Household Tips and Tricks

Keeping it clean one house at a time

Tip #6

Use fresh squeezed lemon juice as a cleaner for some of your kitchen surfaces. It is a great way to go green and it is a great way to make your wallet a little bit greener as well.

Here are some of the ways to use it in your kitchen.

Stove top

It works great as a degrease and the acid from the lemons will break down stains on the stove top in just a few minutes. Squeeze the juice right where you need it and then wipe off with a rag. Stain gone.

Microwave

Heat a microwaveable cup with water and lemon slices in your microwave for 2 to 3 minute this will loosen up all the grime. Then all you have to do is wipe clean. Stains and grease will be easier to remove and all odors neutralized.

Kitchen Sink

Squeeze juice from one to two lemons. Mix lemon juice with backing soda to form a paste. Use a damp rag to rub the paste in the sink. Let sit for several minutes to allow the lemon acid to break down stains. Rub with rag just like you would with Ajax. Rinse clean.

Refrigerator

Cut a lemon in half and stored it in your refrigerator to help control and eliminate all those unpleasant smells.

Coupons keeping it all together

Using coupons is helping our family stretch the budget during this rough financial patch that we are all going through at this time. One of the most frugal, money-saving things that I can do is utilize as many of the coupons that are at my disposal as possible for the products that we use.

In order for me to utilize these coupons to the best of my ability I had to come up with a way to organize them so that I would be able to use as many as possible. The more I use the more I am able to save.

The first thing that I did was to organize the coupons into simple categories.

• Dairy

• Canned

• Frozen

• Baking

• Cereal/Crackers

• Boxed Meals/Sides

• Seasoning

• Snacks

• Cleaning

• Paper Products

• Beauty

The second thing I did was decide on if I wanted to put them into a binder or index box with dividers. I chose the binder, that way it fit nicely on my office shelf and was also easy for me to carry in the cart.

I used binder 5 tab dividers to divide all of the sections with. In each section I placed zipper pocket and baseball card holders to hold all the coupons in.

I like the zipper bags the best because it is easier to place the coupons inside. The draw back is that you can not see your coupons at a glance. So I have both in each section of my binder.

How to Make a Zip Pocket Holder for Binder

I cut down a gallon zip lock bag from the bottom end so that it will fit in the binder, next I cut a sheet of card stock so that it will slide into the zip lock bag leaving a little hanging out the end that you cut. Once that is done I use clear packing tape and tape the cut end closed. After the bag has been reinforced with the packing tape I punch holes in the zip bag with a three hole punch.

Using the coupons at the Grocery Story or other Stores

When I make out our shopping list for each store, I put the coupons I’ll be using in each store envelope. I then write my list for that store on the outside of each envelop and place a circled C next to the items that has a coupon. This way I make sure that I am getting the right item while at the store and it also insure that I will use all of them at check out.

 

Here is another cute coupon organizer from Glowgirl.

Glowgirl

Coupon Organizer

Household Tips and Tricks

Keeping it clean one house at a time

Tip #5


With a busy life style it is hard to take a whole day for cleaning the house from top to bottom. I have found that it is easer and less stressful if I break down all the household chores into a regular weekly and monthly rotation schedule. When I do it this way it insures that nothing goes undone for more than one week or one month depending on the chore.


Make two list of your cleaning chores that you do weekly and monthly. Once you have your list break it into days that each chore will get done.


Weekly List of Chores


• Showers and Tubs
• Toilets and sinks
• Mop
• Mirrors and Glass doors
• Dust
• Vacuum and Sweep (I do this twice a week)
• Microwave


Monthly List of Chores


• Ceiling Fans
• Refrigerator
• Baseboards
• Cobwebs
• High Selves and High Tops of Furniture
• Oven


My kitchen gets cleaned daily. (After every meal)


I do not do household chores on Saturday or Sunday. Saturdays are for yard work and Sundays are for Church and family gatherings.


Here is what my week looks like at a glance


Monday Sweep/Mop/Vacuum


Tuesday Shower/Tubs/Bathroom Sinks/Toilets


Wednesday Mirrors and Glass doors


Thursday Dust and Microwave


Friday Sweep and Vacuum


Monthly chores I combine my monthly chores on the days that I have the fewest chores for the week or the ones that take me the shortest amount of time.


1st Wednesday of every month Ceiling Fans


1st Thursday of every month Baseboards


2nd Wednesday of every month Cobwebs


2nd Thursday of every month High Shelves and Tops Furniture


3rd Wednesday of every month Oven


4th Wednesday of every month Clean out refrigerator (drawers and wipe down shelves) I do this right before my first of the month grocery shopping which is my biggest shopping trip of the month.

Household Tips and Tricks

Tip #4

With dogs come stains. I don’t know how they do it but they can stain up the carpet in a hurry and I don’t mean with urine, I mean just random stain spots.


The best way that I have found to battle those random spots on the carpet is not all those fancy expensive pet carpet stain removers. The best thing for me and those spots has been peroxide yes that good old bubbly stuff for cleaning cuts. Place the peroxide into a spray bottle, spray the spot and let it set on the area for a few minutes. Take a clean damp cotton rag and rub the spot until gone. Let dry


Before using the peroxide do a test spot, just like you need to do with commercial carpet cleaners to insure that it will not bleach your style of carpet.

Bathroom Caddy

Tip #3

Free up some of your time by having your entire bathroom cleaning supplies in a handy caddy. I like to have everything right there and handy when it comes to the household chores, and the bathroom is no different. When you don’t have to find all the different items to clean the bathroom with, you are able to stay on task and finish faster. When you have different caddies for different jobs around the house, it allows the children to help out with out asking where things are because they are all right there for them. Also by having different caddies for different chores allows the children to do their chore with out bothering one another, chores with out fighting that has a nice ring to it.

Here is what inside…

• Windex

• Bleach and Water solution for shower mildew

• Comet bathroom cleaner

• Ajax

• Old tooth brushes

• Two sponges one for sinks and one for toilet (each in its own separate cup)

• Old Rags

• Roll of Paper Towels

• Rubber Gloves

 

Household Tips and Tricks

Tip #2

One of the things that keep’s me on track when it comes to cleaning is having a dusting caddy. My caddy has all my dusting items in it. This allows me to move from room to room with out having to go back and find anything. It also makes it easier for someone to help me with the dusting like the kids.

 Here is what inside…



• Old socks great for the children
• Swiffer with extending handle
• Dusting polish of choice
• Scratch cover markers for hiding those scratches the children make


Here is how the kids can help, have them wear a sock on each hand. Then have them go around and dust any surface they wish to dust, reminding them to be careful of items sitting on surfaces. Or you can have the dust the dreaded base boards, children love to help it makes them feel helpful and grown up.


Keeping it clean one house at a time

Household Tips and Tricks

Tip #1

Use Rain-X on your glass shower doors. First clean them really well using your favorite soap scum bathroom cleaner, I use comet bathroom cleaner. Once it is good and dry apply a coat of rain-x to all the glass in the shower. You will be amazed at how this will help repel water spots and soap scum from building up on those glass doors that we all have a love hate relationship with. By applying rain-x it will keeping your shower looking cleaner for longer saving valuable time that we can be spending with family and friends instead of cleaning.

Keeping it clean one house at a time