
Plan backwards. Start with what you want to do on
erev yom tov, the fourteenth of Nisan. Grate
morror, make charoses, other jobs that must
be done that day. How about a nap for Mommy, not just
for the children, so she'll also be wide awake for the
seder?
Then go back one day, list jobs that can be done two
days before yom tov. Keep backing up one day, and
listing jobs to be done.
Try to be realistic. Remember that dust and dirt aren't
chometz. Of course it's a mitzvah to have the
house pleasantly fresh and clean for any yom tov
or Shabbos, but better a sparkling you than
sparkling windows.
Other useful lists:
Before Yom Tov:
1. How much you bought this year of staple items such
as matzos, matzoh meal, etc., so you can note at
the end of Pesach whether it was sufficient, not
enough, or too much.
After Pesach:
1. Note on the above list any recommendations for next
year: how much to buy, which products you did or didn't
find useful.
2. Note any items you save from year to year. Record
what you have and how much of it. Try to buy now what
you need for next year. If not, note what you want to
get next year, such as "Need bigger refrigerator box
for gefilte fish."
3. Also write down anything that broke and needs to be
replaced, any ideas for next year that popped into your
head during Yom Tov.
It's a good idea to keep one copy of this list with
your Pesach dishes, right on top where it's easy to get
to it, and to make another copy that will be chometz-
dig, so you'll have it easily available to refer to
when you go shopping all year long.
4. Recipes that you especially liked. Note quantities --
did you double or half the recipe? Any special
ingredients you want to be sure to buy next erev
Pesach?
RENDER INACCESSIBLE FOOD CRUMBS INEDIBLE, AND THEREFORE
NOT PROBLEMATIC
A trick many housewives use when they can't clean out
small cracks is to douse them with concentrated bleach
so that any crumbs lodged in a crack are rendered
inedible and therefore not problematic on Pesach.
For items that can't take bleach, use bug spray. Try on
a hidden area first to make sure the material won't be
affected.
MAKE BEDIKAS CHOMETZ EARLY
Emptied out a clothes cupboard and wiped the inside
down?
If you plan to sell the cupboard and its contents for
the week of Pesach, go right ahead and put everything
back.
If you want to use the cupboard on Yom Tov, then make
bedikas chometz (without a brocho) in the
cupboard BEFORE replacing contents, which, of course,
should also be checked.
Label the cupboard: "CLEAN FOR PESACH" and seal it with
masking tape.
A FINAL NOTE
Nothing here should be taken as halochoh; any
questions should be directed to a reliable rav
for decision.
The main point is to keep the atmosphere one of
pleasure in doing the mitzvah at hand. In families with
older children, who work along with you, be sure to
take breaks, sit down together for a snack, and enjoy
your progress together. Children who grow up enjoying
the tasks of erev Pesach as an opportunity to
accomplish something together will convey this same
simcha to their children when they become
parents.
Happy Pesach cleaning to all!
