Make Your Own...Disposable Towel Mop Refills

When buying cleaning products for the home, I generally ask myself two questions. 1) Is this something I can create using items I already have at home, and 2) Will buying this item require ongoing "refill" purchases?

Several years ago, before I began to consider these things, I bought a "disposable towel mop" (I'm not a fan of using brand names, but I'll give you three guesses at the common brand name) and would buy a box of refills every couple months. Yes, it was convenient, but it also had an ongoing cost that is not emphasized in the marketing of the product. When I stopped buying the refills, the mop just sat for a while until I realized I could create the refill cloths myself at very little cost.

I bought a stack of plain white cheapo wash rags that I use for various cleaning tasks. All I have to do is take one out of the drawer, fill up the sink with cleaning solution and water (until my cleaning solution runs out, at which point I'll use the ever-versatile vinegar and water solution), soak the rag, and wrap it around the mop head. When it begins to dry out, I stick it the sink, wring it out, and apply it to the mop again.

The other day as I was mopping, it occurred to me that if I wanted the scrubby strip Swiffer refills offer, I could simply buy some of those rags with the scrub side built in, which would achieve the same purpose when folded over the top of the mop.

This method is no less convenient than using the real deal refills, and it eliminates the ongoing cost of owning a disposable towel mop.

By the way, steam mops operate using pretty much the same principle. They come with several cloth mop heads that you detach, wash, and reuse. My mother-in-law got me a steam mop for Christmas that I love, but I still use my disposable towel mop once in a while when I want to clean the floor with some kind of solution.

You don't need a lot of fancy products to clean your home. You just need to allow yourself to think outside the box!

Progress at Home

I am so proud of myself! Even after all the cooking I've done in the past two weeks, I have kept the kitchen clean pretty much all the time. I say "pretty much" because I fell off the wagon last night. After I cooked my turkey tetrazini, which used a lot of dishes, I fell asleep on the couch. Seth has promised to work on that this morning. Based on my experience, I have discovered the key to a tidy kitchen: emptying clean dishes from the dishwasher right away. When we are unable to put dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher, the dish gnomes come out and spread bowls and plates and glasses all over the kitchen counters. I made another discovery, too. When the kitchen is clean, the rest of the house stays clean. When it is dirty, the gnomes move into the other rooms and wreak havoc.

I have spent a few minutes each day decluttering, and that has certainly helped the whole situation, which leads me to yet another discovery: I have noticed that the more clutter there is, the dirtier the floors get. How is that possible? I don't know, but it's true! I am just now noticing the need to mop even though it has been a couple weeks since I did it last. Even the most high traffic areas just don't look that dirty.

I was home sick two days this past week. By the afternoon and evening of the 2nd day, I was feeling bored from lying on the couch and decided to sort through some paperwork. It was like that story When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, because one thing led to another and pretty soon I had gone through two big grocery bags of papers that have needed filing from two years! Everything is now in the filing cabinet in its appropriate folder. That has really been bothering me, and I feel so relieved now that it's done.

Something I need to tweak is my system of doing laundry. I have been putting in a load in the morning, drying it (or attempting, considering my dryer's technology issues) in the evening, and then falling asleep or forgetting about it as it sits in the dryer. It then gets taken from the dryer to the living room floor and sits in an ever-growing pile of clean laundry that needs to be folded. As I look at the pile now, I feel overwhelmed. Seth does a good job folding laundry and does help me, and for that I am thankful. I just have to ask him OFTEN :)

Whatever the case may be, I am sure excited to be making progress in my homemaking duties! How do you maintain your home?

Random Post

I have a friend who periodically writes random posts on her blog, and I really enjoy them. Since I never do this, I thought I might try one tonight. I have a lot on my mind...

My house is a mess. We were traveling for most of our Christmas break and got home just in time for me to spend many hours entering grades, go to bed, and get back to school. Our suitcases exploded all over the house, and I am embarrassed to say that I have just sat here and looked at it this week. I just don't have the drive to work every second of every day like I did in college. When I get home, I just want to sit on the couch. I'm not happy with myself :(

I had a popcorn party for my church choir kids this week. I hadn't met with them since our Christmas performance and wanted to reward them for their hard work. As an added bonus, I had several new kids come and join us! Since my core group is only 10-11, having more voices would be great. The question is, will the new kids come consistently?

Rural King is an awesome store. My favorite thing are their ladies' socks. They have every pattern you could imagine and also nice dressy socks for 88 cents this week. I am such a sucker for them and bought several more pair tonight, even though I have a drawer full.

When I was little I taped all of the Dick Van Dyke episodes off Nick at Nite. Why would a little girl be interested, you ask? Well, my parents watched 1960's reruns all the time, and it just rubbed off on me I guess. Then, being the OCD child I was, I watched each tape, looked up the episode title and other info in a Dick Van Dyke reference book, and listed the episodes on the tape. I got so into it that I even wrote to Dick Van Dyke, and he sent me back an autographed picture "to Amy, God Bless!" (I have wondered since if it was really his secretary who signed it, but I'd like to think he really wrote that message to me). I have been using those old tapes from 1993 to watch "my show" ever since then... Until now! My mom got me the entire series on DVD for Christmas! I almost stopped breathing, I was so excited and surprised! I don't think I'll get rid of the tapes, though. The commercials are awfully fun :)

We got ourselves a practical Christmas present this year: flannel sheets. I always said I would never want flannel sheets because I would get too hot, but I love them. It feels like I'm crawling onto a cloud when I go to bed every night! Since we keep the house at 65 (sometimes 62 at night), I haven't had problems getting too hot.

Well, I will close for now. The dryer repairman is coming tomorrow and I need to clear him a path. *Sigh*

The Trouble with Clutter

I confess. I have a severe clutter problem! Ever since I was a little girl, I have left a trail behind me wherever I go in the house. Think Pigpen from Peanuts, only instead of dirt, I am enveloped in a clutter cloud.

Just last week, my husband and I did some serious clutter busting in preparation for a church party we hosted. After the extremely DIFFICULT and TIME CONSUMING job of putting everything back in its place, I have been determined not to let the place get cluttered again...at least for a while? (I am not so naive as to think I am cured, but I'm on the right track.)

Some time ago on my favorite cleaning blog, I read a piece of advice that got me thinking. It went something like this...One habit of families who keep a clean house is that they look around before they leave a room to find something that needs to be returned to the room to which they're going. I'm sure the original post was more articulate than that, but you get the idea.

This week I have consciously been doing this every time I leave a room, and let me tell you, it really works! If I am headed to the kitchen and I see a glass on the end table, I take it to the dishwasher. It seems simple, but it is all too easy for me to ignore the clutter instead of doing something about it. I am determined to keep this up and create a new healthy habit for myself and my home.

Chore Chart

I have just formulated this chore chart to help keep my house together this school year. One of the biggest contributors of underlying stress and dissatisfaction for me is a messy house. Don't get me wrong, I have other things to worry about that are far more important, but looking at my dirty house and realizing I have no time to clean it really eats away at me. I want my home to be a refuge from stress, not a cause of stress.

I searched and searched for a format online and found nothing I really liked, so I developed this one. Please keep in mind that my husband and I have no children and live in a fairly small space, so our cleaning schedule would look quite different from that of a family with children. Feel free to use it and make it your own.

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1WtktmjE4KcZ8H4ML6jhchgGVM3d0RLvFrBtLzVVHiGQ&authkey=CKi98OQJ&hl=en#

Do you follow a cleaning schedule? What works for you?

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Last night, I made my own laundry detergent for the first time. I am very pleased with the results so far. My clothes had a pleasant soapy smell when I took them out of the washer and then had no scent coming out of the washer; they just smelled clean! They felt fairly soft, even without fabric softener, and had no residue or stiffness as was the case with my purchased detergent. Here is the recipe:

Homemade Laundry Detergent:

• 1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap (I have read you can use most any bar of soap except for "beauty bars" with lots of lotion and additives).
• 1 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
• 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
• (Some recipes I have found suggest using 1/2 cup Oxyclean, especially for whites; I may try this if I feel the whites are not maintaining their brightness over time)

1. In a large bowl mix together the washing soda and Borax.

2. Place your shredder disk in your food processor. Shred the bar of soap in the processor. Remove shredding disk and place the metal blade in the bowl. You can also grate the soap with a hand grater.

3. Add about 1/2 cup of the dry mixture into the FP bowl with the shredded soap. Process until the texture of sand.

4. Dump the soap mixture into the remaining dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

5. Use 1 heaping tablespoon per full load, 2 for heavily soiled loads. (Some recipes say 2 tbsp. per full load, but I thought 1 worked fine for my full load of jeans and t-shirts). Store in a yogurt container or large butter tub.

*As this is a compilation of many things I have read, there may be some variation depending on your water hardness and preferences.

*Be aware that this does look strange because the soap doesn't completely blend in with the powders.

*Another useful tip I have discovered is that vinegar works great for a fabric softener and also keeps your washer clean and deodorized.

This recipe is an incredible savings per load. I haven't done any figuring but it is something like between 1 and 2 cents per load. The Simple Dollar Blog did a cost breakdown and found that commercial laundry detergent is 10 times more expensive. I'm actually surprised that more people don't do this; it's pretty easy!

My only question is this: IS IT SAFE TO USE MY FOOD PROCESSOR FOR LAUNDRY SOAP MAKING AND FOR FOOD AS LONG AS I THOROUGHLY CLEAN AND SOAK IT? I know Borax can be toxic. I would appreciate comments on this.

Something for the House

As a school teacher, I find it difficult to keep up on my chores during the week. By the time I fix dinner and do my "homework" (planning, grading, projects), it's time for bed. Before I know it, the weekend arrives--and my house is a mess! During the months of January and February, this problem compounded and I became overwhelmed. Even when I got a couple of snow days, I found myself avoiding our cluttered office because I didn't know where to start. I know this is sad because I don't even have kids yet, but I think I make enough messes for several people. My mother always said I leave a trail wherever I go, and my husband now heartily agrees :)

I've been reminded this week of something that worked pretty well for me last Spring. After trying (and failing) numerous chore charts, I began to make myself simply do something "for the house" each evening, no matter how small. For instance, tonight I cleaned the bathroom sink, picked up clutter around the living room, and am doing a load of laundry. My husband cleaned up the supper dishes. Some nights, I may do as little as go through the mail basket. The point is, even if I don't accomplish much, I will feel better because I did something!