Keep your house tidy in less than 30 minutes per day

One of the things I hear the most from my subscribers and followers is that they wish they had a magic wand (or a maid) to keep their homes clean and tidy. Well, it is totally possible. Let me explain how to keep your house tidy in less than 30 minutes per day.

It’s not a secret but something I’ve been doing since my children were babies. You see, if you’re on the side of OCD like I am, and unless you can afford a maid to either live in or come into your home everyday, you’re not going to keep your home spotless.

If you try to keep your home spotless while you have young children, something will eventually give.

That’s what happened to me. I didn’t have time to eat. Most days I was physically and mentally exhausted and I was just going through the motions with my babies. While the children ate and slept, I worked on the house.

As I’ve realised since my children are now teenagers, you don’t get that time back. They grow ever so quickly. It’s time to forget about a spic and span home and rather create this simple habit or routine I like to call it, that can be done in 30 minutes or less every morning.

Roadmap to Routine

I call it my Roadmap to Routine. These are 3 chores I do every morning and take no longer than 15 minutes, for me. Once I’ve done them I don’t care if the sky falls in. I don’t care about the unwashed floors. I don’t care about the dust on furniture.

These are the 3 things that irritate me most if they’re not done. The other chores can wait until the weekend when I do my regular housework, which also takes less than 2 hours to clean the whole home. Even less time if the children are here helping.

What are your most irritating chores that you’d like done?

in a kitchen, a large amount to wash the dishes prepared.

You’ve got to limit yourself to 3 or 5 chores that take no more than 30 minutes. We can all afford 30 minutes of time every morning.

What are those chores that when you look around your home, you feel overwhelmed, irritated or stop you from doing something important in your day.

For example, if the dining table is full of school newsletters, mail, junk mail, newspapers and magazines, that’s your job you do every morning. Clear the dining table. Have spots or files to keep all the newsletters, a spot for the mail, a magazine rack and a spot to recycle the newspapers.

If making your bed is a priority, do that. There’s nothing better than getting into a made bed at the end of a hard day.

An overflowing laundry basket? Put on a load of washing.

Whatever those chores are, and you’ll know what they are, make sure there are only 3 to 5 and they take no more than 30 minutes.

If you work outside the home, just get up that 30 minutes earlier.

What about the other chores?

You might be thinking “well, that doesn’t get the rest of my house clean and tidy”. Well, it won’t but one of either 2 things will happen after you’ve accomplished your morning routine.

One, you’re going to be inspired to do another chore, then another chore and really make a huge effort to either declutter and organise your home or keep it that way.

Or, two, you’re going to have the rest of the day to do what you want.

This is the secret to getting that oh so precious time back into your day.

Life is too short

Life really is too short to be faffing about your home. When you find those couple of chores to do every morning, you begin to feel accomplished and get a feeling of that will do.

That will do because those chores are what irritate me the most and I feel satisifed that enough has been done for me to go about my day.

Whether that’s if you’re a work from home parent, go out to work, enjoy crafting, going to the gym, going for a walk etc. Whatever it is you love to do, DO THAT MOST. I swear, you’ll never get that time back.

Enjoy life now doing what you love.

Allow yourself a couple hours on a weekend or on a Friday evening (whenever you have the time) to give the whole house a thorough clean. It goes even quicker when the whole family pitches in.

We have a clean up every Saturday morning and between us all it takes less than 2 hours. That then means the rest of the weekend is ours to do what we like.

What are your 3 to 5 chores you’re going to get into a habit of doing every morning?

The Best Home Cleaning Tips To Get Your Home Cleaned Faster

We all have those days when cleaning the whole house is necessary. Whether it’s a weekly or bi-weekly schedule, home cleaning is a great way to keep dirt away from your house, not to mention it also serves as a workout. However, there are times when we think that a whole day is not enough to cover every room and area of the house.

As far as cleaning fast is concerned, the key is to have a system – a set of steps or a process that you follow. Of course, moving quickly is also a part of the equation. The main principles of your system should be to start upstairs and work your way down and to make sure you never go back to a room or area again.

So, to help you with your cleaning woes, we’ve listed the best home cleaning tips for you. With these, it’ll only be a matter of an hour, and you’ll be done.

Area #1: Bedroom

• Stash off any unnecessary items clogging your dresser, mini table or your closet. Store your makeup in small pouches to eliminate clutter. Put dirty linens in the wastebasket, and then empty it later.
• Once the room is clearer, make the bed. Here’s a quick tip for faster tucking: instead of tucking the bottom sheets under the mattress, try lifting each corner of the mattress using one hand and use the other to tuck.
• Next is to eliminate dust. Get that dry microfiber cloth and dusting spray and start to wipe down every piece of furniture. Dust the surfaces using a back-to-front motion instead of back-and-forth. For mirrors, use a long-handled duster.
• The last step is to vacuum the floor. Start from the back corners and work your way to the door. Tip: You can use any type or brand of vacuum cleaner, but if you want the new generation of vacuum cleaners, you can choose from this wide Roomba range.

Area #2: Bathroom

• Spray your all-purpose cleaner on the vanity, sink, shower, and tub. Let the liquid sit and start the next step.
• Thoroughly scrub the toilet using a brush and baking soda. Flush once done. Spritz all-purpose spray on the toilet surface, and wipe down using a microfiber cloth.
• Clean the mirror with the spray and cloth starting from the top to bottom and using a circular motion.
• Now, scrub the sink, followed by the wiping of the tub and shower. You can also fully scrub those two if you opt to, but if time is not on your side, a quick swipe will do.
• Lastly, dampen a microfiber mop and start to clean the floor. Start on a back corner and up to the door.

Area #3: Kitchen

• Start with the dishes by loading them in the dishwasher. 
• Put any clutter on the counter back to where they rightly belong such as in the drawers or cupboard.
• If there are stains on your countertop or stove, spend a minute to eliminate them. Scrape off any dirt as well.
• Using a microfiber cloth and all-purpose spray, clean the counter starting from the back to the front. Let crumbs fall down the floor. Next, wipe down appliances with a wet cloth.
• Finally, sweep the floor and wipe it with a dampened mop after.

Area #4: Living room

• Start by decluttering the room. Just like in the bedroom, take any scattered items and stash them in drawers. Stack magazines neatly.
• Next is to dust off surfaces following the process in the bedroom. Use a long-handled duster for blinds.
• For glass surfaces, use a dampened microfiber cloth to clean them in a circular motion.
• Deal with floors using your vacuum cleaner starting from a back corner.

And done! Aside from the obvious reason, cleaning your home can also be an excellent stress-reliever. Now that it’s a whole lot cleaner, give yourself a treat for a job well done.

Kyle Ritchie is a do-it-yourself enthusiast who writes for Best Vacuum Resource. He likes to share his passion on home improvement to his readers, and loves to play baseball with his sons in his free time.

 

 

 

 

3 effective ways to clean your drains

Did you know that the best way to keep toxins out of your body is to keep them out of your home? At some point, our kitchen and bathroom drain will clog up and lead to water backing up. In many cases, these clogged drains result in unpleasant odours that seem impossible to get rid of. Here are three effective ways to clean your drains.

According to Australian Waste Statistics, Australia is one of the highest producers of waste on the planet. In fact, Australia produces over 18 million tonnes of waste per year alone. In addition to waste build up, these harmful chemicals were found in 80% of our bodies of water. Many of these pollutants come from hazardous items such as medication, poorly disposed of personal care products, biocides in the paint, and other clog-inducing materials.

While the standard practice relies on toxic, dye-based drain cleaners, these chemical products can damage the pipes and ultimately your lungs. To prevent the harmful risk, there are natural solutions to cleaning your drains without using chemicals.

Here are 3 effective solutions to naturally clean your drain.

Grab A Plunger

The best way to use a plunger is to make sure it covers the opening and begin to pump slowly. The vacuum will create a force that moves the clogged material to pass through. However, the chemicals might return if the opening is not properly covered.

First, you must apply petroleum jelly to the bottom point of the plunger and pour hot water. Place the plunger over the opening, then begin to push up and down. This will help break down the clog and promote an open drain flow. If this method does not work, you can use a wire hanger to help break up the clog.

Use Hot Water and Liquid Dish Soap

Another natural method to cleaning your drain is to use hot water with dish soap. Drains are often clogged by fat and grease, both of which can be easily removed with dish detergent. Pour a generous amount of liquid dish soap down the drain and follow with a kettle of boiling water. This will help treat a greasy clog within minutes. You can also prevent further drain clogs by following this solution once a week.

Enzyme Cleaner

Enzymatic drain cleaners are great alternatives to chemical drain cleaners. If your drain is clogged with grease, hair, or food peelings; try this organic enzyme cleaner. Biological cleaners contain enzymes that eat through the clogged material to clear the drain. They rely on bacteria to feed on organic waste materials and digest the residue. To gain the best results, follow the directions and pour the solution overnight.

Furthermore, once you have cleared a clogged drain, now is the time to take extra measures to prevent another hassle in the future. Make it a habit of removing any fats, oil or grease in the trash instead of the drain. If you find your drain clogged again, follow these methods instead of regular tap water. Lukewarm water will cool the grease and clog your pipes.

* This is a guest post by Jackie Edwards.

Week 3 - Organise & Clean Your Home

Week 3 of the Organise & Clean Your Home challenge saw us tackling some major appliances and major clutter spots, for me. I had a busy week with the kids and one was home on one day so I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked but I’ve started tackling some major jobs which have been on hold for months, if not years. Here’s how I went.

Day 11 – Linen cupboard

When your life has turned into complete turmoil and you just try to keep up with the basics like looking after the children, washing and keeping them clean, the laundry soon piles up as it did in my bedroom and in order for me to get into my bed late at night, the linen was often just squeezed in wherever I could find a spot. I used to really value my linen and the order I kept it in. I loved seeing my towels all fluffed up and folded the same way and everything within arm’s reach. I’ll hopefully have got it back now but I’m in the process of changing the winter bed linen over to the summer bed linen which means washing and putting it into Spacesaver bags. I’ve been doing that all over the weekend so can mark this job off as finished over the holidays.

I also have a couple of lavender bags in the linen cupboard, just to keep it smelling fresh. I use a mixture of equal quantities of dried lavender and dried thyme with half a dozen cloves. If you don’t sew, you can pick up small organza bags from the dollar store.

Day 12 – Bathroom Cupboards

This part of the bathroom wasn’t too bad. I have a basket for ointments, a basket for bandages and a basket for body/bath/shower lotions. Every time the kids bump themselves, they go for a bandaid so that basket can get a little out of hand. I also grabbed the ointments from the wall bathroom cabinet and put them down here too. That’s kept them all together now. My medicines and tablets are all kept in the cupboard over the fridge, out of harm’s way. The blue Charlie Brown bag is for sanitary products.

Day 13 – Kid’s artwork

I can actually say the kid’s school artwork is starting to slow down now that my daughter is in Grade 2. My son, on the other hand, never really got into it. Where my daughter has probably filled 3 boxes in the last 2 years, he’s barely filled 1. The biggest problem I had was that I’d take the artwork out of their school bags to put in the designated box in their rooms but it tooks ages to get there. I’ve now brought that box into the living room, near the command station where their school bags are. The only thing I really decluttered from their artwork was the hundreds of bubble/string/butterfly pictures and just kept the really good ones. I’ll ultimately take a photo of most of it, get a photo book printed and frame about half a dozen of the really, really good ones. My daughter is quite talented and has produced a few good pieces.

During the clean up, I also stumbled across one of the soft toys I’d sewed for her from one of her dinosaur pictures from scraps of fabric. From about the age of 3, my daughter was obsessed with dinosaurs. She is still very interested in them and for about 4 years spoke of nothing else but being a paleontologist (I had to google the spelling) when she grew up. This isn’t the picture I designed it off. I couldn’t put my hands on that for now, but it was similar to this.  I made about 3 different dinosaurs which 2 obviously have disappeared. This was one of her favourites, “the looooooong neck” she used to say.

Day 14:  The Office

I don’t have a home office. I use this old computer desk right near the front door as a dumping ground and a place to house the laptop. It’s actually been a dream of mine to have an old fashioned writing bureau. This challenge got me started on sanding back the bureau I’d recently purchased. I hope to have it finished over the next couple of days so will share my new home office space and command station with you then.

Day 15:  Kid’s Clothes & Patio/Outdoor Area

This is another area that needs a bit of work, both the back undercover pergola area and the entry way into the front door. I’m in the process of making new cushions covers for some outdoor furniture that was given to me as well as making over a small table for the area out the front. Now that it is school holiday time, I can get the kids involved in the weeding and painting. I’ll share the results with you shortly. While I was working on changing the winter bed linen over, I did the kid’s clothes as well and got working on trying to move all of my daughter’s clothes and personal items from her old room into my son’s room, now that they’re sharing. The wardrobe in her old room is nearly empty and then I can start making that into my sewing/crafting room. I made sure I gave each shelf a good wipe down before putting the clothes in. It can get a bit dusty in there.

I don’t make things too complicated with their clothes. I fold them but they have to pack them away. Pyjamas, school clothes and play clothes are folded and kept on shelves and my daughter’s dresses are hung on hangers. Their underclothes are in separate sets of drawers for each child with undies in one drawer, socks in another and singlets in the last. They aren’t the neatest in putting away or taking their clothes out at ages 8 and 6 but keeping it like this makes it easy for them.

Over the next 2 weeks while the kids are on vacation, we’ll be pottering around home, having a few play dates, maybe a trip to the cinema and a few swims at the beach and pool. I’ll be trying to keep on top of things with the last week of the challenge upon us this week but what doesn’t get done will wait until the kids go back to school. I can say that I’ve made so much progress but have about 4 baskets of bits and pieces that were decluttered from the rooms over the last couple of weeks that just need sorting. Most of it is rubbish or will be sold on ebay. After about 12 months, I’ve finally started listing things on ebay again. I used to be onto it as soon as the kids outgrew their clothes or I just no longer needed something. I’m hoping to make enough from the sale of all this clutter to put towards our Christmas vacation.

How are you going? Are you keeping up with the challenge?

Week 2 - Organise & Clean Your Home

Week 2 of my journey to organise and clean my home saw me a little more relaxed and laid back. I had quite a busy week with school commitments, appointments and errands to run so I was glad that some of the jobs scheduled I’d already touched on. Nonetheless, I’m keeping on top of things although the dishes need doing after being out both days on the weekend. I really wonder if it would make things easier for me if I had a dishwasher? Oh well. Here’s how I went.

Day 6 – Bathroom

Not much changed in the toilet. This is a never ending job. I always see a new dirty mark on the walls or a nice little present waiting for me inside the toilet. Those kids of mine are feral sometimes.

Besides the vanity sink and floors, this small room had become a little neglected of late. My vanity is getting a little tired and hard to keep ‘looking’ clean because of rust stains and old taps. I might look around for a new one. I’ve been keeping on top of the washing. Trouble is, I have a 9.5kg washing machine, which is huge, and it is great for bed linen washing and towels etc but for the 3 of us, it takes a while to get a load of whites. I wait until the week’s over to do the whites washing and adjust the water level on the machine. We’ve been keeping on top of the keeping the bathroom clean and shoes are removed outside and not removed in the bathroom, which used to leave half the school’s sandpit on the floor!

This old stool that is in my bathroom belonged to my Nanna. I’m not sure how old it is but she had it from her mother and her mother before her. It is an old chair that the legs have been cut down and the back removed. When my grandparents retired to the Sunshine Coast back in the late 1960’s, as young kids, we’d return from the beach and have to go around to the back door and sit on this stool and wash our feet in a bowl of water to remove the sand. I knew that chair had to come with me. So many memories. I’ve used it to sit on to bath the kids and the kids stand on it to look at themselves in the bathroom mirror. I’ve been tempted to paint it but I kinda like its rough look. I might get around to making a cushion one day for it.

Day 7 – Fridge

Without knowing what was scheduled for Day 7, I’d already given my fridge a clean out the day before, the shelves a wipe out and removed the small container of baked beans from the back of the fridge that were forgotten about. I use document trays to store my smaller jars and miscellanous bits and pieces.

I did a cookbook cull early last year and I haven’t really bought any since then. Besides my favourite cookbooks, I tend to get all of my recipes from the Internet these days. The other part of our challenge today was to start organising our meal plans. I’ve been a meal planner over the years but I don’t do it now. I tend to think about it the night before or in the morning. That’s what works for our small family of three. Here are my thoughts on menu planning.

Day 8 – Spare Room, Toy Room, Craft Room

This was my daughter’s room and now that I have moved her and her brother into his room, it has freed up this space for me to turn it into a combined craft/sewing room and a Lego space for the kids. (Most of their toys are downstairs in the rumpus room but I won’t let the Lego downstairs. Once it gets outside it’ll breed like crazy and start popping up in the lawn and heaven knows where else!) Because I’m currently in limbo, deciding whether to stay in this house or move, I haven’t done much else here other than tidy, remove rubbish, a quick vacuum and a good clean of walls, door frames etc. The curtains were only washed a couple weeks back. If I decide to stay in this house, I’ll be ripping up the carpet and polishing the timber floor boards. I don’t want to have to move too much furniture out so stay tuned and watch this space.

Also, as part of our challenge, we were to look at family responsibilitis and chore charts. This is our most recent routine chart. It’s been like this for quite a while. The kids are pretty used to doing this day in, day out but occasionally it needs a re-print and posted on the wall. Since the age of 2, I’ve been getting them to pick up toys off the floor and do age appropriate jobs. My nearly 8 year old washes the dishes every night (except sharp knives and glasses) and my son takes out the garbage and wheelie bins every Sunday night. They both pack away their folded laundry too. I’ll be introducing more jobs as they get older.

Day 9 – Ceiling Fans, Junk Drawer & Calendar/Diaries

I’d been cleaning the ceiling fans in each room as I went and did the junk drawer the other week prior when I was supposed to clean under the sink, which I’d done only a week or so before. My calendar/diary system works pretty well at the moment with a “Jack & Miss Honey” wall calendar I’ve been using for the last couple of years. There’s a month to a page and about 6 columns across. A column for each person in the family, plus one for bills and one for pets medication or miscellaneous events. It’s right next to my handbag. I’ve tried using Google calendar and syncing it (listen to me) to my new smart phone but find it quicker to hand write things on the calendar.

Day 10 – Oven, Kitchen Cupboards & Tupperware cupboard

I think it had been about 9 years since I cleaned my oven, just before my first born which is such an awful long time. No amount of baking soda and vinegar was going to get the built up, burnt on gunk off my oven door. Other than the oven racks needing a bit of a soak in hot water, the rest of the oven was in relatively good condition. It was just the oven door that was the worst. I’ve hit it twice with oven cleaner and a steel scourer but I think one or two more goes and it should be right again. I usually only use my oven for baking cakes and biscuits now so it should be relatively easy to keep clean from now on.

The only other job I got done from this day’s challenge was to declutter two cupboards in the kitchen. My most used cupboard, the cups and glasses, was all over the place. I’ve still got more glasses to go in here. It was puzzling when I was getting down all the souvenirs I’d stashed at the top of this cupboard and I couldn’t remember why (or what) on earth I would keep some of these things for. I can remember the plastic sake cup I’d saved from a flight from Brisbane to Japan which got a lot of use but that’s now been relegated to the “donate” box (or the bin). I don’t need to hold onto this cup to have the memory. My Tupperware ‘drawer’ will be done during this week sometime. It’s not a major job. I can keep on top of this one now that I am the only one who has to find things in it.

I’m so looking forward to getting my linen cupboard back into some kind of order. I know my winter blankets and rugs will need to be stored but I’m just a bit reluctant to pack them away just yet. In year’s past, we’re still snuggling under blankets until October.