Monthly Musings; Spring Cleaning

 With the last Thursday of the month it's time to link up with Holly and Patty for their Monthly Musings series.  This month we're answering lots of questions about spring cleaning. 



1.  Are you doing a spring cleaning this year? Not really.  I am going through and organizing different areas of the house though; like changing all our photos over into photo cases. I tend to work on small areas like this ALL the time. 


2. Favorite cleaning products? My Libman Freedom mop; with it's machine washable pads and fillable chamber I can use whatever I want to clean my floors and it's so easy to use and reuse. 



3. What is your must clean for every spring? I concentrate most of my cleaning outside each spring.  I have to clean off the patio, the deck, & all the gardens, otherwise it just doesn't feel like spring to me.  I do like to wash all the windows (that I can reach anyway) in the house.  

before

after

4. Any garage/ shed cleaning tips? Our shed & garage are cleaned out a few times each year.  I find staying on top of it (like any other cleaning project) helps keep it manageable. I also find it's worth investing in storage solutions to keep things in their place. 

5. Pat rack or Maire Kondo devotee? I have a vague idea of who Marie Kondo is but while I don't know her I know I am NOT a pack rat.  I am definitely a purge and everything in it's place kind of person.  I love bins and labels.





6. Best cleaning hack? I use a dollar store chenille sock on my Swiffer and we use it to clean the floors, walls, baseboards, etc.  The socks really trap the dust and are machine washable and fit on the Swiffer easily.  

7. Do you  have help with house cleaning? Yep! My boys always get assigned tasks and my husband often pitches in too.  

8. Favorite cleaning appliance? Our new robot vacuum!  I rarely feel like I need to vacuum the entire downstairs anymore.  It's such a big help.  



9. Run the dishwasher every night or just when full? This question made me laugh-- it implies that my dishwasher isn't full enough every night to run it... when in fact we run our dishwasher 2-3 times a day!  

10. Favorite way to donate or purge unneeded items? We don't have garbage pick up where we live so we have a dumpster that we rent year round.  If I can't find someone (or an organization) to give unwanted items to we just purge them in the dumpster.  

Linking up with:








Comments

  1. Michele MorinApril 29, 2021 at 6:01 AM

    I admire your attention to detail and your orderly home!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Better Best FoodApril 29, 2021 at 6:52 AM

    I am obsessed with your bins and organization. I wish my house could be this organized--and you have so many males in your house! How is this possible?

    The sock on the Swiffer is pure genius. I am totally going to try this.

    I love my robot vacuum too. I almost bought the Eufy but went with the Roomba. I so loves these things.

    Thanks for linking up with Holly and me.

    Patty
    GoodBetterBestFood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 29, 2021 at 9:21 AM

      Sometimes it takes a few tries to find an organization system that everyone is willing to keep up with-- but I find that broad labels and a quick explanation of where things go helps them all pitch in. I just have to make sure it's not more work to keep it organized than it otherwise would be to put something away.

      Delete
  3. NatashaApril 29, 2021 at 7:20 AM

    I forgot about outdoor cleaning of flower beds and stuff -- you're right in that's where I focus most of my spring cleaning energy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 29, 2021 at 9:22 AM

      I always want to make the most of our good weather seasons and spend time outside.

      Delete
  4. Memphis BridgesApril 29, 2021 at 7:25 AM

    Your home is so organized and I love the tip to use a sock for cleaning with the swiffer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dara @ Not In JerseyApril 29, 2021 at 8:50 AM

    Great idea about the sock on the swiffer! What do you do with your everyday garbage with no garbage pick up? That sounds hard!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 29, 2021 at 9:27 AM

      Most people either rent dumpsters (like we do) or have a large garbage cans they rent from our local waste management company and schedule their own private pick up. It's not really any extra work just an added expense.

      Delete
  6. Sarita @ it's my girls' worldApril 29, 2021 at 9:39 AM

    Sock on the swiffer is brilliant! Love my robot vacuum as well!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tamar SBApril 29, 2021 at 11:58 AM

    Oo robot vaccuum! I did that on a swiffer once, great tip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 29, 2021 at 1:06 PM

      I am loving it! I've even been debating about a second one for the upstairs...

      Delete
  8. Handmade in IsraelApril 29, 2021 at 12:57 PM

    Everything looks very organised and tidy! How's the robot vacuum? I am considering one too. Your dishwasher works VERY hard!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 29, 2021 at 1:06 PM

      I really like the robot vacuum! It works great; though our house is large and I have to run it at least twice a day before it gets all the little nooks and crannies cleaned. Our dishwasher does work hard. Between all the baking and cooking we do and the fact that the majority of us eat the majority of our meals at home it seems like that poor thing is always on.

      Delete
  9. Pat @ Mille Fiori FavoritiApril 29, 2021 at 10:01 PM

    You are very organized! That is most of the battle with house cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  10. HollyMay 3, 2021 at 8:27 AM

    That mop looks great and I am so jealous of your organized pantry!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Favorite TV Shows Growing Up in the 80's and early 90's

Image
Do you remember the TGIF lineups on Friday nights? I can remember planning sleepovers and time with friends around TV Show lineups of our favorite shows... or else trying to set the VCR to record our favorite shows if we weren't going to be home. And through the years I had SO MANY favorites! Growing pains aired in 1985 which put me around age 8 and it stayed on the air until I was 15 or so; I'm pretty sure most people in my age group watched mostly for Kirk Cameron and all his antics.  I still have a soft spot for family sit-coms!  The Facts of Life aired when I was just 2  and stayed on the air until I was 11 so I'm sure the episodes I remember so fondly were either some of the later ones and then reruns shown later on when I was old enough to watch from the beginning. I think everyone would have loved an Edna Garret in their lives.   Benson another sitcom that began airing when I was just 2 and was done by the time I was 9 (another one I must have watched mai...
Read more

Things That Make Me Laugh

Image
I loved the challenge of this week's list for our 26 lists link up.  I don't know about you but I really need to laugh more lately.  It's such a great stress reliever. 1.  Books-- I love a good funny book that makes me laugh out loud.  I haven't read one in a while but if you have any recommendations I'm all ears.  The last book I can remember making me laugh was the Un-Honeymooners. 2  The boys being silly. 3.  Watching shows like America's Funniest Videos or Family Feud. 4. My husband.  Most people don't realize it but he's actually pretty funny and often makes me laugh. 5.  Whenever my sisters/ family get together and we get to reminiscing (particularly if my Aunt Elaine is around) we end up laughing so hard at all the old family stories that we are all in tears by the end of the night.  It's fabulous. 6. Movies like Mom's Night Out, Christmas Vacation, and Grown Ups make me laugh out loud. 7.  When my ...
Read more

Making Gift Card and Money Holders Using Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Supples

Image
I don't tend to keep a lot of crafting supplies on hand so when I saw this month's de-stash challenge I wasn't sure what I was going to make.  I finally realized that with so many of my Christmas gifts being cash and gift cards this year that I needed to make up some fun paper crafting/ creative ways to gift them.   I still want my nieces and nephews to have something to open so I pulled out my papers and stamps and made up some cute little money/gift card holders. They were much easier to make than I thought.  The first one I worked on was to hold some oversized Nintendo gift cards.  I made a standard sized card and folded down one corner of the card front.  Then I ran my double sided tape along the bottom an 1/2 way up the side creating a cute little pocket.  Finally I added some cute embellishments and ribbons.   Voila! A simple and easy gift card holder for those larger sized gift cards.  The bulk of the tweens and teens on my list j...
Read more

Making a Sugar Cookie "Gingerbread" House

Image
 Alec really wanted to try making his own gingerbread house this year without using a premade kit.  We talked about how we never really eat the house since they don't taste very good.  Years ago we gave up on the frosting that comes in the kit and began making our own so we thought perhaps we should try making our our house too. Only problem is that no one in the house likes gingerbread.  We talked about trying to make the house using a sugar cookie recipe.  Alec was so excited at that idea since he just LOVES sugar cookies.   He found a recipe online for a simple sugar cookie recipe and mixed up the dough.  He rolled it out an cut it to the size of our cookie sheets-- we had read that it's easiest to cut the house pieces out after the dough has been baked and is still warm and soft because then you don't have to worry about any of the pieces losing their shape while baking. I had picked out a simple cookie cutter set on Amazon and as soon as the ...
Read more

Dollar Store Candy Cane Wreath

Image
Today I am linking up with some fellow bloggers for a Dollar Store craft challenge.  I don't often participate in these challenges since I try to stay away from our local Dollar Stores; I find they can be quite dangerous for me!  I knew this was the perfect time to find some inexpensive holiday decorations though and I just LOVE how my wreath turned out!  I hope you stop by and see what the other hosts are sharing. Meet this month's co-hosts! Across the Blvd | Purple Hues & Me This Autoimmune Life | Our Unschooling Journey Domestic Deadline | Sew Crafty Crochet Stone Cottage Adventures | Sum of Their Stories | Two Chicks & a Mom I bought the candy cane wreath base and a few rolls of mesh (not knowing how many I'd need I bought waaay to many; I only ended up using one white roll and one red roll. Using some chenille stems I already had on hand I attached the mesh to the wreath base trying to alternate the whit...
Read more