3 Products + 3 Tools + 1 Machine = All I need to greenly clean my home

We all have a super-power. For awhile, mine was washing dishes. Lately it's become cleaning my house. I'm an organizer, so sure, I do it quickly...but what makes this my "super power" is the efficient use of tools and minimal product needs. Let me share my process.

3 Products

1) Home Soap
Showers, floors (tiles, wood, linoleum), sinks, counters, refrigerators, gerbils, dishes...this soap cleans everything. Gentle enough for your pets, strong enough for your toilet.

2) Borax
In the shower if there’s a hint of mildew or soap scum, I mix a little borax in with my Home Soap and scrub it away. I also toss a half cup of Borax in with every load of laundry and sprinkle it in the bottom of the garbage can to control odors. Borax was launched in 1891 and using it makes me feel like I’m honoring my grandmothers.

3) Vinegar + Water in a Spray Bottle
I use this for windows, mirrors and chrome faucets. Keep it away from tile/grout because it’s hungry and likes to eat it. Also a good disinfectant but I don’t believe in disinfecting, I believe in good housekeeping (which makes disinfecting a non-issue).

3 Tools

4) Rubbermaid Reveal Mop
I don’t mop, I “Reveal.” Green companies have been making similar mops for awhile but this one you can find at Home Depot! Make your own detergent (mine is just Home Soap + Water...surprise!) and spray as you go. The removable head is washable and therefore reusable. It sucks up everything.

5) Flex Neck TnT Scrubber
The best tool I’ve ever used to scrub down the inside of a tub or shower. You can stand outside the tub and use the telescoping pole and save your back from breaking. Also great for spot cleaning floor stains.

6) Micro Fiber Telescoping Duster
Dusting is fun again! This tool telescopes out to 54 inches long so you can get those ceiling fan blades and tops of bookshelves. The tip also hinges (like a wrist) so you don’t have to contort you body or standing position to get things on the horizontal. As if that weren’t enough, the duster itself is reusable! Just hand wash or toss in your laundry and use it again and again.

telescoping, hinged duster

 

1 Machine

7) Vacuum Cleaner
I dream of owning a Dyson. Someday I’ll make that a reality (a girl can dream, right?). In the mean time, I just use a regular canister vac. The key to cleaning efficiently with a vacuum is to dust first and have the vacuum running in the room where you’re dusting. No matter how thirsty your micro-fiber duster is, any dusting just kicks up stuff into the air. Having the vacuum cleaner going while you dust cuts down on the spreading around factor.

That's it folks. Those are the 7 things I use to clean my home. Simple, effective tools are the keys to organized housekeeping. 

Guest Blog Post: Organizing Manuals & Warranties

In a recent email, my aunt Eileen demystified the world of organizing manuals and warranties! I guess organizing runs in the family! I felt her email would help everyone and so I've turned it into a blog post for all of us to learn from. I made a few comments in italics. Thanks aunt Eileen!

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Eileen wrote:

Hi – maybe you already do this, but I just did it.

     I don't do this, but I should!

We needed a new light portion for a ceiling fan and before I could order it, I needed the model number, which was on top of the fan and nearly impossible to get. But Wayne stood on a stool and pulled off the sticker.

     Nothing like some acrobatics to inspire a new organizing system!

As a result I spent a couple of days and gathered all of my appliance booklets for several places in the house. Then I made a sheet that lists the item, make, model number, serial number, when purchased, where purchased, length of warranty and whether or not the receipt is available. I probably should have also listed whether or not I registered it, the date, and whether it was on line or not.

    I think the fact that you're doing this at all earns you some major organizing points!

Then I put the sheet with all of the documentation for that item in a transparent sheet protector and put everything in 2 binders. One has the major appliances and the other has the small appliances and garage stuff, like snow blowers and lawn mowers. And then I made a Table of Contents for each binder (after searching for one for the thermostat) and a label on the outside.

Now, nothing goes in the binder unless it has a receipt attached, etc.

And I feel tons better knowing that the task is done. Most of my friends say it is on their To-Do list but they never get around to it.

  Now that you've walked us through it, I think it will be 100 times easier! THANKS!

Electronics Recycling 101; Give me your slow, your unchargeable, your out of date...

In a bizarre but informative paragraph on the NYC.gov website they say that New Yorkers will be allowed to throw their electronics (minus rechargeable batteries) in the trash until 2015. At which time, should we try to toss our electronics in the garbage, they will magically ricochet back out and a holographic elf will appear reminding us that NOW, now that it's 2015 we must recycle our electronics. Ok, that second part I made up, but really, why wait until 2015?

Here are 3 resources for easy (free shipping! they send you the box! they pay you!) ways to recycle your old electronics:


1) YouRenew.com

• Offered me $19 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Donate to AmericanForests.org (or) CarbonFund.org (your choice) for every item of yours that they take
• Credit Card/Account not necessary to be paid
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Green certified site

2) Gazelle.com

• Offered me $7 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping if your item qualifies
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Green certified site

3) BuyMyTronics.com

• Offered me $6 for my old cell phone
• Free shipping if your item is of value
• Wipes out personal info from your device
• Recycles items that cannot be reused
• Takes broken items
• Site runs on wind power and has a cute icon
• Green certified site

More great resources
Tekserve EWaste Recycling event - Bring it, they'll deal with it on October 9th 2010!! (thanks Ashley!)
NY Stuff Exchange - NYC's give, sell, buy, rent, and repair website.
NYC WasteLess Event Calendar - Find the next recycling event in your area

The Label-Maker: Companion or Crutch?

Should a revolution take place in the organizing community today, no doubt the label-maker would provide a rallying point. At the center of this fictional revolution I would stand, a rebel, decrying the virtues of these small machines that so efficiently spit out words like recycling, outgoing and pencils.

“But,” you might ask, “sorting and labeling are the bread and butter of the organizing trade, are they not?”

“I couldn’t agree more, my plucky friend!” I would retort from my soap-box. “It’s not the activity, it’s the reliance, the dependence on these little rectangular strips of paper to give one a sense of order. I believe we can move towards organizing systems that are so efficient, so transparent, that labels become unnecessary.”

“When I finish with a kitchen reorganization, for example, I want my clients to feel like they have x-ray vision with all of their drawers and cupboards. They should know what lurks behind every cabinet because the items there are logically and efficiently placed. Similar items live together, and items that are used most are handiest while items used occasionally are farther away.”

“But surely,” you might assert, “labels and label-makers must be useful sometimes.”

“Ah, too true,” I agree with a vigorous nod, “too true! In any place where there is a high volume of people in contact with the same organizing system, labels are essential to keep things in order. An office supply closet in a large company is a good example of this, with temps and part-timers coming in and out on a regular basis. But in a home or small office, let logic and transparency reign in lieu of labels.”

This revolution will probably never take place, but I’ll stand firm that labels are not essentially the mark of an organized space. Often, they are used as a crutch to justify the location of badly organized set of items. I mean, if you’re going to insist on keeping the paperclips with the tea towels, I suppose you had better label them.