My Favorite Things: Bathroom Edition

I, like many busy women, struggle with keeping up with the house and life. Therefore, I love products that make my life simpler and do the job right the first time. I'm not compensated by any of these products, I'm sharing what works for me-and my home!

My least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom. It goes back to my teenage years when that was my chore. Yuck! By swishing and swiping them daily, it cuts down on the ick factor. I use Method's spray to wipe down the counters and toilet bowl. I love the scent and it makes them sparkle!

We have giant mirrors over our vanities. The only glass cleaner I like (and can tolerate the smell of) is Windex Crystal Rain. If I can't find that, then I whip up vinegar, water and lavender oil.

I have a surround in my shower, which I thought would be easier to keep clean than tile. It is to a certain extent, but it still requires regular maintenance. I clean every day with Mr. Clean bath scrubber, which keeps the dirt level down. Yes, I clean the shower every day. Again, it's keeping the yuck at bay.
After every shower, we spray with Method daily shower cleaner. I love that scent! To me, it makes it smell super clean.
Once a week, I use kaboom to keep the shower looking good. It's exciting to watch it go from purple to white!
I also use car wax once a month on the surround walls. Just like on the road, it keeps it shiny and repels dirt and water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fULNUr0rvEc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

If nothing, I am brand loyal. Once I find a product, I stick with it. If it gets discontinued, it can be devastating. About 10 years ago, Lysol came out with a toilet bowl cleaner that got inserted into the brush. Best invention ever! However, I guess it didn't sell very well, and it went off the market. I still use lysol toilet bowl cleaner, but I miss the other stuff too.

Every few nights, I drop a denture tablet in the toilet bowl, which keeps it looking better.

Some One's in the Kitchen

Over the course of the last few years, I have transformed from stay at home mother to working full time, to having a full time job and an almost full time job to both of those and teaching both cooking and yoga plus all the volunteer work I have always done. Did I mention that I have a special needs son and my mother is moving in with us due to her own special needs? It’s not easy to keep juggling all those balls, but I am really trying hard. My life keeps me hopping, and I need to seriously get back on top of everything to get back to basics. I was issued a challenge the other day. I mentioned that I was working really hard on getting organized, and I was told that it was impossible. There was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I could possibly get organized, especially with my schedule.


Game on.

Several years ago, some well meaning folks decided to reorganize my kitchen when I was at work. Their intentions were great, but it didn’t work for me. They are not me, and they don’t know how I like things or the “flow” of my kitchen. To be quite honest, despite the whole thought of it being a nice thing-and for some other folks, it may have been greatly appreciated-it was quite traumatic for me. I felt like what I wanted and how I wanted my kitchen wasn’t good enough, and that it needed to be fixed. I know that its probably in my head, and just my insecurities rearing themselves, but I really haven’t “fixed” it back to the way it was either.

That’s going to change. The weather is supposed to be quite miserable and cold this weekend, so after the March for Babies and the Yogi Junior class I teach Saturday, and after church on Sunday, I am taking back my kitchen. It will be mine, all mine again after this weekend. I have big plans for that space.

First is cleaning out the cabinet above my island. It winds up being a dumping ground for homeless things. I am rather frustrated by the fact that it remains like that, despite repeated attempts to keep it cleaned out. When tidying up, I seem to stash and dash, and never get back to it later on. So, that cabinet is the first to meet with my fury. In the next cabinet, I keep my dishes, along with a bottle of Holy Water that my husband swears is expired cough syrup. He is Catholic, and has more of an affinity for it than I do, so it will be his responsibility to find a home for it. Moving along, the next cabinet are for my glasses. We currently are in a plastic tumbler state of life, due to a cat that likes to tip over glasses and break them. I need to adjust the shelves and make the space usable.

In the next cabinet are coffee mugs, and an awful lot of wasted space. The mugs can be moved elsewhere, and that space used more appropriately. I am thinking of moving my pyrex pans there versus where its currently housed. In the next cabinet it is our medicine cabinet. It earned that distinction seven years ago, before we had a medicine cabinet in the Little Man’s bathroom. I need to move the stuff out of there and into that cabinet, since its been virtually empty since our guest left in November. That cabinet would be perfect for my Tupperware containers. Over the stove are my spices, which is prime for me to grab them as I cook.

Next cabinet over contains my mixing bowls. This is actually quite perfect as is, and so it will remain! The cabinet next to that, not so much. It currently houses my baking stuff-mixer, pans, cupcake liners, decorating sugars, and I honestly can’t find anything in there. Something needs to be done with it, stat. The next cabinet is all the Tupperware, which is being moved, so the baking stuff can go there. Finally is the coffee cabinet. Coffee, grinder, all that jazz are currently residing there-which is a great idea, so adding the mugs makes perfect sense. The final top level cabinet is above the fridge, where I have serving platters. Wasted space, but I am too short for anything else to go in there.

The bottom level cabinets are due for some spring cleaning too! I have a cabinet that basically is wasted, which is where my recycling bucket is, but its on the opposite side of the kitchen from the garbage can…so the recyclables go on the counter. That is just high on the ick factor! We can mix our recycling, so its just putting them in the bucket and developing a new habit. In the cabinet next to that, I have some larger appliances, like my griddle and crock pot, that only fit into that cabinet-but again, lots of wasted space. I can do so much better! The cabinet next to that is a corner cabinet, but doesn’t have a lazy Susan like my other two corner cabinets. I currently have my pots and pans in there, but its hard to find things if they wind up in the back, so I need a better system. I think by swapping one of the lazy Susan’s with the pots and pans, I will be making best use of the space. Again, one cabinet has appliances that I use, but not very often, and bakeware that may or may not be used frequently. All of these can best be rearranged to meet my needs.

The one cabinet that I will not be working on is the under the sink cabinet. That will require a separate day (and post!)

All By Myself

I have a confession to make: I hate cleaning the house with an audience. It probably goes back to my childhood, being told by my Grama that I missed a spot. I just like to do it & be left alone.
Many years ago, I checked a book out of my local library called "Do I Dust or Vacuum First". It was all about home organization and cleaning. A certain big man thought it was both hilarious and sad that I had to read a book on something that came naturally to most women.
Apparently when they were handing out cleaning skills, I must have been off reading a book or hiking a trail or doing basically anything else but waiting in line. Cleaning doesn't come naturally to me apparently.
After all, I had to read a book to learn.
I do know that I don't particularly enjoy having people watch me clean. Its as if they are scoring me, because that's what my Grama used to do. I could have done a bang up job & shed be like the Russian ice skating judge, finding flaws.
I also like listening to my music. Loud. It helps motivate me and keep me positive. I like using my choice of cleaning products. I don't like chemically smelling products, they turn my stomach and actually make me light headed.
My system of cleaning has also been the subject of ridicule over the years. I subscribe to the fly lady system, which I discovered on the Martha Stewart boards when I was planning my wedding. My favorite part is setting the timer for 15 minutes, because you can do anything for that length of time. It's helped me overcome that overwhelmed feeling when approaching a big task. I know that when that timer goes off, I can walk away for 15 minutes and regroup or keep going.
Then there is the matter of perception. I guess there are times that I think things are clean and organized, but others don't. There is nothing like spending an hour busting your butt to do something to be greeted with a "really? You call that clean?" nothing like popping your balloon.
Working full time, plus working more than part time at church as well as teaching eats into my time. When I was at home, up to five years ago, I was able to do a lot more. Detailed cleaning-like the grout-was done more frequently, just because I had both the time and energy. Now, sometimes it's a struggle to keep up with the maintenance stuff, like cleaning up after dinner or sweeping my kitchen floor. I do my best, but there are times when I'd rather take a nap or read a book than scrubbing the bath tub. Don't get me wrong, the cleaning still gets done, it's just on my schedule than anyone else's.
Currently in my cleaning toolbox I have:
Swifter wet & dry for the tile floors
Swifter duster
Just a note on the swifter stuff: the cleaning people in my building at work use them.
Wood for good furniture polish (I love this smell!)
Method bathroom cleaner
Mrs. Meyers lemon verbena counter top spray
Bon ami scrubbing powder
Mr Clean magic eraser

If you are like me, you probably need some help to learn how to clean. My original manual is no longer in print, but there are other options out there. One is the Fly Lady's book, Sink Reflections. I love her system, but everything in her book is on her website, for free.
There are a lot of blogs that feature great tips and ideas. One is I Heart Organizing (http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/?m=1). Another is Organized Mom (http://www.organizedmom.net/category/blog/). I also read
House of Smiths http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/?m=1
Simple Mom http://simplemom.net/
Blue Eyed Bride http://blueeyedbride.com/
And Life as A Mom
http://lifeasmom.com/
These blogs are all inspiring for me to keep at the cleaning and organizing to have a happy home.

New Moon on Monday

Its President's Day, and I an off today with the boys. I don't really have an agenda, a few ideas-workout, organize some storage containers, work on blankets for the Humane Society, do laundry, tidy up the house. Little Man has a dentist appointment today, but that's it for planned events.
It's nice to not have an agenda, because for the most part I'm chained to my calendar. I've had quite a few people ask me how I juggle a full time job, a part time job, teaching both vegan cooking and yoga, writing, training for a 5k, maintaining a home, being a mom & wife, community involvement and crafting.
How do I do it all? Time management.
For one thing, I've cut out of my life people and things that don't bring me joy and support my goal of finding bliss in my life.
I made a painful realization that I had allowed basically haters into my life. For the most part, I spent so much time and energy trying to win these folks over. Basically, I was a footnote buried in their dissertation.
I know that I am a fantabulous person; I've been called a role model and a mentor. I will never be like anyone else in the world. By trying to be someone else to get others to like me is being disingenuous. If you don't like me for me, then you have no room in my life. You wont like me anymore than currently if I lost weight, became holly homemaker or did anything else that others want for me. By getting rid of that negativity has freed up all sorts of energy to do other things.
Part of time management involves precision planning. I plan my life and my son's life, our clothes and breakfasts and lunches.
Another part of it includes routine. Every morning I:
Clean up the kitchen
Feather dust
Make beds
Do a load of laundry
Swish & swipe bathrooms
Swifter the floor
It helps me keep my sanity. I may not clean the house like how others do, but then again they don't clean the house like I do.
Working out is the glue to keep this all together. It preserves my sanity. It gives me energy. The stronger I get physically, the stronger I get over all.
It helps me reorder priorities.
I work hard so I can play hard.
I play hard so I can keep up with my son.
And it's all good.

Don't let go

Welcome to 2012! The holidays are winding down, it's almost time to go back to school and work. It's also my time to put things back in order again (and in some cases, for the first time)
In years past, I've gone gung ho and made my house look like something Martha Stewart would approve.
For a day or two.
The problem was there wasn't any plan in place to maintain it.
So it's the start of a new year, and another chance to work on making my home into what I want and need it to be: a sanctuary and oasis from the craziness of the world.
Step one: get started.
Step two: don't let go, and keep going.

Black Coffee In Bed

Cleaning the bedroom is my least favorite household chore. I hate it! Especially our bedroom, since it seems to be such a dumping ground for stuff. Both my husband & I empty pockets, etc onto the dresser, and then nothing happens to it, so the stuff piles up. Same with the nightstands. I couldn’t tell you why there is fish stuff on my husband’s side of the bed, especially since we no longer have fish…but I digress. Basically, stuff winds up in the bedrooms when there aren’t any other homes for it.

Other than that issue, my daily bedroom cleaning focuses on making the bed, and putting the dirty laundry up to wash. I feather dust the furniture and that’s about it.

Weekly, I change the sheets and polish the furniture. We also have ceiling fans in each of the bedrooms, so I have to dust them. I’ve tried various things to repel dust on there and it doesn’t seem to work. I am open all sorts of ideas!

Once a month, I wash our comforters, vacuum under the bed and lemon oil the furniture and woodwork.

Quarterly, I take down the drapes and wash them.

in the closet

In the Closet




I love fashion and clothes. It’s a big part of my life. My closet reflects that. As time goes on, I have been trying to figure out a way to manage my closet and keep it organized. What I have found that works for me, is I put together my outfits for the week every weekend: everything-lingerie, accessories, etc. It makes getting ready in the morning so much easier. I have 2 sets of outfits: work and play.

In order to do this, I have to keep my closet organized. I have my shoes in plastic shoeboxes on the floor. I now have my scarves and purses in baskets on the shelves in there, so I can see what I have and what goes with what. It makes a huge difference rather than the closet exploding on me.


The closet is divided into quadrants: casual and professional; summer and winter. There is some overlap between the 4, but its ok because I can usually find what I am looking for. It also has allowed me to see what I own, and make good use of it.



Its allowed me to go from fashion failure to a rock star diva.

Take Me Home Tonight

In order to keep our home running smoothly and efficiently, I have to do a little bit of cleaning and tidying up every night. It gets broken down into 3 parts: after dinner, zone cleaning and before bed.

After dinner, I clear off the table and do dishes. Leftovers get re-purposed as lunches, coffee maker gets set up, lunches are packed.

I sweep the kitchen floor. I try to either wet jet or steam mop the tile floors every day. I use Method’s daily granite on the kitchen countertops when I am done for the night in there. I clean the stove top with the cook top cleaner.

I have my home divided into zones, and that’s how I keep up with the house work. There is nothing worse than having to spend Saturday cleaning the house…so I try to do a little each day. No job takes more than an hour, and that’s really pushing it. A little bit goes a long way in maintaining my sanity.

Before bed, I have a little bit of final tidying up that I do.

I double check to make sure the coffee maker is set up, and that lunches are put together. I make sure that there’s stuff for breakfast in the morning. I spray a little Febreeze on the sofa and recliners in the family room to eliminate the doggie smell. I throw a denture tablet into the toilet bowls & close the lids, so it helps clean them over night. I make sure everything that’s needed in the morning (backpack, etc) is where it needs to be, and that are clothes for the next day are laid out. I can go to sleep knowing all is well.

Home Sweet Home

In order to keep my sanity, I need to do my daily morning cleaning. Its not too hard, it’s the mental blockage that I have with it most mornings.





Swish & swipe the bathroom










Swifter the tile floors in the foyer, kitchen and bathrooms.

Make beds.

Feather dust upstairs and downstairs

Swap laundry

Empty the litterbox

Empty/reload dishwasher

Make sure what’s needed for dinner is ready to go.

This way, when the Big Man gets home from work, he’s not wading his way through junk all over the house. I know I don’t like walking into a mess, and its only respectful for me to not leave one for him.