Where to begin?

Hey ya'll... we have been reflecting on how we are attempting to clean out our lives this spring! Now for the good stuff... getting down to the nitty gritty of cleaning. We love to maintain a clean house... these are some of our tips to get down and dirty this spring!! It will be worth it in the end, trust us!

Cleaning agents: you can get environmentally friendly detergents and cleaning agents in most every grocery store, use them!! Vinegar or/and baking soda, and lemon are also great natural cleaning agents, together or separate. Baking soda and vinegar together, really works to clean off scales in your Tea pots or calcium build up on your shower heads. Baking soda combined with a little warm water is great for cleaning out the fridges and other areas of the home.

Use an old toothbrush to clean the grime that has built up around baseboards (dust) and sinks... it reaches those hard-to-get places like a charm!

Keep getting new rags to maintain the cleanliness of your home. This is the one day a year that you can do a whole load of laundry just from the rags you go through! And try microfiber clothes, they are charged so pick up dust without sprays. You can get them many places (helth food stores, cleaning product parties etc.) however, I have found the best deal is the 20 pack from Costco in the auto isle. They are marked as Microfiber Auto Towels and are bright yellow, however they are just the same and you get 20 for about $12 bucks!

Here is a list of some of the places that we venture to clean every spring to ensure that our houses are clean for summer. It takes us approximately 3 hours to do in our homes of approximately 1200 sq. ft. in size (you must be very effective when cleaning and have some great tunes to keep you motivated):

- refrigerator
- freezer
- baseboards
- mopping floors on hands and knees (does a much better job the old fashion way :P)
- dusting plants, above cupboards, lights, lamps, frames, cupboards
- wash the face of kitchen appliances and cupboards
- clean carpets (if applicable)
- once you have found everything that can be dusted... look deeper.... there's always more!
- clean all of your mirrors, but most importantly.. your windows! Windows can easily be cleaned inside and out if you're motivated!
- door knobs need to be disinfected and other areas that you use often (handles)

This additional, “yet essential” stuff, may take longer, but it is very important to do if you are wanting to feel clean:

Go through your house from literally top to bottom.... from every nook and cranny...

- closets (clean out clothes that you have not worn in over 5 months (no contrary to popular belief, you will never fit into those clothes again, and they will not come back into style... have a clothes party with a few friends and donate the clothes that nobody picks to the local Salvation Army of Community Living organization)...

- clean out under anything that doesn’t MOVE often; dressers, fridge, bed etc.
- pitch old decorative items that need to be replaced to alleviate the clutter...

- UNCLUTTER!!!! GO through all boxes of old technology and old memorabilia… as time passes some things may become less valuable to you, and this frees up a lotttt of space!
- And the garage... that dreaded space, lol... get gutsy and just do it: sort through the cra* that you have accumulated, recycle all the cans and bottles, and organize!! Everytime you enter into that space you will be so relieved!

Both of us have done our spring clean and “boy did it feel gooood”, we were dead tired by the end of it all, but that feeling of satisfaction is a true one we can be proud of.

Give’r a shot!

Good music, "cleanin" attitude and goooo!

Chanel and Heather