Spring is in the Air (Along with other stuff)

It's time for that yearly favorite activity......Spring Cleaning! Aren't you excited? Over the next few posts, I will attempt to provide some helpful tips and ideas for getting your house tippy-top, ship-shape. Now, I am no expert, just another mom sharing things that have been tried. Somethings may work for you, some may not, but please feel free to leave comments and suggestions with your own ideas.

So, like I said, I'm going to spend a few posts covering the whole house. We will concentrate on different areas for each post. Today, let's look at the laundry area and bathrooms. Keep in mind alot of the ideas I have come from; 1) living in limited space 2) having kids 3) and being a bit meticulous, yeah, that's a good word for it....ahem. So, with that in mind, adapt these suggestions to fit your family. Here we go!

Laundry Room/Area

* Combine partially filled detergent/softener bottles to limit the number of bottles out

* Have a specific place for empty hangers, and put them there when you find them lying around (I keep mine in an empty laundry basket, separated by children, adults, and pants hangers) Train children to return hangers there. Even a two year old is able to do that and it's fun for them to do "grown up" things.

* Change clothes from washer to dryer as soon as they stop! Re fluffing wastes electricity and time. Your time is valuable, guard it! If you have to re fluff to take care of something, just be sure to get them out as soon as possible.

* When you fold a load, put it away, right away. The neatest trick I have found for this that has worked for our family for about 6 years, is to buy dishpans (you can get them at the Dollar Tree, Wal*Mart, or Kroger) and put a label or write each child's name on them. As you fold, drop the clothes in the appropriate pans. Then call the kids to come and get their buckets and put their clothes away. When they were too young to put all their clothes away by themselves, I would do it. But having them separated at the time of folding was awesome. It also helped the clothes stay neatly folded while transporting them to their dressers. Definitely a plus. Don't want to do double work, guard that time.

* I have 4 stacking laundry baskets in our master bath. The baskets are marked, "towels," "whites," "lights," and "darks." This system makes it very easy for the kids to sort their clothes, and a breeze for me to grab a load and toss it in. I absolutely LOVE this system. It also has really helped me keep a close check on the amount of laundry to do so that I don't get too far behind.

* Try to do a load everyday, even if it's towels or jeans. If you can't, or you family is too small to produce enough laundry, just try to put a load in before you have nine loads to do, and your husband doesn't have any scrubs to wear to work. (Speaking hypothetically of course. I don't know anyone this has happened to. Ahem)


Bathrooms

* If you have older children, train them to wipe down the bathrooms daily, or every other day. (Clorox type wipes are great for this, and you can buy those disposable "food prep" gloves to wear if you don't want them to handle the chemicals.) If you have younger children, doing a quick wipe down daily will help you prevent a built up mess in your bathroom. This is a great way to keep it fresh and sanitary when you don't have 20 minutes to deep clean. It is also nice in case unexpected guests pop in.

* Get small baskets for each member of the family, even babies (can be found at Dollar Tree....Can you tell I go there often?) and put each person's belongings in them. For instance: the baby's basket may have, lotion, powder, baby wash, washcloth, rubber ducky, Desitin, etc... - a teenager may have, Clearasil, deodorant, razor, shaving cream, etc.....You get the idea. Place the baskets either on a shelving unit over the toilet, or under the sink. They are easily available to grab and then all of their things are kept neatly in one place, not all over the counter-top.

* Make a "boo-boo box" and place it in an easily accessible location. This is probably one of the most used items in my house. Below is an example of the contents of a well stocked boo-boo box.
Neosporin
Band Aids-a varitey of sizes
gauze
tweezers
cleaning wipes/foamy stuff
Cortisone

When you have those little hangnails, or splinters, or paper cuts, etc.. you can grab the small box and fix it up without having to get all the first aid stuff out. Take it out, suture, and put it back. Ta daaaaa


Well, that's about it for laundry room and bathrooms. Please feel free to comment and leave your suggestions. I am always looking for helpful ideas to help me manage my family and household duties more efficiently.

Tune back in for the spring cleaning sequel, when we will tackle......living rooms, dens, and kitchens. Oh my!