Pesach cleaning! Who, me?

Don't know what is going on with me this year, but I am 2 weeks before Pesach and not even started the cleaning. Most part of the ladies I know, are already half through it and are working hard to finish the last details of the menu. Me, I am finding every day more excuse to procrastinate, one being that my daily work is too exhausting and demanding to keep myself a whole day busy preparing two weeks in advance. 

To be honest, this is a relatively new mindset, as I am always very organized, with a clear plan in mind and on paper about the main benchmarks of Pesach preparation shortly before Purim. But in the last months, I had the occasion to see that I am usually quite fast, and able to make short-notice preparations relatively spontaneous. Most of the Shabbos during the winter time were done under time pressure and b''H, everything went well. 

Not me, this time. Source: crownheights.info

Compared with other families we know, we are not such a big family, we don't have such a big house and most probably two full days before Pesach will be enough to get ready. We don't expect guests this year either and we plan to spend the entire time reading and learning together. As for the menu as such, I am quite stringent and there will not be too many lavish options anyway.

As in many situations that occurred in the last 12 months, I prefer to take things easy, count till 10 and avoid any stress and pressure. Pesach is more than getting to your physical limits, it's about being ready for Geula. 

Meet the Masterplan

Just in case, here are a couple of benchmarks that I usually follow for my general cleaning plan on Pesach:

- getting rid of the unused things: books, publications, used shoes, clothes, toys, makeup; I usually sell the books or donate some of them, and I donate the toys and clothes; I have no idea how so many things are accumulated over the year, but we are serious consumers and we invest and gather a lot of unuseful things; by far, this is one of the longest process, because it requires a careful selection process and long deliberations about why we don't need some things; 

- using the food gathered over the last months - it saves a lot of money that can be used for buying food for Pesach - especially if you don't have too many kosher options in your area, ordering from abroad can be a serious investment;

- washing - we accumulate mountains of clothes that we should have clean before Pesach; to this, I always add the table clothes, towels and curtains - in maximum 6 hours everything is done and while the washing machine is working, I can do some other work too; 

- planning the time in advance - where we will spend the two Seders - I usually prefer to have one at home and another one outside (case in which a reservation should be made as soon as possible); however, due to my chumros, we usually spend a lot of time with my Askenazi friends; the chol hamoed we spend outside, with trips in the city, museums, parks, zoos, reading and learning. We try to spend as much as possible time outside, without Internet or busy cell phones. 

- kashering is usually done shortly before Pesach and it may last for at least 48 hours. Selling the chometz is part of the same time schedule.

- the shopping list, which means that I have to know relatively well what we will eat - except matzos, many veggies, wine and eggs, many eggs. Also, we need to have enough plastic wares.

-  shopping - this activity takes more time than usual, even more than cleaning, because many of the items we are looking for are not easy to find. Besides the usual foodie shopping, we also buy new clothes and some new shoes maybe. 

- lessons learned, when we try to find out what it worked, what we need to correct the next time, how we can improve our time management; last but not least, maybe the next time we will finally be able to go to a very lavish kosher for Pesach resort and enjoy the full time of the chag without backpains and headaches and with the focus only on learning. Maybe the next year.

This is the usual timeline. I can do the cleaning fast, the planning slower and decide the menu longer. Despite all the hassle and the pain and the difficulties of managing the daily life and job with the stringencies of the cleaning, I can't wait for Pesach. It's one of the best times for me, when I always took the best decisions and followed my heart for the next moves in life. 

Can't wait but looking forward to it!