simplify.

So, as I mentioned the other day... { Everything must have a "home"!  If it doesn't fit, nicely, it needs to go }  Therefore, I have been on a "simplify the house cleaning extravaganza" Between my desire for our house to be clean & tidy AND my new found cleaning system, I feel like a new woman! And my house is looking awesome!  

Here are a few things I've done...

               Fridge: AFTER (don't have a before, sadly)            Laundry room: AFTER*    
 
*Our iron & ironing board used to be where the brooms are hanging -- but I moved them upstairs & hung them in our bedroom (in an out of the way place that you can't see from our bed!) I figured this way we will actually iron when we pull a shirt out vs needing to go downstairs to do it!

                                 Pantry: BEFORE                                          Pantry: AFTER

   Pantry: BEFORE                                          Pantry: AFTER

My weekly "3 times a week" extra chore list is actually getting crossed off! YEAH!

My home thanks you.

I have been trying to get a good cleaning system down for our home for... well, 6 years now... and sadly it has been 6 years of new ideas after new ideas.  Apparently I'm not so great at sticking to routines!  I long to have my home be perfectly organized, decorated, comfortable, beautiful AND CLEAN { as Amy put it, cozy, cute & clean -- I like that! } Sadly, clean just seems to always be the kicker!  And that grosses me out!

BUT, thanks to Amy, I THINK I found one that works!  I haven't been perfect at it (yet).  But, seriously, this is the closest I've ever gotten! YEAH!!!!

Here's the system:
(I modified it to fit my house & weekly routine -- do the same to make it your own! See Amy's version here)

Mondays: Laundry Day + meal plan & grocery + toy rotation (not included in 25 min) 

(I chose to do laundry this day b/c our Mondays are a part of travel for us a lot & laundry is something I can easily do when we get home-- plus its great to throw everything from our suitcase right into the wash!)

Tuesdays:  Downstairs only: Dust + Floors (vacuum + mop kitchen) 

Wednesdays: Bathrooms

Thursdays: Upstairs: Dust + Floors  

Fridays: Wash Bed Sheets  

(my Friday's are really busy, so just doing one load of sheets is actually tangible & so lovely to enjoy the fresh sheets for the weekend!)

Saturday: Yard work

Sunday: Sabbath. Rest. The house has been cleaned.  

Kitchen: clean as its dirty (daily wipe down for us!)

Daily: a 10 minute pick up before bed

Some rules:

-Each daily chore should take no longer than 25 minutes.

-Let kids help me with the chore 

-Resist moving on to another area. Rest. It’s clean and done.

3 Times a Week:

-choose 3 areas in my house to organize, de-clutter and remove “stuff” to keep things simple. This will help to not spend –  see what “things” take up time already.

-This should also have a 20 minute time on it – when 20 is up I need to either come back to it again or it’s done.

-have a box/bin for my car that is Goodwill bound - drop it off when it’s full (I keep ours in the garage)

{ cozy, cute & clean ideas }

> Check out Norwex! They are a green cleaning supplies company -- I'm obsessed... even though I don't have anything yet :) But it's on my wish list!!! So I'll let you know more when I get some stuff! *Goal: buy all Norwex products = never buy another nasty chemical cleaning product again! Whoo hoo!

> Daily goal: clean after each meal ASAP -- put dishes in dishwasher/hand wash, wipe table, sweep floor (under little man's high chair) -- and the backup plan for when "life gets in the way" is to do all this before I go to bed... leave no mess behind!  Bonus for those late, tired nights when I don't want to touch one more dish = wake up to a sparkling kitchen ready for a new day of mess!!

> Everything must have a "home"!  If it doesn't fit, nicely, it needs to go.  My thought is, if we don't have a  lot of stuff (period) AND if what we do have we really love & it has a lovely place to call home then it will be more difficult for clutter/mess to happen.... when we get it out, put it away. Don't have a lot, don't clean a lot. Done. 

> new obsession: chalkboards!  I have one in our master bathroom (well...2!) One is for my hubs & I to leave notes for each other (encouraging or reminders).  And one is very small, for scripture verses, so I am reminded of Truth first thing in the morning :)  My third is in the kitchen.

Do you have any cozy, cute & clean ideas??

project time.

I've been going crazy all summer with all these ideas & no resources to do them!  (or space in our car to bring it home...)  So FINALLY I get to get my creativeness going & fill our house, turning my ideas into reality.  

First on my list.  { Chalkboard for our kitchen }

It was perfect timing.  I was driving Wes around the other night (since he has a double ear infection, bed time has been a disaster-- so car rides it is!!)  and drove by a house with all kinds of stuff in front with a sale sign.  Who would expect a garage sale at 8pm on a Friday night!?  So I pulled over.  Almost drove off immediately.  But I reversed, because this frame caught my eye!!  I asked the man how much... $4!!!!  I love Oxford!  I didn't have any cash on me... and he was totally just going to give it to me & gave me his card & told me to call him when I got the $$.  WOW!  Well, since I was just driving to drive Wes asleep, I drove home, got some cash & drove back.  I must say, probably one of my best finds!!!

I bought a wood board today - sprayed it with the chalkboard paint - took out the horrible painting that was inside - put hooks on the back to hang it up - and done!  

*I used this to hold it in place so you can write without the frame moving around.

What's extra great is that the way the frame is there is a huge "lip" up top that holds the chalk!  And you can't even really see it :)

You can see the grain a little bit through the chalkboard paint... Which I debated if I liked that or not.  But, it writes like butter since its wood (I've tried glass before). So my conclusion is that I love it!

Here it is:

My second project... Yes. I did 2.  In one day (partly because we were trying to let Wes "cry it out" so he was upstairs for a long time... never cried it out...that's a whole other story)  


Anyways... Here it is:

{ A doorstop }

All it is is rope coiled together held together by hot glue.  And there is a plastic baggie with sand inside to give it some extra weight.  That's it.  

Hopefully its a "baby friendly" door stop, because the plan is for it to hold Wes' door open in his bedroom (we quickly realized the ceramic baseball player was not baby proof!)  

We'll see if the rest of my days before work really begins again next week look like this one.  Probably not.  But I'll keep you updated!

Oh Billy Buttons.

Isn't that just the funniest/cutest name?!  They are also known as "billy balls," or "woolyheads"  

That just makes me giggle.  And I love that. 

{ via love made me do it }

Oh billy buttons. I adore you.

*And this is a pretty genius idea for getting the same look for A LOT less: DIY Billy Buttons 

jewelry problem solved.

Literally for years I have been looking for a way to organize my necklaces.  But I've never found the right thing.  It's always been either too short, or I just think it's ugly.


Then I got creative.  All with things I had laying around our house!  And it only took a few minutes!  And finally... my jewelry problem is solved!










I used the same lovely linen fabric that I used to make the slipcover for our new ottoman (post coming soon about that)

I wrapped some cork board with the linen -- used flat push pins to hold it in place.  Then nailed it to the wall -- one nail per corner.  Then used other push pins to hold the necklaces.

I love organizing.

Dresser top, clean. Finally.

our newest addition.

restoration, eat your heart out! we found our new coffee table off craigslist. love it!!! so, thanks for the idea, now we have our own we can actually afford!

it's in our kitchen right now cause it was filthy!!! we hosed it off today, so its still drying. probably needs a little more cleaning too. but overall, we are thrilled!!

handmade.

i made this frame for my sister's birthday. i like it a lot.

home improvements.

my mom & step-dad came up today. what a help!!! grazie mille!!!! (thanks a million) here's what's new...

our lovely laundry rack to hang clothes to dry. i love practicality.

coat hanger by the front door. check.

our beautifully gorgeous kitchen hardware!

I did this one myself before we left for Colorado, but its still new to you... curtains!

my mom also cleaned some of our gutters. AND we fixed the washer... or just figured out that its not broken, thank goodness. so many, many loads of laundry are going in right now from weeks of waiting, and 6 house guests later...

busy day. but I LOVE getting stuff done. check, check, check.

quick fixes.

So I had 2 pillows on our guest room bed that I didn't have covers for-- I wanted them to be usable... I found 2 king size pillow cases that I had-- clearly WAY to large for our pillows.

But, I solved the problem-- I folded over the extra fabric, then sewed on buttons that I had.  Here's the finished product!  

dreaming...

I was looking at photos on flickr the other night & found some things that would for sure be in my dream home... hopefully this comes true someday!

this would be my dream bedroom.  Clean, simple, yet still  romantic.

{ my dream bedroom }

the color of the walls, a chandelier in the dining room is always a must, the detail in the framing on the doors & the crown molding.

{ dining room }

love the color of these walls, this chandelier is perfect, and I want vintage photos/frames all over my walls like this.

{ photos & chandelier }

the green doesn't really go with what I usually like, but there is something incredible about this room... I want to sit in this room with a cup of coffee for hours.

{ something about this room }

this room is too modern for me over all-- BUT, the crown molding, the chandelier & the paint color on the walls, LOVE IT!  And that one pop of color on the couch  :)

{ crown molding }

first, the chandelier, I know I've said that a lot-- but this is to die for. And I like the sink faucet!

{ chandelier }

p.s. we're up to 30 comments... that means 20 more & the 50th comment"er" gets a prize! I don't know what yet, but it will be good! Keep them coming friends!