Showing posts with label cleaning

Helpful Homemaking- Garbage Disposals

in , , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hey dear readers, I’ve been working on a much needed blog post schedule (because winging it just isn’t this planning girls style) and while I won’t be having a theme for every day of the week, I’ve decided to keep this new one: Helpful Homemaking where I will share quick and easy tips for Moms, homes, gardens, cooking, - this will be a grab bag of helpfulness. You can find some of my recent tips here and here. I will also keep a favorite around here: Wordless Wednesday! 
Before I get to my quick tip today, I’d love to ask you what would you like to see me write about here on the blog? Please take a quick minute to fill out this survey to help me plan future posts. I promise it’s quick and easy. Thanks! 




How to Disinfect and deodorize your garbage disposal and sink drains


This really is super quick and easy.

  1. Take 3 tablespoons Arm and Hammer Baking soda
  2. 1 cup ice cubes
  3. Pour ice down drain. Top with baking soda. 
  4. Turn on water (medium-low cold) and turn on garbage disposal. 
  5. Let run until the ice cubes stop making the loud noise that scares your cat or dog (about 30 seconds.) 
  6. Then run hot water down drain for about 30 seconds and done! Clean smelling drains again. This should last at least a week depending on what you are putting down the garbage disposal.

Now clean the other side of your sink by placing 2 tablespoons of baking soda down the drain and running hot water for about 30 seconds. Your drain is clean.
If you are feeling really industrious, toss another tablespoon of baking soda in your sink lightly, wet it to make a paste and scrub your sink with a non-abrasive cloth. A good paper towel will work in a pinch.

I hope you found this tip helpful. Please come back next week to read my helpful homemaking post and follow along on my Pinterest Board.


VIEW the POST
20 comments

Let’s talk Laundry and Sorting

in , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Friday, October 04, 2013

As I do most every morning, I walked into my laundry room to check if I left a load of laundry in the washer overnight.  My washer was empty, the dryer wasn’t.
No big news flash there, but while I’m standing there contemplating the next load (you know, should it be darks or lights or whites) I noticed a funky odor wafting around.

Laundry rooms should smell clean and fresh, not like a sweaty sock!

 My eyes immediately go to the white’s basket. Even though it’s only half full, I start sorting. Actually, I double sort my whites. I make two piles; one is only socks and underwear, the other towels and linen. My Mama didn’t teach me to sort clothes like this and I’m betting your Mama didn’t either. But I think you'll be a white's double sorter too after you read this. 



MyWAHMPlan.com
                                                                 Source


So why the double sort?


One word: Poop.


Yes! Poop!  I saw this story on ABC News a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me. According to Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona: 

"If you wash a load of just underwear, there will be about 100 million E. coli in the wash water, and they can be transmitted to the next load of laundry," Gerba said. “There’s about a tenth of a gram of poop in the average pair of underwear," he added. Fecal matter can carry a number of different germs, including the hepatitis A virus, norovirus, rotavirus, salmonella and E. coli.
Gross, right?
Thinking our detergent was enough to keep the germs at bay is wrong. Thinking my hot water was hot enough to kill the nasty’s was wrong too.
So here’s what I do. I wash the underwear and socks in hot water with bleach first. Then, I clean the washer with a spray of diluted bleach water and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then I wash the towels in hot water and bleach. Now I’m not spreading germs and poop and all those other gross things mentioned above.
It’s imbedded in my brain to double sort my whites and clean my washer now and I’m teaching my girls to do the same.  I know old habits die hard, but if you could visualize drying your face with a dirty sock, you will be doing the double sort too.
You’ve just read the first in my new series of homemaking tips. I will share a new tip each week. Please let me know your thoughts and what topics you’d like to see me cover in comments.
Thanks!
VIEW the POST
15 comments

Cleanliness is next to Fitness

in , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Friday, June 28, 2013

I’ve been catching up on my cleaning this week. First I got into my closet and let go of a serious amount of clothing I am never going to wear again. Not all these bags came from my closet, just the big bags. 


donate
Donation time

Good news: lots of the clothes were too big or just didn’t hang right on my body now.

Bad news: I still have bins of cute, classy clothes I can’t fit in. I sigh as I write this because I know the solution is simple: eat smart, move more.  But, I am a blogger and home office administrator who sits to work.

BUT, I am also a homemaker who loves a neat, clean home. The solution, or at least part of the solution for me getting into those cute clothes is to clean more, sit less. 

I set this in motion right away, planning wahm that I am, by giving my floors a good scrubbing. 

No Swiffer action here, no ma’am.

I’m talking old school, double sweep, double mop with bucket, ringing out the Lemon Lysol water type scrubbing. I even cleaned the baseboards while I was at it. That’s a perk of mopping floors old-school, you get clean baseboards too.

By the time I’d completed the kitchen, foyer and three baths I was sweaty. No lie.  Like I’d completed a good fast walk. Clean floors, good smelling house and I broke a sweat? 

Win! 

kitchen
My clean kitchen floor. Bare feet bliss.

I felt so good about it; I had to check how many calories and hour or so of scrubbing floors burned. According to Fitness Magazine, I burned 112 calories per 30 minutes. I worked for about an hour, so my total would be 224!

Next time I’m feeling bad because I didn’t work out, I’m going to get up and clean something!

How about you?

Do you count household chores towards your fitness goals?
VIEW the POST
4 comments

Spring Cleaning Giveaway- $100 Walmart Gift card

in , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Wednesday, April 10, 2013
 Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way to participate in this giveaway. My WAHM Plan is not responsible for shipping/mailing of gift card. All opinions are 100% my own.

If you are like me, you have been busy checking off your spring cleaning tasks and still have lots to do.  I know in some regions spring is just now showing up, so you might still be in the planning stages. Either way, I have the perfect giveaway for you!

Welcome to the "Spring Cleaning" giveaway event sponsored by Tip Hero, featuring some wonderful bloggers and the opportunity to win a prize that's sure to help you with your spring cleaning efforts!



spring cleaning giveaway
Courtesy: Tiphero.com


We've featured many tips here at Tip Hero that can help you save money on spring cleaning. Our free homemade cleaners ebook, for example, features some great homemade cleaner recipes from us and from our extremely helpful readers. But if you're in need of some of the basics for cleaning up or redecorating, a $100 Walmart gift card is sure to come in handy!

This giveaway begins on April 10th and will run until April 24th at 11:59pm US Eastern time. It will be open to residents of the US only, 18+. Use the PromoSimple form below to enter, and be sure to take advantage of the many entries you can gain. You can also come back daily for more chances to win.

Good luck!
$100 Walmart Gift Card



VIEW the POST
6 comments
© My WAHM Plan · THEME BY WATDESIGNEXPRESS