It’s that time of ye
ar again! Have you begun thinking about cleaning for Passover? Keep in mind that cleaning for Pesach is not the same thing as Spring cleaning. With Passover, we are removing the Chametz from our possession. The main emphasis is not making our home, car, etc., clean, but rather ridding it of all leaven. So, with this in mind, I thought I’d give you a few tips that I have used over the years to simplify this process.
First, it is important to evaluate your circumstances. What I mean by that is, do you live alone? Are only adults living in the home? Do you have small children? All of these factors weigh heavily on how you will mobilize your efforts. When our children were small, I would clean all the bedrooms first and then no food was allowed in the bedrooms (when they were very small, all 3 shared one bedroom, so it was not that difficult).
Bathrooms are cleaned regularly and probably food is not taken into them 🙂
So for us, the living room, dining room and kitchen are all that is left. We have always lived in apartments/condos, so we don’t have a garage, basement, family room, etc. Therefore, my next step is to thoroughly clean the living room. With a few days left, I will clean the living room.
On a side note, as Pesach is drawing closer, I quit buying any food with chametz in it. No pasta, breads, cookies, etc. I use up all of my food.
To clean the kitchen: I take all of the food out of the refrigerator and freezer. I wash it entirely, taking out all of the shelves, etc., and was them with soap and water. Then I put them back in and cover them with aluminum foil. Any food that is kosher for Pesach I put back in.
Oven: I take out the racks and clean thoroughly with soap and water.
Cooktop: Our’s is gas, so I take it all apart and clean every surface.
Cabinets: I clean the outside and then take everything out of them and clean the insides. Put back only food items which are kosher for Pesach.
This is just a brief overview of how I clean our home for Passover. May your cleaning go smoothly!