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Spring Cleaning – The Bathroom

April 19, 2015 · by Maria · 3 Comments

Did you tackle your kitchen this past week with our Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen printable? Well today I have a new printable for you and a new set of tasks. We are deep cleaning the bathrooms this week.

We all have our cleaning rituals and it is so easy to forget spots that need attention, so I attached a list to help you stay on track.

Spring Cleaning in the Bathroom

1- Get rid of clutter inside cabinets and drawers.

2- Throw away expired cosmetics.

3- Shake out bathroom rugs and wash them.

4- Wash Towels and all bathroom linen.

5- Clean Toilets and don’t forget to clean behind the toilet, the flush handle and all the other crevices.

6- Scrub tub and shower area.

7- Clean sinks and counters.

8- Clean and shine faucets.

9- Wipe down the outside and inside of bathroom cabinets.

10- Wash shower curtain.

11- Remove trash from bathroom and clean the trash can. Tip: I always leave extra garbage bags in the bottom of all our trashcans to make it easier to replace the bags.

12- Clean mirrors with a glass cleaner.

13- Clean doors and doorknobs

14- Clean baseboards and moldings.

15- Sweep and mop floors.

Below is a free printable to help you along. You can check the tasks as you complete them or just place this sheet in your bathroom as a cleaning reference.

Natural Homemade Tile and Bath Scrub

April 11, 2015 · by Maria · Leave a Comment

Since we rolled out a Spring Cleaning challenge earlier this week, I thought I would share some natural cleaning recipes to use throughout the home. Below is a recipe that I use to clean my bathroom tile, bathtub and around the toilet.

Natural Bath, Tile and Toilet Scrub

What you need:

3/4 cup of baking soda

1/4 cup of castile liquid soap

1 tablespoon of water

1 tablespoon of vinegar

8 drops of Lemon essential oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the castile soap and the the baking soda.

2. Add the water and vinegar and stir.

3. Add the lemon essential oil and stir. It should look like a soft paste.

Stir in a jar and use to scrub tub, bathroom tile and around the toilet (especially where the toilet brim meets the tile grout).

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Spring Cleaning – The Kitchen

April 6, 2015 · by Maria · 8 Comments

Break out your leopard print cleaning gloves! It’s a Spring Cleaning Challenge!

If you are interested in following along, every week I will give you a list of spring cleaning tasks to complete and a free printable. We all have our individual daily cleaning routines, but we can easily forget little spots around the house, such as light switches. This week we will concentrate on the kitchen and you can find the corresponding printable below.

Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen

1- Clean out refrigerator and throw away any expired items, then give it a good cleaning. Carefully clean behind the refrigerator, where so much dust and particles gather. Also dust or vacuum the coils and clean the cover (after turning off the power at the circuit breaker or fuse box). Dust the top of the refrigerator. Change the refrigerator water filter if it is already needed.

2- After turning off the power at the circuit breaker or fuse box, defrost and clean the freezer. You can empty the contents of your freezer into a cooler, while you allow the freezer to come to room temperature. Wash all the shelves with a solution of 2 tablespoons of baking soda per quart of warm water. Rinse and dry.

3- Deep Clean Oven. My favorite product to clean the oven is Shaklee’s Scour Off but you can also make a baking soda paste by mixing baking soda and a few tablespoons of water. Put on your cleaning gloves and coat your oven with the baking soda mixture. Scrub down the oven and allow mixture to sit for a while. You can then spray a little vinegar onto the baking soda and scrub again. Wipe down oven making sure to get all the baking soda residue off the oven walls.

4- Deep Clean the Microwave. HERE is how I clean my microwave.

5- Deep Clean the stove and don’t forget to clean behind the stove. Also wash and dry the filter of the stove hood.

6- Clean the kitchen backsplash. I usually use Basic H mixed with water for all these tasks because it is a natural and effective cleaner but you can also use some warm water and a few drops of detergent.

7- Wipe down cabinets, paying special attention to the cabinets that are closest to the stove, which tend to be extra greasy. Also, don’t forget to wipe clean the cabinet knobs.

8- Dust or wash all the kitchen decorations. If you have utensils inside crocks, empty them and clean the container.

9- Deep Clean your dishwasher by running an empty cycle. I add this lemon dishwasher cleaner called Lemi Shine .

10- Wipe down appliances.

11- Clean and condition wooden cutting boards.

12- Dust kitchen light fixtures.

13- Give the kitchen wastebasket a good cleaning.

14- Give the floor a good cleaning.

15- Tell your husband that you absolutely need to order take-out tonight!

Enjoy!

This post contains a few affiliate links but they are all products I love and use. Thank you for your support of Graceful Order!

Welcome Spring 2015

April 2, 2015 · by Maria · Leave a Comment

Every week I look forward to the Wayfair Housewarming Party which is full of home decorating ideas! It features Wayfair bloggers as they share each other’s projects centered around a specific theme. Today’s theme is Spring decorating and guess what project is part of the feature? My “Spring Bridal Shower on a Budget“!

Check out this post full of Spring decorating ideas, by hopping over to The Honeycomb Home HERE.

Welcome Spring!

Organized Home Week 10 – The Family Room

March 26, 2015 · by Maria · 16 Comments

This is the last week of our “Organized Home” series and we end the week with the family room. This room gets a lot of ~~abuse~~ love from the whole family and needs some daily attention to keep it looking its best. Here is a list of things to help you organize the family room.

Make an activity list

Make a list of all the activities that take place in the family room, playing video games, board games, coloring, reading, watching TV… After your list is ready, you can decide where to create zones that support each activity.

Create a Game Center

Our entertainment center has doors along the bottom and they each have a different function. I usually opt for furniture pieces that offer storage, not just looks. Here is one of the cabinets open, this one holds our board games and the boys video games.

Make your coffee table work double-time.

If your coffee table has two levels, you can add bins or rolling baskets to the bottom. These are great to store throws, extra pillows, coasters or remote controls. Loose items are usually what make a space look cluttered so containerize your items.

Create storage for magazines

Sort through your magazines and get rid of the old ones or the ones that are torn. If you have magazines with recipes, it is best to rip out the page and create a binder full of recipes to try. This will really help in clearing out your space. The magazines that you love and can’t part with, can go inside a large basket or a tray. If you can’t access the magazines, you won’t read them.

Make the space reflect your style.

Spend the time to create a space that reflects your style. I love a home that is decorated over time and is as comfortable as it is beautiful. Decorating does not always equate dollar signs. You can “shop your home” and change pieces out from one room to another and create a whole new look. I love doing this and then I wonder how I didn’t think of placing that item there before.

Decorate with books.

I love decorating with books and I do this throughout the home. Adding a stack of books to a table adds height and visual interest.

Tidy up at the end of the day.

My family room during the day turns into nothing short of a disaster but when the boys are back in bed I use my systems to quickly pick-up. There are nights that I don’t do my nightly routine and the next morning it’s such a drag to walk into a messy room. Just like making the bed everyday, this is a task that takes very little time but makes a big difference in your mood throughout the day.