Outdoor Fall Cleaning Checklist

Hi guys, 

So fall is almost here.  I thought I would give you a fall cleaning checklist for outdoors.  

Clean and store patio furniture, umbrellas, children’s summer toys.

Touch up paint.  Use a wire brush to remove flaking paint.  Be sure to prime bare wood first.  Check all your trim, railings, and decks. 

Check caulk around windows and doors. Follow manufacturer’s recommendations to re-caulk if needed.

Wash exterior windows

Check gutters and downspouts to make sure they are clear of debris.   In cold-weather areas, consider installing heating cable to prevent ice dams.

Inspect external doors and garage doors. Do they close tightly? Install weather-stripping, door thresholds if needed.

Have chimneys and flues inspected and cleaned if necessary.

Drain and store garden hoses. Install insulating covers on exterior spigots. In hard-freeze areas, have sprinkler systems blown free of water.

This will help you to get your yard ready for the winter.  

Happy cleaning. 🙂

organizedhome

Cleaning Your Lampshades

Basically, lampshades typically fall into one of four categories.  These are:

1. Fabric covered or stitched
2. Parchment
3. Plastic
4. Paper or those with glue

Before going into each type, there is a first step you must do for each type of shade.  Take either a clean paint brush or cloth to wipe or brush the inside and outside of the shade to remove dust and debris.

If your shades are pleated, a can of compressed air will work nicely.  Simply start at the top and run the nozzle in between each pleat the entire length of the shade for each pleat. 

So moving on to how to clean your fabric or stitched shades:

Fill your sink with warm water – your tub if your shades are large.  Add dish washing detergent.  Then soak the shade in the soapy water. If there are soiled spots, use some suds on a cloth to gently rub them out. Swish the shade around in the water to remove all the grime and debris that is left over. When your water gets too dirty, just empty it out and refill.  Continue to do these steps until the water stays mostly clear. Don’t worry if the shade seems to appear to be sagging or stretching – most will return to their original shape when it dries. Hang your shade either outside or in an airy space to dry.  Please note:  If you remove the fabric from the frame, be sure to attach it before the fabric completely dries. You can also replace the shade back on the lamp and turn the bulb on to speed up drying.

For cleaning parchment shades and paper shades or those with glue:

It is very important to note that these types of shades cannot get too wet. The best method to cleaning these shades is to use the dusting/upholstery tool of your vacuum cleaner and vacuum frequently. Here is a tip if your shades have anything delicate hanging from them – just slip a piece of hosiery over the end of the vacuum.  If the shade has stains, use a 1/4 cup of warm water mixed with some mild detergent.  Using a whisk, whip the water and detergent mixture in order to create dry suds.  This will almost resemble whipped cream. Use a dry cloth to apply a small amount of the dry suds and just work with small sections at a time. Be very careful not to rub the binding area too hard or get it too wet because the glue will come loose. When finished, rinse the suds off with a clean, damp cloth and then wipe dry.

To clean plastic shades:

You can wash these in warm water using mild detergent and then dry with a soft cloth. In order to replace the shine of the plastic, use a little bit of furniture polish on a dry cloth to apply on the clean shade. 

Enjoy your clean lampshades!

Happy Cleaning! 🙂

 

 

Cleaning Your Wood Floors

Its always a good idea to either dust or vacuum your wood floors before mopping. 

Clean your wood floors using a 1/2 cup of vinegar in a gallon of water.  Water is alkaline, which can leave spots on your floors.  Using vinegar neurtalizes the alkaline and helps to eliminate water spots.

If you have been using vegetable oil cleaners on your floor, these can leave a residue that can deteriorate the sealant over time.  If this is the case, add an extra cup of vinegar to your gallon of water.

Dampen a towel in your vinegar and water mixture and ring out well.  Use this towel as your mop. Go over floors several times to remove residue.  No need to rinse, just dry floor. 

Avoid using self-wringing mops which can leave excess water on your floor.  This can work between the boards causing warping.

Don’t use amonia to clean laminated wood.  It will strip the sealant off your floor. 

Happy Cleaning. 🙂

Here are some tips to keep your refrigerator

Here are some tips to keep your refrigerator energy efficiet.

Replace an older refrigerator with a newer model with an Energy-Star qualified model. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you could save enough energy with this type of refrigerator to light a household for four months. Log onto energystar.gov for a listing of Energy Star approved models. 

Don’t choose a fridge with ice and water dispensers. These increase your units energy use by 14 to 20 percent. These also raise the price of a new fridge by $75 to $250. 

A full refrigerator uses less energy than an empty one so try to keep it as full as you can. 

Clean the refrigerator coils at least twice a year to keep your fridge in the best condition. Coils are located both underneith and behind the unit and are the heart of the system. They are dust magnets.  When dust builds up, the units fan is less efficient at removing heat. 

When you are cleaning your fridge, be sure to examine the seals mking sure they tight. Place a dollar bill in the refrigerator door.  If you can pull the dollar bill out easily, then the seals need to be replaced or the door needs to be adjusted.  Be sure to wipe the seals regularly to prevent dust and grime buildup.  This buildup can lead to brittleness.

Keep your refrigerator in a cooler place.  If it is near the window or a stove, the temperature may rise and for every degree above 70 surrounding the unit, it takes 2.5% more energy to keep the contents of it cool. 

Happy Cleaning 🙂

Keeping Your Grout Clean

Keeping your tile grout could be such a chore.  It seems to get dirty quickly, especially on your kitchen and bathroom floors.  

Here are a few tips to keep that grout looking its best. 

First, be sure to seal the grout. Most grout seals wear away within 6 months so resealing every six months or so will help make it easier to maintain.  

To seal your grout:  First, purchase the sealant of your choice.  There are many sealants to choose from so be sure to read the lables to choose which is best for you job. Some are just meant for marble or granite, and others for dark tile, etc.  

Before you start, clear the room of anything that the sealant could splash onto.  

Next, make sure the grout you are about to seal and the tile around it is free from dust and freshly cleaned.  

Wear gloves to protect your hands.  Pour the sealant onto a large sponge and then using circular motions, apply the sealant to the grout and tiles.  Start at one corner and work your way down.  Be sure to take notice which tiles you covered.  A good way to keep track of this is to work in sections of three tiles across, then go all the way down.  Then move over three more tiles and repeat. 

Be sure to keep your bathroom ventilated. 

For the times, when your grout is in need of sealing and you can’t get to it, you can use a little home remedy to keep your grout clean.  Mix 3/4 cup baking soda with 1/4 cup of bleach and scrub it into your grout with a toothbrush.  Then wipe the homemade mixture away with a wet cloth until it is all gone.  You can double this homemade recipe if you have bigger floors.  

Happy Cleaning. 🙂

Widow Cleaners and How They Stack Up

Here is a little information about window cleaners. 

Windex won hands down for best window cleaner.   The No-Drip Streak-Free Foaming Action Windex, and the original Windex with Ammonia-D can both cut through grime on windows and mirrors. This is a great product to use indoors and outdoors. The cost is in the medium price range for glass cleaners. 

Glass Plus came in second place.  It is less expensive than Windex.  It is still tough on grime and bits of random toothpaste.  Works great in and outdoors.  

If saving money is your thing – then most store brands of glass cleaner will do a decent job. Your indoor glass will be clean and shiny but it may take a little extra arm work for outdoor grime – not that it doesn’t work, just not as easily as the above mentioned brands for outdoor use. The good side is that they are usually cheaper. 

If the smell of window cleaner gets you down, then try Method glass cleaner – it has a soft mint smell that will be a pleasant change. How does it work?  Method’s Best in Glass can stand up to the challenge of indoor or outdoor grime. Method is also a green clean option as well. 

If you want a cleaner that is the best in the green cleaner option, then Seventh Generation Natural Glass & Surface is a good choice.  It is not quite as effective as the other listed cleaners, but it is created from natural sources and the cost is competative. 

Most glass cleaners have a wipes version on the market but out of all of them – Windex wipes won out.  They are tough and they leave a streak-free shine on your glass surfaces.  They aren’t as green as other options and they are more expensive but they are strong and cut through the mess to leave a shiny, clean surface. 

You can make your own home made glass cleaner as well.  While there are many recipes for doing this, the following one will be able to handle indoor and outdoor grime and messes.

To make, mix 1/2 cup of sudsy ammonia, 1 tsp of your favorite dish soap, 1 pint of rubbing alcohol, and enough additional water to make a gallon of cleaner.

Be sure to label the containers you put the glass cleaner in because you don’t want your family mistaking this for water or other substance since this formula will be clear. 

Enjoy your newfound knowledge of glass cleaners and let us know what cleaners you prefer and why in a comment. 

Happy Cleaning. 🙂

 

Make Your Own Dish Detergent and Save Money

Making a home made dishwasher detergent is simple and very cost effective with a lot of benefits for you and your family.

A simple home recipe would be 1 Tablespoon of Borax to 1 Tablespoon of baking soda.  Just combine the two together and add it to your dishwasher’s detergent compartment and it’s ready to go.

This is a great home made mix for getting your dishes clean because both borax and baking soda are both natural disinfectants and mild abrasives which will get rid of your stuck on food and germs. Borax is also a common ingredient in many commercial detergents as well. 

By making your own dishwashing detergent, you will have no harsh chemicals, it is inexpensive to make, it does not emit chlorine gas like other commercial detergents do, it is an effective stain remover, sanitizer and water softener. It is also environmentally friendly because it is phosphate-free!

You can find borax in the laundry aisle but it goes under the name 20 Mule Team.  You can save time and money by mixing up large quantities of the detergent by mixing equal parts and storing it.  Keep it out of the reach of children and pets.

There you go, a great way to get your dishes clean and save money. 🙂

 

Hidden Dust

Dusting is a big part of any house cleaning regimen but do you alaways get all the dust? Many times we dust what we see but dust gathers in many places that can be out of reach or difficult to get to.  If you suffer from allergies, you may want to pay attention to these more difficult places to clear the dust.

Pull out your refrigerator to get the dust and debris that gathers under and behind it.  

Under beds are places that most people don’t even bother with.  Lots of nasty dust can collect under the place you sleep which can cause allergies. 

Unless the tops of your cabinets touch the ceiling, then you will definitely find a build up of dust collecting in these places so try to get up there once in a while to prevent it. 

High woodwork is another place where dust can and will easily build up.

Don’t forget your fan blades.  Ceiling fans and house fans all collect dust.

Your computer is a place where dust loves to accumulate as well as small electronics so spend a little time to dust these.

Mini blinds are a great culprit for dust formations.  

There are many products on the market for sale that will help you in reaching high places and getting into cracks and crevices where dust will pop up.  Keeping as much of the dust out of your home is a key to keeping allergies at a minimum. 

Remember, just dusting isn’t always the best way to remove dust because the dust just flies into the air and lands somewhere else in the house.  Using a dampened cloth will make the dust adhere to it and then you can rinse the dust away, removing it from the house instead of just moving it around the house.

Always vacuum thoroughly after dusting as well to remove even more of the dust that manages to escape.

Kitchen Tips For Energy Efficiency

Here are some tips to keep your kitchen energy efficient and of course that always means saving money.

Don’t open your refrigerator multiple times if you know that you need several items.  Take out what you need at the same time that your fridge is open.

Try not to peak at what is cooking in your stove often.  If you can, use your stove light to check on cooking food.  Every time you open your stove, the stove has to work harder to restore it’s set temperature.

Put pots on the right burner for best energy use.  If you put a large pot on a small burner – it will take longer to heat the food and this uses more energy.  If you put a small pot on a large burner, this just wastes energy.

Check your freezers temperature setting.  If your ice cream is rock hard, you have your temperature set too low and this uses unnecessary energy to freeze food.

Try to use small appliances that are more energy efficient such as a toaster oven or a crock pot instead of heating you stove.  These appliances save you more money.

You can speed up the boiling of water if you place a lid on the pan.

If you have a self-cleaning oven, you can save energy by using the self-cleaning mode right after you have cooked something because your stove will still be hot and it will reach the high temperature needed to self-clean faster.

You may not think that these simple tips will really save you that much energy but if you impliment all of them on a regular basis, you will save money.

Easy Ways To Clean Up The Messy Stuff

It is always good to know ways to clean up spills, messes or other things that need to be done.  Here are several cleaning tips that you can add to your arsenol.

A cut up lemon, a few ice cubes and some salt – run this through your garbage disposal and you clean the gunky stuff away as well as eliminate odors.

If you want grease-free dishes, just add a few drops of vinegar to your dishwater.

Put a lemon slice in a bowl of water and then bring it to a boil in your microwave.  Wait till steam forms and when it does, open the door and wipe it down nice and easy.

To easily remove residue in crock pots, fill it with soapy water then cook on high for about an hour.  Rinse with a tablespoon of vinegar in the final rinse water.

You can clean stuck on food in pots and pans by putting water in it and placing it on the stove burner until it boils a few minutes.  Let sit about 5 minutes longer and clean.

Here is another one for baked on food grime.  Boil coca-cola in the pan to loosen it up.  This works in even the messiest pans.

To remove hard water build-up in ice cube trays,  soak trays in vinegar.

To make toilet bowls quick and easy to clean, drop an alka-seltzer in the bowl.  The fizzing action will act as a scrubber.  Just swish with your toilet brush and flush.

For streak-free stemware with a sparkle, wash by hand, then dip in a sink full of hot rinse water that has an added tablespoon of vinegar to it.  Dry it with a clean, soft cloth.

Here are a few tips for a stained or clouded coffee pot.  Fill your glass coffee pot with coca-cola and then let it sit overnight and then wash.  You could also run plain water with an added tablespoon of vinegar through the coffee making cycle, then run another pot of plain water through it.

For general carpet stains – blot up as much as possible with paper towels. Then moisten stain with club soda, blot it and then repeat.  Once the stain is removed, place several layers of plain white rags over wet spot.  Place books or a heavy object on top for about an hour to soak up any remaining moisture.

Wine stains on the carpet makes everyone nervous.  Just carefully blot up as much of the wine as possible, do not rub or scrub.  Cover the stain in table salt to soak up the rest of the wine.

Need to remove tarnish from brass objects?  Just soak them in cherry kool-aid for  ten minutes.  Rinse and wipe dry.

Pour boiling water down your drain pipes once a week to keep them free from clogs.

Now you have more to work with when it comes to cleaning up the messy stuff.  Happy Cleaning.