Extra, Extra

I am looking to feature some of your organization/ cleaning before and afters.  If you would like to be featured on the blog, just leave me a comment with your email addy and I will get in touch with you.  I am looking for simple re dos- a drawer, a closet, the before and after of a refrigerator, or even the big things a room swap...so excited to share my first "featuring you" party:)

Everyday Cleaning

Maintaining a clean home with little ones can be really challenging.  I don't have a daily schedule of cleaning or even a weekly one.  As you saw here, I do make lists for big cleans and organizational projects but not for daily cleaning.  Probably because it is nonstop and automatic.  I thought I would write a post about how I clean my home on a daily basis.
I do have a couple of "rules" that I try to stick to that make cleaning easier to keep up with.
1. Clean the kitchen completely each night.  It is much easier to start your day with a clean slate!

2. Clean as you go.  I think when you have the mentality to clean up once at the end of the day, the mess can get overwhelming and it might cause you to give up and go to bed.  Then when the next day starts you are behind the ball.  So I try to clean up everything as soon as we are finished with it.
3.  Try to do at least one load of laundry per day.  Laundry tends to pile up fast over here and I find that throwing a load in before I leave in the morning and finishing it during naps helps me to stay on top of things.
So those are my pretty standard rules.  Now, I will go into specifics about what I do each day.  It's not really hard, but to be honest I am always cleaning up something.  I think that will change when my kids get a little bit older.  My oldest is able to clear the table and put his dirty laundry away but that's about it!
Whew!  Here we go....after each meal I sweep the kitchen and I use Basic H on my floors about 3 times per week.  It doesn't take me very long to do my kitchen; probably 10 minutes including the "washing."  Really, the Shaklee products have made my life so much easier.  I use one spray bottle for EVERY surface in my kitchen, floors to counters to appliances to cabinets.  I am always wiping down counters and doing dishes.  I do wipe my appliances down most nights as well as my cabinet handles because of toddler germs;)

The kitchen is the hub of our home so I spend the most time cleaning in there.  The rest of the downstairs is pretty simple.  I vacuum about three times a week, although most of my house is hardwood floors, the area rugs and corners need vacuuming often.  This takes about ten minutes, too.  I dust bi weekly, using Basic H on all of my wood surfaces.  I wipe down my powder room every other day with Basic G.  I tend to do these things when I can.  I try to have the downstairs finished before naps but like I said, I am always picking up after the kids.
As far as upstairs, I make my bed everyday and make sure that our water glasses go downstairs and that our bathroom is wiped down.  I use Germ Off wipes in our upstairs bathroom every morning.  It literally takes thirty seconds to wipe the toilet and sink down.  I wash my bathmats once a week.
The kids rooms are a different story.  I shared here about getting rid of my playroom so the kids rooms hold all of their toys.  I don't make their beds everyday because they all still nap and I feel like they are in and out of bed all day!  If we are expecting company, I do make the beds because the rooms look so much better that way but in all honesty, it doesn't happen everyday!  I do open their shades and let the sun in and they are responsible for putting their toys away before we go downstairs.

That's about it.  I think the biggest key to having a clean house is to declutter and clean as you go!  Later on in the week I am going to break down exactly how I clean each room, which products I use, what I have tried that has failed and what I do that works for me:)

The List Part 2

I attached the list that I made to keep my cleaning organized.  It's nothing fancy but I am envisioning myself crossing things off with a huge marker and that makes me happy:)  I am going to post the list on my bulletin board where I see it everyday.
Let me know if you find the list helpful!

The List

Like I mentioned earlier, I try to do one big cleaning project per week.  Sometimes that works great but other times I am able to get more than one thing done in a week.  I think it's really important to make a list to keep yourself organized when you are going to attempt a large clean.  My list is usually the same every year but there have been some additions like power washing the kids outdoor toys, reorganizing the garage and things that we didn't have to do before the kids.  My list for this year is pretty complete and I thought I would share it.  I will do a post of before and afters each time I finish something on the list.
1.  In, behind and the sides of the oven.
2.  Interior and top of the refrigerator.
3.  Screens and window sills.
4.  Deep clean my car. (probably the scariest on the list)
5. Wash all bedding, including vacuuming the mattresses.
6. Organize the garage.
7.  Power wash the screened in porch and toys that were left outside.
8.  Wipe down baseboards and walls.
9.  Vacuum couches.
10.  Wash throw rugs.

I am going to print this list out and put it on my bulletin board so I can check things off.  It feels so great to check off, actually I might even cross off!!!!
OK so this is the first step in getting ready to clean...make your list...
Am I forgetting anything???

Spring Cleaning

Ahhh let the spring cleaning begin!  Seriously, I do love to spring clean.  I like to get behind things and under things and just give the house that big overhaul.  Even though this weekend was chilly here, I was motivated to start.  I like to try and do one big project per week.  For me, this is obtainable and not overwhelming.  The first thing I did was clean behind my oven.  This is not for the faint hearted to look at. You might vomit when you see the dirt and grossness that was on the side on my oven and behind it.  I am just keeping it real!!!!

Before

Seriously....

Originally I was just going to use some Basic H but when I saw the mess I decided to pull out the big guns and go with the Scour Off.  No lie, it took about 3 minutes to clean this mess!

After

So much better!!!!

Then it was off to the floor under the oven.  I promise, this is just one years worth of ick!

Somehow even a little plastic knife got all the way under (note the blue handle in the corner)!

If you weren't grossed out enough, here is a close up:(

This was actually simple to clean up.  I was surprised that I didn't even have to really scrub.  I just sprayed some basic H and let it sit for a few second.  It wiped right up with a microfiber cloth.  

The difference is crazy!  So, what are you doing first on your spring cleaning list?  Have you attempted to clean behind your oven?  I would love to see some pictures!  Happy (almost) Spring!!!

White Dish

There is something about putting food on white plates that makes it so much more appealing.  I love this pie plate that I got from my grandparents house when they moved out.  I know that my kids will be really excited to eat their muffins when they look so good!  This isn't really a cleaning tip but white dishes make things look more streamlined and cleaner:)

Kid's Vitamins

While I am on my vitamin kick I thought I would share a little bit about children's vitamins.  Here is a great article written by a friend of mine:

Do you remember the infamous cartoon based in the town of Bedrock?  If that is not ringing a bell, maybe this will. “Wilmaaaaaaaaaaaa!”  Remember now?  Yes, it’s the Flintstones…the lovable caveman-like family who always seemed to be in a quandary.  While the cartoon was great, the bad news is, the vitamin is not.

When Flintstones Vitamins came out in 1968, parents rushed out to get these yummy chewable multivitamins that would help keep their kids healthy and strong. Vitamin A, Vitamin C…..Those aren’t so bad, right?  Wrong!  They are bad, when they are synthetically made.

Not all vitamins are made the same. Some are synthetically derived to mirror the real thing but are chemical in nature. Others start as natural, live ingredients and remain that way (for a full explanation of the difference in vitamins, click here).  The body responds to a synthetic vitamin as if it is a foreign object—in essence, it does not recognize it as the “real thing” and will reject it.

So those Flinstones multis that you may think are supplying your kids with their daily essentials are ending up in the “can.”  Furthermore, synthetic vitamins may be supplying your kids with more than you paid for.  Many cheap vitamin companies use harsh binders and fillers (i.e. tars, plastics, etc.) in the manufacturing of the vitamin to “stick” the ingredients together. A large percentage of many of these synthetic vitamins are not even vitamins, but fillers that will do more harm than good in the long run.  How do you think you would do if you ingested small amounts of tar on a daily basis for 10 years or so?  The long-term effects would probably not be the most positive.

When you look on the back of the Flintstones box to see the list of ingredients, the first thing that jumps out at me is the known carcinogenic (cancer causing) artificial sweetener,Aspartame!

The list of ingredients also includes things like Artificial Colors: FD&C Blue #2 Lake, FD&C Red #40 Lake and Calcium Carbonate. In addition, in the list of ingredients, only the name of the vitamin or mineral appears, without its chemical name. No plant sources were given.

So what’s the solution, you may be asking? For many, this is all you may have ever known and you may have believed you were doing something great for your kids! Well, you were, in the sense that you really care about their health and made a noble attempt to do something about it.  So don’t be discouraged. It is never too late.

Begin by getting rid of the synthetic store brands and adding in a whole food supplement that is actually alive.  These live nutrients will fill in the gaps where we may not be doing the best in the food category. A kids diet is a tough one for every mom, so supplementing wisely can really give good peace of mind.  Just make sure it is whole food.

Crazy, right?!  So it's actually a quick fix...swap your children't vitamins for these:

Incredivites

Or if you have children under age 4:

anyone want to make the switch??!!