Instead of buying cereals or snacks made with wheat, start buying ones that are wheat free so that if your kids are dribbling them around the house, it is only kitniyos crumbs that are raining to the ground and into your couch cushions. *

(*if you need to keep eating your favorite cookies, just hide them from the kids by putting them in a box marked “spinach.” Trust me, they’ll stay safe and untouched)

If your child simply must have chometz filled cereal (oy, kids these days,) try not to buy circle shaped cereal that can roll directly out of their bowl and under your fridge.

Mikvah Madness............

Take all new kitchenware to the mikvah.

Mikvaos get very busy in the weeks before Pesach. You could easily wait 30 minutes to an hour for your turn to immerse your new items.

Save time and frustration by purchasing and immersing new pans and utensils now; store them with your other Pesach items.

Because........... Ain’t nobody got time for dat’ on Erev Pesach!

Freezer Unfrozen............

One of the first things I like to do when I start cleaning for Pesach is to defrost and clean my large freezer because:

   A. I like to take an inventory and see what I need to use up before Pesach that has been languishing in my freezer for a while. (read the story of Bob, below*).

   B. I place my meat and chicken order pretty early on in the season, because why not? And that means I gotta make room in there.

  C. Cleaning my freezer does not frighten anyone in my household because it does not affect them personally (and we are definitely all about that around hereJ As opposed to the point in time where there is nothing to eat for a day or two. Now, THAT scares my family!!

 (I actually came up with a great plan to keep the troops fed throughout the week of Erev Pesach that has really helped with what I like to call the “pallor o’ death” that used to cover everyone’s face around here when all we were eating were freezer burnt franks. Stay tuned for some other article further down the road where I will share my secret at no charge. I am just nice like that, I know :)

*Bob, dear old Bob. Also known as “Zecher turkey livracha.” He lived in our freezer for ‘lo many a moon. I would gently scoot him over to the side if I needed to make room for some Empire chickens, or a container of soup. We would shift him from top shelf to middle shelf in the freezer about once a month, begging his pardon in the nicest way. Occasionally a question would come up about him in hushed tones around the dinner table. (“Ma, what are we doing about B O B?” obviously, we did not want H I M to know we were talking about him as we were sure he could still hear well despite his headless state.) Eventually, I decided to roast the poor old guy (and I do mean OLD), but by then dear old B O B had been frozen for so long, he just didn’t look safe to cook anymore. So, that’s’ another good reason to go through your freezer before Pesach even if you are selling it, so that you don’t have any Bob’s, or Gertrude’s, or Melanie’s languishing away in the cold and meeting the fate that our Bob, may he rest in peace, did.

So, spoiler alert for next week..............which room should you start cleaning first?

Can’t wait to share with you!

Until then, happy cleaning!!

Best,

Tanya

As a professional Organizer serving the Pikesville, Owings Mills, and Towson neighborhoods, Tanya specializes in residential and home office organization. Her experience allows her to quickly asses the needs of her clients, and teach them how to best use systems to handle the “stuff” in their lives more effectively. Tanya can be reached by phone at 443-956-2522 or feel free to email her at tanya@precisionorganizing.net