I probably should have started this about two months ago but oh well. It's never to late to start taking care of your home, right? Maybe it should be the Summer cleaning challenge since it has been in the 70's recently!
Over the next 4 weeks I'll have a cleaning challenge for you. Short, simple and sweet. Each challenge should only take you 15 minutes (or less) and in the end you will feel proud and accomplished!
Our first challenge is to declutter. Find just one area of your home to tackle and make new again.
I chose my coffee bar station. I don't know what happens here but it is not okay! It has become a dumping ground for miscellaneous stuff. Well, you see that box to the left? I did leave that there on purpose. It is my husband's birthday present and I left it there to taunt him. (insert evil laugh)
It has been this way for a good month. Things don't get taken care of and then they just keep coming. It's like my stuff has legs and flocks to this one area of the house. Let's add some more things!
Enough is enough! It took me about 10 minutes to find a different home for all of these things. A good dusting and wiping off and it looks brand new again.
I have made it my mission to make sure this area is cleaned off every night so in the morning it's a fresh slate. Now if there is a paper or two (or a spray paint can!), it only takes one minute to clear off instead of 10.
If you feel inspired, go find another area to declutter. Maybe a drawer that's stuffed with old receipts and coupons, a shoe rack that's overflowing or even your bathroom vanity. I find that if I tell myself to just take 10-15 minutes to clean an area, I usually get motivated to finish the room or even start on a mini cleaning spree.
What will be your declutter project?
I have only been making my own hand soap for about 8 months now but I am hooked! It's super easy and the best part is, it's cheap. I was paying between $2.50-3.00 every time we ran out of foaming soap. With 3 bathrooms and a kitchen sink to keep soap at, they were getting replaced quite often. But now it's costing me just pennies every time I make up a new batch. And it's not complicated at all, I promise.
At first I just reused a grocery store plastic dispenser that was out of soap. I wanted to make sure this was something the whole family was going to enjoy before I went and bought a more permanent solution (well really my husband wasn't sure this fad of mine was going to last... guess I proved him wrong!). It didn't take long for me to purchase one from Amazon (love that place!).
I use Dr. Bronner's Soap. I think there are like 100 uses for this stuff. You can wash your body with it, shave your legs with it, wash your dog with it, or as we are doing, wash your hands with it. It comes in a variety of scents and so far I have collected 4: Citrus Orange, Lavender, Baby scent and Almond. I mean, who wouldn't want to smell like a baby??
First I needed to clean my awesome dispenser because it had been a while since the last refill.
I emptied her out and cleaned her up (yes my soap dispensers are girls).
This specific dispenser has lines that tell you how much soap to put in and then how far to fill it up with water. No complicated math equations here! I chose Lavender this time around and filled it up to the little bubble line.
Note to self: Find a better background for my pictures other than the table where my kids eat. I spy with my little eye a green booster seat!
Then fill the dispenser with water up to the line.
Now she's beautiful and all ready to be used.
I do occasionally have to shake up the dispenser to re-mix the soap and water but it only takes a second and so far hasn't really been a hassle for me.
Now we can all keep those germs away this winter and smell like lavender at the same time.
