Spring Cleaning Sprints // Week Five Assignments

This is the last week of my Spring Cleaning Sprints – I hope to make it a good one! Here is what’s on my to-do list:

Weeknight Spruce

Wipe down door handles and light switches

How often do you think to do this? I never do. Oh the germs! Time to sanitize the things we touch most around the house.

Saturday Sweep

Wipe down baseboards

It has been years since I have done this one. Mostly because we live in an apartment. I always think, maybe this year we will move and I will clean the baseboards when all the stuff is out. Then we sign another lease and stay another year and the boards are gathering more and more dust…

Dust furniture, shelves, fans and blinds

I dust furniture often. Fans and blinds are not fun to do…but I do appreciate clean air. Thankfully I have a Swiffer duster that makes some dust jobs easier. For sticky dust – a warm water and vinegar mix might do the trick.

Quickie Purge

Get rid of five things – hopefully more than that!

Peaceful Pause

Spend at least 30 minutes refreshing you.

My stack of books to read is growing. I better schedule more time by my favorite reading window so I can make my way through them!

Spring Cleaning Sprints // Week Four Complete

This was a productive week. There are fewer dust bunnies in our apartment and our bathroom is squeaky clean! 

I started with the bathroom and it actually took at least an hour to get it as clean as I wanted it. I did a lot of scrubbing on the shower tiles and our shower caddy that has rusted. It’s not perfect, but it looks much better! 

I also liked using the baking soda and vinegar…better than saturating the air with chemicals. I just sprayed on a water and vinegar mix (50/50, I think) then made up a baking soda paste and scrubbed with a toothbrush and sponge.

Rust from our shower caddy - ick.

Almost good as new!

Squeaky clean and sparkly.

I did use Tilex for the plastic shower curtain. I learned from past experience the easiest way to get scum and mildew off those things is to throw them in the washer with some rags, sprayed down with Tilex. I gave it an extra rinse cycle to make sure the Tilex washed out. Now, I have a good-as-new shower curtain without having to scrub it by hand!

After the bathroom, I cleaned off a bookshelf and cleared out my magazine rack. I found a few books to get rid of (donate, gift or return to the church) and a pile of magazines I decided to finally part with. I rarely look at them and they are just cluttering precious space. Out they go!

Finally, I vacuumed (including under the couch) and mopped the floors. Nothing exciting about those tasks, but they do reduce the dirt and dust that builds up over time.

The best part about this week was my Peaceful Pause spent at the beach with a friend. SO refreshing. 

I hope you are regularly experiencing God’s peace in similar ways. His presence in moments like those is like air – we suffocate without Him. My prayer is that you can make some time and space with Him and be refreshed this week!

Spring Cleaning Sprints // Week Four Assignments

This week get into some actual cleaning (rather than simple sorting and organizing). This will take some grunt work and the will to burn some calories. Ready?

Weeknight Spruce

Clean under couches and beds.

This means you will be moving furniture, pulling out items stored (or lost) beneath them and giving the area a good vacuum. Just because we can’t see them, doesn’t mean there aren’t dust bunnies lurking.

Saturday Sweep

Vacuum and mop floors.

Pretty self-explanatory, but if you need a good all-natural floor cleaner, try this recipe:

1 cup white vinegar

2 gallons of water

Use a mop or rag to scrub and wipe. Let air dry.

Scrub the bathroom (tiles, bath, toilet, sink, shower head, clean out drain).

I think baking soda is your best friend for cleaning the bathroom. It whitens everything! For tough scum, soak in vinegar then follow by scrubbing with baking soda.

I will also be tackling the pesky mildew stains on our shower curtain and a shower caddie that has decided to rust. I’ll let you know if I figure out any good cleaning solutions!

Quickie Purge

Take a glance around the home and look for five more things to get rid of. 

Peaceful Pause

Spend 30 minutes refreshing YOU. I think I know what I will do this week…check back on Monday for an update! ;-)

Spring Cleaning Sprints // Week Three Complete

This week was easy for me. I love organizing, sorting, purging.  Now my purse, our closet, pantry and bathroom are all sorted and up-to-date. Here is a review of the assignments for Week Three:

Weeknight Spruce

Clean out purse, coupon files and junk drawer

Saturday Sweep

Sort through the pantry, laundry room, bathroom cabinets.

Sort through clothing in closets and dressers.

Quickie Purge

Get rid of at least 5 things

Peaceful Pause

30 minutes spent refreshing YOU

It is often hard for me to purge clothes. I’ve gotten rid of things I wish I kept and I’ve kept things much longer than I should have. It is sometimes difficult to discern what to keep and what to toss. So I learned to ask key questions while sorting through clothes, jewelry and accessories:

1. Have I worn it within the past year?

2. Is it possible I will want to wear it in the coming year?

3. Does it fit?

4. Am I comfortable and confident wearing it?

If the answers to at least two of those questions are a strong YES, then I will probably keep it. If not, it is gone!

Clothes to give away - more than 5 things!

Between my husband and I, we ended up with quite a pile of stuff to get rid of. I tried selling the good stuff to Plato’s Closet. (BTW - this is a great place to get gently used name-brand, trendy clothes on the cheap!) They only wanted a couple of items for $3.90. Better than nothing! The rest is going to Goodwill.

I also reorganized my clothes so they are color coordinated, (somewhat) neatly folded, and sorted in my hanging shelf organizer. The closet feels less crowded already. Hooray!

Next I cleaned out my purse (found lots of trash) and our coupon basket. This basket sits on our counter near my purse and holds dining coupons, pens, a pad of paper, extra sunglasses and a candle lighter. It can easily become a cluttered catch-all. Now it is once again a helpful organizer instead of a mess.

Then I went through our bathroom cabinets to toss out expired items and see if there is anything I can donate. I found some unused lotion and makeup to donate. I also found a very OLD canister of a “miracle-healer” my family used for years (decades?). 

Meet the Pink Salve.

Gross huh?

I’m pretty sure this stuff is older than I am. I don’t even remember its real name. We always just called it “Pink Salve”. We used it on everything: bug bites, burns, rashes, cuts, scrapes. And it healed it all up quick! 

I think this canister was one of two remaining salves in our family. Both labels are so worn we cannot read them anymore. But I am pretty sure in a recent conversation about the salve we discovered it had some kind of metal in it…and probably a lot of other strange ingredients. (Yikes!)

It seemed to serve us well for a season, but it’s time to let go of the nostalgic and this pink metal sludge. I’m not even sure if it is environmentally conscious to throw it in the trash. But that’s what I did before I had second thoughts.

Goodbye Pink Salve!

This week for my Peaceful Pause I did get around to reading. I started “1000 Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. So far I am loving it! What a perfect book to read while trying to enjoy some peaceful moments. Look for a review post soon.

Spring Cleaning Sprints // Week Three Assignments

I am really looking forward to this week – this is the stuff I love to do. And all assignments have great potential for getting rid of unnecessary junk!

Weeknight Spruce

Clean out purse, coupon files and junk drawer

I’m a one-purse kind of girl which makes things easy for heading out the door in a hurry. But that also means I don’t go through it very often and random things end up stuck at in the bottom of all the pockets. It will be nice to take some weight off my load by pulling out the hidden treasure trash.

There are also those spots in the kitchen that are a catch all for stuff. Some people have junk drawers, or just piles of coupons and mail. It’s time to sort through all that and toss the clutter.

Saturday Sweep

Sort through the pantry, laundry room, bathroom cabinets…

...any place you store items that can expire. Look for food that is expired and toss it. If it is about to expire, pull it to the front of the pantry and use it soon. Got too much of one item? Put together a donation bag for a local charity or family in need.

Do the same thing with your cleaning supplies and bathroom cabinets. Get rid of expired medications, toothpaste and bath products. If you have a bunch of items from couponing that you cannot use, donate them!

Organize the items in these places to that they are easy to find when needed. Put cleaning products in a plastic carrier to make it easier to tote around the house. Organize your toiletries with plastic drawers and wire shelving. Pantry items should be arranged by expiration date with the oldest items in front.

Sort through clothing in closets and dressers.

This is another great opportunity to purge and donate. Pull out items you have not worn in a year…you probably will never wear them. Organize dresser drawers and the closet by like items: underwear drawer, socks in one place, workout clothes together, dress shirts hung together, winter clothing separate form summer clothing. This will help you see what you have and not forget about an item.

I would love to start approaching “stuff” with a minimalist attitude: only having enough for what is necessary. But I also think it is ok to have a few “just for fun” items. I will be working on a balance to my approach so I don’t end up keeping too much, allowing myself to enjoy my wardrobe without being burdened by too much. Let’s face it, sometimes having too many choices just makes things more complicated!   
 

Quickie Purge

Get rid of at least 5 things

I hope I can continue to find more than 5 each week!

Peaceful Pause

 30 minutes spent refreshing YOU

This week I hope to get in more reading. I have a few books laying around that I need to crack open.