-
7 Rules for Kitchen Maintenance
7 Rules for Kitchen Maintenance by Darlene Schacht An organized home feels so good doesn’t it? I love the feeling of clean. I want to be able to look into my pantry to see what I can work with, and what I have to get from the store. I like having a empty countertop when I go to prepare a meal. I like having clean dishes when I reach for a glass. I want to be able to invite people in and not be ashamed of the mess. Kitchen organization isn’t all that hard, really–not if you stick to the rules. I’m not a clean freak by any stretch of…
-
The One-Touch Rule of Housekeeping
It’s an age-old rule, and really I’m not sure who coined the phrase, but the premise of the “One-Touch Rule” is wise: don’t handle items more than once. If something is out of place, put it away immediately. For example, you bring the mail into the house and you leave it on the kitchen counter where it sits for a couple of days. When you’re working by the stove you move the mail aside. If you’re working on the other side of the counter, you move the mail aside again… You continue wasting time with these items until they start to pile up. If you’re not a tidy person by…
-
The 30 Bags in 30 Days Challenge
30-Day Challenge by Darlene Schacht If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s this: declutter! Declutter! Declutter! You can’t begin to organize your home if it’s too cluttered. You’ll never have room for everything if the closets and drawers aren’t maintained. And cleaning is twice the work in a house jam packed with junk. If you compare how many times you bring bags into your house with how many times you’re sending bags out, more than likely, you’ll start to notice that there’s an imbalance there. An imbalance that’s disrupting the harmony in your home. If we ever hope to have a place for everything, we need to free…
-
5 Unique Ways to Clean Up Your House
Have I ever told you that I have five sisters? No brothers. Mom and Dad had 6 girls and one bathroom, which made getting ready a little difficult at times, but we all managed to figure it out. I was the youngest, and so a lot of my housekeeping tips I’ve gotten from watching, and learning, and listening to what’s worked for them. With that said, I want to share 5 unique and fun ways to clean up your house that I’ve gleaned from the girls over time. 1. The Never-Waste-a-Step Method This one’s not so much a deep-cleaning method as it is a fun way to tidy up and…
-
Deep Clean Your Kitchen in 5 Days
Any number of the following steps can be done once per week on kitchen day, but if you are looking to get it all done at once and are willing to put in the extra hours, you can do them in five consecutive days for an overall deep clean. Once the kitchen is deep cleaned, use your judgement (according to your lifestyle) to decide how often you’ll repeat the steps. Day 1 – The Cupboards Empty out your cupboards (one section at a time if you’re low on counter space) and put all items onto the countertop or kitchen table, just like you would on moving day. Give each cupboard a…
-
How to Clean Sweep a Room in 5 Steps
When my kids were younger they were strangely addicted to “Clean Sweep.” Come to mention it, so was I! “Clean Sweep” was a weekly television show that helped families organize their home. They didn’t simply do a surface clean like you might expect from a maid service–they did a top to bottom cleaning of the room including every cupboard and drawer. Maybe that’s where my love for organization comes from, I don’t know. But I do know that I love the look and feel of an organized little house. I’ve come to learn a few rules over time. Some I picked from the show, and others I’ve gleaned through experience.…
-
The Scoop on Welcome Mats
I got a note from a reader the other day who asked, I have the hardest time with my welcome mat. It always looks terrible. I try to vacuum it and it doesn’t appear any better. Is this an item that I should be replacing regularly? Is there a way to keep it from looking grungy? The fact is, we all have trouble with doormats. Either they fade too fast or they just look so dirty that you want to replace it. That’s to be expected with something that’s sitting out in the sun, rain, and snow 24/7, but there are a few things we can do to help them look better.…
-
53 Steps to a Deep-Cleaned Bathroom
When I head into the bathroom to clean it, I’m usually expecting to have the job done within 10 to 15 minutes. And I do. After all, how long does it take to clean a room that’s 8′ x 12‘? Not long if you’ve been keeping it up week after week. But if your bathroom has been neglected for sometime, you might want to consider going in for a deep-clean, and getting into those dirty little corners that you’d rather ignore. I remember when I came home from the hospital with my youngest child. My sister Betty came over to do some housekeeping for me, while I recouped from a…
-
Toss Out 25 Things – 4 Guidelines for Living With Less
I wrote this article a while ago, so keep that in mind when you read so you don’t get confused. My daughter has kids of her own now, but I hope she’s still clearing the clutter! Today I’m talking about living with less, or for some of you—much less. There are things that we all have stuffed behind closed doors, hidden inside our drawers, laying under our beds, thrown onto our shelves, stacked up in our cupboards, crowding our counters, expiring in our freezers, hiding on top of our fridges, and squeezed into our jam-packed closets. In other words, we have an excess of junk. Cleaning out my daughter’s room,…
-
29 Steps to a Deep-Cleaned Bedroom
Bedrooms tend to accumulate stuff, whether it be clothing, jewelry, magazines, or leotards most of us have too much of it cluttering our drawers and our table tops. It shouldn’t be this way. The bedroom should be the most relaxing room in the house—a place where you can retreat to when you want to stretch out, or snuggle with your husband when he took on a cool winter’s night. But there’s nothing relaxing or romantic about a room that’s cluttered and disorganized, is there? I’m going to offer you 29 steps that will get your bedroom into the shape that it should be. Depending on the current state of your…
