Laundry Tips

Having a positive attitude while cleaning will be a gift to your children. It will teach them that work can be fun and done in a joyful manner. Instead of "cleaning your house" or "picking up the mess in the den" why not think of it as "preparing a tidy place of peace and rest for the people you love dearly" or "showing stewardship over the blessings the Lord has bestowed?" If you have a home to clean, children to care for, a husband to look after, then you have been greatly blessed! There are many women who are envious of your position! Show your gratitude to the Lord and your family by working with a humble and grateful mindset. Put on music, make up games to play, set timers to race against...anything you like to make it fun and joyful. A mother on the warpath because she resents having to clean the house only instills fear and resentment in her children. She might be cleaning house, but she is also tearing down her home with her own hands (or words or actions).

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Colossians 3:17

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1

Because we homeschool and six people are home all day every day, the housework and laundry can get out of hand quickly. Maintaining the home while homeschooling different ages and levels can be an overwhelming challenge. We can work hard to keep the house looking nice for weeks. Then, we have one bad day and the whole thing is such a wreck it will takes us many days to get back on track. If you teach them, the children are a bigger help each day. They can learn new tasks every few months and even a toddler can be a big help to the family.

I keep more laundry baskets than I need. Buy them in one size so they will stack and take up less space when not in use. I use them to declutter a room and then later have the children put them away. If only my younger children are available, I use smaller baskets (Big Lots has some nice ones for 99¢) to sort the items in the laundry basket by rooms or area (Legos, Duplos, Lincoln Logs, stuff for each room-all go into separate smaller baskets) and have them put them away. That keeps the younger ones from getting confused or overwhelmed. I will also sit on the floor and sort items into small piles by room or where they are kept. The children will work together to see if they can keep the floor clear while I am doing it, which makes it fun and all of us work faster and harder. These tips works very well for our house and helps us keep the house tidier.

I also try to keep toys in the children's bedrooms or in the spare room but out of the den (main room visitors are in). This is something new I have tried and while we are not completely successful in keeping the den toy free, it has made a big difference in the level of mess downstairs. If they do have toys downstairs, I limit it to a few per child or one set for all of them (Legos, Lincoln Logs).

The most helpful thing I have done to keep the house clean is to set up a large box somewhere high (to keep the littles from going through it) and put in unused, unwanted things in it as I come across them. When the box is full, we take it to the local charity and get a receipt. It blesses the charity and the people who are able to buy the items at a discount. It blesses us with a cleaner home and with a larger return when we file our taxes. When we get a new toy that has many small parts that I know will be lost or will pose a choke hazard, I go ahead and put those in the donation box to save myself the hassle.

Reduce, reduce, reduce. Throw away junk. Give away unused or unwanted items. The more you own, the more it owns you.

Buy "add-on" toys. By this, I mean buy more toys like the ones you already own. If you already own Legos (Lincoln Logs, K'nex, Duplos, wooden train sets, dolls, cars, etc), you already have storage for them. A new set will renew their interest and grant more use out of the ones they already own. Because the collection will grow with each birthday or Christmas, you will hang on to the Legos longer which gives you more return for your hard earned money. The latest fad toy will require new storage space and when they are bored with it you will have lost your investment. Most parents have wasted a small fortune in toys. Children do not need a lot of items to be happy or feel loved. If they are having trouble keeping their rooms clean, reduce their belongings until it is at a manageable level. They will appreciate what they have more. It is easier to learn organizational skills that will last them a lifetime with less.

To make cleaning a quicker task, I keep a small caddy with 2 bottles of homemade cleaners (recipes below), paper towels, teflon scrubby pad, toothbrush, dust rag, window scraper, newspapers, scraper, small plastic grocery bags for trash, etc. I can grab and tote this to whatever room. I generally start in one spot and work my way around wiping surfaces and tossing items in the laundry basket to be put away later.

If I have a big, unpleasant task during a very busy period, I will work on it in increments to lessen the length of time I have to spend on it later. This is really good for a task I normally don't have time for until the weekend like cleaning the master bedroom. When I do this consistently, by time the weekend comes, I only need half and hour or so and then the room is finished.

Do "spurt cleaning." This is a flip on taking a break from housework to have leisure time. With spurt cleaning, you take a break from leisure time to do housework for 10-15 minutes. If you are reading a book, watching t.v., enjoying outdoor time or playing a board game, you can take a short break to do some housework. If the whole family works as a team, you will be surprised at the amount of chores you can cross off your list. No one really minds because they know they will not be cleaning for long. We also do spurt cleaning between homeschooling lesson or while waiting for Clint to arrive home.

When I wash my valances/curtains, I take them straight from the washer and then hang them up damp on the rods. They dry on the rods without wrinkles. This cuts out three steps: hanging them to dry, taking them down and ironing. It saves me a lot of time.

I have a lot of silk flowers. I wash them a few times a year in a half filled tub. This removes dust as well as stains. I lightly swish them and then hang them up in the tub or on the clothesline to dry.

I have saved a small fortune on this one tip, given to me by a friend. I use 1 tsp-1 Tbsp of liquid Ajax dish detergent instead of laundry detergent. A small bottle for 89¢ lasts me over a month. Many people already use it as a spot treatment but did not know it works very well as a detergent also. I use 1½ cups white vinegar for fabric softener.

I use white vinegar as a rinse agent in my dishwasher's dispenser.

When cleaning, I clean top to bottom, back to front to avoid redirtying the area already cleaned.

I use newspapers to clean glass and big messes to keep from using papertowels or dirtying rags that have to be washed. Newspapers are very good for cleaning glass and leave a nice shine.

A pink eraser will remove permanent marker artwork from your wood furniture.

If you have a stain that keeps bleeding through your paint, spray on clear paint a few times and then repaint. This will usually stop it from bleeding through again.

Good rule of thumb for busy mothers of many....if you can take it in the backyard and hose it off, DO! This includes children who just ate quickly melting ice cream on a hot summer day. :-)

I use rectangular laundry baskets for our laundry, but put round ones in each bedroom to hold the clean clothes my younger children put away for us. The older children empty these before bed each night. This works much better than putting them on the bed or a chair where they would end up in the floor.

We have multiple children and ages in each room, so keeping them tidy is a challenge. When the children's rooms are in need of cleaning, I guide the younger children through the overwhelming job by breaking it down into steps. First, they pick up clothes and put them away. Then, they pick up and sort toys. What is left is trash that can be swept up. Sometimes we also scoop everything up into clutter baskets and then we sort those.

When the house is really getting behind, I make a list of jobs that need to be done. Beside each task, I put the initial of who I think can handle that job. If it is a younger child, I also write the initial of an older child to make sure the chore is performed correctly. At the bottom of the list, I write in their reward for helping our family live in an orderly home "xx hours of outdoor time." Throughout the day, I also try to help each child with at least one chore which is always very appreciated. We parents so often ask our children to do this or that to help us. We need to make sure we lend a helping hand and take an interest in things that matter to them also. If you want a good relationship with your children tomorrow, you have to start building it today.

When making a list of jobs, I also have a column for the tasks I have to do. Making a list helps me plan my time better and keeps me focused throughout the day. Crossing each one off shows me exactly what I have done with my time and encourages me to continue to work hard.

I saw these two in the Dollar Stretcher Tips Newsletter (join link is at the bottom of page):

Carpet Spot Cleaning

A professional recently told me that a great spot remover and stain remover for carpeting is to spray it with Windex. I went to the store and bought the original Windex window cleaner (there are several new varieties). I used the original Windex on several stains in the carpet, including a stain where my cat had gotten sick and I could not get all the stain out before. It came out easily! I used a plain white paper towe lto rub out the stain where I had sprayed the Windex. It worked great! Just make sure you test your carpet in an inconspicuous area first. Dianna B. of Williamsburg, Virginia

Temporary Non-Stick Cookware

To make all of your pots, pans, etc. non-stick, try this! Pour white vinegar ($2.09 a gallon) in your pan to the appropriate depth. Bring vinegar to a boil. Boil at medium heat for five minutes. Allow the vinegar to cool to room temperature. The same vinegar can be used several times until the smell becomes weak. Make sure you have adequate ventilation as the fumes can be irritating to your nose and lungs. When doing larger pans, don't forget to toss in all of your metal utensils, bakeware, BBQ racks and accessories! Even your old skillets and saucepans will be non-stick for up to two months depending on usage and washings. B. M. of Belfast, ME

NOTE: Never mix bleach and ammonia. It forms a gas that causes tearing of the lungs. Inhaling it can make you very ill and can cause death.

Joshua and Caleb having fun sorting through a clutter basket and putting the things in the right places.
They like to race each other.

Bethany, 2, joyfully helping clean house. It CAN be taught, but it has to be modeled!

© Wendy Asbell

Laundry Tips
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