- You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty. -Cecil Baxter
- A perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life. -Mary Randolph Carter
- Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance. -Phyllis Diller
- Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling during a blizzard. – Margaret Culkin Banning
- Your home is living space, not storage space. -Francine Jay
- In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. -Mary Poppins
- A new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom knows the corners.-Irish saying
- Everybody wants to save the earth; no one wants to help mom do the dishes. -P.J. O’Rourke
- Why can’t the house clean itself? It seems to get itself dirty. -unknown
- There’s something about a clean house, a clean room. It does wonders for the psyche.- Brian Sansoni
- Cleaning and organizing is a practice, not a project. -Meagan Francis
- A clean place makes a happy space. -unknown
- Excuse the mess, but we live here. -Roseanne Barr
- Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don’t do it.-unknown
- Housework is like cleaning fish. No matter how often you do it, it still stinks.-Thelma Harper
- Cleaning is just putting stuff in less obvious places. -unknown
- My house was clean last week…Sorry you missed it. -unknown
- At worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived. -Rose Macaulay
- This is a self-cleaning kitchen. Clean up after yourself. -unknown
- Nothing inspires cleaning more than an unexpected guest. -Radhika Mundra
It’s that time of year again. We all know what’s coming.
January 17 is officially Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day. This year, you don’t have to participate in the failure fiesta. Here is a guide to making–and keeping–fruitful and meaningful New Year’s Resolutions.
What is your why?
In a day and age where New Year’s Resolutions have become more of an April Fool’s joke, why are you really trying to make one? The number one way to make sure you keep your resolution is to only make one if you are serious about committing to it. If you start out half-heartedly, you’ll be lucky to make it to the 17th. If you are really passionate about your goal, it is much more likely to come true.
We’ve surveyed a few resolution makers, and their answers vary from “Being healthy for my kids,” to “Improving my quality of life.” No matter what your “why” is, you need one.
What is your plan?
If you go on a road trip without a map, it is highly unlikely you will reach your destination without getting lost, if you reach it at all. Similarly, if you set a goal without making a plan, the odds of meeting your goal are slim to none.
Making SMARTER goals is an easy way to ensure you have a fool-proof plan in place to help you meet them. SMARTER goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
- Evaluate
- Re-assess
You can read more about SMARTER goals here.
What is your focus?
Setting goals is great, but if we only focus on the result we end up very disappointed. So many elements of life are out of our control that the final result is often a lot of effort mixed with a bit of luck.
So, let’s turn that upside down. Focus on the effort, not the end product. If you make effort based resolutions, you are likely to feel more successful which will help you to stay dedicated to them.
What’s your resolution?
We want to know what you are going to do this year to make 2018 the best year ever. Share your New Year’s Resolutions in the comments!
—> We’ve rounded up the best DIY Laundry tips and hacks that make laundry actually fun! A little bit of TLC can go a long way when you’re doing the laundry. Enjoy these classic cleaning tips —>
1) DIY Laundry Scent Booster
Via Simply Shellie
2) DIY Laundry stain Remover
Via She Knows
Do you have a tough stain on your clothing? This handy guide will tell you how to remove stains from different fabrics. Read on for natural stain removing tips! –> Click HERE! + Printable
3) DIY All-in-One Laundry Bombs
Via PopSugar
Enjoy the convenience of laundry bombs, but without all the expense. Bonus? You’ll know exactly what is in them! —> Click HERE!
4) DIY Reusable Dryer Sheets
Via The Mama’s Girls
Ditch that fabric softener and those store bought dryer sheets and try these Reusable DIY Homemade Dryer Sheets and fabric softener –> Click HERE!
5) DIY Better Smelling Towels
Over time, your bath towels will build up detergent and fabric softener residue. This not only attracts SMELLY mildew, it can essentially “waterproof” your towels. If water can’t get into the fabric to clean it, the towel won’t BE or SMELL clean. Here’s an easy fix:
–> Click Here!
6) Homemade Liquid Fabric Softener
This homemade liquid fabric softener can be used in your washing machine just like commercial softeners! Here’s how to make your own liquid fabric softener.
1. Add 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil to a one-gallon jug of white vinegar.
2. Close the lid and give it a good shake.
3. When it’s time to do your laundry, shake it once again, and use 1/3 cup per load.
That’s it!
7) DIY Clean Your Washer
Via I Heart Naptime
Here is the easiest way to clean your washer …all it takes is ONE ingredient and a few minutes to leave your washer smelling squeaky clean. –> Click HERE!
What are some of YOUR favorite laundry room tips, tricks, and hacks? Leave a comment below and share the love.
Summer’s in full swing. If you get a case of “summer overwhelm” and need some housecleaning help, give us a call for a simple and quick over the phone quote: 541-601-6236.
Our homes can become cluttered without us realizing it. This is especially true during the transition from winter to spring. Generally speaking, we’ve spent more time inside our homes during the winter. We have accumulated more stuff during the holidays. And the motivation to get stuff done is typically lowest during the winter months. But if your lack of space is becoming a real problem then it might be worth looking at storage containers for rent. With Spring on the horizon, we’ve put together a handful of super handy DIY Home Hacks and Home Storage Solutions to help keep our homes organized and clutter free. And of course, it is always fun looking at the different DIY products others have done and learning more about DIY from places like https://howtohome.com/.
DIY HOME HACK #1. Eliminate Paper Clutter Forever!
Via Design Sponge
—> Clipboards! Any desk is bound to get messy at some point, but there are certain items that you need to have within arm’s reach 24/7. These DIY gold and acrylic clipboards keep papers and notes all together and easy to access. Click Here!
DIY HOME HACK #2. DIY Clothes Pin Scarf Holder
Via Sally Ann
—> Scarf Holder! Scarves are easily tangled, lost, or damaged and organizing them can be a pain. We are always looking for ways to organize our plethora of scarves. We’re pretty sure you can think of a dozen other brilliant ways to use this clever clothespin holder. Click Here!
DIY HOME HACK #3. Organize The Mail
Via Design Sponge
–> DIY: Nature Office Organizer. Bring nature in—along with your mail! Try this DIY home hack with a simple, mossy mail organizer. Click Here!
DIY HOME HACK #4. DIY Book Shelf
Via wikiHow
5. DIY Food Storage
—> Glass Jars: Banish all commercial packaging for a clean, natural effect. You don’t need to hide your baking products behind pantry doors when they’re stored so beautifully. Easy DIY home hack –> Click Here!
DIY HOME HACK #6. Easy DIY Magnetic Knife Strip
Via Turning It Home
—> Magnetic Knife Strip! Proudly display your collection of knives and keep them within reach. After all, this is a work-space and chefs need their tools handy. Click Here!
DIY HOME HACK #7. Under Your Sink
Via Martha Stewart
—> Tension Rod Storage! Who knew your housecleaning products could look so cool? Conquer under-the-sink chaos and clutter with the help of a humble little tension rod. Suddenly housecleaning and storage doesn’t seem so daunting. Click Here!
Which of these hacks are you planning to use in your home? Chat with us about your favorite storage solutions in the comments.
As always, if you would like help with your organization projects, contact us today. Our team of trained professionals would be happy to help give your space the organization treatment!
Start the conversation here:
With the Holidays mere days away, you may be finding yourself stumped for ideas, or needing some inspiration for wrapping ideas. We’ve got you covered. This week we offer up some bright DIY gift ideas plus brilliant ninja gift wrapping tips. You may want to share this with a friend. You’ll make their day!
Turn an Old Book into a Gift Bag
Gift Bag – Try Upcycling your wrapping this year with an affordable alternative to the standard wrapping paper. Use recycled paper, stamps, and a dash of creativity to create a gift bag they’ll remember. —> Click Here.
Origami Pyramid Gift Boxes
Via Lines Across
Origami Gift – When you are giving someone a small gift like jewelry, this is a very fun alternative to a standard jewelry box. Make your own pyramid gift box instead. The tutorial is incredibly simple to understand at a glance. Cut the paper as shown, fold it, and tie it at the top to close it. The box is easily reusable too! –> Click Here.
Wrap with Fabric
Via Julep
Knotted Fabric Box – Okay, boxes can be hard to wrap, but can you tie a bow? That’s all you need to do to turn a swath of fabric into a smart-looking gift bundle. This is a no-sew design and it is incredibly easy to put together in just a few quick steps using the tutorial. It’s a fun, bright, and colorful way to use scraps of fabric to wrap your gifts. –> Click Here.
DIY Soap: The Gift of Clean
Via Soap Recipes101
Mocha Soap Recipe: This is a soap that looks good enough to eat! This soap contains a variety of rich oils including coconut, palm and grapeseed oils. The addition of cocoa butter and coffee creates a truly yummy scent. –> Click Here.
Via
Home Spa Gift – Whether you keep them for yourself or give them as a gift, these adorable little things are bound to make someone’s day a whole lot less stressful. Bath bombs are skyrocketing in popularity. Why? They’re pretty, fragrant, fizzy, and unique. These are made from scratch with nourishing coconut oil. Give the gift of relaxation –> Click Here.
Beard Oil is the Perfect gift for the bearded man in your life. Sadly, there’s no Hallmark card for “I want to kiss you every day of my life, but your beard is giving me road rash.” Fortunately, there IS this. He can now maintain a beard that’s wonderfully styled, great smelling, and soft to the touch. —-> Click Here.
If the holidays get stressful or the winter doldrums set in, here is one sure-fire way to combat the blues: hot cocoa! Here is everything you need to create a custom hot cocoa bar.–> Click Here.
Are you trying any new gift wrapping techniques this year? Have any new DIY gift ideas? Tell us your tips & tricks in the comments!
The key to a successful holiday is planning. Know what needs to get done, when it needs to be done, and how much manpower and time it’s going to take. Consider these 5 Tools to Remove Stress from the Holidays.
1. Allergy-Free Treats For Kids (Or Adults!)
Via Taste of Home
No matter the course, crowd or allergy concerns, these allergy-free recipe ideas will help keep your sanity and make your guests feel welcome. —> CLICK HERE
2. 10 Chef-Approved Solutions to Common Holiday Fails
Via Real Simple
Real Simple addresses common problems for holiday meals: cold mashed potatoes, too sweet yams, dry turkey, and more in these 10 Chef approved solutions. —–> CLICK HERE
3. Delegate!
Hosting the big holiday meal doesn’t have to mean you have to do everything! Consider throwing a potluck. Not only does this spread the work around, but it also allows other people to share in the culinary glory. Take them up on their offer: “What can I do to help?” Ask your friends to bring something to share or help with set up or clean up. Best of all, other cooks can introduce you to their specialties, which might then become new traditions in your home.
4. Stress-Free Kitchen Cleaning
The kitchen is usually the hub of the home and with a few key quick cleaning fixes you can keep this room Stress-Free.
- Clean range or stove top, surfaces, and grates.
- Clean out the refrigerator before the big meal, making room for party foods.
- Clean and shine kitchen sink.
- Wipe down all large and small appliances.
- Wipe down kitchen cabinets.
- Create space in the kitchen for holiday entertaining by filling a box with kitchen items you won’t be using and moving it elsewhere. Now you have room for the holiday serving dishes, punch bowl, silver, and other items you’ll be using during the holidays.
Freshen your home with herbs like lavender and chamomile. Fill a spray bottle with 20 drops of lavender essential oil, 1 teaspoon vodka and water to create a linen spray. Lavender is known to reduce stress, promote calm and aide in relaxation. Mist bed linens, lamp shades, shower curtains and drapes. Grind up lavender and chamomile with baking soda in a food processor to sprinkle on rugs and carpets to remove odor. Just leave overnight and vacuum the next day.
*** Bonus Holiday Cleaning Tip: choose essential oils in holiday scents, like peppermint or pine, to spray sofas and drapes other living spaces.
Have A Great Stress-Free Holiday Tip? Share it in the comments below!
Want more holiday de-stressing tips?
9 More Ways to De-Stress This Holiday Season
Via Pop Sugar
Make sure you enjoy the holidays. Follow these additional 9 tips for removing stress from your holiday experience. —> CLICK HERE
9 Ways to Entertain Your Child Without a Smartphone
For those of us who have spent time with small children in public places, we’ve all been there. You know, when they get tired, bored, hungry…and therefore, cranky? Your heart beats a little faster, your eyes check the room for those “looks”, and you need a solution – fast. And you want to entertain your child without a smartphone.
If your go-to solution is an electronic device, you may enjoy a short reprieve, but you may also wonder what kind of pattern you’re helping to establish.
Reaching for an electronic device anytime you feel bored or unhappy may not be the healthiest option to impart. Learning to interact with people, and learning to entertain yourself are healthier AND doable strategies.
Crayons, paper, pens? Good choices. What if you’re without your usual bag of tricks? Here are 9 ways to entertain your child without a smartphone. And avoid the oncoming apocalyptic meltdown.
1. Name That Tune
Get your Frank Sinatra or Barbra Streisand on and hum a familiar song like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or “Old McDonald,” and see if they can: a) name it, b) complete a line c) sing along for as long as possible.
2. What’s Missing?
Try this at a restaurant. Grab several objects, like silverware, packets, stir sticks and place them on the table. Instruct your sweetie pie to take a good look. Cover your collection with a napkin, and carefully remove one of the items without them being able to tell which one. This is your chance to be Houdini! Remove the napkin and ask which one is missing. Repeat as many times as possible. Try role reversal. They’ll love “fooling” you!
Also, check out this easy travel game –> Which Ninja Is Missing? An Awesome Memory Game For your Kids. It’s such a fun game that takes ZERO time to set up and keeps your kiddo completely interested and focused. Ninjas always rock, right?!
3. Who Am I?
Choose an animal and play whatever version of 20 question your child is suited for. “Do you crawl?” “Do you swim?” When they guess correctly, spend some time making whatever animal sound it makes.
4. Touch Something That Is….
Find objects in your surrounding of different colors. Ask them, “Can you touch something that is X?” If your location is suitable for walking around, you can go mobile.
5. Shape Hunt
Ask your children if they can see anything around them with a certain shape. “Do you see a circle?” “What do you see that’s a triangle?”
6. I Spy
It’s the classic! Certainly solid territory for a little older child able to process this guessing game. Choose something both of you can see, then say, “I spy something, and it starts with ____.” If your child has a basic understanding of the alphabet and a modest vocabulary, fill in the blank with a letter. “I spy something, and it begins with the letter C.” It can help to sound it out: “Ca-Ca-Ca.” For the preliterate set who knows only their colors or shapes, substitute those categories instead. You can also describe the objects’ properties: “I spy something, and it’s rough and scaly/smooth and shiny.”
7. What Is Different?
This one requires a pen and paper. Divide the paper into a quadrant. Draw the same shape in three of the squares, but draw a different one in the fourth. Examples: 3 cats, one elephant. Have them point shape that’s different. You can make a more advanced version for older children.
Toddler Pattern Sort and Drop Game Make a toddler motor skills activity using pattern cards to sort and drop! This is early math and fine motor skills in an easy, DIY game using recycled materials.
8. Simple Riddles
Riddles can be fun for you to come up with and for your child to solve. For example: “I 
have four legs and am covered in fluffy white wool. What I am?” or “I’m shaped like a circle, I have two hands, and numbers all around me. What am I?” Need a little inspiration?
Check out –> 15 Fall Riddles and Jokes for Kids
9. Hidden in the Hand
Show your kid your open empty hands. Place an object like your keys in one of your hands and close both hands. Put your hands behind your back and switch the object back and forth between them. Bring your closed hands back in front of you, and ask your child to guess which hand the object is in.
So, there they are:
9 Ways to Entertain Your Child without a smartphone.
Do you have some tried and true non-electronic kid entertaining ideas? Leave your tip in the comments below.
Ideas found in The Everything Toddler Activities Book via The Art of Manliness Blog.
Here Are 6 of America’s Most Heroic Dogs and They Are AMAZING!
Do you have a soft spot for heroic dogs? Remember TV classics like Lassie or heart-warming family films like Homeward Bound? Stories of dogs rescuing their humans (or even complete strangers) captures our love and affection like few things do. Real-life dogs rescuing real-life humans is even more compelling. Here are 6 true accounts of dogs who saved people from peril.
1. Dog Saves Extreme Athlete
When an extreme athlete plunges 60 feet down a canyon onto solid rock in the remote Utah wilderness, she’s trapped in the desert with horrific internal injuries. Dying slowly with just her dog for support, she faces the endurance challenge of her life. Click video below:
Via Animal Planet 
.
2. Meet Whizz: The #1 Water Rescue Dog In The World
Who’s 168 pounds, stands 6 feet tall on his hind legs, has webbed paws, and is a hero along with being totally adorable? That would be Whizz, the gentle giant Newfoundland dog whose strength, courage, and training give him the ability to save as many as a dozen people at once. Now that’s some dog! Click HERE for story.
Video on Whizz below:
3. The Chihuahua who Saved a Baby from a Rattlesnake
Booker West, a 1-year-old boy was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents’ northern Colorado backyard when a snake slithered up to the toddler, rattled and struck. Five-pound Zoey jumped in the way and took the bites. Click HERE for full story.
A dog saves his owner’s life by smelling cancer. This BBC Earth production discusses the keen “sixth” sense that dogs and other animals exhibit. Max, a 9-year-old Red Collie cross, was able to smell the cancer in his owner, Maureen, even before doctor’s scans could detect the disease. Click video below:
Via BBC
5. Hero Dog Uses iPhone To Call 911 And Save Owner’s Life!
Meet Major, a Labrador retriever / pit bull mix, who spends his days with owner Terry McGlade, a U.S. Marine who suffers from PTSD and seizures after being wounded by an IED in Afghanistan. When McGlade had a seizure earlier this month, Major, a trained rescue dog, knew exactly what to do: He called for help. Not by whining or barking, but by pawing at McGlade’s iPhone. Click HERE for more of this amazing story!
6. Man’s Best Friend – Arsonists’ Worst Nightmare
Kai is a fire detection dog with the San Antonio Fire Department. Picked up off the streets by animal control officers after being abandoned by her owners, this pup escaped euthanasia when a humane society representative noticed her drive and energy while playing at the shelter. She’s worked more than 200 investigations, and also helps educate kids on fire safety. Click HERE for full story.
How did your canine come to your rescue?
Tell us YOUR story in the comment section below.
P.S. Did You Know these Amazing Things Your Dog Can Sense About You?
- Dogs Know When You Are Sad – When you feel sad, your dog will immediately pick up on this and adjust his behavior accordingly. He may become more subdued than usual, lose interest in his toys and even refuse his food.
- Dogs Can Sense Your Intentions – It turns out that dogs use eye contact and gaze to figure out what people are thinking. Just as a mentalist will follow your gaze to determine what is on your, so too will dogs follow your gaze to get a read on what you are thinking.
- Dogs Understand When You Feel Scared – If you feel scared, your dog will know about it in an instant. A dog’s sensitive nose can pick up on subtle scents, such as adrenaline, that he associates with fear and danger.
- Dogs Know When You Are Being Unfair – One reason that dogs understand fairness is from their roots as wolves. Researchers have found that, because wolves must coordinate as a pack to hunt, they depend upon rules of fairness to survive.
