This past Monday I came back to my home in Wisconsin after a trip to Texas. My family went to see my 18-year-old son’s graduation from basic training with the Air Force. The eight weeks he was gone seemed to stretch on forever. But in the days leading up to the trip, I had so much on my mind in the way of packing and planning, that it diverted my thoughts at least somewhat. One of the goals that I had for this trip was to come back home to a clean house. I didn’t want to leave it in … Continue reading →

Here in my neck of the woods, Wisconsin, the temperatures have definitely dropped. In fact the past couple of days have been extremely windy, up to 30 and 40 mph. When you are only in the 40’s and 50’s, that makes for some cold weather. So it’s time to start finding those areas of the home that are drafty. You can save a lot of money on energy if you invest in newer windows. We have been slowly doing that. But it’s been slower than I would like. In fact, we have this gorgeous stationary window in the front with … Continue reading →

Photo is My Living Room Windows This past weekend I spent a few hours deep cleaning both my living and dining rooms. I scrubbed the floors, wiped down the walls, took down every picture and dusted it, cleaned the ceiling fans and so on. But I decided to do more than just clean. I moved furniture around. In fact, I ended up taking out the coffee table that was in my living room, which really opened up the space. I also decided to allow more light to come in. While I always open our blinds in the morning, I leave … Continue reading →

Did you know that in less than 30 minutes a day you can clean your house? I’m not talking about a deep cleaning. I’m talking about a surface cleaning and then time spent focusing on one room or task. Let me give you an example of how I do this. Let’s take Mondays. On Mondays I concentrate my effort into cleaning the kitchen. But I also make a sweep through our other main rooms to get them in order. It really does take me less than 30 minutes. I start by sweeping the kitchen floor (1 minute) and then I … Continue reading →

With it now being officially autumn and winter on the horizon, you are going to be spending much more time inside. This is why you might want to prepare the environment of your home. While you might have spent many a day out on the deck or an evening on the patio in front of a pit fire, now you will be indoors. So you want to prepare your home for the upcoming colder months. This is a good time to think about rearranging some things in your home. Which room are you most likely to spend more time in? … Continue reading →