Search Results for: blog dirty or clean

Homemade Oxygen Cleaner

With three children, laundry is always a challenge. First there is the hunting through the house for stray socks, finding wet towels wherever they land, and digging through the bottom of the hall closet for dusty jackets and sweatshirts that fell from the hangers. After the laundry is gathered and sorted, anything with a stain needs to be addressed, which probably accounts for at least a third of the children’s clothing in any given week. I have my arsenal of tools. The stain pre-treaters, the better powdered detergent I swear by, the utility sink for soaking. One tool that works … Continue reading →

What is the Dirty Dozen List?

One of my little frugal dreams is to one day walk into a store and see plump juice organic strawberries for very little cost. That dream may have a hard time being actualized, since organic strawberries, even when in season, can get expensive. Conventional strawberries, on the other hand, may be on sale or even available as a “loss leader,” an item that the store loses money on in the hopes of getting shoppers in the door. Still, it is a rare day when I buy conventional strawberries. They are just too high on the list of produce with the … Continue reading →

Fire Your Maid Service and Get Your Family Cleaning

Admittedly, I wouldn’t say no to maid service, if it was free that is. Since it isn’t I have to rely on myself and my family to do the cleaning. Getting three kids to clean is a chore in itself, even when just has to do with cleaning up after themselves. Still, I’d rather have train the family to clean than pay for a maid. Plus, this way, my kids get some valuable real-life lessons, thrown in. Routine is Everything Establish some cleaning routines, and cleaning won’t take up so much time. It is easier to do a quick wipe … Continue reading →

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

Guess what today is? It is National “Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.” And the timing couldn’t be more perfect, with Thanksgiving right around the corner. If you are hosting the Thanksgiving meal, you want to make sure everything is spotless. And you definitely want to make room for the food, so why not take advantage of this National event? Personally, I will be saving this job for the weekend. If you can do it today, go for it. But remember, this isn’t just about taking out the stuff that’s growing mold (oh, I hope that isn’t happening in your fridge—talk … Continue reading →

Cleaning Grout

After cleaning my bathroom floor the other day, I noticed some discoloration in the grout between the tiles. It is much easier to clean the tiles but mildew and dirt can be a bit more stubborn when it comes to your grout. If you want to give it a real good cleaning, use a grout cleaning brush. These can be found at your local “Home Depot,” “Lowes” or other type of home improvement store. However if it isn’t too dirty, you may be able to get away with using a toothbrush (of course, it goes without saying that it shouldn’t … Continue reading →

Cleaning the Dishwasher

I do a pretty good job keeping up with my schedule in which I deep clean the appliances in my kitchen. Most of us tend to think about the stove and refrigerator. But if you have a dishwasher, this should be added to your list of deep cleaning every three or six months. Think about it this way. It’s an appliance used every day. It cleans dirty dishes. Still not getting the picture? That’s probably because you assume since it is an appliance that cleans, it doesn’t require cleaning. Not true. You might compare it to your teeth. You can … Continue reading →

Cleaning Or Playing, Decisions, Decisions

No one wants to live in an overwhelmingly messy house. For me, it’s stressful if the house is a mess. It’s also stressful to always be nagging my daughter about picking up after herself. I did feel it was my job to teach her to clean up after herself, I just never enjoyed that particular battle. When Hailey was small I had to accept that my house was going to have that lived in look. There are just not enough hours in the day to do everything. One lesson I learned early in my single parenthood was to pick my … Continue reading →

My House Is Not Clean

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Do you have a method to your housekeeping or is it more hit or miss? I’m totally a hit or miss housekeeper. My house stays fairly neat but the cleaning is not on any type of schedule. If I walk into a room I might notice the baseboards need to be dusted and dust them. The furniture in that room will most likely not get dusted at the same time. Or maybe I notice fingerprints on the bathroom door. I’ll wipe those down but that doesn’t mean I will clean the bathroom. In the morning when I’m brushing my teeth … Continue reading →

Let Them Get Dirty

We all want to do everything we can to keep our children from getting sick. We feel terrible for them, it’s no fun to be sick. When you are a single parent, a sick child can become a major issue, there is no one else to share the burden of missed time from work, and if you don’t have the sick leave to take, it can mean missing work without pay. So we fill our homes with everything we can find to stave off illness. Soaps, toothpaste and other personal hygiene items can be bought with anti bacterial agents. I … Continue reading →

Keeping The Kitchen Floor Clean

Cleaning my kitchen floor is not one of my favorite things. It’s a fairly large floor and I usually do it on my hands and knees. I was taught that is the only way to clean a floor well and I still believe it. Mops push dirt around, especially in to corners and under cabinets so the best way to clean them is the old fashioned way. To try to stretch out time between scrubbings there are some things I do to keep the floor as clean as possible. First is simple spot cleaning, if you spill something wipe it … Continue reading →