Archive for the ‘Cleaning’ Category

Some Quick Cleaning Tips for Your Kitchen

Here are some quick cleaning tips for your kitchen to help you keep the mess and clutter to a minimum:

* Clean the kitchen cabinets, stove, refrigerator and counters with baking soda.
* Sweep and mop your kitchen floor.
* To remove skid marks on linoleum rub the spot with toothpaste before washing the floor.
* Remove all clutter from your countertop including dishes, glasses, utensils cups and other items you may have lying around.
* Store as many appliances as you can inside your cabinets to free up counterspace.
* Clean streaks in your stainless steel sink with olive oil.
* Replace your dish rag regularly, as well as the sponge or scrub you use for washing. (Put a wet sponge in the microwave and heat it for a few seconds to help sanitize it in between uses.)
* To remove hard-water build-up in a teapot or kettle, pour in two cups of vinegar and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, then rinse well.
* To clean the coffee maker: Pour straight vinegar into it as if you are making the coffee, no filter is needed. Turn the coffee maker on as if you were making a pot of coffee. Repeat this with a new batch of vinegar until it runs clear of calcium deposits.

*Just thought you might enjoy this short video…

“How to clean with baking soda“

Kitchen & Meal Time Organizing Tips

In many households the kitchen is really the heart of the home. You definitely want to make this room a relaxing family space but also practical to make family meal times and cooking as stress free as possible.

Here’s a few kitchen organizing tips to help get you started:

Organize Your Work Stations: To make cooking easier you want to make sure you have everything you need close at hand.  Designate an area for preparing the meals. It’s good to keep your spices and seasonings close to this area. You’ll also want to have chopping boards, knives and mixing spoons close at hand. Have another area planned for serving and keeping all your dishes, serving spoons, place mats and utensils.

By incorporating work stations into your kitchen and keeping everything you need near each work station, you’ll save a lot of time.

Organize Your Fridge: Clean out your fridge and organize things in categories to make finding them easier when you’re in a rush. It’s a good idea to keep all your dairy products together. Place cold cuts in tightly sealed plastic containers and label them. This will keep them fresh and also make it easier to find. You can do the same thing with cheese and left over foods.

Separate your fruit and salad items from your other vegetables so that you can find them easier. Often times you’ll forget you have those tomatoes in the back drawer and end up buying more. By keeping things organized you’ll waste and spend less.

*Read my post: What’s in the Back of Your Fridge?

Organize Your Pantry: Arrange your pantry or cupboards according to foods. For example: keep all your canned goods in one place and cereal in another. Keep items you use the most within easy reach and put away those appliances you never seem to use. They’re just taking up your counter space!

Plan Your Meals: This is by far the easiest way to organize your meal times. Take a few minutes and write out a meal plan and shopping list for the upcoming week. Buy everything in advance and stock up on items you use regularly and have a long shelf life. Then stick your menu on your fridge, glance at it each morning and plan ahead. Thaw any meat that needs thawing or chop and add your items to your crock pot.

Click here to Get Organized Now -  More Ideas, Tips, Tools And More To Help You Organize Your Home, Your Office And Your Life!

What’s in the Back of Your Fridge?

If you’re clueless about what’s lurking in the back of your refrigerator, it’s time to clean it out!  I realize that most people dread cleaning out the refrigerator.  (I think they’re even a little frightened by what they might find in there.)

One of the best reasons to keep your refrigerator cleaned is to help you stay organized.  In simple terms, it saves you money by allowing you to adequately use up your leftovers and keep you from buying an extra bottle of ketchup when you realized that you already had two in the fridge.

The best day to clean out the refrigerator is when you’re planning to do your major grocery shopping. For thrifty-minded moms, this helps you double check on what extra items need to be added to your list.  You may also plan on using some items in your freezer area for that coming week.  It truly is a great time to do some cleanup because it’s so easy to forget what you have on hand.

Over the years, I have found that weekly upkeep works wonders and eliminates most of the dreadful task.  If you haven’t cleaned your refrigerator for quite awhile, plan to do a thorough job as soon as possible.  Once you’ve done a thorough cleaning, you should make plans for a weekly upkeep.

How to do a weekly upkeep:

Divide your refrigerator into four equal parts.  The freezer area should be considered as one part; the refrigerator area should be divided into the other three parts.  Each week do a through cleanup (washing the shelves) in one of the areas.  Then, simply tidy up the other three areas quickly.   Every four weeks your refrigerator will have one whole thorough cleaning.  You’ll also find that by continual maintenance, you won’t have much scrubbing to do at all, especially if you learn to wipe spills while they’re still fresh.

As always, please feel free to share your tips with all our women readers!

Here’s a short video on how to clean a refrigerator:

How to Have More Spare Time to Do the Things You Want to Do

I love having spare time to do things that I like to do such as reading, relaxing or even working online blogging, don’t you?

The fact is, spare time is a luxury for moms who are very busy trying to keep order in the house.   Moms are multi-taskers who have to make sure that meals are prepared, clothes are clean, the house is clean and that the kids have their needs met regarding education, appoints  and events, etc.

The good news is that you can do certain things to make every precious minute count and in turn leave you with more spare time…

1.  Plan ahead – Create lists.

If  you have errands to do, you can save gas and time by doing them all on a certain day.  Using a list will help you make sure that you don’t get distracted and forget anything while you’re out.

Keep a shopping list on your refrigerator and immediately add anything that you’re running low on while you’re cooking.  This will save you time from constantly running to the store.  You’ll also save money because each time you go to the store, you’ll more than likely pick up extra items.

Also try to go shopping in the evenings or at least on days when there are less people in the store. Why waste an hour fighting the crowds when you can be done in 30 minutes.

2.  Plan meals – Thaw foods in advance.

Plan meals for the upcoming week so that you can add the ingredients to your shopping list. Keep your meal plan handy on the fridge so that you can know what foods need to be thawed in advance. This will save you extra time and money.  You won’t be tempted to pick up fast food or run to the grocery store when you already have your food thawed and your meal planned.

3. Buy in Bulk - Stock up on sales.

If you have sufficient space, then plan ahead and buy things in bulk. Also, watch for sales on items that you frequently use and stock up on them. You’ll save money and precious time by not having to go to the supermarket so often.

4. Pay Your Bills Electronically – Create a workstation.

If you’re able to do this, then you’ll even more time by not having to write out and mail checks. If you really can’t or choose not to do this, then set up a work station to keep your checkbook, stamp, envelopes and pens close at hand.

You can also have a calendar with all your important dates and appointments written on there. Go a step further and have an inbox for mail and papers that need to be filed. You’ll never waste time looking for those things again.

5.  Don’t Let the Housework Pile Up – Schedule tasks throughout the week.

There’s nothing worse than spending your weekends cleaning. If you do a little bit each day you won’t ever need to spend a whole day cleaning. For example, do a load of laundry daily rather than letting it all pile up for Saturday.  Schedule other tasks such as vacuuming and dusting on certain days throughout the week.

Once the weekend comes around, the house should be fairly organized gaining you some spare time. You may just have to give the bathroom and kitchen a little extra cleanup attention, leaving you with plenty of time to enjoy your family.

6.  Eliminate Time Wasters -   Lose time wasters and gain extra time.

Many people complain they have no time.   The fact is, we all have 24 hours in a day.   Check to see if there are some big time wasters that you can eliminate such as talking on the phone, playing games on the computer, watching too much TV, etc.   Ah, instant time gained!

7.  Eliminate Unproductive Tasks - Give up perfectionism.

There are some tasks that we always feel just “must” be done…yet, if we were to really consider it more… it’s really not as necessary as we think.   Gain more time by giving up perfectionism or tasks that are meaningless.  Nobody sees the dust underneath that cabinet.  Try cleaning it once or twice a year instead of weekly and save tons of time!

8.   Delegate – Create a family team and work together.

Sometimes we feel like we must do everything ourselves.  Learn to ask for help.  We deprive our children the joy of helping and learning to work when we force ourselves to do it “all”.  Tell your family that you are a “team” and then work together on many household projects.

9.  Organize Your Life – Don’t waste time hunting for lost stuff.

Don’t you hate wasting time looking for stuff?  Save this wasted time by organizing your house.  The time spent doing this will save you a lot of time and hassle in return.

Create a home and place for everything. For example, have a place near the front door where you can hang your keys and purse. Don’t forget items like umbrellas, hats, gloves and scarves for those rainy or cold days.

Some additional things to pay attention to: set up storage for the kids toys, get creative organizing your clutter in baskets or containers near the area where you’ll use the items and create a system to organize all those magazines and books.

As a final word, you can’t buy more time.  The key to having more spare time is simply saving time that you already have.

Feel free to share you time-saving tips with us here…

Quick Bathroom Cleaning Tips

Among our numerous household chores, cleaning our bathroom seems to be the dreaded job that falls to the bottom of our list. Why? It’s a yucky job, but someone has to do it.

Below are some quick bathroom cleaning tips that you can incorporate into your daily routine. More importantly, your family can help make it even easier for you.

Quick rundown…

* Take all of the trash out of the bathroom and put it in the garbage can.
* Put all of the dirty clothes in the hamper
* Use disinfectant to clean the sink, tub and counter.
* Use a bathroom cleanser and your shower spray to clean the tile inside the shower stall.
* Scrub the inside and outside of the toilet bowl with cleaner and brush.
* Clean the outside of the toilet bowl with disinfectant.
* Use glass spray to clean the mirrors.
* Sweep and mop the floor.

You’re done! Great job!

Now let’s discuss how you can keep your bathroom at this level of cleanliness…

1. Daily – Wash down the tiles with the shower hose, quickly wipe off moisture with a squeegee.

Set a time for everyone to do their showers.  Some families prefer mornings; others prefer evenings.  After showers are over, appoint a family member to wash and wipe down the showers.

2.  Daily – Spritz  down your bathroom facilities (tub, sink, toilet bowl and counter area) with a disinfectant spray and do a quick wipe down.

Doing this daily, should eliminate any scrubbing chores and help keeps germs to a minimum.

*Note: Check out our “Natural Cleaning Recipes” to make your own all-purpose cleaner that cleans & disinfects the bathroom too!

3.  Ensure that the trashcan in the bathroom is lined with a plastic bag.

This will make it easier for you to remove the trash.  I love using a white liner to create an appearance of cleanliness.  Leftover Wamart bags work perfect for little trashcans.

4.  Keep the bathroom cabinet under the sink well-organized and neat.

• Arrange the items so that you can easily retrieve them.
• Add hooks for your hair dryer and for any other appliances used.
• Buy a plastic box from your local dollar store and put all of the small items in it such as, curlers, pins, hair ties, and do the same for other items you may keep in there.
• Line the cabinets with Con-Tac to enable you to simply wash them down when necessary.

Bathroom cleaning doesn’t have to be a chore that takes hours of  scrubbing and washing; daily upkeep is the key to eliminating extra work.