Clean Sweep

Talk, Banter and Buzz

1,123
Miles of Twin Cities roadways that are spruced up each spring with the help of Adopt-A-Highway volunteers and Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) workers. It’s also just a bit shy of the distance from Minneapolis to New York City.
 

$9,000
Annual cost to give the Lowry Tunnel on I-94 in Minneapolis a good spring cleaning. A Mn/DOT crew replaces burnt-out light bulbs and repairs the tunnel’s tile walls and guard rails, among other chores, while power washers attached to tanker trucks hose down the space. Next stop for the crew: the bedrooms and dorm rooms of everyone ages 13 to 22.
 

85
Percentage of people who believe their house is cleaner than average.
 

960,000
Items donated to Goodwill in Minnesota in 2004. Those items helped generate some $17 million in sales. Once you’ve cleaned out your basement, of course, you’ll want to stock up on other people’s castoffs so you’ll have Goodwill donations for 2007.
 

$76
Cost, per month, to keep your extra stuff in an Acorn Mini-Storage garage instead of organizing it.
 

$1,425.47
Recently advertised sale price of an unassembled Platinum Elfa Walk-In Closet, which includes shelves, wall and door racks, hanging drawers, and gliding pant, tie, and belt racks. Just what a disorganized person needs: boxes and boxes of shelving, hardware, and instruction manuals.
 

46
Percentage of couples that say they argue about cleaning. The other 54 percent are too exhausted from their attempts to install a walk-in closet.