Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a bit of a commission at no additional charge to you. I've been talking a lot about home management this month, and that's because the routines that I've set in place have helped my life run much more smoothly. One of my favorite parts of that is having things assigned to days of the week. This is something that my friend Stacy teaches in her course (more on that in a … [Read more...]
How My Cleaning Standards Have Changed Over The Years
Growing up, I remember my dad teaching us how to clean the bathrooms. And every weekend, we would have to do that dreaded chore. Somewhere along the line, he also taught us to make beds with hospital corners. My mom showed us how to cook a few basic things, and how to properly do the dishes. She taught us how to vacuum, and clean up after our various pets. So when I got married and moved into my own apartment, I had a base knowledge of how to keep things clean. And while we each have … [Read more...]
How To Teach Your Kids To Do Laundry
Four of my five children know how to do their own laundry. Some still need help, but overall, they're well on their way to having this important life skill. As with most skills, it didn't happen overnight, but here's how the process looks at our house. First, I involve the child in laundry day. Even before they do anything on their own, they see me moving baskets, and they hang out on the bed while I'm folding. Pretty soon they start with simple things like folding kitchen rags in half … [Read more...]
Kitchen Zero
Every night before I turn the lights off in the kitchen, I get back to kitchen zero. For me, this is just a fancy way of saying that I put everything back in its place, make sure everything is clean, and do any prep work for the next day. I get back to kitchen zero every night for a few reasons. First, it might be nice to just get out of the kitchen right away after dinner, but waking up to a counter and sink full of dirty dishes, papers to put away, and no room at all for … [Read more...]
7 Reusable Items We Use (And 3 We Don’t)
We've all heard the mantra: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. (There are two more Rs, by the way). We set out our recycling every other week, and we've been trying to reduce our waste in other areas of our home (hello two big garbage bags a week, I'm looking at you), but what about reusing? Here are several reusable products that we've tried and kept using over the past few years. Kitchen Rags. I've made quite a few of these, and we use 1-2 each day for washing dishes and wiping hands and … [Read more...]