True?

I thought this relevant to our cause here on this blog.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/dave-barry/story/1223091.html?story_link=email_msg

5 Minute Challenges

1. Get our your Halloween Decor
2. Wash kitchen walls
3. Clean our your purse and wallet
4. Quick fridge organization (since I'm sure they are all still clean from the challenge, right?)
5. Search your recipe books and find a NEW fall recipe to try this month and post it on the recipe blog.

Tip - Keeping the fridge clean

This may seem like common sense, but someone suggested it to me once and it has worked out really well for us. Associate cleaning leftovers out of the fridge with trash day. (Sorry Charlotte, I guess this won't work for you!). Our trash day is Wednesday, so on Tuesday night as Ken is getting the trash ready to go to the curb, I just go through the fridge, cleaning out any leftovers or expired items. Then my fridge stays relatively clean and you don't have to live with a rotting food smell, in your house or your dumpster.

Weekly Challenge- coats & jackets

So, the week is half way over and I can't help but notice that none of the challenges & tips have been posted. Who is responsible for this?!?

OK, fine, it is me. I admit it.

The challenge this week is to get ready for fall. Pull out those jackets, coats, whatever you need for the colder season and make sure everything is washed, fits, needs replaced. Whatever needs done.

Happy sorting!

Weekly assignments- week one

Congrats to Brenda for feeling better!

Congrats to Andrea for getting the most points last cycle, I will be sending you a prize shortly.

This week the assignments are as follows:

5 Minutes: Tami
Weekly: Charlotte
Tips: Kim

Good luck with the new cycle!!

Back on My Feet

Well, I am not sure if any of you have noticed but I kind of dropped of the house keeping wall. I tried to keep up when it was my turn to post things but I have not kept track of my score, and for good reason.....it has not been much of a score. I have had a hard time being on my feet for long periods of time, and even rooms that I can sit and clean have drained most of my energy doing just one room. I am feeling much better these days and I have found that I can get a lot more done that I have for the last 2-3 months. (I am also ready to reclaim my floors, cupboards, closets, etc.) I think this is the start of a new cycle....right? So here goes, I am going to try to get back into the swing of things, get all my daily points and actually attempt the challenges (so go easy on me) It is a bad week to start because Bryan and I took Saturday off and did not clean the house at all, then we were home from church yesterday, so things have gotten especially bad, but I find that it is almost easier for me to get started when it is really bad vs when it is only kind of bad. (is that really weird?) Anyway, I am glad I have this support group to see me through and hope that I can carry through with my new goal to get a good score this week/month! Check up with me and see how I am doing, I am counting on you.

Tuesday Tip: Baking Soda

I have never used baking soda to clean with, but I have tons of it in my food storage and I don't think I will ever use it up before it expires so I started looking for other uses for it. Here are a few ideas that I found and they seem interesting. I think I will try a few.

Sprinkle some on the bottom of your kitchen garbage can. It will effectively remove any odors there.

Got a slow running drain? Pour half a cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar, wait 15 minutes for the fizzing to subside, flush with hot water. The clog is gone. It’s like magic!

Cleaning your bathroom and kitchen fixtures to a blinding brilliance with a paste of baking soda and liquid dish soap.

Appliance manufacturers will tell you never to use any kind of chemicals when cleaning the inside of the refrigerator or microwave. Use baking soda and water only.

For a sour sponge, wet it and sprinkle a goodly amount of baking soda on it. Work it in and let is set up overnight. Works every time.

A grease fire in your kitchen or barbecue can be put out quickly by smothering it with baking soda.

Use a baking soda and water paste to remove scuff marks on vinyl floors, crayon from the walls.

Add a cup to bathwater to soften your skin.

Apply it on rashes, insect bites, and poison ivy irritations.

Keep cut flowers fresh longer by adding a teaspoon to the water in the vase.

Put an open container of baking soda in the fridge to absorb the odors.

Wipe your windshield with it to repel rain.

Improve the smell of dishrags by soaking them in baking soda and water.

Suck it in with your vacuum cleaner to remove the odor

Put it under sinks and along basement windows to repel cockroaches and ants.

Sweeten your tomatoes by sprinkling baking soda on the soil around your tomato plants.

Scatter it on your greasy garage floor, scrub the floor, and rinse.

I can see clearly now.

Ok. I tried to think of a good weekly challenge and I came up with one I really need to do. Here we go-----wash all the windows in the house--inside and out. Newspaper really works well at keeping off the streaks. If anyone know how to get off hard water spots I would really like to hear. Good luck and happy seeing.

5 Minute Challenges

1- Disinfect doorknobs and light switches

2- Wipe base of toilets

3- Kitchen table and chair legs

4-Wash rugs (i.e. bathroom rugs, etc.)

5- Make one appointment you've been neglecting- Doctor, VT, haircut, dentist, etc. (If you are all caught up on your appts., maybe call someone you Visit Teach and check in on them)

My weekly routine

I am getting settled with my school time routines. I find that I do best when I have a basic schedule to follow. Every week things get rearranged, but this provides a good frame work for me. Here is mine (the format got a little messed up when I moved it to google docs, but you get the idea). When I follow it things go great. When I don't, not so much. As you see, no computer time right now, so I have to go!

Weekly assignments:

5 Minutes: Andrea
Weekly: LeAnn
Tips: Brenda

Happy cleaning!!

5 Minute Challenges

So, this is the vacation edition of the 5 minute challenges:

1. Call an old friend that you haven't talked to in awhile (or email them)

2. Spend 5 minutes playing a favorite game with one of your kids

3. Tell your spouse thank you for something they do for you.

4. Take a bubble bath (or spend an extra 5 - 10 minutes in the shower just relaxing)

5. Post a link on this post of a funny website/blog entry / Youtube video that you like.

Have fun! We are!!

Woo Hoo!

Bonus points this week!

I just did this (on my own!) about a week and a half ago. I did need just a minute to do a little rearranging in the freezer.

Confession: I was going to make a post about how productive I'd been, completing a few extra projects like the laundry room and fridge... but I was secretly hoping that if I kept my mouth shut someone would choose this as a challenge and I'd get the bonus points! Mwahahahaha!

Weekly Tip- Use the Snack Sizes!!

This tip was an idea I stole from a friend of mine. It has to do with portion control. Have you ever gone to buy sandwich bags and accidentally picked up snack bags? You know, the little tiny ones? Anyway, instead of buying the little prepackages chip and snack bags like I usually do for the kids' lunches and snacks, I bought those little snack bags. I then bought large bags of things the kids like and then divided them into the bags. It is saving me a TON of money (at least $5/week for chips and $8/week for snacks- that included adding in the price of the bags) and the kids are happy (because, really, the options for prepackaged little bags is pretty limited.)

Bonus plan- when I make cookies and such I make them smaller and put them into the snack bags, too. Three small cookies per bag. Anything homemade I store in a plastic container in the freezer to keep them fresh.

So far, it has worked great! I keep one container for chips (or salty stuff) and one for snacks. Every morning the kids choose one from each container (or grab something homemade from the freezer for snack).

If you want to do this, too, here are my suggestions:

• Divide out the whole bag/box at once. Otherwise the kids will get into the stuff and it won't really be saving you money. After I put them into the bags I put them back into the container they came in (if it is big enough).
• Buy the $3 container and put some of each choice in it. It makes it easier to choose when they can see the whole selection at once. I try to keep three options available for both chips and snacks. When it gets low, I add more from their stored containers (from above)
• I tried not freezing the cookies because the kids would eat them pretty quickly- it is worth it to freeze the homemade stuff.
• Don't overfill the bags. 3 vanilla wafers or 5 pretzels seem to be enough for the kids.
• Buy the name brand bags. I tried the off brand, they did not work as well.

I think that is everything. This has worked really well for us. We are still using the cheese balls and pretzel sticks I bought the first week (and they don't taste stale yet!)

Weekly Challenge: Clean out your hearts closet

Have you ever had a dream where you find an extra room in your house. A room full of dust and old things you have forgotten completely about? And you think to yourself "How did I forget about this room? I could be using this space for so many other things!" I have this dream ALL THE TIME! Until recently I had thought this dream was my mind telling me there was some part of myself (talent, knowledge, faith, etc) that was going unused. Recently someone told me what they thought of similar dreams they were having.
The extra room was a closet in their heart. A place where you stored offenses, bitter feelings toward others, hurt feeling, unforgiven things, etc. Basically things you were pretending you had forgiven but that they were really keeping around but hidden. These things we keep in our heart's closet are taking up space that could be used for so many other things.

So basically the challenge is to start to clean out your closet. Think of something you have been holding against another person and forget about it. Forgive them. Let those wasteful feeling go. This isn't an easy thing but something that will truly improve the quality of your life.

Oh yeah and while your at it clean out your fridge and freezer!!! :)

Assignments, Week 3

5 Minutes: Kim
Weekly: Tami
Tips: Charlotte

I'm getting better, but for some reason Fridays are always a dud for me. I'll have to work extra hard to get it done on the last day this week!

And to think, it only took me 3 and a half hours

Although, every food shelf in the kitchen has now been disinfected and I discovered I have twins of pretty much all my spices. See those 2 clear plastic boxes on the shelf above the white 25 gallon containers? That is my Tuesday tip for next week. Bet you can't wait.

Tuesday Tips

Are your garment less than white? Are your whites not white? Well here is what I have found that helps. Makes the load smaller than usual, ONLY WHITES, (like I only wash Dad's white shirts and socks in one load then only garments in another) then put it on the longest wash cycle. Use normal soap with WATER softner, then add borax laundry boaster. Do not use fabric softner or dryer sheets . Wash in warm not hot water rinse in cold. Mine started looking better right away but after a couple of washings they really looked alot whiter. Hope that this helps your whites like it helped mine. Happy Washing.

5 Minute Challenges

Ok, I have been a bit out of things being sick and off my feet so I am not sure what 5 minute challenges have been assigned recently, so I just chose things that I needed to do, sorry if they are repeats. I have been doing ok at keeping up lately (ok truth be told Bryan has done most of the housework lately) But I am really going to try hard this week.

1. Spot Clean one carpet area (not a whole room)

2. Microwave

3. Sliding Glass Door

4. Front Porch (mine needs to be gotten ready for colder weather)

5. Clean Under Couch Cushions for at least one Couch.

Weekly Challenge

Does your snack shelf look like this?

Does your tupperware look like this?

(Can you spot the blocks??)

Not for long!

This week's challenge is your kitchen cupboards! Remove the dishes and wipe down the shelves, organize those canned goods, wipe up the powdered sugar that spilled all over the lazy susan weeks ago (oh, is that just me?), etc.

And, yes, I realize I am AGAIN handing over bonus points to certain people who might have recently moved! :-)

Let's see some awesome before/after pics!

Assignments for Week 2

5 Minutes: Brenda
Weekly: Andrea
Tips: Mom

Happy Cleaning!!

Weekly Score (Charlotte)

I could have kicked myself! All week I did the dishes, vacuuming, and sweeping. Then I FORGOT on Friday. We went out to eat that night, so there were only a few dishes. It took me less than 5 minutes to do it in the morning. Grrr. Anyway, my score this week was the following:

Mop- 5
Laundry- 5
Bathrooms-5
5 Minute Challenges- 5 + 5
Dishes- 4
Sweep- 4
Vacuum- 4
Bed- 1
Read- 0
Weekly- 30

Total: 68

Worked hard this week

I did everything this week so I get a perfect score. But I also had done the weekly challenge so I also get the bonus points. The only reason it was done was because my curtains finally came and when we put them up it made a mess in the windows and I had to clean them up. I always keep the top of my washing machine clean. It was hard with seminary starting having to get up at 4:15 and not getting to bed until 10:30. I also have been walking 4 to 5 miles every day. It seems to pay off because so far I have lost 15 pounds. That is 1/2 of what I wanted to lose.

Have you been doing your daily work?

I haved been plugging away at my deep cleans. I took today off because a friend who moved away is in CT visiting and asked if we could have a playgroup at my house. I needed the break anyway. I am not even halfway through my list and I am already tired. It is my own fault for letting it go so badly during the summer, but still. Exhausting. I have done my daily cleans every day (except scriptures and bed- somehow I forgot those. Hoping for better luck next week).