Living On A Dime

Category: Organizing Ideas

10 Easy Ways to Get Organized and Save Money
One of the easiest ways to save money and reduce stress is to stay organized. Here are some easy organizing ideas to get the most benefit for the least work!
10 Easy Ways to Get Organized and Save Money
1. Hang up your keys. (Preferably by the door.)
2. Find a place for your purse, coat, gloves and other frequently used items and always keep them there.
3. Make your bed each day as soon as you crawl out of it.
4. Get dressed. Even if you are a stay at home mom or a mom who works from home, get dressed. Clothes really do make the man or woman. You’ll be just as productive as you are dressed which means if you are dressed for sleep (pajamas, sweats or a robe) then you will get about as much work done as you would when you are sleeping. That may be stretching it, but you get my point.
1. Wash the dishes and wipe the counters after each meal. No matter how large or small the meal or how tired and in a hurry you are, do the dishes. Even if you are hurried or late in the morning you wouldn’t dream of leaving the house half dressed. Make leaving your kitchen clean as important a priority as getting dressed for work. This may seem impossible at first but once you are on top of things it should only take five or ten minutes to clean your kitchen.
2. Get rid of trash. About 50% of what unorganized people have in their homes is trash or stuff they will never use again. Stop wasting time taking care of it, moving it or stepping over it. As you walk through the house, pick up garbage and toss it.
3. Control your laundry. Don’t let it control you. Follow these simple steps to help keep your laundry from taking over your home and you.
  1. Place a hamper or basket for dirty clothes in each bedroom and/or bath. Make sure that everyone’s dirty clothes are put in the hamper before bed and in the morning. Laundry laying around is the second biggest cause of clutter after trash, so arrange things to prevent it!
  2. The laundry isn’t done until it is put away. Get out of the mindset that if it is washed and dried it is done. Folding and putting it away is equally as important.Some of us think that if we get the laundry washed and dried that’s all we need to do and it’s okay for the family to just pull stuff out of a pile. That makes as much sense as cooking a meal and expecting everyone to stand at the stove and take turns scooping the food out of the pan and eating it one spoonful at a time. You wouldn’t dream of doing that. Yes the food is cooked, but the meal is not complete until the table is set and the food is put on plates. Do the same for your laundry. Put it away.
1. Pick up continually. This may seem like a pain to do at first but if you stick with it, it will become a habit. I didn’t realize how much of a habit it had become for me until I was visiting my daughter’s the other day (Hey! That’s me! ;-) -Tawra). As I was walking into the kitchen, I picked up empty glasses and odds and ends on my way. Then when I walked from the kitchen to the bedroom I picked up toys as I went in there. It wasn’t even my house but I had seen something out of place and out of habit picked it up.
2. Read and dispose of newspapers and magazines. There are usually two reasons people have stacks of newspapers and magazines piled around:
  
  They want to save one article from it. If that is the case, then cut the article out as you are reading the magazine and file it. Trust me, you not only won’t cut that article out at a later time, but you probably won’t remember what or where it is.
  
  They don’t have time to read them. If you aren’t going to read the magazines, the why are you subscribing to them? You’ll never catch up later if you’re not reading them now. Stop your subscriptions. This doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. If you can’t keep up with the daily newspaper, then just get the Sunday paper. Most people usually have more leisure time Sunday to read it. Pick out one or two of your favorite magazines and stop subscribing to the rest.
3. With any item, if it is broken or you don’t use it anymore, get rid of it. That includes clothes, toys, furniture, decorations, dishes and exercise equipment ;-). If it’s not important enough to fix right now, you don’t need it!
[organizing]
January 3, 2025
Decluttering Your Home Room By Room
Decluttering your home is an important part of reducing the stress in your life and it can save you money, too! These easy tips will help you get started!

In this post, we look at some of the common reasons people put off decluttering and help you get the motivation to get going! We also share a list of easy things to do in each room to clear out the clutter and have a more relaxed life!

Decluttering Your Home Room By Room – A Time to Cast Away

“To every thing there is a season… a time to keep and a time to cast away.” –Ecclesiastes 3:6

How many of you didn’t know there was a Bible verse about decluttering your home? ;-) Yes, even in the Bible there is a verse that says there is a time to get our acts together and get rid of things.

Our emotions are so wrapped up in our stuff that decluttering your home can be a stressful task. One might think we’re being asked to throw out a child instead of just tossing a book, blanket, can of paint or some old spices. I say this halfway joking but decluttering your home really can be serious for some people – no, for most people. We come up with all kinds of excuses and explanations about why we need to keep these things:

Grandma gave it to me.

If it isn’t an important family heirloom or you don’t use it or like it then toss it. It isn’t as if you are tossing out grandma or that you don’t love her. Stop dealing with these things emotionally and be practical. Don’t you think grandma loves you enough that she would rather you get rid of something that is simply cluttering your life than be miserable having to store, clean and continually rearrange something you don’t use? Trust me, grandma is wiser and she would toss the things she didn’t use or like in a heartbeat.

You can see our full Decluttering Your Home Room By Room video series here:

I paid good money for it.

We hate to throw things away because we paid so much money for them and we feel like we are wasting money. Please! We don’t give a second thought to buying another drink from that convenience store, having our hair done, going to a movie, playing golf, paying unreal amounts of money for a smartphone to play and text with and on and on.

We waste a lot of money on things we really don’t need without batting an eye but when it comes to tossing something we never use or that is worn out, we suddenly become so noble and frugal that we refuse to toss it. Decluttering your home often involves letting go of past mistakes.

I might need it someday.

Really? You are 60 years old and you’re saving the bikini you wore at 20? What about those jeans you wore pre-baby 10 years ago? If you ever get into them again they will be too outdated to wear. What about that coffee pot you got for your wedding? No one in your family drinks coffee, and you don’t know how to make coffee so exactly why do you think you will need it some day?

I once knew a woman who had gotten a coffee maker 10 years earlier at her wedding and kept it sitting in a box on the counter of her very small kitchen. This may seem like irrational behavior but look around you. Most of us do this all the time with our own “coffee pot” things.

I could go on and on. We keep mounds of clutter– books we never read, 15 of baby’s first stuffed animals that won’t mean anything to him when he grows up, sacks of silk flowers we might use some day and 10 sets of dishes when we can’t even keep the ones we are using washed. The list is unending but let’s be brave, clear our heads, take the bull by the horns and start clearing and decluttering your home and life one room at a time.

Here’s a list to help you get started decluttering your home room by room. Either toss or give away things but get them out of the house. Start with one shelf, closet or room at a time and just do it.

It will be hard but once it is decluttered it will feel so much better. I have never heard one person who decluttered tell me they wish they hadn’t done it and their life is so much worse with the clutter gone. It is always the opposite and they usually say “Why didn’t I do it sooner?”
Things to Get Rid Of When Decluttering Your Home:

Decluttering the Kitchen

Pantry
- Spices, canned goods and food you don’t use or are outdated.
- Small appliances you never use or use only once a year. Why keep a blender you only use once a year when you could make that same recipe with your food processor or hand blender?
Cabinets
- Extra dishes you never use. I kept 25 Christmas glasses thinking I would use them one day. I have good crystal I could use if I needed it and for the past 10 years we have either used Christmas paper cups or not had Christmas at my house. Why am I saving them?
- Casserole dishes and plasticware. How many 1 1/2 quart dishes have you ever used at one time? 4-5 tops? Maybe you could get rid of the other 5. Get the plasticware under control. You really don’t need 10 containers of one size for an average family.
- Junk drawer. Most of us can get rid of half of what lives in the junk drawer and we don’t usually use the half we can use because we can’t find it in the mess.
- Cleaning supplies. Toss anything old. If you have 5 cans of furniture polish, each of which has only been slightly used, quickly use them or get rid of them. Consolidate containers of things and boxes of things when you can.
- Sort through your kitchen linens. We are so fussy about not wearing ratty or torn undies which, more often than not, nobody sees but we don’t hesitate to have dingy, torn dish towels and dish rags on display in our kitchens. I really hesitate to eat off of some people’s dishes when I see the nasty dish rags they have used to wash their dishes.
- Get rid of anything that is broken, chipped or doesn’t work.
Decluttering Family Rooms and Living Rooms
- Get rid of old magazines and newspapers. Not only do they clutter your home, they are a fire hazard!
- Knick knacks and odds and ends that don’t add to the beauty or use of the room but only clutter it.
- Kids’ games- board or electronic ones. If games are missing pieces or don’t work, toss them.
- Get rid of DVDs, video tapes, CDs and other collections you rarely use or don’t work. If you listen to it once every 5 years, toss it. You can download it or borrow it from somewhere if you really need to see or listen to it later. These are some of the hardest things to toss because we have spent so much money on them. Many of us felt a little guilty when we bought them knowing they weren’t something we needed. Now, 5 years later, we feel even worse because they have become so unimportant we forgot we even had them but we still want to keep them. Learn from your mistake, move on and think twice (ten times?) before you buy the next time.
Decluttering Bedrooms
- Be ruthless with your clothes. Toss anything that is old, torn (and you aren’t going to mend), you don’t wear, is outdated or too small. (Here’s a cute way to reuse old sweaters and pillows)
- Do the same with accessories like jewelry, purses, shoes, scarfs and ties. Be ruthless. So many of these things are outdated or just not “you” anymore. Move on. Many of them don’t fit my lifestyle anymore so I need to face that fact and toss them.
- Get rid of anything in your bedroom that you don’t use for sleeping and dressing. Don’t use your bedroom as a spare room or catch all room. Your bedroom is especially important when decluttering your home.
Decluttering Linen Closets
- Toss old bedding, pillows and towels. Get things down to a minimum. You don’t need 6 towels per person or 5 blankets for each bed unless you live in Alaska or only do laundry once a year. Why are you saving that comforter you used in your bedroom 15 years ago? Even if it wasn’t so outdated, it doesn’t fit any of your beds now. (By the way, if you want to know how to fold a fitted sheet to make them look neater and fit into the closet check out our video on How to Fold A Fitted Sheet.)
Decluttering Bathrooms
- Toss outdated medicines. This could be dangerous if you don’t. You don’t need 6 half full boxes of band-aids. Put them in one box or container together. Try to put all like items together in the same area or container: first aid items, stomach medications, pain medications, etc.
- Toiletries. Be realistic. Do you have 25 bars of soap when you might use one a year? Get rid of a few. Once again, consolidate partially full bottles of things. To make life easier, start using shampoos and soaps the whole family can use when possible.
- Make up. Oh boy, this is a fun one. We pay so much for makeup and when we don’t use it, we feel so much guilt about tossing it. Toss outdated things and things that look awful on you. Do you really need 20 different tubes of lipstick? Do you know how much simpler you life would be if you looked in your drawer each morning and only had to make the choice between 5 lipsticks, rather than digging through the clutter of 20 tubes all mixed together to find the right one?
Decluttering the Garage, Basement And Attic
- Toss excess tools or tools you don’t use. This is hard for most men to do but when was the last time you used 5 of the same kind of pliers at the same time? Half the time you can’t find your tools because you have so many tools you don’t really need cluttering your space. Make a small tool bag for the car, one for the junk drawer in the house and then carefully weed out things to keep on your work bench.
- Toss old paint, cans of oil, containers, newspapers and boxes. Out town has a place that accepts donations of paint, oil and chemicals that they check and then give away to someone else who might actually use them. Keep only a small number of boxes and newspapers if you use them for projects or packing. Once that area or shelf is full, don’t keep more than your allotted amount.
- Sell that old exercise equipment. If you haven’t used it by now, you won’t use it. Just go for a walk. That will help you get some exercise and give you a nicer looking basement that isn’t cluttered with unused equipment.
- Go through those boxes of memories. Sure, those old tintype pictures from the 1800’s look cool but if you don’t have a clue who those people are get rid of them. (These might be good items to sell on eBay.) Do you really need the ticket stub from the first play you went to see in the 5th grade? It must not mean that much to you because you have kept it stored in a box for 30 years and have forgotten all about it.
I hate to sound ruthless but you really need to start thinking about how to make your life easier. You’ll be surprised how much decluttering your home will improve your life!

Oops! I just saw the time! I really must go and start practicing what I preach. : ) I hope the sun is shining where you are and the spring cleaning bug has hit you, too!

-Jill
For more helpful tips to make decluttering your home, organizing, cleaning and laundry easier, take a look at our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.

FULL video series: Decluttering Your Home Room By Room here:

[organizing]
January 1, 2025
Decluttering Ideas And Tips

Here are some decluttering ideas and tips to help you get motivated to start decluttering. Don’t make it so complicated and get organized today!

Decluttering Ideas And Tips

I was thinking about writing something new this year about decluttering, so I started researching the topic. To my disappointment, I found there is almost nothing new under the sun and what I wrote 10 years ago still seems to be the best way to do things. Instead of repeating what I have already written and what is still being repeated out there, I thought I would share some thoughts for you to think about and to help you get motivated to start decluttering and getting organized.

I’ll start with a couple quotes I found so funny:

I found this quote on Pinterest but I took some liberties and changed a few words. It shows a woman with her head down sobbing and saying:

“Are you telling me pinning decluttering ideas is not enough? I actually have to do them?” : )

I love it. Most of us really know the basics of decluttering but we keep researching and looking for “new” ideas because researching is another way of procrastinating and putting off actually doing the work.

I was watching my 4 year old grandson clean his room one day. He said, “Nan, I don’t need this anymore” and he tossed the item out of his bedroom door. “This doesn’t fit me anymore” and, once again, out it went. “This is broken.” Again, into the trash it went. You see, he knew the basics at four years old. We just need to get up and do it.

“I don’t clean clutter for security reasons… If someone breaks in, I will hear them coming.” : )

I had to laugh at this one because I always said exactly that and it turned out to be true for me. My husband was a pack rat and, after he left, I still had piles of his things in our basement, which only had an outside entrance. One night, I heard someone crashing around down there, followed by police running down my driveway with rifles. Someone had robbed the convenience store behind my home.

I told them I heard something in my basement. They checked it out but, since the light wasn’t on and there were many places to hide, they couldn’t see anything. After they left, I heard more crashing in the basement again.

There are two things you need to know to really appreciate the story. The basement was full of clutter, hardware and heavy machinery and there was no light down there at all unless you knew where the hidden light switch was. All night long I heard crashing and banging. The poor guy (I was actually feeling sorry for him at this point) could not find his way out and was really hurting himself.

The next morning I heard the basement door slam. I guess there was enough sunlight filtering in that he could finally see enough to make his way out. So this quote is not too far from the truth even though it was meant as a joke. ;-)

We can take the simple and make it so complicated.

While researching decluttering, I found 101 ways to clean your bedroom. Seriously? Do we really need to be told that those dirty undies need to go into a hamper and how to put them in there or how to put your shoes away in your closet? I’m not talking about those of you who truly don’t know how to do these things because you have never been taught and really want to learn. That is why our website is here.

Still, it baffles me that so many of us spend so much time studying the pros and cons of the best cleaning product to use in our bathroom instead of taking 5 minutes to wipe it down each day. We spend hundreds of dollars on fancy closet systems, bigger closets and fancy storage containers instead of purging our closets of those clothes that are too small or outdated or scaling down our kids’ toys from 50 cars to 5 cars.

Practical Ideas To Help Get Organized

1. Get help.

Many of us hire people to do our yards, wash our cars, fix our cars and handle many other tasks but most of us can’t bring ourselves to hire a professional to organize or clean our homes. We act like we are failures if we have to hire someone to help get our home back in order. Even though it may cost money up front, it is one of those things that can save you money in the long run.

2. Change your habits.

The average person I have observed with a cluttered house usually just has bad habits that caused the mess.

They do things like sit and take off their shoes in the living room instead going straight to their bedroom to slip off their shoes or leaving them by the door.

They place dirty dishes on the counter or in the sink instead of rinsing it and slipping it in the dishwasher or stacking it neatly in the sink.

They may toss the mail on the counter instead of going through it or neatly placing it on the desk or in a basket for later.

Even things like washing your face or brushing your teeth and splattering water everywhere are bad habits that need to be changed.

Watch yourself. You will be shocked at how many bad habits you have gotten into and how your children are following suit. Exchange one bad habit at a time for a good one. Once you have a new habit in place, move on to the next.

3. Use each room for the purpose for which it was intended.

Eat in the kitchen or family room, not the bedroom.

Get dressed in the bedroom, not the bathroom.

Keep papers and office work in the office.

4. Get rid of as many horizontal surfaces as you can.

Horizontal surfaces are clutter catchers. Get rid of things like coffee tables, benches at the end of the bed, long TV tables and large desks if they are getting piled with things all the time instead of being used for the purposes for which they were intended.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next.
Skill is knowing how to do it.
Virtue is doing it.

-Jill

[organizing]

December 31, 2024
How to Start Organizing – 2 Secrets to Get Organized

How to start organizing – Getting organized can be a big job but these easy steps can help you get your clutter under control! Don’t put it off anymore!

How to Start Organizing – Easy Steps To Get You Started!

Where do I begin to explain to you where to begin organizing? :) :) When it comes to organizing, the first question I am always asked is, “Where do I begin?” followed by, “How do I do it?” Hopefully I will answer both of those questions for you today.

I am addressing organizing first instead of cleaning (there is a difference) because you really can’t clean properly if you don’t have things organized.

I will try to give you hints and ideas about how to do things over the next few weeks but that will take time. For those of of you who read the story, “When Queens Ride By”, I am sure you are all excited to jump in and start cleaning right now. (Well, maybe you are at least thinking about it.)

To prevent you from committing organizing suicide and to keep you from crashing and burning, here is “Organizing 101” in a nutshell.

Stand Up and Move
Toss and Store

These two things just about cover it. It is so simple it can be confusing, so let me explain. First you just need to make yourself do it. Stand up, move and start to work. Don’t keep sitting there thinking someone else is going to wave a magic wand over everything and it will get clean. Don’t think that after weeks of debating the details of this cleaning product and that one you can now pick one, spritz it in the air and miraculously everything will get clean.

Don’t be deceived. Spending hours studying and talking about the best cleaning products or the best ways to clean is not actually cleaning. It is just another excuse to keep you from cleaning. I once read a quote that said, “Ideas are funny little things. They don’t work until you do.”

I hate to break the news to you, but you are going to have to work. It’s like our grandmothers said– You will have to use good old-fashioned elbow grease. We have yet to invent anything to replace it. I’m sorry but that is just the way it is. We have got to stop being mentally and physically lazy and get busy– busy taking care of your home and family, not busy doing anything and everything to avoid the difficulty of taking care of your home.

Mentally, you will have to think and plan. Do I need this or not and if I do where do I put it? You can’t have your mind wandering, thinking about what you are going to wear to so and so’s wedding, what you are going to have for dinner and how are you going to fix Bobby’s bed. Keep focused on the job at hand.

Walk into the room that needs to be clean, pick a spot and start doing the next step, which is toss and store. Every item your hand touches needs to be tossed in a trash bag, in a give-away box or placed in the place you are going to store it. It is just that simple.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you clean:

1. Recruit help if you can. A friend, spouse, aunt or mother… Someone who will be a help, not a hindrance. No help is better than bad help.

2. Envision what you want a room or area to look like and then proceed to make it look like that. For example, when you stand and look at your dining room table, is it piled high with papers, dirty dishes and junk? In your mind do you see it with a pretty table cloth and a vase of colorful flowers? Then make it so.

Here’s the more practical version if you’re like me… My kitchen table is the hub of my home. I would have to take the tablecloth off every five minutes and the vase of flowers would surely get knocked over at least once or twice a day. Knowing this, I would instead keep the table clear with a pretty bowl of fruit with a doily under it. Then, at dinner time, I would pull out my tablecloth or place mats.

What about your bedroom? Do you see your bed neatly made with a warm throw laying across the foot of it instead of the rumpled smelly mess it is now? Then make it so. Move from room to room doing this, starting with the areas that are driving you the most crazy.

3. Start small with one little area. It could be a closet, cabinet, table or coffee table. It will amaze you how good you will feel getting just one little area done and how it will invigorate you to do more.

4. DON’T QUIT. If our kids come in from a job that they have only half done or not done well and moan and groan, “It’s too hot, I’m too tired, it’s too hard,” or there’s too much to do, we are usually all over them to get the job done anyway. I wonder where they learned their work ethic from when mom or dad is cracking under the pressure of just cleaning a dirty house.

We expect kids to do their homework on a daily basis whether they want to or not, whether it is easy or not, whether it is boring or not and we become very frustrated with them when they want to shirk it, yet we are even more irresponsible when we shirk taking care of our homes. We are adults and should know better.

5. Work quickly. This is a job that needs to be done and not a time to walk down memory lane. Looking through vacation pictures and reading every bit of paper you pick up is a no no. Glance at it and toss or store it. Don’t forget that you don’t need 10 pictures of the same pose of a dolphin jumping in the air. It is not a sin to throw out a picture. If you must, keep just one picture or better yet throw them all out and when you want to see a picture of a dolphin in the air go to the library or find one on the Internet.

6. When the trash is full, take it outside to the trash can or at least set it outside of the room you are cleaning. This is not the time to recycle. I knew a woman who could have had a clean house but it was literally filthy with a year’s worth of milk cartons, cardboard boxes and newspapers all over the house that she was “one day” going to recycle.

You can recycle, but get your house in order the easiest and fastest way first, just tossing things in the regular trash so you have one less decision to make when you might otherwise be overstressed. Get your priorities straight. There is no use saving the environment for your children if the environment in your house is more dangerous and could be killing them or at the very least making them sick.

7. When your give away box is full, take it to the car so you will be forced to get rid of it immediately. I hope this box contains a lot, too. No child needs 75 little cars or dolls. No woman needs 10 pairs of black pants and 15 eye shadows. No man needs 8 pairs of pliers.

8. Wipe and clean shelves, drawers and cabinets as you put things away.

9. Keep your eyes on what you have cleaned and not what still needs to get done or you will become discouraged.

10. When you have worked hard, sit back and admire your work with a hot cup of tea or a cold glass of lemonade. You can even have a cookie because think of all the calories you have burned! Pat yourself on the back now and say, “Job well done.” Or better yet, comment on the blog when you complete something so we can pat you on the back too!

-Jill

P.S. Play some music while you work if it helps. There really is a reason why the seven dwarfs whistled while they worked!

For more helpful tips to make organizing, cleaning and laundry easier, take a look at our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.

[organizing]

December 30, 2024
Homemade Soft Scrub Recipe
This homemade soft scrub recipe is a non toxic but effective homemade cleaner that really gets the grime off your tub. It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients.
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Homemade Soft Scrub Recipe

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This homemade soft scrub recipe is a non toxic but effective homemade cleaner that really gets the grime off your tub. It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients.

Author: Tawra Kellam

Ingredients

1 tsp. liquid soap
several drops of an antibacterial essential oil (such as tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, or peppermint)
1 cup baking soda
water

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Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Add just enough water to form a paste and mix.

Use this homemade Soft Scrub recipe with a sponge or brush to scour bathtub surfaces.
[dining]
August 1, 2024
One Trick To Cut Kitchen Cleaning In HALF! Make Cleaning Easier!

Here are some useful tips that will make cleaning easier in your kitchen and the rest of the house! Try them and save not only money but on cleaning aggravation!

One Trick To Cut Kitchen Cleaning In HALF and make cleaning easier!

I did a couple of small things today that I thought might help you make cleaning easier in your home. Here are some quick cleaning ideas:

I see so many people with these plastic scrapers always scraping away at kitchen counters and it never really dawned on me that I have never had to use one before. I didn’t know why until today.

One of the key rules of professional cleaners is to let your cleaning products do the work for you. I didn’t realize it but my mom taught me this many years ago when I started doing dishes. I always rinse my dirty dishes and then place as many dishes as I can into the hot soapy water in the sink.

Before I start washing my dishes, I take my super wet and soapy dish rag and run it quickly over all the kitchen counter tops and the stove. I’m not really wiping it, I’m just getting a nice film of soapy water on it.

Then I wash my dishes. When I’m done, I thoroughly wring out my dish rag and re-wipe the counters. When I do it this way, every bit of pancake batter, syrup and honey wipes right up. This works every time and I never have to scrape my kitchen counters.

I don’t do this every time I do dishes. If we only have sandwiches I know there is probably not much sticky stuff on the counter so I wash the dishes without focusing so much on the counters ahead of time.

Years later, this practice worked for me even better because it forced me to put all the dishes into the sink and get my counters cleared. When I had unexpected customers or company, even though the dishes weren’t done, the counters all looked cleared and nice.

I also had to clean my trash can today. I took it outside, filled it full with soapy water and a little Clorox bleach. I placed the lid and a broom that needed to be cleaned into the water and let them soak for a couple of hours. Later, I went out and all I had to do was rinse them. I didn’t even need a rag or anything. All that nasty sticky stuff that gets in the bottom of the trash can just dissolved away. When you can, let things soak.

-Jill

Jill, I just want to say, YOU WERE RIGHT!!! You mentioned how wiping down counters with soapy water eliminates the need for scrubbing and scrapers and will make cleaning easier. Well, I’ve needed to clean the dreaded microwave for a while now. Every time I’d heat something in it I’d cringe and put off cleaning it because of all the food stuck to the inside.

Well, I took your advice. I got my dish rag nice and soapy and wiped down the entire microwave first. Then I went over to the sink and wiped down the glass microwave plate with hot soapy water and let it sit, too. Then I went back to the microwave and really started cleaning. Everything came off quite easily.

After finishing rinsing the plate, I realized that this “dreaded task” only took five minutes. Who knew?

Thanks! Sarah

Mom always says the best cleaner is hot soapy water. Use it more and you will save more!!! :-)

-Tawra

Hot soapy water and soaking work wonders!

-Jill

[organizing]

May 13, 2024
$10 Per Year for Laundry Detergent – DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe
Making your own homemade laundry detergent (soap) with this recipe is quick & easy, inexpensive, and works great in in both regular and HE washing machines.

I have discovered that people either love or hate homemade laundry detergent. Try this recipe and see what you think.

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DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

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Author: Tawra Kellam

Yield: Makes 2 gallons

Ingredients

Units

1/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap, grated OR 1 cup grated Homemade 100% Coconut Oil Soap May Be Used) 6 cups water 1/2 cup washing soda 1/2 cup borax

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

To make homemade laundry detergent, heat 6 cups water and soap in a large pan until dissolved. Stir in washing soda and Borax. Mix and heat until dissolved. Boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat. (It will have the consistency of honey.*) In a 3 or 5 gallon bucket, add 1 quart of hot water, then add the soap mixture. Mix. Add enough cold water to make a 2 gallon mixture. Mix until well blended. Let sit 24 hours. The soap will gel*. Use 1/2 cup for each load.

Makes 2 gallons. (Approximately $ .40 per gallon)

Notes

If the homemade laundry detergent doesn’t gel or reach honey consistency it will still work.

Stir before each use as this homemade laundry detergent does separate. Detergent can be stored in a liquid detergent bottle. Just shake it up each time you use it.

This detergent will not suds up in the washer, but it is still getting your clothes clean.

If you have extra hard water the soap may not clean as well. Add 1/2 cup borax or washing soda to the load and that may help.

If you do not like this laundry soap, you can still use the Fels Naptha bar for spot cleaning and to rub on stains. The Borax and Washing Soda are great to add to your regular detergent for extra cleaning.

You can use this in HE washers.

-Tawra
For more money saving cleaning tips check out our How To Organize And Clean Your Home E-book Series.
[organizing]

Watch Our How To make Homemade Laundry Detergent Video Here:

Also check out these articles on other laundry questions.

Can You Save Money Making your Own Laundry Detergent?

Demystifying The Laundry Detergent Dilemma

What is Washing Soda?

[dining]

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March 18, 2024
Age Appropriate Chores For Kids

Here is a list of age appropriate chores for kids, listing chores kids can do at various ages along with easy tips to manage your family’s household chores.

(more…)

December 31, 2023
8 Tips To Clean Your House In 15 Minutes – Quick Cleaning Tips
Did you just learn you’re about to have unexpected company? These easy tips will help you clean your house in 15 minutes or less!

Do ypu need to clean your house fast? Here are some simple cleaning tricks that you might be interested in. These work well whether you are showing your house to move or you have someone call saying, “We are 5 minutes away and coming for a visit.”
- Sweep your front porch. It is the first thing people see when coming to your home and the only thing many people see of you and your home. People used to sweep their porches every day, mostly because they didn’t have “yards” with grass so the porches could get messy quickly. They also spent more time out on their porches. A porch was like another room of the house so people kept them clean. If you can’t sweep it every day, do it at least once a week.
- Tawra cleaned the bathroom with some nasty smelling stuff just a few minutes before the people were supposed to arrive. It was awful and the smell wouldn’t go away. I sprayed some Pledge on the wooden door of the bathroom. It really helped. It was the first thing they would smell when entering the bathroom. Now we use our homemade all purpose cleaner which doesn’t have a smell.
  Certain smells make a house smell like it has been cleaned. Furniture polish is one of those smells. I always spray some on the piece of furniture right by the front door. This also makes people think you were just cleaning.
- Baskets – We couldn’t clean without them. The kids normally have a cabinet to put their shoes and backpacks by the front door, but right now these items are just lined up by the door. So we have a laundry basket there and when we’re getting the house ready to show, we toss everything within a 6-foot area of the door into that basket. Not only does it help for quick clean up but when the people have left we know where to find everything that was in that area.
- Speaking of finding things. When we first started cleaning to show houses, we would toss things into any little hole we could find. Now we try to “hide” things close to where they are used. Previously, I would get calls for hours after we showed the house from someone asking if I knew where this or that item had been stashed. The cat and dog eat by a dresser, so I just slip their bowls and food into one of the dresser drawers. The toaster and other odds and ends on the kitchen counter get tossed into the dish drainer and are carried to the garage, where they are neatly covered with a towel or blanket.
- Surface clean only the rooms the company will be seeing. Quickly gather up things like dirty socks, last night’s ice cream bowl and anything else that looks really bad.
  If you don’t have time to pick up all the kids’ toys or magazines, that’s okay. These items are “everyday living” messes that are to be expected in most homes. It’s the pile of cat barf or teenage son’s stinky socks you will want to remove. Even though those are normal everyday things for some people, it isn’t the type of thing guests like to see.
- In the bathroom, simply run a rag over the sink and counter, shut the shower curtain or door and straighten the towels and rugs. Voila! You should be good to go. If you have clutter all the time like on the counter by the sink and you often expect company, you might consider keeping an empty basket under the sink to dump things into to hide.
- The kitchen can be a challenge, but just fill the kitchen sink with hot soapy water and place all the dishes into it. Don’t worry about carefully rinsing and scrubbing. This is just to sort of “hide” them. This is sometimes faster than trying to put them in a dishwasher. (This is not a good idea for showing the house! ;-)
Wipe off the counter and stove and call it good. People will think they just caught you in the middle of doing the dishes.
- Last, but not least- when all else fails… I read a joke many years ago where a woman’s house was a mess and she saw their pastor walking up the sidewalk. She ran to the closet, pulled out her vacuum and placed it in the middle of the floor. Quickly, she tied on an apron and a scarf around her hair and answered the door. When the pastor walked in, he thought he had caught her in the middle of spring cleaning and that was why the place was such a mess. : ) : )
[organizing]
April 10, 2023
Home Organization and Cleaning Like the Pros

Home organization and cleaning are not really difficult if you have a plan and break the job into smaller tasks. Try these tips and see how easy it can be! (more…)

February 24, 2023
How Getting Dressed Can TOTALLY Change Your LIFE!

There is one thing that can help you get organized now! Getting dressed first thing every day can totally change your life! Here are some reasons why… (more…)

February 4, 2023
How To Organize Your Pantry
Here are some easy tips to organize your pantry! Keeping your pantry neat and organized can save you time and money and prevent you from wasting food!

How To Organize Your Pantry

With the holidays fast approaching, now is the time to get your pantry in order. You will be cooking for family get-togethers, you’ll probably be doing some holiday entertaining and then there will be all the baking for the holidays.

If you have your pantry in order, it will make all these things easier and faster to do.

When your pantry is well organized, you will be able to see immediately what you need to buy to restock. Now, before all the frantic holiday activities start is a great time to organize your pantry. Once you’re organized, you won’t be caught without some ingredient you need and being organized will make it easier to take advantage of all those great sales on pantry items that are offered this time of year. Most canned goods, chocolate chips and other pantry items will last until next year’s sales roll around again, so you’ll save a bundle of money, too!
- First, clean each shelf and lay down shelf paper where needed. It you have sticky things like honey or syrup, use a plastic lid like the one from a cool whip container or cottage cheese container for these things to sit on. If they get sticky, it is much easier to wash or throw away a disposable lid than to try to clean the shelf.
- Instead of using expensive shelf liner, you can find inexpensive rolls of kitchen wallpaper or scrap pieces of vinyl flooring. Just use thumb tacks to hold the corners down.
- When putting food away, put like things together. Put your canned goods in rows so you can easily see how many of each item you have. Store all the corn together, beans together, peas together, fruits together, (peaches, pears, plums), soups, crackers, cereal, etc.
Organize your pantry in similar groups like:

Grains and pastas
Desserts
Snacks
Vegetables (canned)
Soft Drinks
Fruits (canned)
Juices
Soups
Cereals
Meats in cans (tuna, spam, roast beef)
Coffees, teas, creamers, sweeteners, etc.
Baking items
- If you store your baking supplies in the pantry, group the baking supplies together. Keep a tray by the baking supplies. That way you can quickly stack everything you need on it and carry it all at one time to the baking center.
- Arrange all the labels of the canned goods facing forward so you can see them. Place all your corn on one row one behind the other so you know everything behind that can of corn is corn. Do this instead of placing two cans of corn side by side. Do this with all your canned goods.
- If you need to, buy the little wire shelving or adjust your shelving to use all of your space. I often don’t think about adjusting my shelving and, if you have 2-4 inches of space at the top of each shelf, that can add up to 12 inches of wasted space for just three shelves.
- Use a basket to hold things like small box mixes, juice packets, cake mix packets, etc. You can take it out in one movement instead of digging through the entire cabinet. It will also save when grocery shopping so you can see what you have at a glance.
- Put all of the breakfast cereals, bowls and cups on a low shelf so the kids can get their own cereal. Put milk on a lower shelf of the fridge, too. For 3 and 4 year olds put a pre-measured cup of milk on the shelf.
  
  Note: This applies to many things. If your children keep asking for you to reach a glass for them for a drink, place a few glasses in a lower cabinet for them. Just today, my 16 month old grandson came marching into my house, went straight for the cup cabinet, got himself a cup and handed it to me for a drink of water, so they can start young.
- Be sure to put food you use every day on a shelf in the front and middle. I store the tea I use every day at the front and the tea I use every now and then in the back.
- If you have children, put the canned goods on the lower shelves of the pantry. This way, if they try to get something out, there isn’t a risk of cans falling down on them.
-Jill

For more help with organizing, cleaning and laundry, take a look at our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.
October 15, 2022
How To Save On Laundry Detergent {Why You’re Actually In Debt}
Does making homemade laundry detergent save money? Easy ideas to save on laundry detergent that you won’t expect but can save hundreds of dollars a year.

Demystifying the Great Laundry Detergent Dilemma – Save Money on Laundry Detergent

I grabbed the phone and answered it. It was my daughter chuckling on the other end. “We got another one,” she said, “Another laundry detergent e-mail.” For years now we have one recurring question. How can I save on my laundry detergent?

This may seem like an innocent enough question, but when we find out the writer’s story, laundry detergent is almost never really relevant to the problem. What we’ve found is that a person who asks about laundry detergent is usually on the brink of bankruptcy, divorce, or losing a job. It’s like some kind of code phrase or distress signal for “Help Me — I’m drowning in debt”.

Often these people have maxed out their credit cards, have fully mortgaged a quarter of a million dollar home and owe money on several expensive new cars. They have closets full designer clothes, purses and shoes and say ” How can I save on laundry detergent?”

For a person in this situation, asking that question makes as much sense as saying, “My home is burning down — I must go back in and save that $3 carton of milk I bought today!” If it were me, I would say, ” Forget the milk I going to save the family heirlooms, my gold jewelry and the good silver.”

For Many People, The Problem Is Bigger Than Laundry Detergent…

I have tried to understand why in a financial crisis so many people want to learn how to save money on laundry detergent when there are so many more obvious ways they could be saving. Here is what I have finally concluded:

First, by focusing on a trivial issue they don’t have to look at the real, more serious problem. It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a scratch on your finger while you are bleeding profusely from an artery on your leg. They don’t want to acknowledge the real spending problem because then they would have to deal with it.

If you are in this situation and you want to be free of it, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THERE IS A PROBLEM. You are spending more money then you make. It is important to realize that spending impulsively beyond your means is almost as bad as doing drugs. You get instant gratification and pleasure but over the long haul, it will destroy you.

Second, saving on laundry detergent gets rid of that nagging guilt for a little while. As long as they keep trying to save pennies on unimportant things, they don’t have to feel guilty about spending thousands on the fun things. The problem is that if they are spending beyond their means, it will catch up with them eventually, which will make the stress and damage all the worse.

How To Save Money on Laundry Detergent

For those of you who have your finances under control and really do need a way to spend less on detergent, here are a few suggestions.

At first I wondered how I could help anyone save money on detergent when a person uses so little of it? For a family of four, a 40-load box of detergent would last me one to two months, which doesn’t give a lot to save on.

It isn’t the laundry detergent that people need to save on but the amount of laundry they are doing. It’s seems as if people’s laundry has turned into some kind of monster that is taking over their homes. It’s everywhere. Piles of it on the floor, chairs, tables, and beds. Almost every horizontal surface in the house is covered with laundry — dirty laundry, clean laundry and folded laundry.

By cutting back on the amount of laundry you do, you can save quite a bit on detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener and hot water.
Here are a few ideas to help you cut back:
- Have the kids wear the same pair of pajamas every night. Before you get upset and say there is no way you would allow them to do that think about this: You bathe your kids before they go to bed so their pajamas go on a clean body. How dirty could those pajamas get while they are sleeping? Most people don’t change their sheets more than once a week. What is the difference between sleeping on the same sheets and sleeping in the same pajamas?
- Assign each person his or her own towel to use a minimum of two to three times instead of just once. In the case of young children let them use the same towel. Up to a certain age most people toss their little ones all in the bath together so if they can share the same bath water they can share the same towel.
- When you get home from church or someplace where you didn’t wear the outfit all day, change out of your good clothes and hang them up to wear again.
- If it doesn’t look dirty and doesn’t stink, don’t wash it. We usually use jeans for a week at our house.
- Don’t be lazy. Many people get undressed and, instead of putting their clothes away, they throw them on the floor in a heap. They don’t want to iron, fold or even hang them up, so they just throw them in the wash. This makes more work later because they still have to iron, fold and hang them on wash day, but they also use more detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener, hot water and time.
Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent Video

Can You Save Money Making your Own Laundry Detergent?

What is Washing Soda?

For more easy laundry, cleaning and homemaking tips to make your life easier, check out our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.

[organizing]
October 14, 2022
10 Steps To A Cleaner House, part 1

Doing a few things differently around the home can save a lot of time and reduce the need to clean as much! Here are 10 easy ideas about How To Have A Cleaner House! (more…)

May 14, 2022
How to Hang Clothes On A Clothesline – The RIGHT Way!
Hanging clothes on a clothesline reduces wear and tear on clothes and gives them a wonderful fresh smell. This technique makes it easy!

How to Hang Clothes on a Clothesline

You can watch our video demonstration about How to Hang Clothes On a Clothesline here.

Many people want to learn to hang clothes on a clothesline whether they want to save money, save the environment or just because line drying clothes makes them smell so nice. What many of us don’t realize is how much line drying will save in wear and tear on clothing. Unfortunately, after the first attempt or two at hanging clothes on a clothesline, many people get frustrated and quit.

It seems like hanging clothes on the clothesline should be a simple thing. How hard can it be to stick a clothespin on the fabric and put it on a line? Alas, as many of us have found out, if you don’t follow certain guidelines the results are stiff and wrinkled clothes.

Like so many other homemaking skills, there is an art to hanging clothes on a clothesline. It takes practice to get it right so don’t give up if it seems difficult the first time around. With practice, you will be able to hang an average load of laundry in about five minutes and take them down in about the same amount of time, keeping them as wrinkle free and soft as if you dried them in the dryer, so keep at it.
Here are a few things you will need to know before you start:

I do these things to keep my laundry items “dryer” soft. You can do one or all of these if you want.
1. If I have a dryer, I always fluff my clothes in the dryer for about five minutes before I hang them on the clothesline. This uses almost no electricity and it makes the clothes just as soft as if you had run them through the full cycle in the dryer.When I don’t have a dryer, I try to hang my clothes on a windy day. It has the same effect as a drying in a dryer. In Kansas, that can be almost every day but, for those of you who live where a five mile per hour breeze is considered a gale force wind, don’t despair. There are other things you can do. : )
2. Just before I hang each piece of clothing on the clothesline, I give it a sharp snap or shake. For shirts or some pant legs, I hold them from the bottom when I snap them. This won’t take as long as you think. I just give the item a snap as I am going from the laundry basket to the clothesline, so I’m ready to hang it when I get up to the line. You don’t need to do this with everything, like socks or underwear. Generally, you only need to snap things that you don’t want wrinkled or things that you want soft like towels.
3. I always use fabric softener, but you could also use vinegar.
4. Fading: Here in Kansas, the humidity is high enough that the sky is hazy and diffuses the sun’s rays slightly so I don’t have much of a problem with sun fading. When we lived in the Pacific Northwest, fading was a real problem. If you find that to be the case where you live, just turn dark items like jeans or t-shirts inside out.It also helps slow the fading to bring clothes in from the clothesline as soon as they are dry. Conversely, I leave my whites out as long as I can because it bleaches and brightens them.
5. You will need clothespins and a clothespin bag or apron. You can get clothespins and bags at Walmart or at dollar stores. They are usually sold with things like ironing board covers. I prefer a clothespin apron. I made my own clothespin apron so it would perfectly suit my needs. It is about ten inches long with just two large pockets on the front to store the clothespins. It ties around my waist like an apron. Regardless which you prefer, either a bag or apron is just fine.
Before You Start

Properly hanging clothes on a clothesline starts before you even leave the house. I know it may seem like I’m being a little too much like Martha Stewart in some of the next few tips I’ll be sharing but there is a method to my madness. Most of these things not only make hanging the clothes go faster but they also help speed up the process when I bring the clothes in, fold them and put them away.

If you are brand new to hanging clothes on a clothesline, don’t feel like you have to do all of these things at once. You may want to start by just practicing hanging things the way I will show you in part two of this post. After you get some experience hanging clothes on a clothesline, you may want to try these tips in order to speed things along.

Before I put the clothes in the laundry basket to take them outside, I quickly sort them on top of the washer or dryer. This doesn’t need to be done perfectly and it will get easier the more you do it. First, I pull out the big items like the sheets or tablecloths. I fold the sheets in half and gently lay them in the basket. Then, when I am ready to hang a sheet, I just pick it up out of the basket by its four corners and quickly hang it, since it is already folded and ready to go.

Then I prepare the pants or jeans. I fold the legs with the seams together and then I fold them in half and lay them on top of the sheets. This will make more sense when you see how I hang them.

Next, if there are any large towels, I pull them out and lay them in the basket.

Then I lay separate piles of like items on the washer or dryer- One pile of tee shirts all together, one of shirts together, another with hand towels together and so on. Then, I stack them into the basket with the largest items first, working my way up to the smallest items. You will understand more about why I do this when I explain about wind direction in part 2 of this post.

I lay the wash rags, dishrags and underwear in a flat pile with the corners together, like you would lay a stack of papers. I do this because then I can pick up the whole pile or half of the pile if it is very large it is and take it to the clothesline. Because the corners are together I can pin one corner after the other very quickly without having to go back and forth to the basket each time to get another pair of panties and I don’t have to stop to straighten each one. These smaller items go into the basket next.

Lastly, I organize the socks. I straighten out the socks and flatten them, laying them one on top of the other with the toes together. Again, I can pick up a stack of socks and quickly go along the line hanging them without having to return to the basket each time.

In part 2 of this post tomorrow, I will include pictures and explain how to hang clothes on a clothesline, including how to handle each of the different items.

-Jill

Here is my video demonstration of how to hang clothes on a clothesline:

For more helpful tips to make organizing, cleaning and laundry easier, take a look at our How To Organize And Clean Your Home e-books.

Here is a favorite poem of mine. I hope you enjoy it!

The Clothesline Said So Much
Author Unknown

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you’d see the fancy sheets
And towels on the line;
You’d see the company table clothes
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby’s birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You’d know how much they’d grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, “Gone on vacation now”
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, “We’re back!” when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors raised their brows,
And looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody’s guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

[organizing]
May 7, 2022
Homemade Mechanic’s Tough Hand Cleaner Recipe

This mechanic’s tough hand cleaner recipe makes a hand cleaner that can help the greasiest mechanic at a fraction of the cost of the store bought cleaner! (more…)

April 17, 2022
How to Hand Wash Dishes
Are you overwhelmed with dishes? Maybe your dishwasher doesn’t work and you don’t know what to do? Here’s a step by step guide to how to hand wash dishes.

How to Hand Wash Dishes

I recently read about a woman who was tearing her hair out because she was so overwhelmed with piles of dirty dishes. Even though she would wash them several times a day, there always seemed to be an endless pile of them from snacks and things, so she came up with a plan. She decided to pack away all of her dishes and gave one plate, one bowl and one glass to each member of the family. Then, all each person had to be responsible for the washing of that dish.

You can assign each person a certain color dish or something like that. That mom said that, the first day or two, some of the members left oatmeal in theirs and she had fun watching them trying to get the dried on oatmeal off so that their bowl was ready for the meal.

This may not be something that you want to do all the time but it might be good to try it for a couple of weeks or at least long enough to get your family to start rinsing their dirty dishes off when they are done with them. You might even get them to put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher or stack them nicely in the sink.

Here’s another way to save on dishes, especially dirty glasses: I would keep a small jug of water in the fridge that my kids could drink straight out of. Each had his own special jug and would just stick it back in the fridge after drinking from it. When their jugs were empty, they would fill it themselves.

Even with all the little tricks moms will try, there still will be a certain amount of dishes to be done. Not all of them can be put in a dishwasher and at times you may have to do without one. Most important of all, washing dishes is a skill you and your children both need to know. Here are the basic steps to hand washing dishes.

By the way, Dining on a Dime isn’t just a cookbook. It includes a big section with many more good cleaning tips and ideas.

-Jill

How To Hand Wash Dishes
1. Rinse dishes and stack in piles. Use a long handle scrub brush and clean large food particles off of dishes.
2. Fill sink with hot soapy water. (Go easy on the soap.)
3. Place all the silverware in the soapy water to one side. Place 4-6 plates in the water (or more if you have a large sink). Then lay in as many glasses as you can get in on top of that. Do this so the plates and silverware can soak while you are washing the glasses.
4. Wash the things that touch your mouth and those that are the least soiled first: glasses, silverware, plates, bowls, serving dishes, pans.
5. Keep placing more dirty dishes in the sink to soak as you have room. If the water starts getting gooky then change it.
6. Rinse each piece with running hot water. I just turn the water on and off as I rinse each piece, so I use very little water (only about 2 gallons for a huge pile of dishes). Also, I don’t fill the sink too full of soapy water when I start. That way, as I go along, the rinse water I use keeps my soapy water hot and refreshed so by the time I get to my pans, my water is still hot.
  People often fill one sink with water to rinse dishes but, if you think about it, after the first glass or two, the rinse water has soap in it and is “recontaminating” (for lack of a better word) each subsequent piece. There is a reason why surgeons wash their hands in running water and the same principle applies to dishes.
Additional Dish Washing Tips:
- I am not sure why but some people take a lot of time scouring their sink before they wash the dishes. I don’t believe in working any more then you have to. No wonder so many hate doing dishes – they make more work for themselves then necessary. When you are done with the dishes each time, use the soapy water that is left in the sink and with the dishrag wash it out like it is a big bowl. Let out the water, rinse with clear water and it is done. When you are ready to wash dishes again you may have to rinse with a little clear water to get garbage out of the sink but that should be all. When you fill it with the soapy water for the dishes it will kill any germs that are in the sink the same way it kills the germs on the dishes you will be washing. Once a week when you clean the kitchen give it a good scrubbing.
- When hand washing dishes, never put you hand inside of a glass. It could easily break. Use a long handled brush, bottle brush or, if you don’t have those, put your dish rag in the glass and use a table knife to move the rag around. (Note from Tawra: I’ve broken many glasses by putting my hand inside them and I still don’t listen to my mother!)
- Always be sure to wash the rim of a glass.
- When washing silverware, be sure to wash the handles of the silverware. Be sure to do this with pots and pans, too.
- Pans: Pour hot soapy water in them and let them soak while your are eating. They should be ready to clean by the time you are done.
[dining]
March 15, 2022
How To Remove Bad Smells From Trash Cans, Books And More

Smelly trash cans can really stink up your home environment! Here are a couple of easy tips to remove bad smells from trash cans and other household items!

How To Remove Bad Smells And Odors From Trash Cans, Books And More…

Put a small handful of laundry detergent in the bottom of your trash can. It helps keep bugs away and controls the trash odor. Then when you are ready to wash your trash can, you already have your soap in it.

If you have musty-smelling books or other strange-smelling things, seal them in a plastic bag with cat litter or baking soda for a couple of weeks and the smell will go away.

Don’t forget: baking soda is great for absorbing odors so when you open a box for baking be sure and put it in an airtight container because otherwise it will sit and absorb all of the odors (like spices) in your cabinet or pantry. Sometimes, when you taste cookies someone has made and they have a slightly different taste, it could be the baking soda.

Jill

[organizing]

March 12, 2022
How To Organize A Small Bathroom

It is possible to organize a small bathroom so that it is efficient and less cluttered. These easy ideas will help you organize your small bathroom! (more…)

January 11, 2022
When Queens Ride By – How To Handle A Busy Life

This is a wonderful, inspiring and important story about how to handle a busy life… It has had a tremendous impact on me and I think it will help you too! (more…)

December 29, 2021
Things to Do While Waiting For Kids After School

You can get a lot more done if you don’t waste small bits of time! Here is a quick list of things you can get done while waiting to pick up kids from school. (more…)

August 28, 2021
15 Things You Can Clean In 5 Minutes In the Kitchen

One excuse we often use for not getting things done at home is “I don’t have time.” Many of our readers have heard me tell of the 5 minute rule I started using years ago when I first got sick. (more…)

March 5, 2021
How to Clean Rust Stains Off Of A Stainless Steel Sink
How to Clean Rust Stains Off Of A Stainless Steel Sink

From: Sarah R.

Hi Tawra and Jill!

First of all, I would like to say that I am a new wife and your tips and money saving tricks have been extremely helpful now that we are trying to make it on are own! So thank you!

My question is… I left an empty can in the sink and now there is a circle of rust. I have tried using baking soda and scrubbing the heck out of it but it didn’t even fade! Any ideas how I can get this rust stain out of my stainless steel sink?

Thanks so much!

Sarah

Here are a few things to try to remove rust stains from stainless steel:
- Try Comet or Bar Keepers Friend. I had one and it got it out of mine.
- If that doesn’t work Try CLR. Let it sit for a bit then scrub.
- If that doesn’t work then make a paste of lemon juice and salt and let it sit on it over night and then gently rub.
- If that doesn’t work then you can always try sanding it out with 600 grit sandpaper. This worked really well on my porcelain sink that nothing would get it out.
February 5, 2021
Use a Dresser to Organize Your Garage!

It seems like organizing your garage can be a never ending task. Here’s a way to simplify garage organization by using an old dresser to organizing the garage! (more…)

February 4, 2021