House Cleaning Help is On the Way!
by Julie Reynolds 

The key to a clean house is eliminating the junk. Walk through the house and ask yourself, "Do I really need that?" 

Chances are you will find enough stuff to make a huge garage sale and put some extra money in your pocket.

Start by going into each family members room. Start in the closet and drawers. Throw out every piece of clothing that is too small. Throw out the ripped jeans in your teenager's closet, or the favorite stained shirt for your toddler. The shoes your kids have out grown, trash them! Once everything is out, that should be, organize! Match up the socks, pare up the clothes, short sleeve shirts together, pants together, and so on. Make sure you do your own room as well. Donate all those clothes your going to loose weight to fit in again, to charity. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but chances are slim to none, you really are going to be able to loose the weight you want, especially if you have been telling yourself this over the last 6 months. If you really want me to be honest about how you can really get your closets looking good, the trick is to fold, and iron whatever you didn't throw out!

Next, after the closets and drawers are done, make sure you grab anything else that really needs to go. If you have small children, go through their toys and toss out anything broken. Like board games with the pieces missing or the Barbie doll that has no head. This might take some time, but it is well worth it. If you really want to put your heart and soul into it, even go through their reading books. If it has torn out pages, I consider it not any good anymore. Into the trash bag it goes!

Tired yet? There are still more rooms to cover! I know just about every kitchen has a junk drawer. Pour it out on the kitchen counter and see what is actually in there! Pens with no ink, pencils with no erasers, lighters with no fluid in them, all these items are not of any use.  Are you catching on yet? Is there a coupon book stashed away? There should be! Toss out the expired ones and update it. Old plates or cups in your cabinets with chips and cracks, that goes as well. Back to the emphasis here, organize. Before you leave this room, peek into your food cabinet. All the canned corn should be together, string beans in a group, etc.  Wash out the refrigerator and pull out anything expired. Note: That goes for the same as medicine cabinets. Get rid of any old medicines. They put expiration dates on labels for a reason!!!

Pass by a linen closet while you have been cleaning? Open that door and yank out all of the sheets and blankets. While you are folding it all back up, collect any worn or mismatched sheets. Collect those blankets with holes or stains, and stuff them in the garbage!

You should have somewhere in your home, a place you keep cleaning supplies. Take everything out and see what you have. Empty bottles are suppose to go in the trash. Do you have a make-up drawer? Is there mascara in there you haven't worn in over a year? Lipstick you bought that you really didn't like after you purchased but planned to hold on to it, in case you ever wanted to look different? Say good-bye to it!

Now that we have covered the basics, I will share with you, "How to clean your home". You must first gather a few of my favorite cleaning supplies...a vacuum, some rags, dusting spray, window cleaner, paper towels, scouring powder, and a broom.

We will begin by taking the broom and knocking down those cobwebs in the corners of your ceiling walls. Run the broom everywhere that is hard to reach. Then take your dusting rag and start where you left off. Get a chair and clean those ceiling fans! Nothing is more embarrassing then having company with huge clumps of dirt hanging from this ceiling centerpiece. When is the last time you dusted off the refrigerator top? That is one of my biggest pet peeves. Come on, people, it only takes a minute to wipe it off! Move on to normal dusting. Some people dust after they vacuum, but does that make any sense? When you dust your dropping dirt from every place and then vacuum picks it up. Always dust first. Did you get on top of the door and windowsills? Also a must. The tops of curtains and Venetian blinds, all have to be wiped off. Remember, top to bottom. Baseboards need some attention too. We don't have to go into much detail about vacuuming. Everyone should know this is cleaning ritual.

Bathrooms. This is what I dread the most. Scrub everything.  No easy tips in here. I can tell you that, if you can't run your hand over the entire tub and feel a smooth surface, keep on scrubbing. Window cleaner is a wonderful asset in here. You can use it to wipe down sink, shower, and bathroom fixtures. Leaving it to sparkle. Don't forget to scrub that toilet.

As far as laundry goes, I just keep doing at least a load everyday. Use your fabric softener! Make sure you change your linens at least once a week or sooner if needed. No one likes to pull back the sheets and have to wipe dirt out of it with their hand before they can lie down.

The last great tip I can give is to make sure your house is clean at night when you go to sleep. There will be less for you to do when you wake up. There will always be some type of cleaning to do, so remember to take some time out just for yourself and enjoy what you have already done!

Related Articles:

Planning Your Garage Sale
Here in the Land of Opportunity, we're now in the thick of Garage Sale Season. Figuring out what to part with is easy.  You're tired of it.  It hasn't fit in two years, and never will.  The color is wrong; the style is wrong; it's just not you.

The Frequent Mover's Card
More and more people and families are relocating to new cities, states, and sometimes countries for their companies. For those folks who do this often, there should be a frequent mover's card!

Maid vs. Homemaker
Here is an argument that plagues homemakers the world over.

Do Homemade and Commercial Cleaning Products Work Equally?
The results are in!  Homemade cleaners equal and even outperform commercial household cleaning products!

Organizing Your Garage
I must admit that this is one column where I will write about what I would like to do, instead of what is actually done, in our garage.