The Single Man’s Housecleaning Playbook

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 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 house cleaning. My mom made me make my bed and take out the trash. (She also made 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. At Navy Officers Candidate School (OCS), the first month 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 house cleaning, I began to get the hang of it. I learned to do tasks correctly, in the proper sequence, and, by trial and error, learned what products to use. I also gained knowledge from speaking with housewives and women who cleaned professionally. I also did a little corporate spying by reading other books on cleaning. One day I walked into a major book store and asked to see the house cleaning 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 “Single Man’s House Cleaning Playbook”, he burst out laughing and remarked that he had never heard of a book like that before. I was delighted! After looking through the bookcases, exploring Amazon, and checking 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, namely: • 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 which 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.