04-13-2014

Some Spring Cleaning Tips

So it is that time of year again, Spring Cleaning! It isn’t on the top of my “I can’t wait” list, but it does need to be done. There are some areas in the house that have been in need of some serious cleaning since I moved in (back in November) that I just have not known how to tackle. Some overlooked areas that are neglected just because they are pretty much a pain to get to and to clean. Specifically in my house those would be 1. Ceiling Fans and 2. The tops of cabinets. Now, these were gross since I have moved in and honestly I have tried to clean them. I could not find anything that could cut through the grease that was on top of the ceiling fan in the kitchen and on top of the cabinets from cooking. Nasty, right? Enter my new favorite cleaner as I have now discovered it cuts through it!

Lysol All Purpose. This post is not sponsored in anyway. This is just the cleaner that I did purchase and had not tried yet. Now that I see how it cut through it all, I am a definite fan. I feel so accomplished in knowing that those areas are clean! Here is the embarrassing fan before. I was going to show you closer but realized you probably really don’t want to see that and can guess what it looks like.

The secret to cleaning fan blades? PILLOW CASES!! Amazing right? For the non-greasy ones (in the living room and bedroom), I sprayed a mixture of vinegar and water into the pillow case. I then wrapped the pillow case around the fan blade and pulled it out. Simple and easy. Word of caution, make sure the fan is not going to be turned out, that would not be good! For the fan in the kitchen I used my new favorite Lysol cleaner and sprayed the fan blade first. I then placed the pillow case around the blade and wiped. It came off super easy!

Now, warning. This is nasty. I have tried to clean this countless times since I moved in with absolutely NO luck. It wasn’t bothering me as you can’t see it but I knew it was there and I wanted it gone. Scroll past this photo if you don’t want to see this!

Gross, right? Spray that Lysol up there and TA DA!! I have seriously tried no less than 5 different cleaning products to clean this and nothing.

Now it was absolutely nasty and I hated cleaning it but I am so glad I did!! Much cleaner now!

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: cleaning, spring cleaning

07-28-2013

Want to get your silver jewelry spotless?

So my jewelry looked like this:

It has been on my to do list to clean it for quite a while.

I grabbed some aluminum foil, baking soda, boiling water and also some salt (I didn’t include it in the picture

I lined a glass tray with aluminum foil, added the boiling water, salt & baking soda (I just guessed on amount, but I think it is 1 teaspoon of each I then added my jewelry. It started to smell like raw eggs and then the tarnish just comes off.

All clean. I was pretty impressed with how quickly it worked. Some of the more tarnished pieces required longer time in the water than others but they all came out clean. When you are done rinse them in cold water and then you can clean them with a jewelry cloth.

Filed Under: Random Tagged With: cleaning, tips

05-08-2013

Room Organization

So what should you do when you have an absolutely jam-packed bedroom and an office? (Quick Backstory.. moved back in with mom & dad. Have my bedroom & an office. All the crafts were in the bedroom. Imagine how quickly that gets out of control!).

Here are some before pictures. Now, keep in mind since they are before pictures I made no effort to clean it up.

Bedroom. Please tell me how anyone can actually relax in here?

SO cramped!!

I didn’t even make sure the bed was made. Definitely quality before pictures. Missing is the shot of behind the door which held a white bookcase and then a shoe caddy turned craft storage.

The Office. Now the office was definitely more organized and had more space. I didn’t take as many pictures of it.

After Pictures. Much nicer, much better and SO much more organized!! Bedroom first. Definitely more relaxing.

The chaise is from my apartment. It had been downstairs in Mom’s room until I moved out but I am excited to use it now. The prints on the wall were in my closet.

I put the chair by the closet. I am really not sure if I am going to leave it there but it works for now.

I really wish I had a before of behind the door. It looks so much more spacious now.

The Office with all of the new supplies in there. The only thing that I did not move into the office was my white table that was in my room for crafts. I figured I would make my desk do double duty.

I moved the craft storage units and put them along the blank wall. The sewing machine and thread sit easily on top of it.

The white unit by the window is what was behind my door in my bedroom. It has lots of craft supplies on it.

Here is what the bed looks like with the gallery wall behind it. You can see that it doesn’t feel cramped having the storage units there. That is definitely one thing I was worried about.

I did have to rearrange the closet in the office and was able to store all four of the plastic containers that currently store my fabric. The closet also stores all my off-season clothes so I was really glad everything fit. I am definitely happy with how it all turned out and it only took a few hours.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: bedroom, cleaning, craft room, organizing