My Laundry System

I am a lazy laundress. With three children, at one point four and under, I may of found a laundry system that is not very stressful, but also not very much according to proper house keeping rules.

First off, I do laundry every other day. I do only one load.
Now I am going to break rules. Once I know that the fabric won't bleed, I throw all my colors together. I wash in cold water most of the time, which doesn't bleed fabrics as easily.

Most fabrics these days are colorfast, however I always question red. So I always wash those separately; until I know that it is color fast.

My wardrobe is very simple I have two jean skirts. One to wash, one to wear. Unless my children's clothing is very dirty or soiled, I make them wear one pair of underware a day.

I put the wash in the morning, and throw it in the dryer later in the day, then fold and put away.

My baby sleeps in the clothes that I dress him in the morning with. Unless he has had a bath, or it will be cold, then I put him in a footed sleeper.

If someone has been sick, then I will wash in hot water. I only wash sheets every few weeks.

I put vinegar in with the laundry soap, and a few drops of tea tree oil.

If I get behind at all, and have a mountain to climb, then I will divide my clothes the proper way. But for now, this is what works for me. Shocking?

For more ideas that work for others, click on the button on top of my post. :)

Bird Cage Needs Lots of Help! *Updated

*Update below

Oh, Boy! This is really embarrassing. I tell you, taking care of animals is more work than taking care of children! This is my bird's cage. It needs a really bad cleaning. Now mind you, I do change the paper every so often. (Like when company's coming over, ;) ) However, it needs a really good scrubbing down. I don't think I have done this since Tiny Boy was born. So this is my tackle it Tuesday. And it is going to be a tough tackle, let me tell you!
Once it is done, I will post after pictures of my finished product. It is probably going to take most of the day to complete. So here it goes!

*Pictured below is something that I never gave my due thanks to my sweet husband for. He rigged up this hose, so I can turn it on and off as I work. Not only that, but it had a high pressure nozzle on it, that made super duper quick work at cleaning the cage. This was the first time using it, that I understood, and appreciated why he put this on the hose. :)

Here is the bird cage all taken apart, drying in the sun. It was a beautiful day to clean the cage at least. While I had the hose, and was outside all sopping wet, I cleaned up the children's table and chairs. Nasty spiders had made their home in the table, and laid too many egg sacks in it for my comfort. (shudder)


Here is the poor little birdie all cooped up in a teeny tiny cage while her cage was drying.


And Presto! Here is the finished product. I feel right quite proud of such a feat. It is as good as new. Something it hasn't looked like in a loooong time! My mother would be proud! :)

Works For Me Wednesday~Motivated Moms

I have always been challenged with housekeeping. It isn't that I "can't" clean, but it can get just so overwhelming with three preschool children running around the house. I have tried a lot of things; schedules, Flylady, chore systems, etc. While these things have helped me know the basics of running a household, it wasn't until I found Motivated Moms, that things truly began to look up for me, and I felt in control of things.

What is Motivated Moms? Well, it is a housekeeping list *already* planned out *for* you, for the whole year! I don't have to think. :) I just do what the list says. If I do it, then my house stays clean. And the nice thing about it is, the list isn't overwhelming. It gives you your regular chores that must be done everyday, and then gives you little jobs for that day of the week.

For instance, your chores may be just to clean out one shelf in the refrigerator, clean the bathroom mirrors, and sweep the porch. Those are your only chores on top of your have to be done chores, like washing clothes, dishes, etc.

It comes with a little boxes to check, so you actually feel like you are accomplishing something during your day. And at the end of the day, your house looks reasonably great; that is if you stick to the list.

Another nice feature is that it will include things in there that, people like me would *never* think about cleaning. Like cleaning out the air vents, checking light bulbs, cleaning out behind the refrigerator, cleaning inside of the oven. All of this is done in small little steps, so you don't feel totally overwhelmed with housekeeping.

Motivated Moms is instant gratification, because as soon as you buy it, it downloadable with a pdf. file. The cost is reasonable. Around $7 or $8 I believe. Just think, your house work all planned out for you. All you have to do, is check off those boxes, and you have accomplished something. :)

So Motivated moms works for me!

Click on the Works For Me Wednesday labels for more ideas on things that work for others, and then. Click on the Motivated Mom's link to see a sample, and to order one for your self. :)

More Like Tackle it *ALL* Tuesday :)

There were several projects that I needed to tackle today. I am in the midst of decluttering and rearranging my house. With three children almost 5 and under, this can be *very* challenging.

The First Tackle was the Girls room. Usually I try to make it clean it up *all by themselves* but I did not have time for that today. So I *helped* them out. It took about an hour. Here are some before and after photos:

Before of Room

After Of Room

Before of ClosetAfter Of Closet

The next tackle was to switch my linen closet to underneath the bathroom cabinet. I am doing this because this frees up a lot of shelf space that I can use to stock up on items when they go on sale. The towels I moved to the bathroom, where they will be easier access when I bathe the children. If I happen to forget a towel then it won't be a big deal to go and get one as it is right there. I have other plans for the bathroom for storage, but that will have to wait awhile. For now this arrangement will seem to work.

Before Of Linen Closet

After of Closet

Before of Under The Bathroom Sink

After Of Under Bathroom Sink. I know it doesn't look all that organized, but I am not a picky towel folder. :)

After the closet, under bathroom sink switcharoo, I tackled the hallway. There have been Rubbermaid boxes full of baby clothes sitting in there since last year. Yikes! (blush) Here are some before and after photos:

Before

After

Then the last tackle of the day was finishing up laundry. Whoa, it was pretty bad. I had four *huge* loads to fold and put away. That task took me about an hour maybe a bit longer. Here are some photos of that.
Before
Laundry Folded
Laundry nicely put away! :)

For More Tackel It Tuesday Ideas visit 5 Minutes For Mom

Can You Believe We Cleaned Out the Garage Last Saturday?

We really did, I promise you! The thing is, we made a HUGE pile of giveaway things, and we couldn't give it away as quickly as we wanted to. So we had to haul it all back into the garage, and this weekend we will work on getting rid of it.
One nice thing is that we did at least sort through all of the stuff, and we now know what we don't want to keep. :)