My newest Norwex favorites

Ok, so I know I talk about Norwex a little bit.  Ok maybe a LOT, but I really love it!  And no, I don't sell it.

This past January, I hosted a Norwex party and got a TON of free stuff.  January is the Hostess Free Mop month, and yes, I got enough sales and got my free mop!  But the mop isn't what I want to talk about.

Along with the free Antibac Cloth, and window cloth, and lint mitt, and hand cream, I got a few fantastic items.  The Optic Cloth is amazing.  I used it a few days ago to clean my glasses and OMG it was like seeing the house with new eyes.  Like seriously clean.  And I've been wearing glasses for almost 25 years!  I did the same yesterday with my sunglasses and was SO impressed.  I got one for my hubs for Christmas since he always used our window cloth and I could never find it.  Great stocking stuffer and now he has his own cloth for his glasses.  Well when I needed a few more dollars to get the free mop, I added the Optic Cloth so I could have one of my own and I'm SO glad I did.  AMAZING!

I also got the dust mitt.  Makes dusting SO easy.  AND I got the kids package, that comes with a kid-sized antibac cloth, window cloth and dust mitt.  M LOVES cleaning the windows with her own cloths, and dusting.  In fact, sometimes she'll make fingerprints all over the windows just so she can clean them up.  I don't mind, since she's cleaning them!

One item I've been very skeptical of is the cleaning paste.  I've heard great things about it, but I found that baking soda worked so well that I didn't want to invest in that.  BUT when I had free money to spend, I decided to give it a try and OH.MY.GOODNESS!  So I won a bath mitt at the party, and whipped out the paste to clean the shower last week.  AMAZING!  When I would have to clean the shower again about 5 days later after cleaning with baking soda, I don't have to do it yet with the paste. And the mitt makes it so easy.  Norwex was genius when they decided to make the cloths in a mitt form.

Keep an eye out for a review of the Norwex mop, and maybe a Norwex giveaway!!

The Little Things

I've been using lists, and more recently Apps, to organize my house cleaning and I think I've found a schedule and a system that works.  And the most important part of that is staying on top of the small things.

I always know that the bathrooms need to be cleaned.  Or that the floors need to be swept and mopped. And those are fairly easy to remember, and quick to get done.  It's when the small things start to pile up that I REALLY start to feel overwhelmed.  So I've found that if I have to skip any task, I have to stay on top of the small things.  Today, my 'small tasks' include checking and restocking the toilet paper in each of the bathrooms and changing the hand towels.  Other small tasks include cutting the kids fingernails, wiping down the front of the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms, and quickly tidying up each room.  Sometimes THAT is as easy as running around the house and picking up all of the dishes, or laundry, and even just doing that makes a huge difference in how clean the house feels.

I'm glad that I've split up all my tasks into daily items and if I can stay on top of it all, my house is a lot easier to maintain.

What small tasks do you need to get done today?

Starting the Spring Cleaning Early

Christmas is great.  Mad rush to organize the house, lots of food, family and fun.  Lots of gifts.  And then the aftermath.  Cleaning everything up.  Finding room for all the new clothes, toys and more.  Figuring out how you got all the decorations in the boxes last year.  We decided to get some new shelves for the kids rooms, so they can have some books, toys and stuff in there, and keep the playroom less cluttered.  I also wanted to get some hooks for the entryway so the kids could hang up their own coats, instead of throwing them all over the place.

Well, today was the start of the Spring Cleaning.  Some other friends are doing mass organizing in their homes and I decided to follow suit.  I got the hooks for the entryway and tidied that up. Will have to wait for the hubs to do that though.  I don't want to risk missing a stud or damaging the drywall.

Next step is to get the shelves for the kids rooms and organize all the toys, books, puzzles, games, cars, trains, AND MORE!

Well, I should put away the laundry first.  And then the groceries.  Then the Christmas decorations.  Then.....

Re-Visiting Baskets

I was recently chatting with a good friend, and complaining about the organization (or lack thereof) of my work stuff around the house.  This consists of mostly fabrics, some half completed orders and projects, and some notions.  Scissors, pins and pinned projects found their home on higher surfaces, like the TV stand, hanging over railings, etc.  Folded piles of fabric are mostly in various bins around the house, with some stuff on chairs, the arms of the couch, etc.  In trying to explain the mess to my friend, I took some pics and was almost embarrassed.  It didn't seem so messy in person.  And a lot of it is stuff I'm working on for current orders, or a craft fair I'm attending this weekend, so I overlooked it since I was almost done it all.  *sigh*

So I decided, in looking at the messy picture of the TV stand, that I could just get a basket and throw the stuff in there, and it would look more tidy.

I even dusted the TV stand.  My bank account might not appreciate the large number of baskets and storage containers I'm about to invest in but my visitors sure will!

The real answer

Just a quick post to share this picture.  A few friends on Facebook shared it and I thought it was perfect.  We all know that I struggle to keep a clean house, and we also know that I struggle to stay sane.  And it's true.  Sometimes when I feel like I have a clean house and a good balance, I realize that I haven't been spending as much time with the kids as I should have.  So without further ado, here's the reason why my house is a disaster.  

Although I should also add that I just CLEANED my kitchen, like CLEANED it, swept floors and vacuumed the playroom/living/dining rooms.  About to go mop the kitchen and then cleaning is DONE for the day.  All thanks to nap time and educational websites.  I feel for anyone with a child who doesn't sleep.

Shower Cleaning

Thought I'd post another natural method that I'm still using.

When we moved into our house, you might remember that we got the bad news that we had possible water damage behind the shower in our ensuite.  And you might also remember that we had that EXACT same issue in the townhouse.  That we fixed RIGHT before we moved, so we never got to enjoy our brand new renovated bathroom.  Well, we partially renovated our new bathroom before we actually moved in and I LOVE my new tile and my fancy glass enclosed shower.

But I HATE watermarks.  You might remember from the Norwex Product Review, some pictures I posted.  And I said that the Norwex Antibac Microfiber Cloth did a great job of cleaning the glass.  But I did have to put in some elbow grease.

Well, my faithful followers, I've found an all natural and EASY way to clean your glass showers.  Get a bowl from the kitchen and add some baking soda.  Take that into your shower and keep it as dry as you can.  Run the water and get comfortable.  Then take your wet fingers and get some baking soda on them.  Rub that onto the glass.  Seriously, THAT easy!  You can literally FEEL the residue coming off of your shower.  I have a hanging shower caddy and can leave a little bowl of baking soda in there for a few days.  As long as it doesn't get wet and rinse it down the drain.  Most of the time, I'll do this about once/week and rinse the baking soda off with my Norwex cloth, but even rinsing with water works great.  It takes me about one minute at the beginning of my shower.  And if one section still has residue, I can just clean that the next time.  No bleach down the drain.  No bleach in my shower.  No awkward trying to clean the shower while dressed and not getting bleach everywhere.  Easy peasy!

Sometimes I feel like I have two ways to clean my house.  Norwex cloths and baking soda!  Oh and sometimes vinegar!


Happy Cleaning!

Ashleigh

I'm baaaaack-and how to clean your make up brushes!

This summer was rough.  It was hard to get into a good schedule with both kids when we really didn't have to.  Sleeping in, doing whatever we wanted all day, gymnastics camp, vacation, it was hard, made even harder by the fact that we had a pretty crappy summer and hubs took the car to work.  So I was very excited for school to start up again so we could get back into a good routine.  I was even more excited when hubs decided that he would start taking the bus to work so I could have the car.  The kids are on a good schedule, the house is relatively clean and I have time to get work done without staying up past midnight every night.

So with all that said, I'm back!  I'm researching new cleaning products, apps and other products and systems to make life easier.

But first, I'm going to tell you all about something I found yesterday.  The EASIEST way to clean your make up brushes.

I've become very careful over the past two years about the products that I use, mostly cleaning and personal care products.  So as I'm in my bathroom last night soaking my brushes in make up remover, and using quite a bit of it, I see, and start thinking about, the handmade bar of soap I have on the side of my sink.  So I think...why not?

And boy did it work!  The problem with the make up remover was that I couldn't get the make up from the inside of the brush.  But with the bar, I could lather the brush right on it, and make sure that it got the bristles in the middle.

You can see the make up coming of of the brush and onto the soap, and can see how you can really get the soap right into the middle of the brush.  And I know that the soap is gentle, since that's why I bought it.

When you've worked the soap into it a bit, you can literally just rinse the make up down the drain and keep going.  

My brushes are all so soft now.  No more foundation residue or sticky greasy brushes.  I wouldn't do this with my eyeshadow or powder brushes, only the concealer/foundation ones.  The dry brushes I just   clean with a tissue or a paper towel, although I could use soap if they got really dirty, but I haven't needed to yet. 

So there you have it.  Clean house, clean brushes.

And I have more posts coming, product reviews and maybe some giveaways, so keep checking in, and tell your friends!

Using my addiction for good

Alcoholics and crack addicts, sorry, this isn't about that kind of addiction.

I'm sure you've heard of the game 'Draw Something'. And if you have an iPhone or Android phone, I'm sure you have about 20 games on the go and are completely addicted. Like myself!

So I had to find a way to feed my addiction to this amazing (and at times completely ridiculous and hilarious) game, while doing other stuff I had to do around the house. So, I keep myself (somewhat) disciplined and play a few games before going to do something, like the dishes, or tracing a pattern, before playing some more. This way, I can still waste my time, drawing stuff, but am still productive with stuff that needs to get done. Win, (kind of) win.

Starting the weekend off on a clean foot

And no that doesn't mean having a shower first thing Saturday morning, although wouldn't a nice hot soaker bath be wonderful?

Saturday mornings, M has gymnastics. And after she put on a giant show for me, K is now taking her. And since baby K naps in the morning, I get at least an hour of quiet time to myself every Saturday morning.

So today, I put baby K down for his nap, and started tidying the kitchen. Then put diapers in the wash, and then finished putting clean laundry away and tidied the living room. And now I sit on the computer with my tea as M and K storm into the house, and baby K wakes up screaming.

AH the craziness that is my life, but at least the house is tidy.