Weekday Cleaning

I'm not a fan of cleaning.  I've found that having a very specific routine for this makes it much less painful.  I'm a list person and checking things off gives me real satisfaction.

Over the next couple of weeks I will share with you how I keep my house in a semi-orderly state.  In the shortest time possible.  So I can do other things.

I have specific tasks for every day. Today I'll tell you what I do every weekday.  I'll go into the specific things for each day in a later post.

1. Do the dishes
2. Wipe the counters
3. Sweep the floor
4. Use the Dust Buster to pick up any visible debris on the carpets.
5. Straighten up a bit.  Putting things back in their spots every day reduces the mess on "big" cleaning day.
6. Do a load of laundry.

This takes no more than 15 minutes - 20 minutes if I decide to take out the trash and clean the cat sand.

Take a Break

Take a little time to sit down and be quiet before the new week begins.

My View: Swiffer® Sweeper Wet Cloths

My motivation for deciding to try these was to find something between monthly crawl-on-the-floor-on-your-hands-and-knees floor washing, and daily sweeping.

(Photo courtesy of amazon.com)

Here's what I found:
1. You have to sweep the floor before you use these. It will not pick up all the loose stuff.
2. One wet cloth will only clean about fifty square feet of floor before it's dry.
3. Flipping the swivel head over to be able to use the little scrubby side is such a pain that it's not really worth it.
4. You WILL still have to get down there and clean the corners every so often, which is why I'll have to stick to the monthly thing.

I use these once a week.
I'm cheap, so to overcome the fact that the cloth will only clean a fraction of my floor space, I fill the laundry sink with about a quarter inch of water and dip the end of the Swiffer® in there when it dries out.
I just shake it a little to remove the excess water and off I go.
I clean the heavy traffic areas (around the refrigerator and kitchen table) first so as to utilize the cleaning solution in the cloth.

This review is my personal opinion.
The Swiffer company is (obviously) not compensating me but if you need more information about this product, they answer many questions, especially on the safety of their products, on their web site.

Milk-Bone Substitutes

Sydney is the other girl in our family.

She likes Milk-Bones. Well, actually she'll eat anything but Milk-Bones are what she gets.
Milk-Bones are pricey and I'm trying to do what I can to save money over here.
I scanned the web and found this recipe (Basic Dog Treats). The result - 250 very tasty little heart-shaped biscuits.

Actually DH claims that if I added salt, he would eat them too.

I calculated the cost to see if this made economic sense.
(I used good quality chicken stock, which drove the price up significantly.)

Unbleached flour $0.17
Whole wheat flour $0.21
Cornmeal $0.42
chicken stock $4.05
yeast $0.49

Total: $5.34 per batch of 40oz, which is $0.13 per ounce
If I'd used cheap, canned chicken stock: $0.08 per ounce

Milk Bones: $4.69 for 24oz, which is $0.20 per ounce

Bottom line: Even taking into account the electricity used to bake these, homemade is cheaper and much better for Sydney, having none of the coloring and preservatives found in commercial biscuits.

It's Fall!

We woke up to a definite chill here in the Pacific Northwest this morning. I guess the good weather couldn't last, could it?

A little bit of Fall on the kitchen table.

I'm starting to think about doing a painting project or two this winter.

One thing I can't do without

If you don't have a timer, run out and get one now!
This is my new one. I wore the old one out.
I haven't tried it out yet but I'll let you know if I like it as soon as I've given it a whirl.
If you're thinking of getting a timer, try to find one that will time to more than 99 minutes and 99 seconds, i.e. one that will time hours.

I'll mention my timer many times on this blog, I'm sure.

Finally! An iPhone case I love

My previous iPhone case was nice but added a lot of bulk to an already chunky phone.

When my hubby brought this one home, I fell in love.

The SHIELD Apple 3G GS iPhone Shield Polycarbonate Slim Fit Case
(Copy and paste this mouthful into your search engine and you'll find a whole bunch of them.)

What do I like?
It's thin, has a soft feel (although it's quite hard), and the surface is not completely smooth, which reduces the chance of your phone slipping out of your hand.
There's a cutout on the back which allows the Apple logo to show. Silly I know, but I like it.
The top and bottom slots allow unrestricted access to all accessory ports.
It comes in 11 colors. Mine is a lovely, girly shade of pink.
It's very inexpensive - around $10.  I may actually get one to match every outfit.  (Just kidding)

What don't I like?
So far, nothing.

Side view:

Bottom:

Top:

The difference a new kitchen faucet makes

Before - builder's grade boring

After - a definite improvement

Next on the list - painting the kitchen cabinets.
Hopefully this winter.

Hello

I'm a busy wife, mother, and small business owner living just outside Seattle, WA.
I love gardening, decorating, cooking, reading, and all things in and around my home.

Unfortunately I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to these things.

I hope this blog will serve the dual purpose of moving the things I love higher up on my priority list, as well as inspiring and helping you.

I hope you'll join me.