House Cleaning Tips

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the lights, the smells and especially the holiday music. One of my favorite Christmas songs is Perry Como’s “There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays”. Christmas is also a time when family and friends are gathered around the kitchen counters eating and chatting happily together. I love these days, the festivities, and the crowd of loving people around me. For many of us, the holidays also mean we’ll be sharing our home with guests . I enjoy my guests and I like making them feel special when they’re here. Here are some quick and fun ideas that will make your guests feel at home.  Make Welcome Baskets for Your Guests One way to make your holiday guest(s) feel special is to make a welcome basket. These are fun to create and so helpful to guests.  Here are a few tips for putting your welcome basket together. Bedroom Guest Baskets For the bedroom where your guests will be staying, have a nice basket that holds towels...

First let me say you may not be able to reverse the damage done to the disk, but the method below might help the disc be readable again. If this does work, I would suggest, if possible, you consider making a copy of the disc. If the CD or DVD contains software, contact the company and they may send you a new disk or send you a link where you can download the program. Cleaning the CD or DVD Prior to taking the steps to reduce the scratch, make sure the surface of the DVD is clean. Don’t clean the surface of your DVDs or CDs by wiping them on your clothing. Our clothing can be rough or the disk can rub against a button or a heavy seem on jeans which can cause more scratches on the surface of the disk. You also should not use a paper towel or anything similar as these are too abrasive. Start by using a bulb air duster (not a can of air, the blast of air is too strong) and carefully blow the surface. I use the bulb duster I bought for my camera. If you don’t have one of these then blo...

Disposal Odors and How to Rid of Them Cleaning the kitchen is one thing but how many of us forget about the disposal? I’ll admit, I sometimes forget until I get some phantom smell in the kitchen that isn’t coming from the garbage can. The garbage disposal is a powerhouse when it comes to grinding up particles of food and when you think about it, some of the things that go in may cause some funky odors to come out. Below are some things you can do to remove and prevent odors in your garbage disposal. Run cold water when using the garbage disposal. After rinsing pots, pans and dishes, grease and oils can run off into the disposal area. Using cold water will help solidify any grease and oil so it can be chopped up before reaching the trap where it could otherwise sit and accumulate. Freeze white vinegar in ice cube trays. I use the silicone trays because popping them out is so easy and it really doesn’t matter if you use large or small square trays. Vinegar is a natural deodorizer th...

If you’re like me, you save a few old toothbrushes instead of throwing them in the trash. They come in handy for cleaning in tight places. One of the reasons I like using an old toothbrush is they are already worn down and it's lost the stiffness, then I don’t have to worry about scratches – not to mention I don’t want to waste a new toothbrush for cleaning gunk. So, if you have an old toothbrush, don’t throw it out, not yet anyway. Get more use out of it before tossing it in the trash. Cleaning Hard to Get Places in the Shower One of the places I use my old toothbrush is cleaning the bottom of sliding glass shower doors. If you have this kind of shower door you know how soapy water can run down the glass and into the tracks where water pools. If this is left you end up with soap scum in the tracks and on the bottom of the glass which can be hard to get at with just a sponge or cleaning rag. This is where the old toothbrush comes in handy to scrub the shower tracks, the...

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I work from my home and I love it when I can open my office window, let the fresh air in, listen to the birds and watch them as they eat from the bird feeders (yes, I do manage to get work done). Spring is also one of the larger cleanings we do around our house. I want my house as fresh on the inside as it is smells on the outside. Spring Cleaning 101 Here are some of the basics of any large cleaning. These will help you keep track of all you are doing, what’s already been done, and so forth. 1.    Make a list of all the areas in the house you want to tackle and what you hope to accomplish. I type everything on the computer in columns with checkmarks. This makes it so much easier to cross things off the list, and I have a copy for my next spring cleaning that I can easily add to if needed. Here’s a sample of what a section of your list could consist of, let’s use the kitchen as our example: Cleaning the Kitchen Dust a...

Hardwood floors are gorgeous when they’re clean. I love it when either natural light or ambient light shows just how stylish they are. Hardwood floors add a touch of elegance to a home, don’t you think? Hardwoods are a great option as they are durable, they come in different colors and a variety of styles, and they are easy to clean and maintain. Sweeping the Floors Cleaning hardwood floors is a pretty basic task when done on a regular basis. If you use something like a Swiffer sweeper to sweep your floors, this simple task will keep the floors shiny and dust free. I particularly like microfiber sweepers like the Swiffer. They are lightweight and the materials are designed to attract and trap dust particles, which is so much nicer than in the old days of brooms which just pushed the dirt around. Sweeping the floors is also an easy task to put on the kids chore list, especially the younger ones. They’ll get a kick out of watching the dust bunnies stick to the Swiffer. For large mess...

We all know that cleaning the house is a chore we wish we could skip. But how many of us can stand to look at or sit in a home where dust is accumulating in thick layers, carpets look dingy, clothes are piling up, or use a bathroom with dirty sinks, showers and toilets? Yuck! If you're anything like me then I know you won't stand for all the dirtiness! Make an easier time of cleaning by following our suggestions listed below. These house cleaning tips will make your cleaning day more effective and more efficient. Have all Cleaning Supplies Together Before you start to clean, make sure you have all your supplies together. This really does help in the amount of time it takes to clean when you don’t have to go back and forth fetching cleaning supplies. My cleaning tote has everything in it I’ll need so I won’t have to stop and possibly get sidetracked. Your cleaning supplies should consist of things like: Cleaning cloths (for wet and dry) Cleaners Window cleaner Vacuum cleaner ...

I used to only use cornstarch when I was making a gravy, desserts, or sauces. But just like white vinegar and baking soda, cornstarch has many uses around the house other than baking. So, how can you use cornstarch? Follow me on down the page and let's take a look. Help Athletes Foot by using a little Cornstarch Put corn starch on your feet between the toes, and sprinkle it inside your shoes prior to wearing them. This will help keep feet dry. Cornstarch can also be used to absorb and remove odors in shoes. Cornstarch can be used to help Sunburns Make a paste of cornstarch and water. Apply to the skin, let dry about 20–30 minutes, then rinse. You can also add 1 cup cornstarch to the bath and soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Treating Blackheads with Cornstarch and White Vinegar Make a paste by adding white vinegar to 1/2 cup cornstarch until a paste forms. The paste should be just thick enough for it to stay on your face and not slide off, but not so thick that it just clumps and can’...

The holidays are over and you’ve taken down and put away all the holiday decorations (or most of you have). Now it’s time to take a good hard look at your carpet and any spills and stains you may not have had the time to get to as they happened. Even though they may have remained on the carpet a little longer than you’d like, it shouldn’t be much of a problem to get these stains out. Before we get into cleaning stains, let me mention some of the cleaning ingredients I use and many of you may already have in the house. Some of the Ingredients I Use Here’s a short list of some of my go-to cleaning products: Dawn Dishwashing Liquid When I refer to a dishwashing liquid, for the most part I use Dawn dish soap. It’s always been what we buy. Dawn contains enzymes that will break up grease and proteins and is pretty effective in eliminating many kinds of messes. It’s cleaned up many of our messes around the house! A tip when using dishwashing liquids: You only need to add a small amount t...