Yipee! A Few Spring Cleaning Tips for You~

You know how it is when you come back from a trip. The first day or so is spent just catching up for the days you've been gone.

Grocery shopping.

Doing laundry.

Cleaning.

It's that time of year again! Spring cleaning. Blech! Soooo not my favorite time of the year. But necessary none-the-less.

So since I have been spending my day playing catch-ups (and not working on the projects I mentioned in yesterday's post ) I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite spring cleaning tips. I know you're so excited you can hardly stand it - insert sarcastic eye roll here - but keep an open mind, you may just find a new tip you can use.

1. Use Spring cleaning time as a chance to change out batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (you can do the same in September around the first day of fall...or when the clocks change back.)

2. Make sure you wash down your walls...they get a lot dirtier than you think. Or, if you are like my hubby, repaint the entire interior of the house, and patch every hole with spackle...but leave the spackle there for a week so that your spouse can get sufficiently sick and tired of the polk-a-dots and will really appreciate the new paint. ;-)

3. If you like "green" cleaning products...try making your own glass cleaner by mixing vinegar and water in a spray bottle. (This works best if you use newspaper to wipe the windows rather than a rag.)

4. And here is a tip I shared a few weeks ago, but it's so good it bears repeating...if you have brown stains inside your dishwasher, they are probably due to rust. There are expensive products out there that can remove the stains, but try this first. Take some Tang powder (you know, that Orange flavored Astronaut drink) and use it just like you would use dish detergent. Run a cycle (without dishes of course...unless you want everything you eat for the next few days to taste like orange punch). You may have to repeat the cycle a couple of times, but it does remove the rust stains. REALLY....I've done it!! And actually, you don't have to use Tang. You can use any orange flavored drink mix...I actually used a generic brand and it worked just fine.

5. To remove Water Rings on wood, mix equal amounts of baking soda and plain white toothpaste (not gel) . Use a soft cloth to gently rub the mixture in a circular motion on rings.

6. Finally, do you have a budding Picaso?..in other words, do you have crayon on the walls? Mister Clean Magic Eraser rocks!!! There's a reason it's called "magic eraser".

Once your house is all sparkly and clean...you'll be a happy camper! At least that's what I keep reminding myself. :-)

Have a great day.