To start, I haven't posted about in on here before but I run a work at home business. Yup, I'm the face behind Mommy Loves Maddy. I make cloth diapers and accessories, and other baby items like bibs, burp cloths and just started making some fun art things. I have more information about my products on my Facebook page. Things with my business have started to really take off! I've had a lot of custom orders, and am trying to keep my store stocked, but organic bamboo diapers are REALLY popular. Not that I'm complaining or anything!
It really is a good thing that the store is so busy because a few weeks ago my maternity leave ended (thank you Canadian government for giving us ONE YEAR!) and I made the difficult decision to quit my job. We had made changes in our budget so that things wouldn't be as tight, and with daycare being so expensive for two kids, it really was the right decision for our family. Since I've been so busy, I've had to find a balance between work, family and housecleaning and I'm not completely embarrassed to say that most of the time, my family comes before the house. We've had a few barbeques and gatherings over here, and that forces us to clean up the house, but the day to day maintaining has been put on the back burner. I try not to completely ignore my kids so I can get my work done, and most of it happens while baby K is asleep and M can come downstairs and watch Dora (who said Netflix couldn't be a business expense?). So if I can't tidy or do something quickly while the kids are awake, it doesn't get done as soon as it should.
But I have found a few new cleaning techniques that I need to share with you guys!
The first one is for Diapers! While we do have a diaper sprayer downstairs in the utility sink in the laundry room, I've been using the removable shower head in the bathroom again. It's easier to spray the dirty diapers right away and not wait until I have a few minutes to run downstairs. I always spray with COLD water. But instead of throwing the sprayed diapers right into the diaper bin, I leave them in the tub. Then the next time I have a dirty diaper to rinse off, I re-spray the last one and that removes any leftovers that wouldn't rinse out before, and most of the time, any leftover color in the diaper. Enter no stains!
The next one is for a homemade air freshener, mostly due to those diapers! I found this on Pinterest! Take an empty bottle (the Pinterest link used a jar, but I didn't have any with a lid, so I used an old sport drink bottle). Poke holes in the lid. Fill the bottle/jar 1/4 to 1/3 full with Baking Soda and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, I used Lemon. The baking soda will absorb the smell and the EO will lightly scent the room. IF you notice the smell is stronger, simply shake the bottle a bit. Super easy with items I already had, and smells great. And WORKS! I rarely notice any smell in the bathroom, where we keep the diaper pail. I also found a link where you can use this same Baking Soda and EO combination to freshen up your mattress. Simply shake over a kitchen sifter onto the mattress and leave for an hour or so before vacuuming up.
The baking soda helps draw up any moisture and deep dirtiness. It deodorizes and leaves the mattress smelling fresh and clean. I also love the faint scent of lavender left by the essential oil.
A few weeks ago I noticed a bunch of ants outside our front door. Ugh. I hate bugs inside the house and unfortunately I live in the boonies (ok, not QUITE the boonies, but we have green space next door where BEARS live, and bugs, EVERYWHERE! So I took M outside and we drew on the cement outside the front door with CHALK. Simple and FUN! And ants HATE it. I actually drew a circle around one ant and it would take a few steps onto the chalk and then move backwards, and strategically tried to find a way out without touching the chalk.
And finally, I found a new app. It was recommended to me by a fellow blogger mom, Jeni from Joy and Woe (Hi Jeni!) The app is called Home Routines. I haven't used it much yet, but so far I like it. It's linked with FlyLady and gives you the same zones that she uses. And it's very user friendly and you can set up your own lists, your own tasks, etc. Looking at it now, it has timers, routine reminders. I haven't looked at how to use those, but setting it up was super easy since you synch your phone with your account on the computer and typing on the computer is MUCH easier than setting it up on your phone.
Wow, I need to update more often, this got long! Ok, kids are done eating, time to go build some train tracks and make some chocolate chip cookies! YUMMM!
yupp we had ants all over our deck that were coming into the house so i sprinkled baby powder outside the kitchen door where they were coming in and VOILA! no more ants in the kitchen AND they disappeared off the deck too :)
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