Classy and Opinionated Lifestyle Mom Blog
I enjoy sitting outside and watching the birds. Often times I catch the mother bird flying in and out of my birdhouses to feed her babies, which is always a real treat. Birdwatching is a great way to de-stress and relax. * This post contains …
Over the past few months I’ve been sharing with all of you some of my favorite homemade and DIY cleaning recipes. The recipes that I’ve been sharing with you are ones that I personally use in and around my home. I’m pretty happy that I’ve …
How many of you own those handy-dandy Swiffer mops? I know I do! Matter of fact, I own two of them and use them all of the time when cleaning the floors in my home. I love that they’re light-weight, take up very little space and that they’re easy-to-use.
While I love my Swiffer mop, I don’t enjoy running out to the store every 2 weeks to buy those Swiffer mop pad refills. It’s inconvenient, expensive and well, they’re not very eco-friendly at all.
Instead…I purchased a pack of micro-fiber cleaning cloths and use them to clean my floors! They attach right onto the bottom of your Swiffer mop and are 100% reusable! Just toss them into your washing machine and hang them up to air dry. You never want to use fabric softener when laundering them and it’s best to air dry them.
You can use just plain tap water, a store-bought floor cleaner or whip up your own homemade solution to clean-up your floors. In addition, you can use them when “dry dusting” your floors too! The micro-fiber cloths that I purchased fit perfectly onto the bottom of my mop and I use them all of the time!
A few more great uses: Use the Swiffer mop with the micro-fiber cloths to wipe down your outside house siding (great way to remove winter debris), to scrub down the inside of your swimming pool and pool ladder, wash the roof of your car, wash down your outdoor lawn furniture and more! You can use it for more jobs than just cleaning your floors!
You can find some great homemade cleaning solution recipes right here on the blog. If you’re looking for a fabulous outdoor cleaning solution that works great on cleaning up your home’s siding, the outdoor furniture, the kid’s toys, etc. I highly recommend Krud Kutter! We use it all of the time on our outdoor cleaning projects.
* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site. Thank you!
Two weeks ago the local fire department came out and did a “control burn” of a home that sits directly across the street from us. The home owner sold the house and the new owners wanted the house burned down & demolished. To save money …
It’s March, and that means spring cleaning is on the horizon. As with beauty and culinary pursuits, lemons and other citrus fruits can also support DIY cleaning endeavors. Citrus fruits retain seemingly endless properties that make them the DIY spring-cleaner’s secret weapon and a key …
Each spring, as warmer weather arrives, the encroachment of insects on your home might be something you think of as inevitable. Multiple types of ants, roaches, and flies are all common house pests that probably seem to multiply out of nowhere to invade your home, but there are ways to combat them. Keeping a clean house can go a long way in preventing bugs from getting cozy there, and there are a few simple cleaning strategies you can employ to make these unwelcome guests look elsewhere for food and nesting opportunities.
Ants have powerful jaws that are capable of chewing through cardboard food containers, such as cereal boxes. Once they find a food source, they will invade in their hundreds and get into your cabinets and pantry. One was to deter ants is to store your cereal and other dry goods in glass jars with durable, screw-on lids. Not only will this prevent the ants from smelling available food, tightly-sealed jars can prevent them from getting at it.
Although these jars can prevent ants from infesting your food, it is a good idea to store the jars in a cupboard instead of the counter. This additional measure may prevent house flies from leaving behind germs on the surface of the glass as they try to access the food inside.
You may love fruit like apples, peaches, and bananas at room temperature, but once spring comes, swarms of fruit flies may appear to enjoy them as well. While storing your fruit in the fridge is one solution, another is to keep it under a glass cake dish. This makes a wide array of fruit visually pleasing while keeping fruit and house flies from feasting on it. Make sure your dish has a firm seal, as small flies can crawl into the tiniest of cracks.
Food prep areas can be a feeding area for bugs when they are not cleaned properly. One bug that might be particularly attracted to dirty countertops and dishes is the cockroach. These insects eat virtually anything and can multiply under your sinks and fridge before you even realize they are there. Because they can spread disease and cause health problems once they infest an area, they can be more dangerous than other types of pests.
Because roaches might reach your home via your home’s plumbing, keeping your sinks clean can also be an important factor in repelling them. Rinse coffee grounds down your kitchen sink to mask food odors and lock your drain plugs at night, as these pests are mostly nocturnal and will forage while you sleep.
The first line of defense against an insect invasion can be your home’s perimeter, so having it treated by a professional pest control company can turn troublesome pests away before they reach your door. Traps, baits, and chemical borders can assist your efforts to keep bugs away, and these professionals can give you additional advice about how to make your home unappealing to ants, roaches, and other insects that can infest in the thousands.
Living with insects is a fact of life, but you do not have to share your happy home with them. Keeping your home clean and cutting off food supplies and entrance routes closed can help keep bugs outdoors where they belong.
How many of you love using those name-brand fabric softener crystals that you toss into the washing machine to make your laundry (clothes) softer? I admit, I used to be a HUGE user of those Purex Fabric Softener Crystals, until I started making my own. …
Cleaning the kitchen is something that I do almost every day of the week. On most days I’ll spend about 30 minutes cleaning things up, including doing the dishes. With that said, once or twice a week my kitchen gets a good overall cleaning. Here …