Kathy Zengolewicz

For instance, Animal shelters very often need used blankets, towels and sheets. They use these items to create a soft sleeping surface or for cleaning up messes and for bathing the strays they help.

Women’s shelters can always use women’s and children’s attire, toys, books, etc. If you have it to spare, why not buy some disposable diapers and donate them, too.

I hate to throw away books or magazines. I take the older magazines and give them to the receptionist is my doctor’s office. They appreciate the reading material for their patients.  When I finish reading a few books I have my husband take them into his work and give them to whoever wants them.

Half way houses can always use men’s attire, especially winter coats in the cold weather.  Any power tools that you no longer use can be given to groups like Habitat for Humanity.

If you come across some old food containers you can use them for organizing your sewing materials like buttons, pins, needles and cloth scraps.

These are just a couple of ideas. I’m sure you can find many more uses for old household items that you are no longer using. Donating these items help others and you get organized and rid of clutter at the same time, so it’s a win win situation.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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Kathy Zengolewicz

It has also been used as a repellent for fleas. After removing the fleas from your pet with a fine toothed comb, you should drop any fleas that you removed into a solution of Dawn and warm water. It is also recommended that you wash the animal’s bedding in the dishwashing liquid and warm water to keep the fleas away. When you think about it, it’s probably safer to use Dawn than a flea and tick spray.

Dawn has been mentioned on a few websites as an ant repellant. Spray your countertops in the kitchen and bath with a solution of Dawn and water and the ants don’t like it. Spraying the solution directly on the ants will kill them.

Shampoo builds up on your hair from constant use and using dawn, once a month, the same way that you would a shampoo will strip any buildup from your hair without damaging your hair.

When you get an oil based stain on your clothes, such as lipstick, butter, motor oil or cooking oil, use Dawn to pre-treat the stain before laundering. Apply the liquid to the stain and scrub with a small brush or toothbrush until the oil is removed and then launder as usual.

I have some more ideas involving the use of Dawn, but I’ll save that for another day.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Kathy Zengolewicz

Make a list of weekly chores that will keep your home clean and organized. Set certain days for specific chores. For example, make Monday laundry day, Tuesday ironing day and Wednesday the day to empty all waste basket throughout the house. Also, if your child is tall enough to reach your washing machine, you should have him/her do one or two loads of laundry weekly. Teach them how to sort colors and whites, or better yet, start them out with towels. That is two less loads of laundry for you to do and you will be surprised at how important it will make them feel.

Make up a daily list of chores for each child and spouse too. Younger children can dust and straighten the house and the older children can vacuum the carpets. This will help you to deal with keeping your house in tip top shape and also teach kids valuable lessons on being responsible.

Creating a schedule and sticking to it is not as hard as you think. Once you list everything that needs to be done on a daily and weekly basis you then need to assign those chores to the right person. Let the kids help you with the schedule. Speak with them and let them know that you value their input and the help they can offer.

This is a great time of the year to get started on this project. If you start now, you can have thing running smoothly into the new year.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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It is not a good idea to use a commercial cleaner since most of them contain chemicals that can be harmful to pets and humans. Some of those chemicals contain ammonia or vinegar and those odors will probably encourage your pet to return to the same spot. Use a regular carpet soap on the area. Bissell makes a carpet shampoo especially for pet stained or soiled carpets. Whatever you do, do not use a steam cleaner. The heat from a steam cleaner will set the odor and stain into any carpet that has man made fibers.

Animals have an excellent sense of smell and since pets mark their spots they may seek out the same area again and again.  If your pet has an accident here is what you can do. The best way to soak up the urine is with newspaper. After soaking up any excess urine, clean the area thoroughly. You will have to neutralize the odor with baking soda. Let the carpet dry for about an hour and sprinkle the stain with baking soda, let it sit overnight and vacuum it up.

Once the area is clean, you may want to check out any pet odor neutralizing products available in your local pet supply store and treat the area with a neutralizer. If you get the scent out of the carpet, chances are your pet won’t be attracted to that area.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Kathy Zengolewicz

I love to listen to music and dance, well it’s what I call dancing, while I dust and straighten up. I am sure that you have mismatched socks around the house so put on aside for dusting. Spray the sock with furniture polish, put it on like a mitten and dust your lamp tables, chair and table legs, knick knacks, etc. When dusting always dust from the top down.

Use a bucket of bleach water (but be very careful, you don’t want a spill) and a clean cloth, or Clorox disinfecting wipes for cleaning down you light switch plates, phones, door jambs, etc. In winter months it’s especially necessary to wipe your door knobs to rid them of virus and flu germs.

Save the vacuuming for last. Using a handheld vacuum for the chair and sofa cushions is a lot easier than dragging the larger vacuum around. Handheld vacuums are great for picking up crumbs and dust in between cleanings. Some housekeepers vacuum multiple times during the week, especially if there is a pet in the house, but once or twice a week should be enough in most circumstances.

Keep the clutter to a minimum on the coffee table, keep books and magazines in a neat pile. Fold afghans or sofa throws when you finish with them and give any pillows a quick fluff. Throw out old newspapers and put video equipment away after playing. If you do these things daily, you home will never be in a state of disarray.

Finally, make sure to have a good sturdy door mat for wiping your feet. The mats made of artificial grass do the best jobs of getting debris from shoes so you track less dirt inside.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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sxc.hu

When you use scouring soap pads like Brillo or SOS, if you’re like me you never seem use the entire pad and it sits on your sink and rusts. From now on when you buy soap pads cut them in half and use half at a time. It keeps your sink cleaner and your soap pads last twice as long.

Here’s a great tip for removing blood from fabric. Take a little bit of milk in a saucer and an old toothbrush. Pour a little milk on the stain and brush with the toothbrush. Rinse in cold water and launder as usual. All of the blood will be gone.

Do you have a lot of artificial plants at home that get very dusty? Try this: spray the leaves of the plant with hair spray. That will keep the dust from accumulating.

Here is a tip to save you time, especially if you have a two or three story home. When emptying waste baskets in your bathroom, bedroom or family room, before putting the clean bag in the basket, put in a few extra bags and a fabric softener sheet. That will save you time and keep your baskets fresh. If you don’t like using fabric softener sheets then take a man’s old white handkerchief and put a little bit of lemon, almond or vanilla extract on it and place that in your basket to keep it fresh smelling.

Have a coffee bean grinder? A great way to clean that is to grind some rice in it. The rice will make it fresh and clean.

When you store left over spaghetti sauce in a plastic bowl it is hard to get that stain out. Try making a paste of cream of tartar and water. It takes a little bit of elbow grease, but it will remove the stain.

I’ll have more household tips for you in the coming weeks.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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Toilet Bowl:
If you find that commercial toilet cleaners are too expensive then there is a cheaper way to get a spotless toilet bowl. Just put a cup of vinegar in the bowl and swish it with your toilet brush.

Hard Water:
To get water stains off of the bottom of your tub, use a paste of vinegar and baking soda. Don’t use this on fiberglass as the baking soda could scratch but on porcelain and cast iron tubs it is great! If you have a fiberglass tub try a Mr. Clean eraser and a lot of elbow grease.

Chrome Fixtures:
You can clean chrome fixtures by rubbing on a bit of vinegar and then drying and buffing with a clean cloth. If you don’t have any vinegar on hand you can clean your chrome in the bathroom using rubbing alcohol in the same manner.

Shower Heads:
To clean your shower head place some vinegar in a baggie and place the shower head inside. If you don’t want to unscrew the head, just use a rubber band to hold the baggie on the head. Leave it sit overnight and you have a clean, unclogged shower head.

Shower Curtain Liners:
If you have mildew on your shower curtain liner and it never seems to get clean in the washing machine, try this. Fill the tub with about 2-3 inches of water and ½ of liquid bleach. Remove the liner from the curtain bar and drop it into the tub. Let it sit for about 20 minutes and rinse. Hang it back on the curtain bar and let it dry before putting the curtain back on. All of the mildew will be gone. It not only cleans, but deodorizes too.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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sxc.hu

There are plenty of commercial product on the market to extinguish offensive smells, but I would rather use ordinary everyday solutions.

If you have an offensive smell in your house you will need to first find out where it is coming from before you can dispel it. Lots of times that is easy to do, especially when the odors come from cooking. The worst cooking smells come from broccoli, cabbage and fish. If you set a small bowl of regular vinegar on your kitchen counter it will absorb those odors. I have a cooktop range so I place the bowl of vinegar close to the range top.

Make sure that your garbage is emptied daily. Rotting garbage is one of the worse smells. Clean your trash can regularly with a strong detergent and rinse. After drying place a sprinkling of baking soda in the bottom, before putting in a bag, to keep it stench free.

To keep your kitchen cabinet smelling fresh, place a couple of vanilla extract soaked cotton balls in a sachet bag and place in the back of the cabinet. I also place a sachet bag in my freezer. Don’t like the smell of the vanilla, then use lemon, orange or peppermint extract. It will keep your cupboard fresh for weeks.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

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sxc.hu

Here are a few tips to help you spend your time wisely.

Create a schedule and stick to it. It will be hard to do at first, but will become easier; make it a habit.

Prioritize chores and activities daily. Do the most pressing job first and get it out of the way. Then you won’t seem so bogged down.

Concentrate on one project at a time. Don’t start a second chore until the first one is completed. Establish a routine, do specific chores on designated days and don’t falter from that practice. Once it becomes a routine, you will breeze right through it.

Get your children to help out. If your kids are a little older, delegate explicit duties to each of them. Even if they are six or seven they can dust and empty the small waste baskets in the bathroom, laundry room and family room. Helping will make them feel grown up and they probably won’t complain right away, so enjoy that while it lasts.

Don’t waste any of your time. If there is one thing that I do faithfully it is to try to keep myself on my schedule. If you have a doctor’s or dentist appointment, while waiting make up your grocery list or balance your checkbook. Keep paper and pencil in your purse and when you have a free minute you can always set up your schedule for tomorrow.

I hope these tips have been helpful.

Take Care. I’ll talk to you soon.

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1)  Take off your shoes when you come into the house.  Your shoes have dirt, leaves, and germs from other places you have been.

2)  Have your carpets cleaned a few times each year.  You can do this yourself if you have a steam cleaner or you can rent a machine for about $30-40 per day.  If you’re able to, you can hire a professional to clean the carpets.

3)  Keep a rug over high traffic areas.  Rugs can be taken out of the house to wash or air out.  They’re also less expensive to replace should something happen to them.

4)  Use a carpet freshener.  You can purchase some with fragrance that you can shake onto the carpet and vacuum.  I don’t care much for strong fragrances, so I prefer to use baking soda.  Simply shake it on the carpet and let it sit for an hour or so before vacuuming.  The baking soda will absorb the odors rather than covering them up.

5)  Use an odor eliminator.  If you have some strong smells in your carpet, consider using an inexpensive odor eliminator such as Febreeze.  You can also buy a product called Odor-B-Gone which works well for pet smells.

6)  Clean up all spills immediately.  This will keep your carpet from staining and will also eliminate the odors setting in to the carpet.

7)  Have a no food policy on the carpet.  Although my husband and I eat  in the living room sometimes, our kids are not allowed to eat in the living room.  There were just too many issues with spills and food getting into the carpet.

What ways do you keep your carpet smelling fresh?

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