Spring Cleaning Tips:

              Is it time yet? Spring-cleaning should be done around the time that you stop using the heat in your house. This typically falls between the first day of spring and mid-April.        

Take inventory of your cleaning products. Decide what you’ll need to complete each chore, so you can make only one trip to the store. The key is to start with everything you need to complete the job.

              Cleaning will be much more fun if you try to enjoy your experience. How? You ask. Here are some suggestions:

• Turn on your favorite music.
• Open the windows to air the house.
• Make light, energy-packed snacks so that you can nibble throughout the process.
• Enlist the help of your kids or a professional cleaning service. Gift certificates from a cleaning service would also make a great gift for someone or one you might want to hint for yourself!

After you’re finished, sit back and admire your like-new clean house, and congratulate yourself for a job well done.

Here’s a checklist to help you tackle all those spring-cleaning chores:

 Wash blankets, comforters, & quilts.

 Remove out-of-season clothing from closet, wash and store, and replace with seasonal clothing.

 Donate clothing that will not be worn again.

 Clean light fixtures and chandeliers.

 Clean basement and garage.

 Clean walls, ceilings, and floors.

 Vacuum books.

 Dust furniture.

 Move and clean under heavy appliances and furniture.

 Have your carpet, rugs, and upholstery cleaned by an IICRC-certified firm like Leo’s Pride, Inc. Cleaning & Restoration.

 Clean lampshades.

 Dust or wash all china, crystal, and knickknacks.

 Wash blinds, mini-blinds, and shades.

 Have your curtains and drapes professionally cleaned by an IICRC-certified firm like Leo’s Pride, Inc. Cleaning & Restoration.

Organizing 101

1. Work from the top down, inside to outside, to avoid getting what you just cleaned dirty again.
2. Do one room, even one area of one room, at a time to avoid unfinished jobs. The satisfaction of seeing one room sparkle will make the hard work feel like it’s worth the effort.
3. When tidying, reduce trips around the house by temporarily depositing items in one spot en route to but not at their final destination.
4. Do two things at once. While laundry is going, scrub the shower stall.
5. Make small repairs. If you’re not handy, hire someone.
6. Invest in good rubber or vinyl gloves to protect your skin and nails.
7. Dust before vacuuming or cleaning the floor. Try feather or lambswool dusters, especially extendable ones for reaching above window and door casings and into corners. Household rags are invaluable for jobs requiring a damp cloth, natural fibers work best. Buy mops with a squeeze mechanism (great for vinyl, linoleum or ceramic tile floors) and a decent-size heavy-duty pail, one with a measuring scale helps get soap-to-water ratios correct.
8. Don’t stand your brooms on their bristles. It will destroy their shape and diminish effectiveness. Instead, get a broom holder, like the Magic Holder 5-position broom organizer.
9. Use a Swiffer® for light dusting, or your favorite broom or vacuum attachment to clean hardwood floors. Then damp-mop with a mild cleaner such as Murphy Oil Soap. I recently discovered BonaKemi’s MicroPlus Hardwood Floor Care System, which includes a mop with a removable washable micro fiber pad and a nontoxic water-based spray cleaner. It makes the floor glow, and smell good, too.

•  Use Swiffer® cloths to quickly clean the Dashboard of your car.

• Keep Pampers® baby wipes handy for quick cleanups in bathrooms & kitchens.
• For a speedy cleanup of toilet bowls, put a small amount of your favorite Mr. Clean® scent in your toilet bowls each night before bed. In the morning, every bathroom will smell great.
• Steam clean your microwave. Add four tablespoons of lemon juice to one cup of water in a microwave-safe, four-cup bowl. Boil for five minutes in the microwave, allowing the steam to condense on the inside walls of the oven. Wipe clean.
• If you live in a two-story house, don’t get rid of your old vacuum. Keep it upstairs so you don’t have to lug the vacuum up & down stairs. Also, to add a fresh scent to your carpet throw a Leo’s Pride, Inc. Air-Vac bar in the bag or canister of your vacuum. It leaves the room smelling great!
• Before cleaning the shower, turn on the hot water for a few minutes to loosen the dirt and grime.

Storing Winter-Wear

         Finding the right storage space could be an absolute scavenger hunt, depending on the amount of existing storage you have in your home. Take a quick inventory of any available space. Ideal storage spots for winter wear include closet shelves and underneath the bed. Next step: storage bin shopping. It’s important to store winter garments in an airtight container to prevent moth and water damage. However, you should decide where you’re going to store your items before purchasing a container.              

       Before you store your winter wear in hose hard-to-reach spots do a little dusting. But don’t stretch, reach with Swiffer Dusters® with Extendable Handle, reaching those tough spots will be a cinch.                                     

It might help to store similar items in the same bin. That way, you can easily track down your sweater bin versus your blanket bin. Once your items are safely secured in storage bins, label each for reference. Even if your bin is transparent, it’s best to add some other identifying marker so items can be found quickly. With a little organization and creative thinking, you’ll be able to keep tabs on your belongings without much hassle. And as spring-cleaning gets underway, there’s no better time than now to start storing.

       Extra, Extra, Read all About it…….  

This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dioxin Carcinogens cause cancer. Especially breast cancer. Do NOT freeze plastic bottles with water in them as this also releases dioxin from the plastic. Dr. Edward Fujimoto from Castle Hospital was on a TV program explaining this health hazard. (He is the manager of the Wellness Program at the hospital.) He was talking about dioxins & how bad they are for us. He said we should not heat our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies particularly to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat & plastics releases dioxin into the food & ultimately into the cells of the body. Dioxins are carcinogens & highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead, he recommends using glass, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant Ramin & soups, etc., should be removed from the container & heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. Just safer to use tempered glass, etc. Remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper? The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. To add to this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels instead.

Resource for this article: www.homemadesimple.com