TiP fOr TuEsDaY (post 209)

Keep it clean! (With very little effort!)

I like a clean house just as much as anyone. Yep. Do I like to clean it? Nope. I've never claimed to have this gorgeous spotless house, I mean we LIVE here. Someone is in the house almost all the time! It will not ever stay clean on it's own and I like a clean house. I somehow keep it clean though and it really isn't that hard! Here's a couple of tips I use and they work!:

Keep your front room clean.
If you are lucky, you have a room that everyone comes into when they come through the door. (I do!) The rest of the house, eh...it's not always that clean. The front room has no clutter, the pillows are nicely arranged and the kids don't hang out in there. That's key! I don't let anyone leave their things in that room either. It gets vacuumed first when I vacuum the house. I take the time to dust off the surfaces (actually, I am lazy and allergic to dust so, I just vacuum ALL surfaces with my hose attachment). The kids (and let's face it, your spouse) can dirty the rest of the house for you instead! ;0)

Never leave dishes in the sink. Period.

I love this habit! I can't stand washing dishes. Nope. My sister and I were subjected to washing large sinks full disgusting dirty dishes frequently as a form of punishment and I know this is where my disdain for the chore comes in. Yuck. Solution: Never leave dirty dishes! I have a dishwasher and I have kids and I two hands. The kids automatically rinse and place all dirty dishes in the dishwasher (as do I). My man washes his dishes by hand as soon as he's done with them. I take all pots for cooking directly to the sink when I'm done with them and take a minute to rinse them out. If they are really gross, I'll fill them with soapy water and soak them while I eat and then wash them when I'm done. See? Very little effort and no yucky dishes in the sink! ;0)

Use bleach (It's your friend!).

Ahh...bleach, you are great for killing germs, whitening my whites, and making my cleaning tasks a little easier! Smelly sink? Run a little water and a couple of caps full of bleach down the drain. Take that smell! Yucky sponge? Fill the sink with enough water to cover the sponge and a couple of caps full of bleach. Zap! Sanitized sponge! Also, take a minute to wash the sink with the bleach water, clean sponge, and a little dish soap. This works great for the back of the sink (you know where it grows stuff? yuck.) and the germy spigot. Also, if you work or you have kids that leave for at least part of the day, use bleach to clean the toilets too. Before work pour a little bleach in the potty and leave it for the day or if you have school aged kids, do it when they leave for the day. Come back later with the brush and gloves and a rag (or paper towels) and wipe the inside of the bowl with the brush and dip your rag (or paper towel) and take it to the surfaces. Relax, you just sanitized the water in the bowl! You might as well use it to clean the rest of the toilet! Kapow! See ya germs! ;0)

When I take the approach of cleaning without a lot of effort, it never seems like I spent all day doing something for nothing! I mean, the kids will make a mess again when they get home anyway! I have more of these types of tips, so stay tuned! That's your TiP fOr TuEsDaY! ;0)