The Single Man’S Housecleaning Playbook: A Quick and Simple Guide to Cleaning Your Home Like a Pro
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About this ebook
This playbook shares author Sidney Showalters experiences and research in developing a housecleaning strategy and puts it together into a handy, useful game plan designed for the single person who may never have learned how to clean a house or apartment. Besides the area specific guide, it offers tips for effectiveness and efficiency along with cleaning trivia and finally a Special Plays section with specific plays for certain situations like a top to bottom deep clean, quickie cleanup and even for when someone stops by unexpectedly.
Using a humorous and down-to-earth approach, The Single Mans Housecleaning Playbook provides an excellent guide to tackling the task of keeping your living space clean. Even a seasoned pro may pick up a few tips.
Sidney Showalter
Sidney Showalter is a man of many and varied talents and experiences, none of which includes professional housecleaning. Even so, his family, college, and naval experiences established a keen observation on the needs and approaches necessary to clean a house in a professional manner. He currently lives in Naples, Florida.
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The Single Man’S Housecleaning Playbook - Sidney Showalter
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: 1-800-839-8640
©
2014 Sidney Showalter. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 05/05/2015
ISBN: 978-1-4969-1391-3 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4969-1390-6 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4969-1389-0 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909272
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,
and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
THE STORY
1 The Master Bedroom
2 The Master Bathroom
3 Halftime
4 The Living Room
5 The Dining Room
6 The Other Bedrooms
7 The Second Bathroom
8 The Man Cave
9 The Kitchen
THE PLAYBOOK
Introduction
Steps to Achieve Success
Beginning
1. Scouting
2. Picking up and Putting Away
3. Dusting
4. Cleaning Glass and Mirrors
5. Cleaning The Floor
Carpet
Tile
Wood and Laminate
Marble
6. Bathroom
7. The Kitchen
SPECIAL PLAYS
1. Fullback up the Middle
2. The Full Monty
3. Quarterback Sneak
4. The Hail Mary Play
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Uncle Ed Whitcomb, my inspiration for writing a book, and Cousin Rosemary Messick for her encouragement and support from the inception through the publication of the book. Others include Lisa Wrobley, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, for early guidance, Judy Edwards and Alice Fraser for editing in the early stages, Judith Dallal, Diane Sebass, and my sisters, Susan Showalter and Baby Seester
Sarah Klatt, for their help in the latter stages. I would also like to thank Dave Tanner for lending me his football playbook and Naples High School for the helmet and use of the field.
A special thank-you goes to Robert Berman, my very good friend here in Naples, for editing and marketing ideas, and to Kelly Cahill of AuthorHouse Publishing, who held my hand from the beginning to the completion of the publishing process.
Preface
One day my house cleaner, Ruth, called me to tell me that she had broken her arm and would not be working for six weeks. I had two choices—hire a new house cleaner or do it myself. Ruth had always done a fabulous job cleaning my house; therefore, I wanted her to return as soon as possible. Recently retired, I decided I would give it a go myself. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I thought cleaning would be no big deal.
I had little training or experience with housecleaning. My mom had made me make my bed and take out the trash. (She also made me feed the dog and bring in the paper.) My dad, a retired judge with lots of time on his hands, became an expert at using the vacuum cleaner. At Boys Club Camp I had to make my bed in such a manner that a quarter would bounce on it, put my clothes in a drawer, and sweep the floor and porch. As a college fraternity pledge, I performed various jobs to keep our house clean. When I was a waiter, I learned how to set and clean tables and wash pots and pans. The first month at Navy Officers Candidate School (OCS) I shared responsibilities for keeping the barracks clean. In all these instances I did tasks I thought I would never do again.
After a few weeks of housecleaning, I began to get the hang of it. I learned to do tasks correctly in the proper sequence, and by trial and error, I learned what products to use. I also gained knowledge from speaking with housewives and women who cleaned professionally.
Besides personal experience of trial and error and talking and working with house cleaners, I also did a little research by reading other books on cleaning. One day, while doing my research, I walked into a major bookstore and asked to see the housecleaning section. The male sales assistant asked me what I was looking for. When I told him that I was writing a book, he casually asked me what it was about. When I replied that the title was the Single Man’s Housecleaning Playbook, he burst out laughing and remarked that he had never heard of a book like that before. I was delighted! After I looked through the bookcases, explored Amazon, and checked the library, I began to realize that I couldn’t find a book that was similar to what I had in mind.
I began to realize that most men (and maybe a lot of women) have never been taught much about how to clean a house. Our mothers gave us some guidance and instruction, but unless we took home economics, we were left to fend for ourselves. I realized that a book like I had in mind could benefit a great number of people and save them a lot of time. It was at that point I decided to give it a try. My objective was to write a book that explained all of the basics:
• what to do
• how to do it
• what to do it with
• when to do it
I decided my book would be patterned after a football playbook that house cleaners could refer to when they needed to keep themselves on the right route. I also realized that a subject like this might be quite boring, so I tried to lighten the story up with a little trivia and humor to keep the reader from falling to sleep.
After several years of procrastinating, with prodding by my cousin Dr. Rosemary Messsick, I have finished the book. I hope it will be of benefit to you.
THE STORY
Chapter 1
THE MASTER BEDROOM
I wish I could say that the 7:00 a.m. alarm woke me out of a sound sleep, but I can’t. To quote an old song, I didn’t sleep at all last night!
It’s not unusual for an athlete the night before a big game to stay awake all night. Today my big game is coming up with a plan on how to clean my home in a quick and efficient manner so that I will have more time to play golf and go out sailing on the Gulf of Mexico.
I have tried many house cleaners, but they