The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Sunday 8 April 2018

The World Within Our Walls. Clean.

Last week I was talking about organisation.   My efforts have been paying off,  lots of areas are so much better.   It is all on going as we use things, put them away and bring things in daily!  This is like cleaning.  It never ends!

To feel peace and happiness in my home it has to be clean.  I will end up with messes i.e. sewing all over the table or too many things out that need putting away and this bugs me but I can't actually stand filth!  And things have to smell nice.   I am always smelling things to see if it smells good!  haha!  I smell products too and I think I'm obsessed with things smelling nice!  

I have realised that when you cook and craft a lot then you have a lot of messes to clean up!   And also when you are absorbed in a project mess is meantime mounting up!

So how do we keep a clean house and balance that with everything else and also keeping a nice atmosphere at home?   There is cleaning too much.  Once I was at someones house and literally you could feel her wanting us to leave so she could vacuum.    I think getting the balance right is a life long battle!

I tend to clean two ways.... the regular routine... do dishes, wipe surfaces, wash clothes, wash linen, clean the bathroom and so on.   Never ending cycle.
Then have blitzes....  go crazy, clean all the windows, windowsills,  wipe out cupboards,  do things I normally cannot reach,  pull out the lounge and do underneath, wash the lounge covers...  wash the front door, clean light fittings...

We obviously learn a lot of our ways from our Mum and our Nan's and others.  But then there is still more to learn as appliances have changed things and now we need to know how to clean appliances!
The other day I took apart the Dyson and washed the filters and the brush etc.  It works so much better.  I had to learn how to do it first though and learning these thing usually happens when something goes wrong and you have to actually face up to reading the manual!

For many years I followed Flylady.  She is a great help for setting your routines.  Also for realising things do not have to be perfect.   She says that cleaning doesn't have to be perfect to Bless your family.   She also has a routine of a weekly "House Blessing" and you kind of do a power hour that includes mirrors etc. and  this has great results!    I have always continued to clean out the inside of my car every Friday as that was part of Flylady routine... and the inside of my handbag!
When I need some motivation I still go back to Flylady.  She is also on You Tube and is very funny!

The other thing Flylady aught me is that you can do anything for fifteen minutes.  If fifteen is too long then do five.  You set a timer and just work on something that needs doing.   I have conquered huge daunting projects this way, a few minutes at a time.   There was a lady I read about on Flylady who had serious health problems and could only stand a few minutes at a time.  So her timer went on for three minutes.  In her three minute bursts she kept up with her house.
This is like my elderly neighbour and her huge beautiful garden.  I asked her how did she manage to keep up the weeding (she was in her 90's) and she said she pulled four weeds a day.   This is how small things done consistently works... the end result is mind boggling.

My friend Helen told me about another You Tube lady called Love Meg.  She is a young Mum who shares how she cleans.  It is weirdly mesmerising to watch someone clean.  But I have learned a lot from her!  It is motivating too.   I was standing on my benches cleaning the high shelves on account of her the other day.

My favourite cleaning product is the Miracle Cleaner I make up.   The scent is so fresh that the house smells amazing for a good couple of days.


I love to have soft cloths made up and I stuff them into a big jar with some water and some miracle cleaner.  Then I will wipe everything with these, surfaces, windowsills, door knobs...


I LOVE microfibre cleaning cloths and magic erasers.  I use both endlessly!  If I had to name one cleaning product I couldn't live without it is the magic eraser!

I have found my current mop with was $17 from K mart is the best mop I ever had.  It is the Kmart Spray mop.    I love this mop so much I have a spare.  

Right now we are having a warm spell and then we hope rain is coming.   This is the last of the warm weather,  but I keep saying that!   So I wash the underlay on the bed which is thick wool, the doona,  the pillows,  cardigans, blankets,  lounge throws, the lounge covers.... 
All of the are washed with my homemade Wool Mix.   


The recipe for the wool mix is here.  I make up a big batch and it lasts years and years.  But your woollens and soft furnishings come out so soft,  softer than you thought possible... and they smell divine.   
There is only one thing better and that is sunshine.   Combined your bedding now smells and feels like sunshine and clouds. It is heavenly.   No dry cleaner and bunch of chemicals can compare! 

For the high up dusting I have a very long handled feather duster.  


It is huge!  I take it outside and hit it against a post and watch the dust fly out.  It is kind of satisfying!

In my bathroom I now wipe surfaces down with my homemade Thieves Spray.  This smells so clean too.


I do the floors with my mop with water and miracle cleaner.   I wipe the bath out with miracle cleaner on a sponge.   Flylady taught me soap is soap.  I will swish and wipe everyday and it takes a few minutes. 

As I use the slow cooker a lot it gets baked on at times.   I fill it with hot water and leave a dish washer tablet in it over night.  The next day it just wipes out clean.  No scrubbing!  This works on any baked on dish or pan.
The outside splatters come up in a second with a magic eraser.  Like new.
The magic eraser has my mix master looking like new also... dough gets stuck on things but this fixes it quickly.

I have soaking buckets for laundry.  I use Aldi laundry soakers.  Andy's work shirts go straight into a soaking bucket.   When they go through the wash they come up perfectly.

I take the filters out of the range hood and put them through the dishwasher. They come up like new.
Then I cut a lemon in half and do a cleaning cycle to freshen up the dishwasher and it comes up sparkling and smelling lemon fresh.   I use a toothpick to clean all the little holes in the arms in there...  

I have to say the weather plays a big part in cleaning.   Yesterday was so warm so I took this chance to wash a lot of linen.   The bed all pulled apart is the time to clean behind and under it.   I asked Andy to help me flip the mattress so I could clean and rotate that before the underlay goes back on.  In the end it all feels so nice!   The doors and windows are all wide open.  
With everything smelling so good when I emptied the kitchen bin I filled that with hot water and miracle cleaner for a soak.   Then I drained it on the lawn and dried it up and washed the lid in the same solution.   Once you get going there is a bit of a domino effect. 
It feels really good!   It changes the atmosphere.   It brightens things up.  You feel accomplished!

I love learning how to do a better job.   I love the good results!  I never want to give the impression that I hate cleaning or I hate my home.  Or I hate cooking.  This is awful to me.  I would rather look at it that  I love my home,  I love feeding my family.   As Flylady says it doesn't have to be perfect to bless your family but that is what you are doing ... building up your home and blessing your family.

What are your cleaning tips that make it easier? 
Do you have any products you just love?
I forgot to mention a Vanilla fridge spray I get from Coles.   I wipe out all the shelves and every time you open the fridge it smells beautiful.   A sparkling and organised fridge might be another subject as this is so nice!

Have a wonderful new week.  I am still in catching up mode! xxx









34 comments:

  1. Dear Annabel,
    Some wonderful tips here! We have a revisit to summer weather here too and I was thinking of freshening bedding and couch covers as well while it remains over a few days. I also like the YouTube channel of "How Jen does it" and "She is in her apron" too. Some great cleaning and homemaking inspiration there as well. 😊

    Have a great week everyone!
    Love, Kaye xoxo

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    1. Dear Kaye,
      Yes this is our big chance to get things sun dried and aired. Its really good for that at least! There are some great you tube channels. Its better than TV... I find almost nothing good on tv! Except I like Masterchef and I think thats coming soon! Inspiration is good and encouraging.
      This week so far is catching up. You have a very good week too. With much love, Annabel.xxx

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  2. Annabel your home must smell amazing - especially with the fresh air wafting through.

    Having some little cleaning tips up your sleeve is a wonderful resource.

    When I was setting my mother in law's house up for sale I wanted to use a cup and saucer that had been left behind. The cup was grubby and tea stained so I looked around and found some salt. A sprinkle on a damp cloth and then the cup got a good wipe over,a quick rinse and dry and it came up like new.

    My other secret to getting stains out of coffee mugs (my husband has a favourite and it gets quite stained) I put it in the sink, fill it with water then drop a couple of denture tablets into it. Let it soak as long as possible then it goes in the dish washer and comes out as good as new.

    Mimi shared that she used a soft broom to clean her shower with years ago. I use it on a regular basis and it works a treat.

    I have always had the windows and doors open in every house I have lived in - even on cold days they are open and then closed up before the cold gets in. It costs nothing and the change of air helps to regulate the temperature in the house. I find that on cold days if the air isn't changed the air is a lot colder.

    I am sure that I have more things I do but have a busy day so will leave some for others to share.

    Lynette
    XXXX

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    1. Dear Lynette,
      Thank you for these tips. The denture tablets then would also work wonders on the inside of a tea pot. I drink tea so stained cups are always annoying!
      The broom is a great idea. thousands of bristles work much faster than we can by hand. Plus less bending over.
      Actually this somehow reminds me of the power of soaking something, leaving a product to work. I cover my show base with cleaner then go away and do other things for a while, then come back and mop it out. A soak does many things good.
      I do the same Lynette... in winter if the sun comes out for a while during the day I will still open things up for fresh air. Even if its just for a little while at the warmest part of the day. I cant stand stale air or stuffiness. I am convinced it isn't healthy either.
      Thank you so much for your tips. With much love Annabel.xxx

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  3. Dear Annabel,
    What an encouraging and inspiring post. It sounds like you will be all ready to do special craft projects come winter.
    I made the Miracle Cleaner and absolutely love it. It makes everything sparkle.
    Have a nice day.
    Love and hugs,
    Glenda

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    1. Dear Glenda, I am so glad you like the miracle cleaner. It has a very cleansing and refreshing effect and not chemicals. the house smells so nice.
      Even when I mis it up in a bucket the house smells good before I have actually done anything!
      I do like to settle down on to some craft projects in winter. I love it! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  4. Dear Annabel,
    I do not have to have things spotless (I like it to look like a lived in home, not a sterile house!) but I do have to have things clean. Messes stress me out as I feel like I have something that needs to be done and I can't relax. To me it is prettier too, and when funds are short or I am in a situation where I can't decorate or change things up, I will just clean. Then I am always amazed at how nice things look and I am satisfied with the work I have done and it cultivates a grateful heart. Like you say, it is a way to bless our family.
    My routine is the one that Terri Cheney suggested a few months back. I figured I would give it a shot as with a baby I was just getting behind on the house and it was to the point that I was bothered with the way things were looking and always having that feeling of being behind. So I gave it a try and I'm so grateful! I will repeat it here in case anyone missed it. I hope Terri doesn't mind!
    First there are five things I do every day: make the bed, take out the trash, tidy the bathroom counters, wash a load of laundry, and do the dishes. Aside from this, each day of the week I will clean one room and only focus on that room (except I group all bedrooms into one day). This way it gets really clean and I don't get overwhelmed thinking I have to do the whole house or be so tired by the end of it all that I don't have energy for anything else. Once that room is finished, I have the rest of the day to do whatever. This has helped me tremendously! If I miss a day it is no big deal because things don't get so out of hand.
    Also, living out in the country things seem to get dusty fast. I don't like buying the disposable dusters even though they work so well. I was going through your cleaning posts and saw you recommended a feather duster made with ostrich feathers so I bought one. It is wonderful! Dust problem solved! Plus it is fun to use. And her name is Cosette (she is one of my maidens).
    I am looking forward reading any other tips the bluebirds have for feathering their nests! I hope everyone has a lovely week!
    Love, Kelsey

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    1. Dear Kelsey,
      It is wonderful when some advice helps and just clicks with you. Terri's advice was so sensible too. I am so glad it helped. given cleaning is never ending knowing where to start and even when to stop is needed. Just to have the feeling of being on top of it is huge. We dont have to do everything on one day!
      I love my feather duster. When I shake it out, outside, I am amazed and it only took a few minutes and this has removed so much dust, cobwebs etc. Oh yes I should think of mine as a handmaiden also!
      If you have time try Love Meg. She is really nice. These channels seem miles better than TV to me. Thank you so much Kelsey! With love Annabel.xxx

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  5. Hello Annabel and thank you for the wonderful cleaning and organising tips :). It is wonderful what we learn off others in their routines that we can adapt to our own to do things quicker and more efficiently.

    I zone clean for instance if I am walking from the lounge room into the kitchen everything that I see that needs tidying gets tidied. In the lounge room I start with around my chair where I keep all of the advertising brochures from the mail box and go through those and put them in a pile to take with me to the kitchen, with the other hand I will pick up any other rubbish or things that need tidying and do that and then put the recyclables in the recycling bag for the rubbish. This effectively cleans one whole household path in a matter of minutes.

    If I am sitting at the kitchen table I will clean everything off it and wipe it over, get rid of rubbish, sort out garden seeds, count and store them in jars on belt rails, wipe writing off washed out clip seal freezer bags for reuse and put them in the box on top of the freezer and put everything back. Then I will sweep the kitchen, laundry, toilet and bathroom and wipe over the kitchen benches, kitchen cupboard, pantry and fridge outsides if they are dirty which takes under 10 minutes to do.

    If I am damp dusting I will go in a path and damp dust everything I see in my path with a damp flannelette cleaning cloth. Likewise if I have glass cleaner on a cloth everything in my path gets cleaned with glass cleaner being laptops, television, windows and photos and wall pictures etc. Our ceilings get cleaned with our mop with our homemade floor solution on it when I mop the floors if they are dirty, no getting up and down off ladders for me.

    If we are working in the gardens and planting seeds we both weed the whole bed, prune plants if necessary and then plant and if mulch is needed it gets mulched too. Then we have the whole bed tidied, planted and mulched at the same time.

    I also love the fridge smelling of vanilla but instead I clean with soapy water and wipe out and then with a damp clean cloth with a few drops of vanilla extract on it I wipe the whole fridge out. It smells divine.

    As you say our homes don't have to be display home clean but like you Annabel I can't cope and operate with a mess or dirt either. I will go on what others say when they come to our home which is your home is always so clean and tidy :), and that is good enough for me.

    Sewingcreations15.

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    1. Dear Sewingcreations,
      I also go from one room to another carrying something! This helps a lot! Mum aught me that! Take something with you she says!
      I am also trying to avoid ladders since I had a bad fall a few years ago. I need to really stop myself using ladders... my one main issue is light fittings...
      I find clearing the kitchen/dining table and making it look nice has a miraculous effect on everything and then I dont dump stuff there.
      I use the vanilla too.... I put a bit in a cup of water in the microwave, set it to boil... the house smells like vanilla and then I wipe out inside the microwave and it wipes clean as the steam softens it up. Overall I love vanilla!
      It is a compliment if people notice how nice you have your place. We just have to keep at it. Routines help. Also with working outside and gardening etc this adds to the dirt coming inside. I wash my vies outside in the garden and this helps!
      Thank you for your great tips! With love Annabel.xxx


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  6. Hi
    I love the tip for using dish wash tablets to clean baked on food. I usually stick to bi carb but will give this a try. You have reminded me that the bed wool underlay is due for its yearly clean. The bedding always smells fresher when this is done. Enjoy your week. Erin

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    1. Dear Erin,
      I drier sheet soaked in hot water in a casserole dish also works. They are amazing!
      I love when the underlay is just done. Bedding is so beautiful... even as a child I loved climbing into a fresh bed. I still love it. These are the simple lovely things in life! I should get more on the line today as it is hot one more day. I have done some towels so far! With thanks, Annabel.xxx

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  7. Annabel, What lovely ideas you have.
    I have a morning ritual of what I call Morning Pick-up. make the bed, pick up anything that needs picking up in rooms, put things away, wipe smug marks that show in the sunlight. You would be amazed at how much better a house looks with maybe 15 minutes of picking-up.
    When I am not traveling I have daily schedule, Monday laundry, which means bathrooms and master bedroom are cleaned. Tuesday is ironing which means floors are vacuumed and mopped, you really don't want your ironing hitting a dirty floor. Everyday has a different schedule.
    I have monthly extras and seasonal extras.
    With Spring and Fall I do a top to bottom house cleaning, love when I can open windows and let the fresh air in. (After pollen season). One year my husband did open everything up at the wrong time, can I say yellow pine pollen is a mess to clean off of everything.
    I find I do not stress if unexpected company shows up because just the morning 15 minutes make the house look so much better.
    As you mentioned a little time here and there spent on things does add up, as does adding a little at a time to our pantries, doing our crafts, etc...
    May you have a lovely week.
    xxx Rosanne

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    1. Dear Roseanne,
      I love your morning routine. I think routines are great as we just do them, there is no struggle to work out what to do next!
      I keep somewhat of a schedule except for laundry which sometimes just has to be the warm days and not the rainy days. Today is really warm so all the towels are out!
      Also I do much extra cleaning at the change of seasons, the beginning of spring and autumn. It makes a world of difference.
      It does all add up, thankfully. I love your pantry and how you organised it! this is additional work but with many benefits! With love and thanks, Annabel.xxx

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  8. Annabel,
    As always this is a lovely post full of great information. I don't have anything to add except to agree with you that a clean and safe house blesses our families and it blesses us. It seems that chaos puts families on edge and sparks disagreements while order brings a sweet peace not only to our homes, but to all who enter in. Thank you!

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    1. Dear Nana Jan,
      I agree, order brings peace. Chaos is awful. It isn't even healthy I am sure.
      They are starting to talk now about clutter causing anxiety... hello I could have told them that! But things being clean and nice on top of that is just lovely. Once things are in shape it isn't that easy to keep them reasonable. Thank you! With love Annabel.xxx

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  9. Hi Annabel and everyone,

    The tip for cleaning the crockpot is genius! I am definitely using that one, thank you!

    I like to use baking soda and dish soap in a kind of paste to remove grease/stains from tile and solid surface bathroom counters. It works very well, and I think is gentler than the commercial scrubs. Inexpensive, too!

    My number one cookware tip is to put a few cups of water into your pot or pan with cooked-on stuff, set it on the burner, and let the water boil in there for a few minutes. The "gunk" comes loose very easily and it saves a lot of scrubbing!

    I completely agree with everyone who mentioned opening the windows and letting in air and sunshine - it is wonderful and really freshens the whole house.

    Hope you all have a great day,
    Kathy

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    1. Dear Kathy,
      I should have mentioned a drier see works also in the crockpot or a baked on pan. Amazing. No more scrubbing ever. Whats left I wipe over with the magic eraser. So easy.
      Baking soda is a good gentle cleaner. Even body exfoliant!
      Heating the cookware also is a good idea. Such a time saver.
      Yes, fresh air and sunshine is the best of all. Many air fresheners etc are all an attempt to just get clean and fresh. Instead I try to have actual clean and fresh! So simple! Saying that I guess it is work too... but a joy as well! With love Annabel.xxx

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  10. You have so many wonderful tips here!

    I have four week long cleaning chore lists that rotate. They pretty much get all the cleaning chores covered. I operate by lists and no other way works for me so I just do what is on my list each day and it gets done. It really gives me peace of mind. People come to our home and comment that it is so clean but the lists really keep up with everything and it rarely takes more than 30 minutes a day other than laundry. The lists also allow me to just roll with a bit of dust since I know that the dusting chore is coming up in a day or two most times. We love microfiber too and use it everywhere in our home. Our most favorite cleaning tool is our Dyson stick vac that stays charged in it's dock so all we have to do is grab it and we can clean floors messes so quick and easy. We also love Shakley Basic H concentrate. I have been using a quart bottle for literally 10 years and still have a good bit to go and it has no scent which means clean to us. Now that my husband is home every day we are a cleaning and chore dong team and the lists are easy for both of us to facilitate getting it done each day.

    We cleaned out 22 years worth of stuff from our attic by going through 3-4 boxes every week until it was done. It seemed to be too big a task but it was one day finished and it felt so good. Next was our garage because 5 kids left so much stuff behind when they grew up. We do many things that way and it just makes life so much easier.

    Happy housekeeping!

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    1. Dear Lana,
      I am so glad you mentioned your Dyson stick vac because I am in the market for one! Our old vacuum doesn't work very well and I think one of these would work well for us as I could just zoom quickly over the whole house without dealing with a cord. Plus it would be easy to carry up the stairs. Do you mind sharing which model you have? It is quiet like they say?
      Love, Kelsey

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    2. Dear Lana, Well done! This is so organised. I love my lists but it is funny I will look at my list and pick something I feel like and do that... so it still gets done just maybe in an odd order!
      I also have a Dyson Stick! I LOVE it. It is the best thing ever. I dont think I could do without it now. A friend got one recently and she said she doesnt know how she managed before!
      The way you did the attic is good advice for anyone. Even ONE box a week would get it done sooner or later. I do not like things mounted up. So that is great you got through all of that. It feels good. Thank you for wonderful tips! With love Annabel.xxx

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    3. Kelsey, We have the V6 Slim but we have had it for awhile so maybe they do not make that ones anymore. ??? A friend came over and tried mine out by throwing all sorts of things on the floor to check what it would actually pick up and did not like it because it will not pick up what she calls big dirt. For example it will not pick up a Cheerio unless you crush it with your foot! It also will not pick up coffee beans which is a thing here but overall I do not know how we ever lived without it. It seems to be less noise than the big Dyson but the pitch is higher so I would not call it quiet. I hope that helps!

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    4. Thank you, Lana! Yes, that does help. I do not expect a vacuum to pick up anything as big as you mentioned or at least I've never seen one!
      Love, Kelsey

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    5. Kelsey, the regular Dyson or big Dyson as we call it here picks up everything. We have had ours for maybe 10 years now and it is still just as good at cleaning as it was when it was new.

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  11. Hi Annabel. Seeing your sparkly clean home had me look at mine with a critical eye. Now the pesky cyclones have died off and the wind is lessening, I am seeing all the salt crust on the windows. Yukky! Today I started the preparation. All the curtains and wooden venetian blinds have been cleaned. As I have tiled floors, the curtains came straight out of the washing machine and were rehung. The weight of the material pulls out any wrinkles. A simple mop under the curtains gets any drips sorted. The venetian blinds were putrid! No wonder I have been sneezing so much lately. Tomorrow the windows and screens will all be scrubbed.
    I too use a soft broom to clean the bath and shower. My MIL showed me this trick over 30 years ago. It is brilliant. I do find that giving the bath a wipe out as the water goes down the drain helps keep the high tide mark from forming.
    I use denture tablets to clean my long narrow vases and glass bottle with narrow necks. Pop the denture tablet in, fill with water and leave to soak. I dont own a dishwasher so this is the best way to get these items clean.
    Life is less sneezy good.

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    1. Dear Jane,
      Well there are plenty of times Im in a mess and if someone comes I want to crawl under a rock! haha!
      Terrible weather doesnt help. Especially wind I find.
      I love what you do with the curtains! This is a really good idea!
      The method to clean bottles is really good too! Thank you!
      Dishwashers dont tend to get inside anything so much so you are not missing out there.
      I hope the weather improves. Its too warm here and making everyone grumpy! (me included!) with love Annabel.xxx

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  12. HI Annabelle. Yes, I learned a lot from Flylady, and still call our cleaning routine 'house blessing'.

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    1. Dear Earthmotherwithin, Yes! The House blessing is a lovely thing. The car one is good too as it is so nice not having messy car. It is surprising how fast it can be done. You would be like me with "creative messes" I would think... projects just mean stuff is out! This is my biggest issue! With love Annabel.xxx

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  13. I just have to say thank you, as I read this post this morning and it motivated me to get a TON of cleaning done today! I even deep cleaned my 7 and 9 year Olds bedrooms, which is a major chore that I've been putting off (if anyone has tips on getting kids to keep their rooms clean...that would be handy :). I feel so accomplished now and am sitting admiring my mostly clean house!

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    1. Dear Leigh, Well done! Well I do have a tip kind of... when the girls were young and from about that age we used to about once a year have a whole day or more of the school holidays where we would "re do" bedrooms. It would involved a complete room change, re arrange, re decorate... of course this meant a spring clean, going through stuff, boxing thing sup etc. The girls loved it! They were so excited as it usually meant the bed in a new spot etc and a general improvement. But this massive clean was very refreshing and they loved to keep it nice.
      Other than that I say just dont have too much out, have routines and dont have food in bedrooms. Kids will generally help if you do things with them... and are bad at doing it alone (until bit older) so we would do things together and it would get done. Keep it very simple. It is so good you feel so happy with how things turned out! It IS a good feeling! With love Annabel.xxx

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    2. Thanks, Annabel! I love the idea to redecorate their rooms annually! My kids are getting old enough that I think they would love the creative process. They might even be more motivated to keep it clean if they had more of a hand in setting it up. Thank you!

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  14. Dear Annabel,

    You have me inspired! Actually, I am busy spring cleaning (in bursts) around here right now. Over the last few weeks we repainted and cleaned up our guest room, which felt wonderful, and now we are busy getting the tops of mouldings cleaned and walls dusted, fan blades wiped down, blinds cleaned, etc. One of my best cleaning "friends' is baking soda...it cuts through grease like you wouldn't believe! I am going to have to revisit your page for the Miracle Cleaner and see about whipping up a batch. It sounds like an easier solution to clean bathrooms, etc. with rather than baking soda and vinegar...which works well, but can be hard for the kids to work with when they are helping.

    I agree, sunshine is both motivating and the best disinfectant and deodorizer!!!

    Lots of love,

    Jen in NS

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  15. Dear Annabel and Friends, these are all great tips. What is the saying that two heads are better than one? Well, 22 heads are even better! I will add that I clean our polished wooden floors with methylated spirits, diluted 1:4 in a spray bottle, and a large industrial head polishing mop. It's one of those big flat ones. It takes no time at all, and is actually better for the floors than water. The smell of the spirits dissipates quickly, and it dries fast too. Although a hot water mop is necessary monthly, this is great for in between and really makes the wooden floors shine. Thankyou Lynette for mentioning my broom for cleaning bathrooms and tubs. It saves your back for sure. I also swear by the hottest water your hands (in rubber gloves) can stand, a teaspoon of dishwasher rinse aid in that, and microfiber cloths for cleaning windows and glass doors. Have a pile of the cloths, change the water frequently, and wipe with a cloth soaked in the hot water with rinse aid to clean, then dry with a dry cloth. Change the cloths frequently too. So quick. That's as much as I can think of at the moment. What a great discussion. Mimi xxx

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  16. I remembered reading about the Kmart mop in one of your posts and I've just been rereading posts until I found it. It's always good to get a personal recommendation about items, so I'm off to buy one from my local Kmart...many thanks Annabel!

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I really appreciate your comments thank you! The aim of my blog is the be a place of encouragement and happiness. Very rarely is anyone rude. Actually only twice so far! If you post a rude or aggressive comment I will read it but not publish it, thanks for understanding.xxx

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