Visual Spring Cleaning Guide - The Kitchen

By far the most labor intensive part of Spring Cleaning is the damn kitchen. There is just.so.much.shit in here.

It can be overwhelming. But remember, you don't have to do it all at once. You can break up tasks over the course of a week. It also helps to have a clean kitchen as a baseline. That's why weekly cleaning maintenance is important. This task would seem Herculean without a good baseline.

Let's do this, shall we?! 

1. Dust ceiling and corners of walls
2. Dust and clean the light fixtures
3. Wipe down walls, minding spots behind the stove and counter top appliances
4. Remove and clean all art and photographs from wall.
5. Remove all draperies, curtains, and blinds and wash or have cleaned
6. Wash all windows
7. Dust and clean the tops of the cabinets
8. Clean the inside of the oven  
~TIP: Use a natural cleaner like the one I have here.~

9. Remove knobs, burners, and burner covers and wash
10. Clean the fridge 
11. Wipe down and clean the small appliances 
12. Wipe off the shelves inside the cabinets
13. Dust and polish the outside of the cabinets
14. Wipe down and clean out any drawers
15. Clean the switch plates and outlet covers

16. Dust and polish the outside of the drawers
17. Clean the dishwasher by running an empty cycle
18. Wash the counter tops in your kitchen
19. Wash the sink
20. Clean the microwave
21. Dust and wash the baseboards
22. Sweep and mop the floors
23. Empty and wash out the trash can

Now don't you feel all better?

Visual Spring Cleaning Guide - The Dining Room

1. Dust the ceiling and corners
2. Dust the vents and fans
3. Wipe down walls
4. Remove and clean all art and photographs from wall
5. Take down draperies, curtains, blinds, etc, to wash or have cleaned
6. Wash all windows
7. Dust and clean all lamps and knickknacks
8. Dust down all furniture
9. Remove and clean all china and serving pieces, looking for chips and cracks that need repair
~TIP: With Easter and Passover right around the corner, now is a great time to wash and care for your silver and china. Remember to store china carefully, wrapped in paper or bubble wrap. You can also use felt rounds between each plate. Never stack more than 5 plates together and take care when storing glasses. 
To clean light tarnish from silver, fill an aluminum pan (or one lined with aluminum foil) with hot water, add salt and baking soda, and stir to dissolve. Add the silver and a chemical reaction should remove the tarnish. Please note, the good tarnish (a desirable patina and the dark crevices in a pattern) may be removed as well, and pitting may result.~
10. Clean any mirrors
11. Clean the switchplates
12. Clean the outlet covers
13. Dust and wash the baseboards
14. Clean flooring 

Visual Spring Cleaning Guide - The Bedroom

Now that we have cleaned the living room, let's move on to the bedroom! Let's take a look where the magic hasn't happened in about seven months.

Since The Good Son is in his own room now, along with taking out his co-sleeper, we thought it would be a good thing to deep clean in here as well. What we did:

1. Dust the ceiling and corners
2. Dust the vents and fans
3. Wipe down walls
4. Remove and clean all art and photographs from wall
5. Take down draperies, curtains, blinds, etc, to wash or have cleaned
~TIP: Keep blinds clean by dusting often, with a dry cloth or a vacuum attachment. To clean wooden and faux wood, use a gentle wood cleaner on a nearly dry rag and wipe gently. To clean metal, rinse with water either outside or in a bathtub. Allow to air dry before hanging.~
6. Wash all windows
7. Wash all bedding, comforters, mattress pads, pillows, etc.
8. Vacuum and flip your mattress
9. Clean under your bed
10. Dust and clean all lamps and knickknacks (Don't forget to dust the light bulbs!)
~When cleaning a kid's room, now is a great time to check all toys and books and games to make sure everything has working parts and batteries.~
11. Dust down all furniture
12. Clean any mirrors
13. Clean the switchplates
14. Clean the outlet covers
15. Dust and wash the baseboards
16. Clean flooring
17. Sort through your closet using the Keep, Toss, Donate or Store method

I have found that kid's rooms are actually the easiest to clean. Since they play in them every day, nothing tends to gather that much dust. And the little shits outgrow clothes so fast, I don't find any shirts that should have seen the donation bin awhile ago.

Visual Spring Cleaning Guide - The Living Room

It's Spring! And you know what that means? We get to fucking clean shit!

WOO-HOOOO!!

I know everyone is excited as can be. But really this is once a year, so let's all bitch together about how much it sucks, pull our big girl panties on and snort a whole bunch of meth* to be the most productive spring cleaners ever. 

*actual meth use optional

Let's take a look at what we will be cleaning in the living room, shall we?

The Good Husband and I spent one Saturday morning cleaning a rearranging the living room. We were able to dust every fucking surface and reorganize in a way that made the living room look awesome.

If you recall the TV and entertainment center were on the wall to the right of this photo. And it was horrible for flow. All the traffic had to walk in front of the TV to get to the dining room and kitchen or the bedrooms and bathroom. When we moved in, we actually had the TV on the wall where the couch is now and that was a stupid idea. With the TV on the wall on the left of this photo, it helps to create a space for viewing the TV and for the kids to play on the floor and the wall where the TV once was will become a sitting area with a bookcase, chair, lamp and small table and chairs for the kids (once we finish our debt snowball and have money sometime next year.)

So rearranging the living room was a great excuse to clean everything from top to bottom. Here is what we did:

1. Dust the ceiling and corners
2. Dust the vents and fans
3. Wipe down walls
4. Remove and clean all art and photographs from wall
5. Take down draperies, curtains, blinds, etc, to wash or have cleaned 
~TIP: Prolong the life of your curtains by spot cleaning immediately when dirty. Vacuum weekly with a brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner or shake outside for delicate fabrics. Follow the instructions on the tag for machine washing or dry cleaning.~
6. Wash all windows
7. Dust and clean all lamps and knickknacks (Don't forget to dust the light bulbs!)
8. Dust down and clean all furniture
~TIP: Consider having your upholstery dry cleaned. The couch was the first thing TGH and I bought when we moved in together 12 years ago. It is holding up really well for what we paid for it. We have never had it dry cleaned but this year was the year. Having dirty, sticky little fingers all over it and a dog that sleeps on it all day justified the professional cleaning. They even repaired a small rip in one of the cushions. It was well worth the money spent and will be able to go a few more years until we need to do it again. If you cannot remove your covers, spot clean immediately when dirty, vacuum weekly and consider buying or using fabric protectors like scotchgard.~
9. Remove and dust all books from bookshelves
10. Remove and dust all movies and cds ~See how I organize mine here~
11. Clean any mirrors (N/A)
12. Clean the switchplates
13. Clean the outlet covers
14. Dust and wash the baseboards
15. Clean flooring
~TIP: In addition to vacuuming daily and spot cleaning when needed, spring is the time I like to shampoo the carpets. Just don't do this more than once a year with a professional cleaner or you run the risk of ruining your carpet.~

That wasn't so bad, right? 


Bask in your hard earned clean living room and remember that you are fucking awesome!

Spring Cleaning Sale in my Etsy Shop

~~Spring Cleaning Sale! Save $3 on all orders of The Cleaning Pack. Enter code SPRINGCLEAN. Offer valid through May 1, 2014~~

Click here to visit my Etsy Shop

St Patrick's Day Paper Plate Craft

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! 

The Good Daughter is really starting to understand holidays and how we can make special crafts and eat special food and dress up in special clothes and have a grand time. 

Too bad all her St. Paddy's day stuff is kid friendly and she won't know the true meaning of the holiday until her drinking days start in high school. 

But for now, she gets to make cute crafts, like this one!

I took a regular paper plate and cut out the inner circle. Then I colored the bottom to look like the pot of gold and the top to look like a rainbow. I also cut out some small circles for gold coins. This would have gone a whole lot faster if I had a big ol' hole punch. Get one of those and then do this craft. 

And this is TGD's version.

Clearly the patience of a 4 year old.

I like this b/c we had all the materials on hand - paper plate, markers, glue and cardboard (the coins are cut from a TeddyGrams box!).

If you need a cute and simple craft for today, you are in luck!

Green beer and corned beef for all!!

How to Organize Card Games

Way back when I talked about how I organize toys and games, they looked like this:

Board and card games live in our entertainment center in our living room. That hasn't changed.

But kids are destructive little a-holes and in the years we have been playing card games, the boxes when from nice and pretty as seen above to shitty and torn.

So I needed a way to organize them. Originally I wanted individual cases to hold each game. But I couldn't find any that were large enough. And I am cheap. I really didn't want to buy 5+ cases for a couple bucks each, when I could just buy one and be done with it.

So off to Target I went. And I picked up this storage box. 

It was just the right width to fit the cards.

So I cut the boxes to help keep each game separate.

Games that need the directions, I cut out and taped to the heavy cardboard that was inside of each box.

Then I stacked them neatly inside.

And I shut that baby up.

Now all the games are in one place. I will probably use some rubber bands to secure each game so they don't get all higgly piggly in the box. But for now they are happy in there.

And they live all nice and neat in the entertainment center again.

Milk + Cookies Valentine

Oh happiness!! Valentine's Day will be here soon. And I love me some Valentine's Day crafty stuff.  It's probably b.c there is not a lot of pressure surrounding the holiday, aside from Pinterest guilt, that is. I can just relax and do fun and silly things for the kids.

It is also the point where we start to dig out from winter, turn our eyes to spring and get excited for the sunshine and fresh air. It's a nice break from all the doom and gloom of winter.

This year I found this super cute idea out on the interwebs and decided it was *THE* Valentine's Day craft for The Good Kids daycare friends.
How cute is that?!

So fucking cute, I can't stand it.

"Valentine, we go together like cookies + milk."

There is room on the back to write to and from. This will be the first year TGD will be able to write everyone's name on there. Awwwwwwwwwww.

I made the printable (which you can snag for FREE here), cut it out and taped it to a sandwich bag filled with a milk box and bag of cookies. 

Now, I should have gotten some nice cellophane bags at the craft store, but let's face it, I didn't even get all this shit together until 2 days before Valentine's Day. And it is still motherfucking snowing here, so ain't no way in hell I am going out to the store again. If you were to make these, I know you will do a better job than me.

An alternative to giving out milk boxes, if you can't find them, is to include a straw with the package of cookies so the kiddos can get their own damn milk.

Overall, this was a simple Valentine's treat that was about $2 to make.

You can get your own FREE Milk + Cookies Valentine by clicking the photo below.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Kitchen Organization - Part 19

Remember my kitchen organization tour?  Well, I have gotten some more shit for the kitchen since then and my once clean cabinets were starting to go downhill, fast. This cabinet was always sort of a little odd hodge podge of shit that never really seemed to be organized. 

Then add in the fact that I just kept getting more shit and ta-da!

Hot Mess.

The sad thing is about half the contents of the cabinet were in the dishwasher, so it was even more of a mess when full. See all that shit on the bottom shelf? Know what the fuck it is? Yeah, neither do I. 

Now, normally I have the patience to pull out the colanders from the back without spilling all the shit in front out and onto the counters b/c I don't want to deal with the mess in the first place. I will carefully lift out the colander I need, not disturbing the mess in front, so I won't have to pick anything up that might spill out.

Oh, but not The Good Husband. The last time he cooked pasta, I was treated to a litany of cursewords so colorful I felt like I should eat soap. See, TGH isn't as delicate as I am. If he reaches for something and something else falls in the way or out of the cabinet..... Lord help us all.

So I rearranged and wouldn't you know, the most effective way to organize is the simplest. The stand mixer attachments that kept getting in the way? Well I moved those fuckers out from the shelf altogether. Using clear hooks, I was able to move the three standard attachments as well as the ice cream paddle to the inside of the door.

I was able to free up a lot of space on the lower cabinet so the salad spinner, the colanders and hand-held strainers were easy to reach. Things like the meat grinder for the stand mixer and my mandolin are still on the bottom shelf but out of the way since they are used less. The middle shelf got some basic rearranging and my new salad bowl and tongs live on the top shelf.  

I can close the cabinet with ease and nothing falls off the hooks. I can see were all four of the attachments are and they are right above my stand mixer for ease of access.

Sometimes I tend to over think organizing, thinking I have to have some fancy and new organization tool that will solve all my problems for me. When really what I need is just a pair of hooks.