Clothes in the mornings

This is just going to be a quick post about household organisation. In particular, it's about getting dressed in the mornings.

When I was little, I think I was obsessive compulsive. I used to make my quilt flat with a ruler and none of my friends were allowed to sit on it. I also used to lay out my clothes each night for the next day, so they looked like a little person. I don't know what my mum thought of this, but if my daughter ever starts doing anything like it I'll tell her to relax.

So anyway, as I grew up I became much more relaxed about preparing for the next day, so much so that I never prepared clothes anymore. I'd simply have a shower and then go to my room and take clothes at random and throw them together. And I enjoyed thinking that I was being relaxed about it, as if I didn't care.

But last night as I was tidying up the house after my baby girl went to sleep, I got to the bedroom and thought to lay out my husband's clothes for the morning, so he wouldn't disturb the baby while he's rifling through his cupboard. Then, while I was at it, I thought I may as well lay my own clothes out too. I didn't think much of it, but I put a pale green t-shirt out with my pink and grey track pants. I knew we'd be staying around the house today, so those clothes are perfect.

This morning as I was on the way to the shower, I just leaned over and took the clothes from where they were laid, and I cannot even begin to tell you how relaxed I felt. Just that tiny bit of work that I'd done the night before really made me feel at ease. I felt that there was no rushed decision to be made, and no searching through the cupboards while I attempted to get shower before my baby awoke. I do have to rush my showers these days with a little one.

So that's what I'm going to do each night: put clothes out for all of us here. To make the mornings just that little bit easier.

Happy dressing :)

Oh my glove

Ok, so I had a heart attack this morning.... but in a good way.

I opened my brand new packet of Chux Extra Comfort Sensitive Skin gloves. The gloves I splashed out $4 for instead of the usual 97cent trash I buy.....


They're purple.

They fit my tiny hands perfectly.

The inside is thick and velvety and soft.

The grippy parts on the fingers and palms are swirly and cute.

There is a flower pattern and spots around the cuff.


I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love!

Why didn't I buy $4 gloves before??

I don't know if I want to use them to clean though... they're too good for cleaning!!

...Maybe I'll get another pair and keep these for "good", just for dusting :)

Sweep relief

Today I found a new form of therapy; I swept my side path, well, the path that leads down the side of the house to my front door.

I'd bought a new outdoor broom on the weekend. My husband commented to me that it was one that witches use. Well, it is, but I'm no witch.

I haven't ever swept my side path in the two or so years I've lived here. I know that might sound terrible but it's not near any overhanging trees and the tall fence beside it keeps a lot of the dirt out. There was quite a bit of fine sand in the end, but not as much as there could have been.

The neighbours, the people who live in the front of the house, had one of their old aunts over from the Phillippines last year and the year before and she spent her days outside, tidying the garden and sweeping with her handmade broom. She was very sweet and even used to hang my washing for me. I was very spoilt and never got into the habit of sweeping. Before this house I lived in an apartment and we had a maintenance man who took care of the gardens and paths there.

But I feel so proud now of sweeping my own path. It might not seem like much but when we walked down it this afternoon I felt fresher and it looked so tidy that I felt proud. It makes me want to keep all the rest of my house much tidier too... some days I'm a little lax.

I also love the motion of the sweep with this broom. It's not like using the inside broom where you just push, it's really a sweep, across the body. It's got to be good exercise. I'm going to try to sweep as often as I can. I'll leave the broom right there where I can't miss it so I can sweep at the drop of a hat, lol.

Do you like to sweep? Have you been avoiding it until now? Give it a go and let me know if it makes you feel better :)

My favourite household products

Earth Choice products.
These are Australian cleaning products made from plant derivatives. I especially love the Multi-Purpose spray. It smells a little like pear juice but very faint, and I use it several times a day on my benches in the kitchen, and when I clean the bathroom sink area. I also love their washing detergents and clothes wash. They're biodegradable and smell very fresh. These products will clean anything and leave your place smelling fresh, without harming the environment.


Pine O Cleen disinfectant
Pine O Cleen leaves your floors smelling delicious and feeling clean. I especially love the Pot Pourri fragrance for my tiles.



Air Wick Sparkling Citrus spray
This product makes visits to the bathroom sweeter and its citrus fragrance is heavenly. My husband suggested it and I never thought I'd want my bathroom to smell like lemons and oranges but it's actually ideal. It gives a very clean and crisp note.


Jif Cream Cleanser
My mum always used Jif, but in the powder form. Now I love the new cream cleansers, especially the lemon one in the yellow container. They smell fresh and give just enough scuff to get the stubborn marks out of the bathroom.

Laundry work

Today I want to write about the laundry.

It is a place that I love to be, cleaning and handwashing my favourite things -my clothes. Sometimes the laundry space may get a bit messy and need a re-shuffle. I'm going to write this post in the hope of inspiring myself, and you, to head into the laundry room and make it a better place to be.

If you live in shared housing, like an apartment block, you might be sharing a laundry with your neighbours. If so, the only tip I really have is to keep the machine clean by giving it an empty wash every few weeks or so. When you do this make sure you empty any filters and chuck a scoop of washing powder or detergent into the machine before you run it without clothes. This helps keep the machine fresher and your clothes cleaner.

If you have your own laundry it will be easier for you to keep it tidy and you won't need to run an empty wash as often. I do one once every couple of months, and try to empty the filter more often. I also notice a lot of lint that builds up around the edge of my machine and I try to wipe it off using a cleaning spray as often as possible. The best way to do it is to give it a spray and then a quick wipe with a piece of your dark dirty laundry and then put the wash on.

If you have a dryer, make sure you clean the lint off the cover every time you use it. I can't stress this enough. If you have too much lint your machine may overheat and spark into a fire. Also make sure the room your dryer is in is well-ventilated and never leave the dryer on when you're not home. It's a hot appliance and should be treated like a stove, iron or toaster. Always stay so you can stop a fire should one ever start. I know too many people who go out and leave their dryers on. If you burn your house down you'll never get it back, and if you live in an apartment block that's just irresponsible. Safety first.

I have a lot of clutter around my machine sometimes too. I have too many bottles of stain sprays and half empty bottles of washing detergent. Here's what to do
-find a box you can sit beside your washer or under the sink and put the items you love in it. For example, in a red container next to my machine I have my Earth Choice washing liquid, a bottle of stain removal spray, and a bottle of conditioner. I try to use up the leftovers of spare bottles every now and then. They seem to build up because just before I've finished using something I buy another one and then I start using the new one before I've finished the old.

If you have any additional things you don't have places for, like fabric soap, see if you can attach a small shelf to the wall above your machine or sink. I have a metal shelf attached to the wall in my laundry and although it is small I can fit the plug for the basin and the wierdly shaped box of laundry powder I bought on special a week or so ago. It is very handy for odds and ends, even things I find in my husband's pockets.

Make an effort to keep the area tidy and sweep and mop your floor in there every week or so. That's something I should definitely do more often, but because my laundry is outside it's easy to forget when I'm doing the house.

To make your clothes clean you want to start with a fresh and clean space.

Happy washing!!
(I love doing the laundry!!)

Occasional ants

This post is not so much about cleaning as it is about something I have observed in my house.

I have occasional ants. That's not to say that I occasionally see ants, but rather that I see the occasional ant, here or there.

There are no crumbs around, there is no water (it's hot like summer here despite our current season of supposed autumn). There is nothing for them to do. I simply see them walking around, as if they are but strolling in a pretty meadow. Perhaps an ant who came here once when there was food around thought it was a nice place to be. Perhaps he put up fliers in his hometown and sells maps to our place to ants who like to go on holiday. It might read "Are you looking for somewhere to go, away from the ant-race? One bedroom secluded getaway packages available for the adventurous ant. Call Tony, on 555-HOUSE-2-WANDER."

I can imagine them now, ants who just like to stay home and read, packing up their little rucksacks and climbing hills and crossing roads alone to get to our house, their little maps held out in front of them.

Don't get me wrong, I love having a guesthouse for ants. I love that they love coming here. What I don't get, is that I'm not getting anything of the profits. Little Tony's got it all set up and I don't know where to find him.

But gee they're cute, my occasional ants. I point them out to my baby daughter and hide them from my husband. If he saw them, he'd put ant sand all around the place. He'd ruin their getaway completely.

They're just our secret. You and me and my baby girl and the occasional ants.

Cut clutter with piles

One of the best tips I can give for removing the sense of clutter from any room, is to make piles.
-After you have de-cluttered the area initially, of course.

I have a friend who is a clutter maniac. She hoards everything, but she does it very well. And while I don't condone what she does (the hoarding) at least she does it neatly.

In her loungeroom you can find a plethora of rugs. Even too many rugs for a 5 seater lounge, you might say. But they are pretty rugs, and they are folded and stacked neatly at one end of her L-shaped lounge. They look neat and attractive and it makes me want to come home and pull rugs out of my cupboard to stack neatly.

In her bedroom, you will find an enormous array of clothes. I think she has kept every dress she bought since 1985, when she was 7. Yes, she's a pretty dress kind of girl. But she colour-co-ordinates her wardrobe and folds the jumpers she can't fit in her drawers neatly on a mat in the corner of her room. It looks more like a display than clutter. It is pretty, and it makes me want to buy a pretty display mat for my room.

In her bathroom, she has an excessive amount of bath toys that belong to her nephews. She piles them into mesh bags that suction onto the walls above her bath. They have become organised mess rather than a pile of clutter.

And in her kitchen, she stores an enormous array of food. It is almost too much food for someone who lives alone, you might say. But she does this neatly too. She piles her food up in the refrigerator and in her cupboards in labelled Decor containers. It looks inviting, it looks colourful and interesting, and it makes me want to invest in 1000 decor contsiners. But I think she bought all the ones they made in the last year.

So she is an example that you can have a lot of stuff, if you just keep it neat and tidy. Stack it in piles, organise it well in groups of like things, and your house can look very homely. When I go to her place I always feel like I'm in a very rich space. I don't feel claustrophobic, as I can see the floor and the windows, but while she's got a lot of stuff she stores and displays it well.

Tips:
Store like items together
Try storing like colours together for better presentation, here and there (don't do your whole place because that could just look weird.... a green corner and a red corner... not like that! Don't go overboard.), or just stack all sorts of colours together to create a tidy rainbow.

At the moment I am employing this strategy to get stop the clutter my baby's many books are threatening to create. I simply stack the books at the end of my dining table (this time in size, one pile for extra large, and another for middle sized)
and when I look at them they seem inviting, not a burden or annoyance. Piles make you want to see what's in them, not hide the things. If you can fold and stack neat enough, away you go!!

Clear clutter by creating piles
xx