Take That, Grout!

I mentioned last week that this month is floor cleaning month around here.  And as unthrilling as that sounds...and is...I have managed to make a couple discoveries that have genuinely excited me!  The first was my rubbing alcohol paint spot remover.  And this next one is just as exciting.

I don't know if my lighting does a good job showcasing it, but my grout looks new again!  And all it took was some Spot Shot (yes, the carpet cleaner) and a toothbrush.  I sprayed the Spot Shot along the grout lines, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then used the toothbrush to scrub it clean. So easy...and satisfying.  

Hasta La Vista Paint Spots

January is floor month around here.  Exciting, right?  Just in case there's any confusion, it really isn't! Basically, it just means that I spend about a week spending all my free time on my hands and knees scrubbing our floors back to clean.  I've been at this for a few years now, and despite all my best efforts our floors have never really gotten back to 100%, mainly because of marks like these:

Confession: I'm a bad, bad DIYer.  I'm patient/lazy, and I never take the time to prep a room before I dive in and start painting.  As a result, there are several paint spots on our floors.  In fairness, most of these are from about 4 years ago when we first moved in (so at least my painting skills have improved considerably), but that also means most of these spots have been on the floor for almost four years.

Obviously, I have tried getting rid of them in the past, but none of my efforts (water, goo gone, scrubbing) have done the trick.  Until now (in case you didn't get the hint from the post title)!  

The magic solution?  Good ole rubbing alcohol!!!  Yep, $1 at the drug store (or even grocery store) and a tiny bit of elbow grease (really, not much though) and my awful paint spots are finally gone once and for all!  

So floor month may not be my favorite time of the year, but at least there was one exciting by product!

Shine On

I swear I think Pinterest can read my mind.  Frequently pins pop up on my news feed (or whatever it's called in Pinterest world) that directly satisfy a current need.  Oftentimes, it's some sort of cookie or other sweet treat, but in this case, it was actually for something much more productive.
May is window cleaning month around here (per my self-imposed cleaning schedule), but I really had no idea...or at least no novel idea...of how I was going to go about it.  And then I saw a pin that promised to have shiny, sparkly windows without any wiping or streaks.  Needless to say, I knew I had a winner.  And now that I have tried it out, I can confidently pass it along to you!  It worked...and in the fun kind of cleaning worked way in which you actually enjoy what you're doing because the results are so fantastic!  Plus, it was amazingly quick and easy.  I didn't even break a sweat and washed each window in about a minute!
Check out those shiny, streak-free windows:

 but if you want to try it out yourself, here's the recipe:

• 1/2 bottle Jet Dry
• 2 gallons hot water
• 1/4 cup powdered dish detergent
• 3 tbsp. rubbing alcohol

Once you've mixed everything together, start by attacking each window with the jet force of a hose.  Using a sponge brush (I opted for one with a long handle so I could more easily get the whole length of the window), scrub the window with the solution.  Then, rinse the window off.  I found it better to do this with a softer hose setting like shower to prevent as many water spots as possible. 

Easy peasy lemon squeezey, huh?!?  You're welcome!

At Your Service

Considering "spring cleaning" is a popular term, I'm assuming I'm not the only one who uses this time of year to clean up, refresh, and renew.  Ever since coming up with my cleaning schedule, I've actually done a much better job of staying on top of things, which means I actually won't be spending this April deep-cleaning the abode (yahoo!).  This also means, though, that over the year, I've come across a few easy, time-saving cleaning/organizing tips, and I figured with it being April and all, now was  good time to share them with you!

1.  Last year, I shared with you how I discovered the wonder that is using dryer sheets on your baseboards.  Well, guess what?!?  Turns out those babies are awesome for keeping dust off anything, so I now use them on the blinds, fans, and anywhere else that tends to trap dust!

2.  Speaking of the fans, I used to despise cleaning those freaking blades because it felt like all the dust would just rain down on me...GROSS!  But then I discovered the genius idea of using a pillow case to clean each blade.  Just wrap it around the blade and give it a good wipe down...all the nasty stuff will end up in the pillow case and you can just throw it out when you're done!  Bonus points if you want to put a dryer sheet in there!

3.  In the interest of saving you a bit of time, I wanted to pass along this little tidbit I heard on the "Today" show a few weeks back.  Turns out you should not rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher...seriously, you're not being lazy.  Turns out your dishwasher is designed to strip off that residue, so if you've scrubbed your dishes clean, the dishwasher is going to strip off your dishes instead!  I have been washing mine clean for years, so this little tip feels like I have a whole lot more time on my hands all of a sudden!

4. This week I've been busy switching out and cleaning out our closets.  I was telling my sister the system I used, assuming it was a pretty obvious one, and she seemed impressed, so I figured I'd pass it along to you all too!  Basically, I put all of my clothes in the closet like regular.  But as I wear things, I put them back at the front of the line, instead of just putting it somewhere random.  Not only does this system help me to remember what I've worn recently, so as not to repeat too frequently, but it also helps me figure out what needs to go.  At the end of the season, then, the stuff that is still at the back of the line is the stuff I haven't worn all year!  And then I figure if I haven't worn it all year, it means it's time to get rid of it!  PS: I use the same system for the boys, but more for the sake of mixing up their outfits since they pretty much outgrow stuff anyway and I don't have to make decisions about what to keep!

So there you have it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...cleaning is definitely my major housewife weakness, but these little tips sure have helped me out!  Hopefully, you'll find something to help you out too!

There Has to Be a Better Way

Last week, my mom had Colton over for a special Nene-Colton day, which left me and Levi to have specially mommy-Levi day.  I learned a lot in that day:
*there's only but so much you can do with a six-month old...after making funny faces for about 15 minutes or so, I was antsy to move on to something else...so I would do something for a bit...and then come back to the funny faces (or other appropriate activity!)
*having one child is amazingly easy!  How did I not realize this when I only had one?!?
*saving all the house upkeep tasks for one day make for a pretty crappy day
While I really can't do much about the first two, I did realize that I could do something about the third.  I guess I should give you a bit of background first.
When I became a stay-at-home mom, I took over the cleaning duties from our very nice cleaning lady, Rowena, in an effort to save a bit of money.  But considering I absolutely hate cleaning, I would put it off and put it off until the dust/gunk was so noticeable that it HAD to be dealt with.  This would usually result in a once-every-three-weeks-or-so cleaning spree... while Colton was at school, since it was pretty hard to accomplish with him in the house...that took me a few hours.  Well, since Colton hadn't been in school for awhile, I knew that the day he was going to be at Nene's was the opportunity for me to get the cleaning done again, but it totally sucked!  Instead of getting to enjoy a rare day with just Levi, I was busy slaving away at these awful tasks.  And that's when it hit me...maybe it would make sense to spread these tasks out instead of tackling them all at once.  I realized each individual chore was only about a 10-20 minute task in itself (sometimes even less), so if I committed about 30 minutes (and hopefully even less a day) to cleaning than not only would I not have to ever have a dreadful cleaning day again, BUT the house would also hopefully not get so out-of-hand in the first place.  Duh, huh?
I looked on Pinterest at a lot of different cleaning schedules, but none of them really seemed to work for me, so I made my own.

In case, you're looking to utilize this too, I feel like I should clarify a few things.
*I included anything and everything that needs to be maintained...our house, the outside, the car.
*I didn't bother to include things on the schedule that I already do on a daily basis (make the bed, cleaning dishes, etc) or things that would really need to remain random (weeds, running the dishwasher).
*I aimed for NO MORE than 30 minutes of work daily (and hopefully less each day).  I hope to get this stuff done first thing in the morning before we even leave the house (I already do our daily stuff then anyway, so we'll see).
*I didn't include weekends cause who wants to clean on the weekend?  I figured they could always serve as make-up days if necessary!
*I didn't feel the need to define the tasks too much, instead figuring that I would do as much as necessary each week, so for example, if the bathrooms need sinks, toilets, tubs, etc scrubbed one week, but really only the sinks the next, then so be it!
*For the things that have two listed on one line (sheets/car and high chair/patio), I plan to rotate which of those I do each week...in my mind, they were things that only needed to be done every other week instead of weekly...we'll see!
*And finally, I figured while I was at this new spread out cleaning mentality, it also made sense to take away the deep cleaning from one month (I usually save it for April) and spread it out throughout the year as well.  So, I also created a monthly schedule for that.  For some things, deep cleaning will be more of decluttering (like the closets) and in others be actual cleaning (baseboards, blinds, etc).  I strategically placed the closet cleaning twice a year during the months in which I typically switch over the clothes for the new season.  I also did the kitchen twice a year because our pantry, freezer, and refrigerator seem to need organizing more frequently.

So, there it is!  Because I'm a big dork, I'm actually kind of excited to initiate my new schedule this week and see how it goes.

So Maybe I Am the Next Martha

Stewart that is.  I know, I know...it's a pretty big claim, so let me explain for a second.  As you may have gathered from reading this little ole blog, I pretty much love all things domestic.  Really, I do.  To me cooking, decorating, mothering, etc. are really not chores...I genuinely enjoy doing them.
There has always been one domestic activity, though, that I have loathed, one small obstacle in my way to becoming the next Martha Stewart.  CLEANING!!! I find it to be tedious and quite frankly a waste of time.  I mean, as soon as you're done dusting or what have you, there's dust already accumulating again.  So, my approach to cleaning has been to either a. hire a cleaning lady or b. just wait until the dust or whatever is too noticeable and actually has to be dealt with.
Well, when I stopped working, one compromise we made was to ditch the cleaning lady (booooo), and for the most part, I have been pretty much keeping up with the cleaning...begrudgingly, but keeping up with it.  But the baseboards were another story.  I didn't even really realize you were supposed to clean those actually until I saw the crazy, massive amount of dust and junk clouding up my white baseboards and I figured there had to be some way to deal with it.
After putting it off and putting it off, I finally tackled the baseboards.  And guess what?!?  It actually wasn't that bad.  I may have even slightly enjoyed it.  I mean, not enjoyed it like I enjoy a date night with Josh or anything, but enjoy as in "man, I feel accomplished and not totally irate."  Part of my enjoyment was probably the incredible success of the chore.  You probably wouldn't be able to tell in pictures (so I didn't take any), but even Josh could tell when he got home from work (and it took him over a week to notice that I had switched out some of the art work in our living room!).  Plus the whole house only took me a couple of hours (spread out over 2 nap times) which was way less than I had budgeted, so success again!
You wanna tackle your baseboards after reading this, don't you?  Well, here's how I did it.  First, I made my own simple cleaning solution by mixing 1/2 cup vinegar with 2 1/2 cups of warm water.  This ratio doesn't make a relatively small amount, but mine got so dirty so quick I figured it was better to go small and keep making it then make a whole lot.  With my bucket of cleaner ready, I just used a sponge to wipe down the baseboards.  Be sure to wring the sponge out first so you don't get too much drippage.
                                      
After allowing the baseboards to dry out a bit, I then went back over them with some dryer sheets.  I had read online several times that the sticky stuff in the dryer sheets coats the surface to prevent dust from reforming there.  I can't promise that it really works cause it's only been a few days, but so far, so good.
And that was it!!!  How easy does that sound?  I'm telling you...try it, you may be surprised how it's kind of not so bad!