Homemade cleaners

My husband and I have some strange hobbies.  A new one we've picked up this year is using homemade cleaners.  I'm not sure why we've adopted this, except perhaps we've grown tired of paying huge prices for laundry soap and bathroom cleaners.

Here is a recipe I chanced to come across at http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com website.


Powdered Dishwasher Detergent/Scouring Powder:
* 1 cup Washing soda
* 1 cup Borax
* 1/4 cup Kosher salt (reduces the effects of hard water)
* 1/4 cup citric acid (or as an alternative you can use the same amount of Fruit Fresh or two packets of Lemonade-Flavored Kool-Aid, ONLY lemon and ONLY unsweetened!)


You can also add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, if you'd like, but I don't do that.  I'm afraid to leave oily spots in my dishwasher.

To use the detergent in your dishwasher, add 1 tablespoon of the powder to the soap dispenser and 3 drops of Dawn (or other dish soap) on top and close the lid.  Add 1 cup of white vinegar to the bottom of the dishwasher.

You may have to experiment a little to see what combinations work for your dishwasher and for your water.  We tried one load with 2 tablespoons of powder and the glasses came out spotty.  But, with 1 tablespoon, they are sparkly.  You can vary the amount of powder from 1 - 2 tablespoons and vary the vinegar from 1 - 2 cups to see what works best for you.

Give it a try and see what works for you!
 

The JUNK Drawer

In the house of my childhood, there was such a thing as a "junk" drawer.  It was always called a "junk" drawer though it actually had assigned contents.  The things that belonged there were scissors, tape, string, and small hand-held household tools.  But, the fact that it was called the "junk" drawer meant that anyone and everyone felt free to put pretty much anything else in there.  Therefore, it always looked rather junky. 

I swore that I'd never have a junk drawer at my house.  Truth be known, there is no such drawer in my kitchen.  Each drawer in the kitchen has an assigned purpose and assigned belongings.  Yet, there are  drawers in our sideboard in the dining room, and those drawers tend to fill the role that our old kitchen junk drawer filled.  Today, those drawers are under attack!

Here they are.  The left one is full of miscellaneous things.  And, oh, look... so is the right one.  The right one has built in dividers.  As I looked at these two drawers, I figured that those compartments could be assigned and that would help organize them.

So, I took both drawers out and put them on the floor in my living room and sat done with the dear things.  I first went through and took out anything that was trash or didn't belong in the room at all.  I made two piles of those things.  The trash was the biggest pile!

Then, I decided what ought to go in those compartments in the right drawer.  I assigned one for gift wrapping supplies, one for office supplies and one for Steve's things.  I suppose that's only fair since all the drawer space is otherwise mine!  The compartment in the back has seldom used items. 

Then I took a couple of sticky notes and made temporary labels for the compartments.  It doesn't help to put things away if you don't know where they go.  And, thus far, no one in this home can read my mind about where things should go.  Here's a large picture so you can check it out.

 The other drawer received a less glamorous makeover.  I already had the white tray and so I took out pens that didn't work and put pencils, pens and highlighters into the tray.  Everything else is simply neatly arranged.  I will need to get a few more trays.  These drawers are quite shallow (about 2 inches deep) and when you open them quickly, everything goes sliding around.  A few more trays will help corral the items.

In the end, the main thing about junk drawers, or any drawers for that matter, is that they need a little attention from time to time.  It is well worth the little bit of time to cull the unwanted items, rearrange the things that you want, and enjoy a nice neat drawer until, well, until the next time they look like a mini-tornado went through them.

Facing the post-holiday clutter

The holidays are over.  What a rush of concerts, programs, shopping, eating, celebrating, loving and living!  I can hardly believe that I haven't even thought about writing a blog entry during all of this hubbub.

But now...oh, but now... the post-holiday clutter has come to my home.  As I sit happily drinking coffee (from my brand new Keurig coffee maker!  Thank you, wonderful husband and children!) at my dining room table, I can see across the dining room, into the living room and just to my left, into the kitchen.

I'm happy to say that my kitchen survived the holidays the best.  I can still see cleaned off counters, and since I already have done up the breakfast dishes, I could easily spend the rest of my day in my kitchen where it is peace and calm.

BUT, oh no!  (Or, as my dear son would say, oh noes!  Multiple.  Plural.)  The gift wrapping clutter still exists in the dining room.  The holiday gifts are still lingering in the living room.  Not a single decoration has been packed away yet.  Signs of children home from school and college exist everywhere.

Now, I do not wish to rush Christmas away, nor do I wish to hide the fact that my sons still live here.  But, the time has come to face the clutter.  Today is the day.  Here I go!

Facing the kitchen clutter

A number of weeks ago, I faced my kitchen clutter head-on.  My kitchen is small, so I have always felt like I've had an excuse for why the counters get so cluttered.  If I had a larger kitchen, I reasoned, then I would have a much easier time keeping them clear.  This is faulty logic.  Clutter is clutter, and it will follow me all the days of my life!  I create clutter.  My dear husband creates clutter.  And, heaven knows that my children create clutter.

Here is the view of my nearly unusable kitchen.  You'll notice that there are clean dishes in the drainer, but the drainer is mammoth.  There are two coffee makers on the counter.  I guess my addiction is now known to all!  Other things are piled there and, truth be told, everything is clean.  But, it is impossible to work with NO counter space.

So, I got to work.  There is no secret to dealing with the clutter.  One must simply face it.  My single biggest help is to get rid of things.  As the FlyLady says, you can't organize clutter.  You can only get rid of it.  Give it away and let it bless someone else who truly needs it.

I began my work by putting everything away if it already had a home.  If it didn't have a home, I tried to think about whether I really needed it.  For example, I don't need two coffee pots.  I am the only one who drinks coffee, and the Keurig works fine for me.  I put my big coffee pot (which will be useful for holidays and parties) in storage in the basement.  I moved my Keurig to a new "coffee center" under the window.

I analyzed my need for my beautiful, large KitchenAid drainer.  Yes, I do wash a lot of dishes by hand, but the drainer takes up about 25% of my total kitchen counterspace.  I decided that I could live without the drainer.  Though it broke my heart to do so, I gave it to our local resale store, The Depot.  I already had a very nice Dish Drying Mat and I decided to use that instead of my big drainer.  When I am not using it, I can fold it in half and tuck it under the sink.

As many things as I could put into the cabinets, I did so.  There are a few things that I felt I needed to leave out.  In my main cooking area, I left out my stand mixer and knife block.  I use these nearly every day, and the stand mixer is a heavy bugger so it is difficult to put in and out of cabinets.

<-- This is my main cooking area.  So, if I behave myself properly, these will be the only two things on this counter when I am not actually in the process of working in the kitchen!  You can see that my work space is quite small.  If I clutter it up with things, I'll always be frustrated about the space.

Here is a different view of the same --> area.  (I have since turned the bag of apples into applesauce!)  I put the toaster on the little slice of counter top space to keep the space from being a little "drop zone" for the family!  So far, it has worked like a charm.

The counter that was completely covered has now become a usable workspace in my kitchen.  Although I still am struggling with keeping the counters clear, at least now I have a plan and a vision of what it can be like to function in a kitchen with more usable counter-top space.  For the not-so-organized, this is a gift.  It is tremendous fun to cook and work in a tidy space.

I hope you find some inspiration for your kitchen.  Enjoy your holiday festivities, and celebrate the heart of the home -- your kitchen and your love for your family.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Finding oneself in an overly busy week

It's been a week since I last posted and as I mused on this fact, I realized that my week was unusually busy.  Some of my time was spent simply catching up on required tasks at work and at home.  But, some of it was also related to conquering chaos.  Here are a few tips for the not-so-naturally organized when there isn't enough time to conquer an entire room at once.

1. Just one thing.  When I don't have time to do much at all, I tell myself to just do one thing.  So, for example, if I don't have time to clean the whole bathroom, I might just wipe out the sinks.  Or, I might just wipe down the mirrors.  In order to do this, I keep the required supplies under the sink so that I don't have to go hunting down the cleaning supplies.  If I do that, I might get side-tracked and never get back to my one thing!
2. Maintain status quo.  If I can't make progress in one area, at least I will not backslide in another.  Yesterday, I would have loved to start on my craft room.  But, I had some other daily tasks to attend to -- most importantly, it was bill-paying day.  If I stop paying attention to those things that I already have in order, guess what happens?  Chaos ensues!
3. Multi-task wisely.  For the not-so-naturally organized, multi-tasking can be a recipe for disaster.  I am learning to avoid this disaster by choosing carefully what things I will work on at the same time.  The tasks need to complement each other by using different skills and mental capacities.  As I said, yesterday was bill-paying day.  That is a big mental task.  If I try to do another mental task at the same time, I'm doomed.  But, I was able to start a batch of pizza dough and let my stand mixer (using the dough hook) knead the bread.  Then, I let it rise, punched it down and got it ready to take to my daughter's for dinner.  While cooking is somewhat of a mental task, it is not nearly as mentally draining as dealing with finances.  The task was more physical.  Combining a physical task and a mental task make it easier to multi-task.
   
   Take a few moments to think about the pairings of things you might do.  It's best for me if I keep it to two things.  Otherwise, I can't make progress and I get totally confused about what to do next!

• Plan your garden for next spring -- match socks.
• Help a child with homework -- switch loads of laundry.
• Review your retirement allocations -- dust the tops of the ceiling fans.

In the end, when in an overly busy week, there are a few things that you can do to keep moving forward.  When in doubt, do something.  It doesn't need to be perfect, and it doesn't even have to be exactly the right thing to do.  Having made a little progress will be its own reward.

Now, go do one thing!