We Blog (sometimes): Hardcore Nesting: Spring Cleaning

Either it’s the smell of spring in the air, or just watching every episode of Lush House while I was home sick, but I have been on a spring cleaning rampage. I’ve always been a bit of a rampage cleaner. I’m not so great with the day-to-day stuff, but I love the weird power rush that comes from throwing out a ton of junk and making everything orderly and clean. I heard somewhere that leaving projects undone leaves a constant low-level of stress on you all the time. So, I decided to make a day or two out of knocking out every project that’s been bothering me. Mind you, most of them haven’t bothered me enough to have not procrastinated taking care of them in the first place, but what can I say, no time like the present.

Here are a few of the project’s I’ve checked off the list:

Start a donation box: I was amazed how quickly ours filled up just from sitting open in the corner. I went through it once before donating and was surprised how much useless junk was in there that I wouldn’t miss.
Scrub the bathtub: I mean REALLY scrub it. You know what really works for this? Baking soda. Go figure?
Clothes: Put away all out of season or pre-pregnancy clothes. Donate anything you wont use. This came down to just about everything. Basically if it’s not a jersey knit, I’m not wearing it.
You know all those half empty bottles of lotion of conditioner? Heat them up in the microwave and pour them into one bottle. Throw away the rest. I’m trying not to hang on to products I bought that ended up failed experiments.
Papers: put ‘em away or throw them away. We broke down and bought a shredder at Wal-Mart recently. This is the first step on the path to our paperless pipe dreams. The next step will be to get a doc scanner. We’ve only gotten through a few stacks of shred so far, but paper beware! The doc-pocalypse is coming!
Clean out squirrel holes: This is what I like to call any easy to reach places where you inevitable squirrel away objects you are too lazy to find a place for. For us this was out living room bookshelf, coffee table baskets, and night stands.
Do an overhaul on the fridge: For some time now, I feel like our fridge has had an unidentified funk that lingers despite numerous cleanings. I clean it, open the door an hour later, and there’s the funk again! Our place is pretty small, and I swear I can smell it from other rooms. UGH! This time I took everything out of the fridge, cleaned it with vinegar, then cleaned containers as I put them back in. I topped it off with some fresh baking soda, and it seems to have done the trick.
Cleaning up the sickness: So far this spring, I’ve had three colds. It’s kinda sucked. We’ve had the humidifier going non-stop and endless trails of tissues and various illness related paraphernalia cluttering up every surface. Well that’s all over now. I got this marvelous idea from pinterest about doing a Cold Caddy. This has a two fold purpose 1) it keeps all your cold stuff together and stores neatly under the sink. 2) it’s easy to take with you from room to room instead of making a zillion trips every time you need something.
Plastic boxes, labeling, and un-labeling: Those plastic shoe-box like containers from the dollar store (or Ikea) have been a complete revelation to me. There are very few small messes that cant be contained, neatly stacked, and labeled in one of these suckers. Last summer we did our whole downstairs closet for about $10 in boxes and maybe $20 in extra shelves. We’re also repurposing some plastic drawers we have to put baby clothes in. Since we’ve had them it’s always bugged me that I couldn’t get the labels all the way off. I busted out the Goof Off to get the job done, but I understand you can get a similar, less smelly, effect by using tea tree oil.
Clean out the planters from last summer: This one is a little embarrassing. My poor little container garden was ravaged by every form of wildlife. At one point I saw a chipmunk, halfway up my cherry tomato plant, munching away and boldly staring me down right through the glass. I guess living at high elevation makes animals brazen. By the end of the summer,when my herbs were bolting and my veggies had all but dried up, I just gave up on the garden. It sat out there with it’s pathetic little stocks sticking up out of the snow all winter. Since we’re planning on moving this summer, I decided the contain my intense springtime plant-o-mania for one season (though it’s not easy). Since I’m planning on re-using my soil, I decided to beef it up a bit while it stews in a container all season. To do that I added organic fertilizer, cocoanuts fiber, and what is said to be the black gold of soil—earthworm castings—known to most a worm poo. All the pots got scrubbed with soap and shelved.

Raise bed up for more storage underneath: We now have our bed high enough to fit laundry baskets underneath. It’s so nice not having that stuff stacked in the corner anymore.

Here are a few more natural cleaning tips I picked up from watching far too much TV:
Kitchen:

Use wax shavings and a blow dryer to keep things out of grout
Soap the sides of drawers that stick to get them to slide smoothly
Lavender water cleans counters well and leaves a lovely smell
Clean fans, baseboards, shelves, picture frames, etc. with dryer sheets to further repel dust
Run dishwasher empty with a bowl of vinegar in the top
Use magazine holders for ziplocks, saran wrap, tin foil, etc.

Bathroom:

Wax the shower walls
Clean stuffed animals by putting them in a pillowcase with unprocessed bran and a tablespoon of vinegar. Shake. Brush clean.
Use pantyhose to get in stubborn areas around faucets

Living Room:

Clean wood with tea and lavender oil
Put baby powder on creaky stairs
Clean couch with bran and /or bran ball. Mix unprocessed bran with vinegar until it comes together like brown sugar. Put into stockings and rub couch or sprinkle and vacuum.
Plaster of Paris to get stains out of marble
A table top fountain will help keep down dust-- add lavender for scent
Use a sock or paper towels clipped to tongs for cleaning blinds

Bedroom:

Clean mattress with baby powder and baking soda
Use TP rolls in a box to sort extra cords for phone chargers, USB cords, etc.

Carpets:

Suck up a damp tea bag into the vacuum cleaner bag to kill dust mites
Use a pair of nylons on the end of a vacuum hose to suck up spilled beads without getting them into the main part of the vacuum.

Stubborn Problems: