Happy Monday Blog Hogs! Here we go again, right?
I hope you all had a lovely Easter. Ours was nice. Nice enough. We had a very short trip home, less than 24 hours, and a late night of driving back. Fail. But it's always good to be home... even if your home is a super hot mess when you walk in.
With that being said today I'm going to share some organizing tips from Martha.
Mondays with Martha
Spring House Cleaning Solutions!
1. Deep Clean Rugs & Carpets
-- Make sure to spot-clean your rugs and carpets as stains occur and to deep clean 2x a year! You can either DIY with a rental or hire someone to do it... I feel like our carpets are always a mess, but I hate to move everything around! Groupon & Living Social seem to usually have carpet cleaning deals so you may look there for discounted hire.
2. Clean Window Treatments
-- Make sure to take down your draperies and launder or dry-clean them; dust off blinds and clean with a sponge. Freeing these areas of dust helps to refresh the air in your home so you can breathe easy. I know our drop cloth drapes could use a cleaning -- they seem to attract my dogs hair... fail. 3. Replace Outside Doormats -- Give your front door a fresh new look for spring. Replace your winter ravaged doormat with a new one -- you can even
DIY a new one if you like! I can't wait to hit the ground running with this warmer weather and make a new one for the front porch!
4. Check Batteries in Smoke Alarms
-- Make sure to check your smoke alarm & batteries - Fire safety includes doing a battery check every six months. I think we did this already because we had an angry carbon monoxide detector and we thought it was the smoke alarms.... but a great way to make sure you always do it is to check them when you set your clocks for daylight savings.
5. Organize Your Home Office
-- What does this mean? For me, this could take months and then not even be done or stay that way! Ugh... Try to go through files and shred unnecessary papers. I know I must do this! Then give your computer a once over and figure out what can be deleted, what needs to be saved, what can be transferred to back up drives because it's important, etc. I think about picture especially! Transfer to Shutterfly... Then tackle the clutter that goes along with it. Find homes for papers that need to stay, trash others.
6. Make the Laundry Room More Efficient
-- Wait, a laundry room should be efficient? What? Mine is the most unorganized, inefficient place in our home. Go through and organized products into bins depending on their function. If you don't already have one, get a collapsible drying rack to save room when you are not air drying your clothes.
7. Service Air Conditioners
-- Inspect your air conditioning units. Make sure to remove and clean filters (or replace if disposable), and vacuum vents on window units. If you have central air, have a professional service it. I'm thinking this is hopping high to the list since our thermostat keeps turning off on it's own... seems like the unit still functions, but the actual thermostat just goes blank. Anyone else ever had this problem?!?
8. Clean your Coffee Maker
-- Makes sense right? If you are like me, you use it every day. Once a month, remove mineral deposits by pouring equal parts white vinegar and water into your coffee maker's tank. With carafe in place, run the machine for half a cycle, switch off, let sit for an hour, then finish. Run several cycles of water to remove any aftertaste. You can also buy cleaners/rinses at the store to use which might be easier... could also be worse. I can't remember those instructions.
9. Prevent Bugs
-- Does Anyone else have a potato or roly poly oly bug problem like we do? What a random bug to have crawling around. As the weather warms, insects return in search of food. Time to make sure all dry goods are stored in airtight containers. Wash your pet's dishes as soon as they finish meals.
10. Clean House Siding
-- Whether it be wood or vinyl, the siding on your house needs a good rinse down with a garden hose about twice a year.
11. Prepare Your Outside Spaces
-- Make sure you are ready when you'll want to go sit out there! Start picking up and prepping your deck or outdoor space now so that you can just relax when the weather is right! I think I might try something like this on my side yard!
12. Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet.
-- Go through and restock supplies, discard old medicines, refill prescriptions, and replace any expired cosmetics.
13. Prep For Summer Guests
-- Stock the bathroom with fresh, neutral linens and lightly scented soaps. Bring out a summer-weight quilt, replace pillows, and do a deep cleaning. It's nice too to have in-room refreshments so throw a few bottles of water on a shelf for your guests.
14. Host a Garage Sale
-- Hubby would love me for doing this! Cant' wait to have one! Baby clothes, random collections of items that make their way to our garage when I move everything on a whim! Can't wait, can't wait!!! And it's a great idea to throw one with a friend! That way you have more for buyers to browse!
15. Get Set to Grill
--Before Memorial Day, make sure gas units are firing evenly by clearing clogged burner holes with a sewing needle. We've always used a charcoal grill because Mr K likes it better and I think ours pooped out on us last year so this should really read make sure to replace your grill if necessary. Also though it is nice to remove grime by spraying grates. You can use a solution of equal parts distilled vinegar and water -- Close lid, leave for an hour, then scrape gently with a putty knife. So nice to not have to do this when you are ready to cook!
With all this now laid out for us I guess I better get to working! :)
xoxo,
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