I’m ashamed to publicly admit this, but here goes: I’m terrible when it comes to getting the laundry put away once it’s cleaned. I have a really bad habit of taking the clothes out of the dryer and putting them on the bed, with every intention of folding them and putting them away. But it never fails, I get distracted by some other chore, and as the loads continue to dry, I just keep putting them from washer to dryer, from dryer to bed. By the end of washing day, I have a bed piled high with clothes, and I’m too exhausted to put them all away. So what happens? They end up being pushed off the bed, onto the floor at the foot of it, and for a few days I dig through it finding what I need, until I finally decide, Today, I’m putting these clothes away!

The only thing that works for me is if I immediately put the clothes on the hangers or fold them, and put them away one load at a time as they get done. If I can just keep up with them as they dry, the piles don’t multiply and become overwhelming. My mission is to be more diligent when it comes to putting the laundry away… for my poor husband’s sake!

Anyone have any helpful suggestions??

Just mentioning the topic swiftly reminds me of the occasional childhood Saturday’s when my dad would call me outside for an exciting chore (note the sarcasm). Neatly spread out on the grass would be our white shower curtain, along with a bucket of warm, soapy water and a scrub brush beside it. My job was to scrub all of the mildew and scum off of the curtain until it was nice and clean again. Yay.

When I finally got married, moved out, and had my own shower curtain to clean, I decided that there must be a better way to clean the thing! To my absolute delight, I found a great method which didn’t include a bucket or scrub brush, and I’ve been doing it for the past 7 years. Here it is:

Place your shower curtain in the washing machine along with two or three white towels. Fill with warm water; add detergent and 1/2 c. baking soda and wash. When it comes to the rinse cycle, add 1 c. white vinegar. Hang dry on curtain rod.

Works wonderfully. No more hand scrubbing for me!

I have found that an effective way to keep my bedroom clean and orderly is to simply make my bed first thing in the morning. When the sheets are pulled straight, and the pillows are in their spot, it somehow motivates me to keep everything else in it’s place as well. When I do let the bed making slide for a day or two, I end up with clothes piled on top of the disheveled sheets, and everything else seems to follow in the same messy disorder. I feel proud when my husband can walk into our bedroom to find a nicely made bed, clothes off the floor, and no clutter to be seen.

Go ahead and say it, I know you’re thinking it. It’s what I thought too, Oh my goodness! That’s ridiculous! How in the world did my kids get SO MANY TOYS? And believe me, I’m a purger. This isn’t because I’ve been hoarding everything. These are the things that have just accumulated in toy boxes and baskets. It’s time to DE-CLUTTER! I’m tired of the kids pulling EVERYTHING out, and then them being overwhelmed when it’s time to clean up the mess. I’m taking this thing by the horns.

So, I went through the house and found every toy that I could find. I know it’s not all of them, some are in my mother-in-law’s basement for storage, but unbelievably all of these toys were hiding in the corners of my humble home. So, I spread everything out (while the kids slept of course), and began the daunting task of separating into boxes: TO KEEP, NOT TO KEEP. As I went along, I found it to be harder than I thought. Emotionally I mean. As I sorted I found myself wanting to keep more than I had intended. The problem is that my daughter really does play with most of the things I wanted to oust. What do I do? Do I get rid of them just because there are too many? She honestly has a good time playing with them. And then there were the toys that she used to play with a lot when she was younger, but now has grown out of. Baby boy might like to play with them when he gets a little bigger, so I decided to keep them too. Oh, decisions, decisions!

So, I ended up keeping some, boxing some up to sell, and boxing some up to store. I guess this is a good compromise. Initially I thought, I will let my daughter keep 10 toys, and get rid of the rest. Well, it didn’t quite work out so nicely. I have a love for educational toys, so most of what I kept are “lesson time” teaching toys. That’s okay, right? I did let my daughter go through her My Little Pony collection, and choose only 3 to keep of the tons that she had. Surprisingly, she happily chose her three, very decidedly I must say, and had no problem with me getting rid of the rest. Good for her.

So, here’s what I boxed up. These boxes were actually quite big, though they don’t look it in the picture. Stuffed animals…see ya! Small toys, almost all are gone. All of the Fisher Price Little People things are boxed up. And a select few toys remain. Finally, that project is done! For more Tackle It projects, check out 5 Minutes For Mom.

I’d like to know: How do you manage your toy surplus? What do you tell your kids when it’s time to purge? Do you have a limit as to how many toys you keep?

Kitchen tip for today:

1. Store your liquid dish soap in a nice soap dispenser .

It will make your counter area look much neater. I like the look of using a soap dispenser at the sink for my dish soap because it’s handy being right there, and it’s not tacky looking like a bottle of dish soap just sitting on my counter.

2. Keep your soap dispenser ungunked.

I have the problem of soap accumulating around the rim, and dripping down the sides. Now, there is nothing neat looking about that! So, to keep it clean, while I’m running the water to fill the sink, I rinse all of the soap off of my dispenser. This of coarse cleans it right off, and it makes my water nice and soapy for the dishes. This is much more practical, and frugal than occasionally running the dispenser under water just to clean it off, and letting all of that soap go down the drain unused.

There you have it. Simple, practical, and even a little frugal! For more kitchen tips, check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays over at Tammy’s Recipes .

When friends of mine have become new moms, they all have asked this question at some point, “What kind of laundry detergent would you recommend?” Well, let me tell you…

When my daughter was born I did the Dreft thing: Expensive, and required lots of pre-treating of stains. Easy on baby’s skin, but not very impressive otherwise.

But when baby boy was born, I discovered

All Baby Liquid Laundry Detergent

I LOVE it! It’s much cheaper, and it works incredibly well on stains. Plus, I have never had a problem with it bothering my newborn’s skin. Using All has saved me lots of pre-treating time too. I usually only have to wash the clothes once and the stains are gone. If I have a really tough, set in stain, I will run it through the laundry first, and if it didn’t come out with the All alone, then I will pre-treat with Shout Gel Stick (with the scrubbing brush on top), another awesome product, and wash again. Or, I will treat the stain with some liquid All poured directly on the spot, and set for a few minutes to penetrate before washing again. If this doesn’t get the stain out, I don’t know what will!

Check out this article: Dreft Vs. All Baby Detergent. This author and I think a lot alike!

Also, a few times I had colors from new outfits bleed onto other clothing. I was so sad one day when one of my favorite baby outfits was seemingly ruined by bleeding colors!! But, I wouldn’t let it go without a fight. I soaked the spots with Clorox 2 for about 5 min., and washed the clothes again. To my delight the undesired stains were gone!! Yippee! So, give this a try before tossing your “ruined” clothing.

One more thing: If you have a white shirt with colored embroidery or something on it, and you need to bleach out a stain without ruining the colored areas, two things work well: Clorox 2; and a Clorox Bleach Pen, perfect for spot bleaching.

Every time I pull a load of laundry out of the dryer and find socks who have lost their “mate”, childhood recollections of a “dryer thief” myth come flooding into my mind. Can it be true?

True or not, you have once again been left with tons of spouseless socks.

Since I have become a mother, the problem has only gotten worse. How? Two words:

BABY SOCKS

Yep - they’re tiny and they get sucked into the “black hole” like nobody’s business.

-

Soooooo….Here’s a tip!

When washing baby clothes, put all of the socks into a mesh laundry bag

You’ll never lose tiny baby socks again! At least, not in the dryer!

If you’re like me, folding a fitted sheet generally results in a blob-like mass of fabric that is stuffed with all of the other blob-like-masses-of-fabric in my linen closet.

Well, in my quest to become a more precise and organized homemaker, I decided that it was high time for me to get this thing nailed down. So, I searched the web.

I’m a visual person, so finding this video was a relief and dissuaded any fears of having to learn how to fold fitted sheets by referring to a step-by-step plan with hand-drawn pictures (this would have only added to my fitted-sheet anxiety).

My son loves his exersaucer. He really does. Well, the other day I decided to put some of his wooden balls in his exersaucer to play with. He began throwing the balls out of the exersaucer and onto the wooden floor and watched them roll across the room and around again (our floor is incredibly uneven, so it makes for a good show).

What a genius! He’s already studying Physics! Well, I’m thinking in terms of Microbiology and vivid (need I say, horrific!) images of dirt and bacteria attaching themselves to the balls as they roll across the floor are running through my mind. As soon as my son gets a hold of the balls again, into his mouth they’ll go.

Ever wondered about the best way to clean baby toys? Well, here are some answers!

Traditional Cleaning Methods:

1. Hot Water & Soap – just scrub ‘em down and dry ‘em off
2. Clorox bleach and hot water – hmmmm. Sounds toxic to me, but woman have been using this for years, so I figured I’d jot it down for you to ponder.
3. Put plastic toys (if you have them) in the dishwasher – top rack (make sure they’re not battery operated! )
4. Wash plush toys in the gentle cycle using hot water

Natural Cleaning Methods:

1. Hot Water & Soap – use a safe, natural, non-toxic soap like Free And Clear Dish Liquid
2. Wipe ‘em down - use a non-toxic surface cleaner, such as Sweet Pea Surface Cleanser or Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Surface Spray.
3. Wash with 1 part vinegar 1 part soapy water
4. Wash with 4 tablespoons of Baking Soda dissolved in 1 quart of warm water.
5. Wash plush toys in gentle cycle, using hot water and a non-toxic detergent like Mrs. Meyer’s Laundry Soap.
6. Hydrogen Peroxide does a good job of disinfecting

How often should toys be cleaned?

1. The no brainer answer – after they get soiled!
   
2. When the toys have been played with by other children – especially if they had runny noses or coughs!
3. When your child is getting over a cold or other illness
4. At least once a month – I’m going to try to make a point to clean all my son’s toys at least once a week!

Other Miscellaneous Tips:

1. If you are washing wooden toys, wash and dry them quickly. Allowing them to sit in water can cause them to swell and grain may rise to the surface.
2. Plush toys collect dust mites, so they need to be washed often. If they’re not machine washable, surface clean them with water and non-toxic detergent and let them air dry in the sun. For a final death-blow to dust mites, put the toy in a freezer bag and stick it in the freezer over night.
3. Children play on floors – so keep them clean! Take off your shoes while in the house, vacuum, sweep and mop regularly and if you can afford it, invest in a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
4. Cleaning Bath Toys – first of all (here I go getting on a platform) be VERY careful about bath toys. Most plastic bath toys contain PVC (more on this in a later post, I’m sure). Instead of a rubber ducky, we bought our son a wooden toy boat for the tub – he loves it! Anyways, to clean bath toys, mix one part vinegar to one part water. Squeeze water out of toys. Dunk the toys in the mix. Soak them for at least 2 minutes. Scrub them down, rinse them, then set them out to dry. Carefully examine them to make sure there isn’t any gunk anywhere on or in the toy. Store them somewhere dry and open. Bath toys should be cleaned at least every two weeks.