When someone visits your home the first thing they will notice is how it smells. Like I said before I am a sniffer. I sniff everything from a glass, before I drink from it, to the family room to make sure there are no unflattering, lingering scents. There are times when my house picks up the scents of my cooking and I don’t readily notice. So I make it a point to deodorize after cleaning.
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 …read more

There never seems to be enough time in a day for me and I’m sure it is the same for you. I came to the conclusion recently that I needed to set up a time schedule for myself and it really helps. We all need to make the most of our available time in a way that is constructive.
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 …read more

If there is one thing that really bothers me its a smell, dingy looking sink. I can always tell when my garbage disposal needs to be cleaned, the nasty smell kits me right between the eyes. I am what is known as a sniffer. I sniff everything and can detect even the slightest odors. If it doesn’t smell clean then, in my opinion, it is not clean. I have tried a lot of things to clean and deodorize my garbage disposal, but I wasn’t satisfied. I could always detect a slight odor even after cleaning.
I just found what …read more

There is a pile of ironing sitting in my laundry room.  It’s getting bigger and it feels like a huge weight each time I see it seeing there.  The problem is, I absolutely cannot stand to iron.  I think I would rather clean all of the bathrooms than iron. 

Each of us has a certain chore that we just don’t like to do.  This has me thinking of some tips to help us accomplish these dreaded chores.  Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll get to put these tips to use.
1)  Reward yourself.  Tell yourself that after your chore is completed, you’ll do something nice …read more

If you have carpet in your home, it will take a little work to keep it clean.  Here are some tips for keeping your carpet smelling fresh.

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 …read more

It seemed that no matter how careful I was while cooking, I still had issues with food and grease getting stuck to my stove top.  I would wipe the stove, let the hot wash rag sit on the stains, add dishwashing liquid, and some other cleaners, but I could not get it cleaned properly.  After complaining to my mom about the stuck on grease and food on my stove top, she suggested that I try Fantastik cleaner.

This is a picture of my stove top with the burners removed. Although this picture does not show all of the mess, you can …read more

I have this issue with mopping my bathroom floors.  I don’t like to use a mop because it seems like the floors don’t get as clean as I like them.  When I hand mop the floor, I see all kinds of dirt and hair that the broom and mop did not get.  I also see the dust on the cabinets, baseboards, and such and I end up wiping those down too.  The problem is, I don’t hand clean my floor as often as I should because it takes so much longer.  Basically, my preference for cleanliness is getting in the way of …read more

I was making coffee today and just realized something – I have never cleaned my coffeemaker.  I’ve only been using the coffee pot for about six months and I don’t drink coffee as regularly as some people, but it certainly is time for a cleaning!
You may be wondering why you should clean your coffee pot, especially when the only thing that goes in it is clean water.  The problem is, the water causes deposits inside the coffee maker.  The deposits can slow the flow of water inside the machine and they can alter the taste of your coffee. 

To clean your …read more

Sometimes our houses can be clean, but they just don’t look clean.  Most of the time it’s due to clutter.  This is my issue today.  Does it ever go away?  With three young and active children, it seems I can barely keep up with the daily clutter.

Today it started when I went into the kid’s room to vacuum and tidy up a bit.  Next to my son’s bed was a basket where he keeps his stuffed animals and such.  I picked it up to vacuum and noticed it was mostly filled with small toys and books.  No doubt they were …read more

Got a few minutes to spare?  Talking on the phone?  Consider dumping out a kitchen drawer. 

Dump everything out of the drawer and sort it into three piles – throw away, put back, and put away.  Wipe out the drawer.  Come on, get those fuzz balls out of there.  Put back items to keep, throw out the trash, shred any personal papers, and put away things that were out of place.
How long did this take?  Probably just a few minutes.  It’s amazing how we let things go sometimes.  A small project like this one helps keep the house in order and …read more