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Organizing a garage can be a daunting task. It’s not a place that guests usually “visit.” So, many times we let it go. An organized garage is something that will make you feel good when you come home and do not have to work your way around piles of junk. You will have more usable space when your garage is in order. You will also find some goodies to keep and sell when you get through all the junk!

Shelves - Attaching shelves to the walls of the garage can increase your storage space. There are also stand-alone shelving units that are perfect in the garage. They are heavy-duty plastic or metal and can hold the heavier items that are often found in the garage, such as tools and sports equipment.

Pegboard - They can have hooks and baskets attached to allow for storage of a variety of items of all sizes. Brackets can be added to place shelves as needed. They can be completely customized to hold tools - both for the garden and the garage, parts, cleaning supplies, and much more.

Tool hangers - There are a variety of hanging systems to hold tools. There are roller versions that grab the handles and hold them in place. There are also standard hooks that will hold the tool, with the handles hanging down. These will keep the tools out of the way, making things not only neater, but also safer.

Store-Pod - Store-pods are a great addition to your garage storage system. They are waterproof, heavy-duty plastic storage units that are attached to the beams above. They look like a large plastic bag with shelves inside. The front is a clear plastic door that zips closed. They have ventilation slots that help reduce dust and mildew, while still keeping pests out of the things being stored.

Racks - There are specially designed holders for sports equipment and large items. There are some for balls, bike racks and more. There are bike racks that can be mounted on the wall or ceiling.

Cabinets - Cabinets with a work surface are perfect for the garage. You can close the doors and hide any possible clutter. You also have a work area for projects that are too messy or noisy for the house. Many of the cabinets also come with locks, not only to protect your tools, but also to keep small children safe.

Copyright © Thou Shalt Clean

Every Mom on the planet understands all too well the huge challenge it is to keep the children’s rooms clean and organized…toys, books, clothes, unknown substances…oh my!! However, there is good news! There are ways to get the kid’s rooms organized and have a bit of fun at the same time. 

Storage units and organizers are your friend! Today, you can find MANY different patterns and looks for your storage needs.  There are under-the-bed boxes and drawers, bins and wickers, wall or door hanging storage untis, and even closet organizers.  You can mix and match. Get your kid involved by letting them choose the colors and styles for their storage supplies…within YOUR budget, of course!

Once you get your storage supplies, talk to your children about how they would like the room to look. Let them be involved in the organizingof their room.  This will give them a sense of accomplishment when they are done and may even help them KEEP it organized…ROFL!

Getting the laundry organized can even be fun. If you have a boy, you may want to consider setting up a basketball hoop above their open dirty clothes basket.  By attaching one to the wall above the hamper, clean up turns into a game for them.  If you have a girl, you may want to buy a pretty princess laundry basket…or make one together. Be creative and get them involved. THAT is the key!

Use as much as you can in as many ways as you can think of.  Some chairs and benches have a cushion attached to a lid that when lifted up can store stuff.  This is ideal for stuffed animals, dress up, baby dolls, trucks, etc. It also gives your child a nice place to sit. 

Once you get your child’s room organized, find creative ways to help him or her keep it organized.  Keep it fun. Keep them involved. Keep them accountable. And, be sure and REWARD them for their efforts!

Copyright © Thou Shalt Clean

By Clarissa Clemens

Created as a raising agent used in bakery, baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, has a multitude of household uses. Being only slightly alkaline and gently abrasive, this most versatile of substances is non-toxic and safe for most surfaces/fabrics.

Baking soda is an effective deodorizer. Place an open box on a shelf in the refrigerator to prevent strong odors from spreading to other foods; replace the box about every three months. Do the same in any cramped closet, storage area or basement room. Sprinkle at the bottom of the litter box to minimize offensive smells. Keep your carpets fresh by sprinkling it all over, letting stand for about 15 minutes and then vacuuming.

Baking soda gently cleans a range of hard surfaces. Apply it to your toothbrush, after brushing with toothpaste, to remove stains and whiten teeth. Dissolve four tablespoons in four cups of water and use the mixture to clean a variety of kitchen and bathroom surfaces; rinse and dry. Combine with hot water in a 50/50% mixture for difficult jobs such as cleaning a grimy windshield or headlights.

Baking soda whitens clothes and removes stains. Adding one cup to a load of laundry or ½ cup in a 50/50% mixture with bleach really boosts the effectiveness of your regular detergent. Apply in a paste to remove ring-around-the-collar, mildew and other stubborn stains; let it stand for several minutes, rub in and wash as usual. Remove the ammonia-like smell of urine by soaking fabric diapers or bed linens in a mild warm-water solution.

Among other uses, baking soda will put out a grease or electrical fire (sprinkle it on dry) and keep drains clog-free (once a week, pour ½ cup down the drain and follow with warm water).

Visit Clever Clarissa’s website for tons of Household Tips. Make sure to sign up to Clarissa’s Newsletter for more tips, advice and recommendations.

By Marcia Loofboro

Do you have a problem with getting your windows clean and streak free? Have you ever washed your windows thinking you had them sparkling clean; only to discover, that when the sun came around, they were still streaked. I have lots of times, till I found microfiber cloths and towels. Other tips I have used before microfiber towels are:

• Using newspapers to dry the windows with, but that left you with carbon on your hands from the print on the paper

• Using some vinegar in the water helps to cut dirt and grime

• Wiping the inside of the windows in one direction and the outside in the opposite direction. This helped me to know which side I had to redo.

• Another trick my mom used to use (on her windows that would get coated with road grime) was to wash her front porch windows with oven cleaner. It was the only way she could get them clean. She lived on a heavily traveled state highway, with lots of trucks and farm traffic. So that left her windows with lots of oil, dirt and exhaust residue on them.

• But my favorite tip was when I discovered microfiber towels and cloths to wash and dry my windows with.

What microfiber towels I like best to use:

I use a wet suede microfiber towel to wash my windows with and a dry waffle weave towel to dry with. You could also use one 16″ x 16″ microfiber terry towel to wash with and one or more 16″ x 16″ terry microfiber towels to dry with, depending on how many windows you need to wash. One 20″ x 40″ waffle weave will dry numerous windows with just this one towel, because of its special built in “pockets” that whisk the moisture away, first into the pocket and then deep into the fabric of the towel, leaving your window dry and streak free. I have heard people tell me they just wash and let air dry.

How the microfiber towel works:

The unique technology of the microfiber blend, gives you a towel that is soft, durable, dirt grabbing and absorbent. The microfiber blend is made up of polyester and polyamide (nylon). The polyester gives it its softness, and the polyamide gives it its absorbency. The “star” wedges gives it its scrubbing ability, with it’s thousands of surface edges. This technology allows the fibers to pick up the dirt and pull it into the towel not just pushing it ahead of itself.

I use hot water to wash my windows with. Rinsing your microfiber towel in hot water causes the fibers to swell, thus forcing the dirt, oil and grime out of the fibers into to your water. Rinse your rag frequently, to keep it clean. Dirty rags can also cause streaking of your windows. Just using hot water and microfiber towels helps to save you money, eliminating window cleaner and paper towels.

Caring for your microfiber towels:

Launder your cloths in hot water if they are especially dirty, microfiber loves hot water. Dry on low heat in the dryer or line dry. Use regular detergent, no bleach or fabric softener. If the microfiber cloths are getting stiff, they may not be clean, or they have been dried at too high of heat; try soaking them in hot water, detergent and OxiClean (a non-bleach stain remover) for ½ hour to help loosen and remove dirt deep within the fibers.

Written by Marcia Loofboro, believer in chemical free cleaning and owner of http://www.MerryMicrofiber.com home of affordable, dirt grabbing microfiber towels, cloths, mitts, sponges and mops.

By Clarissa Clemens

There are a variety of vinegars on the market - from plain distilled white vinegar to vinegars made from fruit, herbs, cider, malt and wine. All of them are somewhat corrosive, with a level of acidity between 4% and 6%; this is why they are sold in glass or plastic containers with cork or other corrosion-proof tops. Since they contain vinegar and are acidic, marinades, vinaigrettes and pickles should be mixed in glass, enamel or stainless steel vessels and kept well away from copper, zinc, aluminum, iron and galvanized metal.

Distilled white vinegar, based on dilute distilled alcohol fermented to a 4% acetic acid count, is an effectual inexpensive household cleaner and stain remover. Being acid (with a pH below 7), it will NOT remove the majority of stains which are caused by acid substances (oils, fats, etc.). Vinegar is very effective, however, against stains caused alkaline substances such as soap, mustard, ketchup, coffee, tea, beer, gum, glue, calcium, rust, grass, etc.

Only distilled white vinegar should be employed for household uses, as the other varieties of vinegars could stain what you want to clean. Make use of the vinegar at full strength to absorb offensive odors in a room or to remove tannin build-up from teapots and coffeemakers. Mix it 50/50 with water to take out salt from the carpeting in your car after winter. Add a small quantity to water when rinsing your fine china and glassware, machine-washing your clothes, cleaning your wood floors. You should never use vinegar on cotton, linen or acetate.

Visit Clever Clarissa’s website for tons of Household Tips. Make sure to sign up to Clarissa’s Newsletter for more tips, advice and recommendations.

By: Janice Wee

Time to clean up your home. Out with the old. In with the new. Get rid of the dust and clutter for a healthier, fresher environment.

Spring Cleaning need not be a boring chore. It can be fun. Take it as a creative break. As a kid, I loved wearing a pair of soapy wet rags as slippers and sliding around the home, cleaning the floor as I went, to my mom’s horror.

Okay, that might not be a good idea. The chances of slipping and getting into really nasty, even life-threatening accidents are high if you try sliding around on rags. Getting paralyzed because of fall just isn’t worth it.

There are other things you can do though.

These 5 Spring Cleaning tips help you get organized, making it easier and more pleasant to clean your home.

1. File and Organize.
Before you even begin, take stock of the mess around you. Are newspapers all over the floor? Are magazines lying around? Do you have sheets of papers as in bills, flyers and letters lying around on tables or other surfaces?

Get the papers organized in a something that is both decorative and functional. Letters and bills can go into decorative letter holders, or into files hidden out of sight. Magazine racks, good-looking ones, that is, are wonderful for keeping your newspapers as well as magazines. The key thing is to train everyone in the household to put things where they belong. Magazines and newspapers go into the rack or else.. come up with a deterrent to motivate them.

Don’t you hate it when halfway through cleaning the bedroom, you need something and you have to go all the way to the store room to get it? Get a pail and put everything you need for your spring cleaning in it. Detergents, soaps, brushes, spare gloves, polish, the works. Then carry that around with you as you go from room to room.

2. Wear Gloves
Protect your hands as you clean your home. Wear gloves to keep the irritating detergents away. Dry cracked skin can be avoided if you remember to wear gloves throughout your cleaning mission.

3. Work from top down.
Think of gravity. The dust you brush off higher surfaces will end up on the lower surfaces. Clean the tops of cupboards, the lights and everything high up first, move on to the lower furnishings and when everything else is done, then tackle the floor.

4. Flowers and Fragrance
Once the house is all cleaned up, brighten your home with vases of cut flowers. Reward yourself with long lasting flowers that are in season.

5. Makeover
Give your home a makeover with new bedsheets, curtains, floor mats and towels. The bedding dresses up the bedrooms. Curtains dress up every room. Towels and shower curtains give your bathroom a makeover and floor mats add the finishing touches. Reward yourself with a gorgeous new home now that you have decluttered, cleaned and organized everything.

Here’s where you can get the necessary magazine racks to tidy your home. This article 7 Spring Cleaning Tips was written for http://www.home-decor-ideas.com the author’s home and garden and living it up site.

By Clarissa Clemens

Mildew is a fungus commonly found both inside and outside the home. It can attach itself to a wide range of surfaces including aluminum siding, asphalt tiling, concrete, wood, paint, ceramics, fabrics made from natural fibers, leather, vinyl and paper. Some materials are resistant to mildew: enamel, plastic, fabric made from synthetic fibers or treated with a mildew-resistant finish, commercial paste for paper and fabric wall coverings, mildew-resistant paint (keep well away from children!) and others.

Mildew grows in warm, humid environments (75-85 degrees F). The best way to prevent it is to get rid of the dampness by removing the source of moisture, ventilating the area adequately and/or drying the air. Cleanliness is of the utmost importance since soil and greasy films such as are found in the kitchen and bathroom, are a source of food for the mildew.

Chlorine bleach is the very best antidote, to be used with caution since it is highly corrosive. Hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol and household detergents are gentler and may well be effective. Some cases are hopeless and you will have no choice but to throw away the severely mildewed items.

How to Get Rid of Mildew: It’s as Easy as 1, 2, 3

• Expose the affected area to sunshine or artificial lighting.
• Introduce fresh air and promote circulation (if necessary, use a fan to increase air movement).
• If necessary, turn-up the heat or dry the affected area with a hair dryer.
• Remove the mildew with a soft cloth, a brush or a broom (do this out-of-doors, if possible, to avoid scattering mildew spores and dust in the house) and finish with a vacuum cleaner.
• Clean the area using a household cleaning agent adapted to the material affected - i.e., saddle soap for leather, all-purpose cleaner for walls or floors, laundry detergent for apparel, rug shampoo for carpeting, etc.
• If the previous measure is insufficient, apply a mixture of 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 2 parts water. For leather, use 1 part rubbing alcohol to 1 part of water.
• If the previous measure is insufficient, apply a mixture of chlorine bleach and water (use as weak a mixture as possible).
• Rinse well and dry thoroughly. Use a room air freshener or deodorizer if a musty smell persists.

Visit Clever Clarissa’s website for tons of Household Tips. Make sure to sign up to Clarissa’s Newsletter for more tips, advice and recommendations