Entries Tagged as 'Seasonal Cleaning'

Fall Cleaning Day 5: Over And Out

October 11th, 2008 1 Comment

Ivy says:

Today was just a day of wrapping up loose ends- putting the curtains back up, finishing up the holiday decorating, finishing up laundry. You know the routine. Another thing I did yesterday and finished up today was sorting and neatening and de-cluttering all my holiday stuff.

My mom has an easy way of “filing” her holiday decorations- she puts like items into plastic storage totes and then labels the boxes with numbers and keeps a master list beside where the totes are stored. As her collection grows and shrinks, she simply changes the master list.

Now, I’m not nearly organized enough to keep a master list of stuff on Excel like she does, so I modified her way a bit. The lovely folks at Dymo sent me their Personal Label Maker LetraTag Plus LT-100H to try out and I knew exactly what my first project would be with it- labeling my holiday totes.

Now, I must admit I’ve never understood the absolute love some people have for labeling. I remember the first time I walked into a kitchen Mr. Ivy was managing. Everything- literally everything- was labeled. In English AND Spanish, no less. Mr. Ivy loves labeling things like kids love cake. Now, I never really understood that. In my own kitchen, I know where the pots and pans go, it all seems obvious to me. Of course, in a busy kitchen with up to 9 people cooking and endless servers and bussers running in and out, it makes sense. Besides, the Health Department requires quite a bit of labeling for obvious reasons. That said, Mr. Ivy had things labeled like “Switch” and “Thermostat.” Like I said, he looooves to label.

So when I got this labelmaker, I hid it at first to make sure I didn’t wake up with my microwave labeled as “microwave” and my dishwasher labeled as “dishwasher.” Instead, I used it to label the totes containing the holiday stuff. Here’s a few pictures I took of the labeling.

A few words about the Personal Label Maker LetraTag Plus LT-100H- I really, really liked this. I can now see why Mr. Ivy loves labeling so much. It’s actually quite fun. With this particular label maker, you can change the size of the words, the font, you can make the letters go vertically or horizontally. There are tons of options. Once I figured out how it all worked, I had a blast playing with it, making little tiny tags that said “Ivy Hogan, Mistress of the Universe.” It came with a ton of different types of labels also- my very favorite was the one you could use to label clothing. My 2 youngest kids are still at ages where they need their jackets and coats labeled, and I always thought using a sharpie on the tag was kinda shoddy. Now I don’t have to worry about that! Thanks, Dymo!

So, that’s my week of fall cleaning. Do you Home Eccers have any fab weekend plans?

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Fall Cleaning: Days 3 and 4

October 9th, 2008 5 Comments

Ivy says:

I am so sorry I didn’t update yesterday, my darling Home Eccers. It was my dad’s birthday and we got home much later than I anticipated. Yesterday’s fall cleaning task was to hunt down all the laundry that was hiding under beds, in closets, and any other place it might be hiding. That’s why I found Heather’s post for today to be so amusing- look at this picture I took yesterday of Mt. Laundry at my house.

So, yesterday I did endless loads of laundry and today I’ll be doing more laundry and I’ve also pulled out all my holiday junk both in preparation for Halloween decorating and also because I need to organize my holiday junk in the worst way. I’m not entirely sure how Easter eggs ended up in the Halloween tote, but there it is. Tomorrow I’ll share pictures of how my holiday organizing went. My mom has a neat way of organizing her holiday stuff, and I’m going to take her cue and do mine the same way.

Also, fabulous commenter Ann asked: I’m intrigued by Mrs. Meyers products – do you buy them in Nashville? Do you use lots of their products or just the one you mentioned this week?

I am a sucker for both great packaging and also amazing scents. Mrs. Meyers has both. The first thing I ever tried from the Mrs. Meyers line was the Lemon Verbena all purpose cleaner. I saw it in the store (Linens N Things, I believe) and had to try it. The scent took me back to childhood and whatever kind of lemon scented cleaning products my mom used. To me- if it smells clean, it IS clean. And nothing, to me, smells cleaner than lemon scent. From there, I tried the Geranium scent I’m using now. I got that at World Market in the Avenue in Murfreesboro, TN. If you go to the Mrs. Meyers website, there is a store locator that tells you where you can buy the products. Oddly, some places I have found it are not listed on their store locator, so just keep an eye out for it as well. All I’ve used is the all purpose cleaners. My next thing to try is the laundry detergent, if I can get over the price for it, haha.

So, Home Eccers, what are you going to accomplish today?

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Fall Cleaning Day 2

October 7th, 2008 5 Comments

Ivy says:

It’s been so long since it’s rained in Nashville that I nearly took the day off cleaning to dance in the rain. Today, we’re washing walls. I like to mix up a bucket of something that smells fabulous- currently I’m digging Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Geranium All Purpose Cleaner. It makes the whole house smell great and stays that way for awhile. The kids, especially, love to wash walls. I also make sure to get the baseboards while we’re there, and we take down the pictures for a good dusting as well.

The other thing we’re doing today is vacuuming out all the vents in the house. Many years ago, we paid to have our vents cleaned, and the people who cleaned the vents brought a shop vac into the house and just vacuumed them out. I’m quite sure there’s some other, better way and that we just got ripped off, but ever since that happened, I’ve vacuumed out the vents with a shop vac in the spring and fall. Whether it just makes me feel better or if it’s actually helpful remains to be seen- my house is pretty dusty both with and without vacuuming the vents. But it still makes me feel better.

The rest of the day will be spent playing Rock Band. Hey, it’s a lazy, rainy day, cut us some slack. ;)

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Fall Cleaning Time!

October 6th, 2008 8 Comments

Ivy says:

My kids are on fall break this week, and the weather is spectacular, which means it’s time for fall cleaning! I think fall cleaning is actually more important than spring cleaning- you want to get your house as clean as possible before the busy holiday schedule starts. Plus, I like to throw open the windows andget as much dust out the house as possible before we have to button up for winter.

Now is the time to prepare the outside of your home. Since everything will soon be dying one trim or weeding should clean things up nicely.  Today’s outdoor task is to gather the potted plants that have been living outside for the summer and move them to their indoor winter home. (Sometimes I wish someone would move me to a winter home.)

Today’s inside task focuses on the windows. I am taking down all the blinds and curtains and cleaning them up. I’m also washing all the windows, both inside and out. My mom says that windows are the “eyes” of the house and we should keep them clean.

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Spring Cleaning: Living Room/Great Room/Family Room

April 10th, 2008 10 Comments

Ivy says:

This has been a hard one for me to write, because I have a small house. My living room or family room or great room or whatever you want to call it is also my office, sewing room, dining room, etc, etc, etc. So the way I spring clean my living room wouldn’t necessarily be the same as yours. For example, I’m going through all my files and cleaning out everything that’s too old. Most people don’t store their files in their living room. Anyway, I hope this suits most people’s needs for living room spring cleaning.

  • As usual, start at the top. Dust the walls (Y’all, mine were horrid! I would have definitely won the Home Ec 101 seal of disapproval!) and light fixtures and ceiling fan if you have one. Knock all the cobwebs down too. If your ceiling isn’t too horribly tall, dust it too.
  • Take all your throw pillows outside and let them hang out in the sun for awhile to freshen. Take down any curtains, throws, and other such items and wash them. Give your blinds a good washing. Take any area rugs outside and beat them. (Fun for all, right!?)
  • Pick up and organize everything. This is a good time to go through your media like your DVDs and video games and take them to someplace like Digital Planet (That’s where I go. Naturally, if you’re not local to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, find a similar local joint) to make a few bucks off stuff you don’t watch or play anymore.
  • Dust everything. And I mean everything, kids. Pick up all your electronic equipment and dust under it. This sounds odd, but dust your cords, too. Mine seem to collect dust and cat hair. I wish they’d collect something useful, like money, but no such luck. Don’t forget to dust your picture frames! My boss when I was a maid always said you can tell a truly good housekeeper by how dusty the tops of their picture frames are. Because of that, I always dust my picture frames, even if I’m too lazy to dust anything else, ha!
  • Your maid may not do windows, but you’re going to have to. Wash them inside and out. My mom says windows are the “eyes” of a home. Keep your home’s “eyes” clean!
  • Move all furniture away from the walls. Dust the baseboards. If they’re still funky, give them a good washdown.
  • While you’ve got the furniture moved out, vacuum the floors. If you are like me and like to rearrange the furniture, go ahead and do so.
  • Move all the furniture back and then vacuum the rest of the floors. Wash down your doors and switchplates and all that fun stuff that gets funky.
  • Take all your knickknacks outside and throw them at a neighbor you don’t like. Okay, just kidding, but do you need as many knickknacks as you have? Consider cutting down. It’ll make all your dusting easier!
  • Put all your curtains, blinds, throw pillows, area rugs, etc. back where they belong.
  • Enjoy your shiny clean living room!

I feel like I may have left something out here, and I don’t know what it could be. As I type, I keep remembering things I’ve left out, ha! I know you fab commenters have got my back, so let me know if there’s anything I’ve left out!

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