Tackling that clutter

I don't know about you, but I have a major issue with clutter...I don't like to admit it, and usually can find some excuse or another for it, but it really is an issue...I think it's kind of inherited though lol! I try to work on breaking the habit every now and then, but have never been able to beat it.

If any of you have been on Pinterest, you'll notice that there are often pins about house cleaning. I have re-pinned many of them, but today found the best one for ME. It's found here

I love how she lays it out nice and simple, but ultimately leaves it up to you to figure out your own tasks. After reading through the article, I wrote down the main points that stood out to me, typed them up, and then hung the page in my kitchen. I am excited to share it with my husband! He doesn't have a big problem with clutter, but doesn't really help with the issue either (clothes belong in the hamper honey, not by the bed, beside the couch, or in the front entrance! Praying for the day when we have a mudroom...lol!) Anyways, here's what I got from the article:

The Four Unbreakable Rules

1. Everything has a home.
2. Use it or lose it.
3. Never ignore or pass anything that needs to find its home.
4. Use "little minutes" every chance you get.

Lists

1. Daily chores
2. Individual rooms broken into tasks

Boxes

1. Toss
2. Keep
3. Sell/Donate

Time

1. One hour per day spent
2. 30 minutes for daily chores which can be spread over the day
3. No more than 15 minutes “deep cleaning” one room per day

4. Remaining 15 minutes doing something you like/goal/relaxing/etc.

Remember: You are not “cleaning,” you are “preparing” rooms so that you will have a nice feeling every time you enter them!

Great tips hey! She even jokes around in it, saying things like, 

"I'm so buried I can't find the shovel to dig my way out!

How to get started when it all feels so hopeless.

Don't start with a shovel. Start with a spoon. Or actually three boxes and one corner.

Now you can do one small corner can't you? Of course you can!"  

How can you not smile at that! I know that for me, the main reason I don't tackle the clutter is because it just seems overwhelming...but today I followed her advice and worked on my kitchen for 15 minutes. Now, my kitchen isn't really that messy. I'm a big believer in clean kitchens and do my best to keep it that way, but the parts that aren't used for food prep always seem to accumulate clutter (the bar on the island, the end of the counter near the side door, half of the kitchen table...). I always clean it up, but it always "magically" re-appears! I'm glad I can use the Four Unbreakable Rules to help stop this now! So now, my kitchen is clutter free! And, I'll follow her advice and work on another room for 15 minutes tomorrow.  

I would highly recommend for everyone to go and read the article...let me know if it helps you out at all! Even if it just changes the way you do one or two things! And I'll let you know how my clutter is doing in a week! 

Productivity...

How was your day today? Are you just finally getting a chance to sit down? Have you been sitting down all day? Were you out and about, or did you stay home? Do you have an active job or passive job? I'm a stay-at-home mom. My maternity leave ended the middle of March, and I made the decision long before then that I wanted to stay home. It's actually been a goal of mine since I was in College taking Early Childhood Education. I thought, when I graduate, I'll work until we are ready to start having children, and then once my maternity leave it up, I'll open a dayhome so that I can stay home and raise my children with all of the knowledge I have gained! Well, that has almost gone according to plan. I really, really wanted to do licensed care, but because our deck isn't finished and our yard isn't landscaped yet, I'm not able to. I have to have a "safe, outdoor playspace." So until that time, I'm just watching one other child (who is actually only a week older than Mason!). I plan to open a licensed dayhome come September. It's kind of nice that everything didn't go according to plan, because this way, I still have a lot of my summer to "do what I want" with, as this child only comes three days a week.


Today was the first day he started coming. He arrived around 7:45, which meant I was up at 7:00 for a shower (yeah, I take 30 mins to do what should take 10 min lol), and then straightened up a few things in the kitchen while I was waiting. I usually don't shower until I put Mason down for a nap because I REALLY like my sleep...and Mason usually sleeps until between 8:00 and 9:00...so 7:00 was pretty early...especially since I had a terrible sleep last night. Do you find that happens to you? When something big or new is going to happen the next day? Even if it's not really that exciting? Like Christmas Eve....when I was a child I could hardly sleep, and it's still that way lol! Must be the stress of everything...so anyways, 7:00 came early this morning. I have been so lucky to have a child that I could teach to sleep in!

Back to my point--productivity. I don't like to admit that I'm often pretty lazy, but it's true. Most days, I get the kitchen cleaned up and a load of laundry done, and that's about it....I feel SUPER productive on the days when I vacuum, clean the bathroom, or sort through things that should have been put away long before...but I don't really feel too guilty about it, because the majority of the time spent not being "productive," is spent with Mason, watching him develop and change. Marvelling at how quickly he learns and picks up on things. Feeling so proud of him when I see the new skills that he is using. And just rolling around on the floor with him and Jake (our dog), playing and laughing. I am so blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom!

So when I heard a few weeks back, that someone in our area was looking for a dayhome, I thought, well, now's my chance. So I took it and now I get to still do everything I just talked about, but with one more child. It was so great to watch the two of them interacting and learning from each other today. And it was a much busier day that I'm used to! But it was a "good" busy-ness. When I worked in daycare, we always had a schedule that we followed--although it was sometimes just loosely followed--it was still there. So I know no other way. Today I put us on a loose schedule and it was great! We did everything that Mason and I usually do, took a walk in the sunshine (which hasn't happened for a while!), and I was able to use the time they were napping (Mason who usually sleeps for 2-3 hours only slept for 1 hour today...hopefully tomorrow will be different!) to clean up the toys, wash the highchairs from lunch + clean up the lunch mess, do supper prep, as well as peel and chop up a whole bag of carrots (the small bag that is), to blanch and freeze this evening. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to sit down while they nap! The child's father surprised me and picked him up an hour early, so otherwise he would still be here and I wouldn't be able to sit down quite yet...I mean, I could, but you try sitting down with two one-year-olds crawling all over the place, exploring everything...

Anyways, today was a great day. I got lots done while they napped,a load of laundry in while they played, and the front entrance vacuumed while they finished up lunch. And the strange thing is, that I don't feel as tired as I thought I would! Must be the exercise from the walk...we'll see how I'm feeling after supper though! I don't know about you, but that's when I want to just vedge!

Homemade granite cleaner and "clorox" wipes!

A while ago I posted about how I was going to start trying recipes for homemade cleaning products that I had found on Pinterest, but so far have only posted one! I have shared some other recipes that I have found, but not for cleaning products, so it's time to get back on track! Mason has been sick the last couple of days, and this morning he was very clingy (but no fever...) so I ended up putting him back to bed an hour after he had woken up, and he slept for 3 hours! I firgured this was a good time to try out the second recipe that you will read about (I actually made this on Saturday, but hadn't had a chance to try it yet!) The first one is...

Granite Cleaner
Granite cleaners can be quite pricy. I found this recipe a long time ago, like when I first joined pinterest, but ended up changing it a little.

I had bought two granite cleaners long before we got our granite installed (we were waiting for over a year for cabinets, and no cabinets means no countertops!). I bought a Zep brand cleaner (heavy duty) and an all natural one. Unfortuntaley, I really wasn't crazy about either. The Zep one smelled strongly and left streaks, and the natural one I found just didn't do the job I was hoping for.

So I called the place where we got our granite and asked if they sold any cleaners. The woman there told me they had one for about $10 (yikes!) but recommended I try a solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 10 parts water. I ended up going more with this recipe than the first, as I didn't want to leave any soap residue or fragrance on the counters. The first recipe only calls for a little of the soap and fragrance, but I didn't want to take the chance having any of that transferred to our food!

So I ended up using about 2 parts rubbing alcohol to 10 parts water---put it into a spray bottle, mist lightly, and rub with a dry cloth until it disappears. If there are gunky bits on my counter, I usually wipe them with a warm, wet cloth before using the spray.

I don't know the exact breakdown of price for this, but considering you can get rubbing alcohol at the dollar store, I would say it's less than 50 cents to make a whole spray bottle worth. And it gives your counters a nice clean shine, while disinfecting them (because of the alcohol). I might try adding a drop of dawn next time so that it would do a better job cleaning gunky bits...

The second recipe I tried was...

"Clorox" wipes
The original recipe can be found here.

I followed it exactly, except for the ammonia (which was optional), but only because I didn't have any.

On her blog, the author uses them to clean the bathroom. I also sometimes use clorox wipes to clean the bathroom (mostly just the toilet), but also like them for door handles and light switches. So I tried this solution on a few things---some easter eggs that I put out last week for Mason to play with, a bouncy ball, light switches, door handles, and my fridge door handles (stainless steel).

As I was using it, it seemed too soapy. I didn't see any residue left on the toys, light swtiches, or door handles once they had dried, although there was some when I was wiping, but the fridge door handles had dried soap on them afterwards. I think I will try to make this again, but next time use half the soap (it calls for 2 Tbsp), and use ammonia too.

Let me know if you try these recipes or have a different one for granite cleaner or "clorox" wipes that you use and find works well!