self-driven

maddux gets the job done without being asked. he even moves all of the chairs before he starts trying to vacuum! you are welcome, world. love.

tuesday tip: shower cleaning

clean the shower last.

i hate cleaning the shower. i usually save it to be my last cleaning job of the day and scrub it down before taking a shower myself. recently, i saw that i missed a spot as i was getting out of the shower and since the scrub brush was still there, i gave it a little scrub. it came off with almost no effort! ah-ha. i had a thought. what if the steam from the shower made it easier to clean off the residue? so i tested my theory the next week and scrubbed the shower, without cleaners, the next week at the end of my shower. yep. super easy cleaning and no chemical fumes! this might not be for everyone (or maybe it is what you already do), but i was excited enough to share.

what is your shower cleaning tip?

love.

mommy's little 'helper'

manning (who you will recall is now not napping) isn't so much my 'helper' as 'helping himself'! you might see the steps tool in the background of this picture. he uses it all over the house and there isn't much he can't help himself to and he does.  a frequent favorite is to get any of the wipes containers from around the house and empty them. he does try to use all of the wipes to clean the bench at the table - not the table, only the bench.

and then there is a total meltdown when he is cut off from his wipe supply.

this happens just about every day too. the 'cleaning' not the meltdown. he 'helps' all over the house.  but i think his favorite places are the pantry, the bathrooms and the office.  he doesn't do anything particularly destructive, but he does get into an awful lot. he is the first of the kids who really loves the computers and will go into the office without matt or i being in there and just help himself to the mouse and keyboards. if you get an odd email or message from me, it is from manning.  love.

tuesday tip - cleaning schedule

i am not a cleaner.  there i said it.  i do like things super neat and organized, but i don't like to do the maintenance cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, baseboards, etc.).  i am a great organizer (and have been told this by other people, it is not just my arrogance) and have come up with 101 ways to keep the house clean (none of which actually factored in kids) and tend to be impossible in practice - either in completion each day or getting through the cycle fast enough that the cleaning on day one isn't totally undone by the time i get back to it. instead i tend to be the sort who will stay up all night scrubbing every square inch of the house the night before someone arrives.  so when one of my friends, who is a crazy cleaner, said that she had found a cleaning schedule that was super simple and "doable" on pintrest, i was skeptical but a few weeks later asked her to send it my way anyhow.

well, i have been doing this routine for about a month now and it has made a HUGE difference in my stress levels and the overall cleanliness of our house. i do have to do a few more loads of laundry and dishes than this recommends, but we do have six people in the family.  and, i don't feel like i am doing anything extra than i already was doing most of the time.  it comes from diary of a moody housewife and i just had to share it.

the tip? everything in moderation.  i tend to live in the extremes and this is a wonderful middle ground.

do you follow a cleaning "schedule"or are you a clean as it needs it sort of person?

love.

mommy's helpers

i don't do this nearly enough, but the boys helped me with cleaning the bathrooms today.  one of the benefits of a chemical free cleaner is that i can just let them loose with the spray bottles.  they had a lot of fun cleaning the tub in our bathroom and wiping all of the baseboards. 

and then when madelyn got home, i let the three of them clean their bathroom(s) on their own while i made dinner.  they did a very good job!  it sure made the chore more fun for me - even if it did take a little longer. love.

tuesday tip - baby wipes clean everything

not sure if i have mentioned this in another post before, but baby wipes clean everything!  seriously, blood, grease, stainless steel, markers, you name it and there is a pretty good chance a baby wipe can undo it.  it has often made me give a second thought to using them on the little tushies in our house!

what baby products have you found a double use for?

love.