A Deep Cleaning Schedule

Jay and I are pretty clean people, and we always complete basic household chores like vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, and doing laundry on a weekly basis.  We both do quick cleans throughout the week and generally keep most of our clutter under control.  I love the feeling of a clean and organized home!

There are a few areas, however, that we really tend to let go - tasks like washing windows, cleaning the insides of appliances, or wiping out the fridge, to name a few.  They don't need to be done all the time, but that doesn't mean one should never do them. 

This came to my attention last weekend, when I noticed that our oven had some gunk on the inside that was starting to smell like a marshmallow that had fallen into a campfire.  Our oven has a "self-clean" button (as I'm pretty sure most do), but I had never run a cleaning cycle on it (nor on any other oven ever in my life).  Since the inside of this appliance is out of sight about 99 percent of the time, apparently it has also been out-of-mind for me. 

I decided that cleaning the oven was something I really needed to work into my schedule every few months, and that there were probably a lot of other chores along the same lines that I had been neglecting.  They may not need to be done all the time, they still need to be done on occasion.  And "on occasion" means more than once every five years.

I came up with a list of extra chores that don't always get the attention they deserve.  Then, I put together a spreadsheet with the chores in one column and the date completed in another.  I am going to try to choose one or two of these extra tasks each week and then record the date on the spreadsheet (which I have shared with Jay through Google Drive, in case he wants to participate).  This way, I will know exactly how long ago each job was completed, and I can choose to do chores that haven't been tended to recently.

Here is the list I came up with:

• Make cleaning supplies - This is something I always put off, and I think it would be a lot easier if I set aside some time to make my laundry detergent, shower cleaner, etc. all at once. 
• Clean appliances - Vinegar works great for cleaning dishwashers, microwaves, and washing machines. 
• Clean out cars - Even if it just means taking them to the car wash...it's something I really have to make myself do. 
• Wipe down cabinets/appliances - I use a natural all-purpose cleaner on the cabinets and a stainless steel microfiber cloth on the appliances.
• Wipe down baseboards/trim/doors - These are all white in our house, so a quick wipe-down really makes a difference.  
• Clean out one drawer or shelf - The junk drawer can always use it.
• Clean out fridge and freezer - It is amazing what you'll find hidden in the back. 
• Deep clean oven - Now that I know how to do this, I vow to do it more often.
• Clean out one closet - It's amazing how quickly they all fill-up. 
• Wash windows - I love these new miracle glass and mirror cloths I bought on Amazon that require nothing but water!
• Go through bathroom toiletries - It's good to reorganize and toss the expired stuff once in a while. 
• Clean out pantry - More organizing and tossing.
• Spot clean upholstery and carpets - It doesn't take long for our beige couches to get dirty with two dogs. 
• Purge or file all excess papers - This could also include going through the file cabinet, which is long overdue for us.
• Wash throws and dog beds - It's easy to overlook, but they get stinky after a while.
• Clean coffee makers - A vinegar/water cycle does a great job.  You can see my method here. 
• Clean makeup brushes - I also show an easy method for this here. 
• Disinfect/wipe out trash cans - Kind of like the oven, just because you can't see it doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.  

And here is the plan reduced to a cuter, simpler format:

The oven looks one hundred times better now that it has been cleaned!  I wish I had taken "before" and "after" photos.

On the agenda for this weekend - clean coffee makers (there is some suspicious gunk in the water chamber of our Keurig) and maybe wash cars.

Happy cleaning!

DIY Laundry Soap Gifts

I've been loving the homemade laundry soap that I've been using, so much so that my mom and I decided to make gifts out of it for Christmas!  (I know this post is quite belated, but I didn't want to risk any of the recipients seeing their gifts ahead of time.)  We figured the soap would make unique and useful presents, since laundry is something that unfortunately we all must do.

We started off with 24 1-liter Ball jars, 5 boxes of Borax, 5 boxes of washing soda, and 10 bars of Fels Naptha soap (to which we later added two more).  It was quite the operation.  

We made two batches at a time, using a food processor to grate the soap and then shaking up all the ingredients in a big plastic bucket.  (You can see the exact recipe here.)

We then carefully transferred the soap into the jars.  It took a total of approximately 12 batches to fill them all up.

To finish up the project, we tied some cute tags (borrowed and printed out from this website) to each jar with some natural jute string and signed our names plus the batch number.

It was a long afternoon of soap making, but I was really happy with the end result.  The gifts have been a big hit with all of our family and friends.  I felt like it was a fun alternative to all the typical baked goods and candies that are so common around the holidays.

Laundry soap could make a fun gift at other times of year, too.  I think it would make a really cute housewarming present, among other things.  Anything to make this never-ending chore a bit more enjoyable!

DIY Laundry Soap

In an effort to rid our home of unnecessary chemicals and pesticides, I've been trying to switch to as many natural and homemade products as I can.  While everything in our house still isn't 100% green, we have definitely moved in the right direction.  Every little bit helps!

Research has shown that when multiple pesticides and herbicides are used in conjunction with one another, they produce a "cocktail effect."  These substances may have proved to be harmless when studied at low doses in a lab INDIVIDUALLY, but when combined together their effect is quite toxic.  So, the more unnatural substances we can get rid of, the weaker this "cocktail effect" will be.

Luckily we now have Pinterest to provide us with a never ending supply of natural cleaning remedies (seriously, what did we ever do before this site?!).  Thanks to many informative pins, I am now utilizing vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and lemons much more in my day-to-day cleaning routine.  I also can't get enough of the all-natural and reasonably priced Mrs. Meyer's line.  It's the best!

While it was easy for me to start wiping down counters with natural all-purpose cleaner instead of bleach spray, and scrubbing sinks with baking soda instead of Comet, I was pretty hesitant when it came to changing my laundry soap.  I like to workout and get sweaty, and I couldn't imagine anything homemade would work as well as a commercial detergent.  Plus, I wasn't too familiar with the necessary ingredients and didn't feel like driving all over the place trying to track them down.

Jay of course wanted to give it a try, so I did a bit more research and decided to attempt the most basic recipe I could find that still received positive feedback.  Pretty much all of the natural laundry soap recipes on the web involve some combination of the following: Borax, Fels-Naptha or Ivory soap, and washing soda (NOT baking soda).  There are other things you can add to doctor it up, but I was set on keeping it as simple as possible.  I had read that all three of these essential ingredients could be found at Wal-Mart (sadly, not Target), so, as much as I absolutely loathe the place, I stopped in and picked up the supplies.

I started by grating the bar of Fels-Naptha soap into a bucket with a cheese grater.  It's yellow, so it actually looks just like a pile of cheese when you're done...yummy!  This step was the most annoying part by far.  I've heard of people doing it more quickly in their food processors, but I didn't feel like dirtying up a bunch of equipment.  Then, I added 2 cups of the washing soda and 2 cups of the Borax and shook it up.

Finally, I poured it in to a prettier container...it looks so much nicer on our shelf than a bottle of Tide!

I waited until our old detergent was out to give it a try.  Shortly after I had used the last drop of the store-bought stuff, this handsome guy came down with a serious eye infection that resulted in some icky red discharge spots on our comforter.  (It turns out that he has something called detached retina syndrome, and if we hadn't taken him in to the vet when we did he would have gone blind! Yikes!!)

Anyways, all I had on hand was the new homemade soap, so I figured it would be a good test to see if it really worked.  Sure enough, the duvet cover smelled great when it came out, and there were no stains left to be found.  I have done a couple more loads of laundry since then, and I honestly have no complaints so far.  The stuff works great (and it is safe for HE washers), not to mention it is WAY cheaper and less toxic than regular detergents.  I'm sold!