Day 3: Treating My Home to Flowers & Green Cleaners

     January 23 and I am on Day 3.....(Sigh) Here goes.....hangin' in there! Click here for Day 3 Cure.

     About the green cleaners...

     In the Philippines, a lot of households can still afford helps. Let me narrate one conversation I had with one of my house angels that somehow derailed my attempts at a greener home. 

     I had just bought a whole new set of green home cleaners and was excited to know how our help liked using it....Let's name her Manilyn (not her real name)

Me: Manilyn, affective ba yung bagong cleaners sa banyo? (Manilyn, are the new home cleaners effective?)
Manilyn: Opo, (Yes)
Me: Eh di okay? (Then it is okay?)
Manilyn: Lalo na po nung hinaluan ko na ng Mr. Muscle. (Especially when I mixed it with Mr. Muscle)

     Okay, that time Manilyn won. But this year I am determined to do it and Manilyn is so longer in my house. haha! Luckily, there are several good green home products around already. My favorite is Messy Bessy, Eventually though I would like to make my own home cleaners...in this life time hopefully.

     But I felt the first thing I needed to clean was my cleaning caddy. This is how it looks like now....

Ready for action!

      I know the flowers were optional but I did manage to buy a bunch and voila! I love flowers and the magic that it can do to any space....

(Inhaaaaale) My home is feeling better already.....

Some helpful links for green cleaning:

1. Wonder Powder: 9 Uses for Baking Soda

2. 10 Ways To Clean with Vinergar

The Apartment Therapy January Cure: Six Days Late

    I should be on the 6th Day of my Apartment Therapy January Cure but somehow I got stuck on 

Day 2: Set Up An Outbox

     First of all my list of projects overwhelmed me. I was thinking it is almost impossible to 'cure' my house in a month, all 298 square meter of it. So I decided, okay will go on my own pace. What I needed desperately to get organized was my home office. I had to get some things done on the work front and I can't with my office stuck in Holiday mode. There were unsent presents,  (yikes!) wrapping paper, ribbons and ...(sigh) just one big mess. 

I cannot work here!

      My initial list echoed the same.
 

     It was a tumultuous task as it took me 5 days....See, that's why I am behind. My home office needs it baaaad! First, I wanted to say good-bye to open storage. Why? Nobody really cares to clean whatever is out there. Luckily there was a 50% markdown on storage in Shopwise.

Getting ready for WAR...against clutter!

  
     Here it is in progress...
     How did I do it? The usual, TOSS, TOSS, TOOS like crazy!!!

     After 5 days.....Ehem, still messy desk on the right is H's.

      I love the way my re-purposed wine crates turned out for the kids' library...What do you think?

     I just hope my office stays this way a little longer than the last time I fixed it.... Fingers crossed!

     Now I can work....


     You can still catch up with the January Cure. Click here. Come on!

I'm In: THE APARTMENT THERAPY JANUARY CURE

Day 1: Wednesday, January 2
Assignment: Make a list of projects

      I signed up for Apartment Therapy's January Cure. It is a day-to-day guide that when followed promises you a clean and organized home after. Hmm... I want some of that. 

     I am a fan of Apartment Therapy because it is a no-nonsense and practical blog about managing your home and decorating. The above picture is the first page of my list. It got overwhelming after the first two pages AND this is just the task for the first day. (See pic below) So take heart and be brave me!

 

 

 FIRST Day Blues

     The Januray Cure has started days ago and I am just catching up. I have these still to do. 

 

First Week Task List

     Shall keep you posted! Come join me!  Sign up here!

My First Step To A Wonderful Christmas 2013

     Yep, you have read it right. I really mean Christmas this year. But, but...I know it is only the 5th of January.

    Allow me to take you a few weeks back when Christmas last year 2012 began.  I remember going up our attic to choose which decors to use for the year and lo and behold, our decorations were a messy heap. Mind racing, eyeballs popping, major outburst itching to escape my throat, the ghosts er image our old house help flashed before my eyes. I saw her grunting her way through our decorations, tossing each and every one in a giant box like who cares? Who care if the glitters are ripped off or if the glass balls get scratched or the tin Christmas trees get squished and bent?

     BUT, it was too late and futile actually.... though I still allowed myself a major outburst...Sorry I just had to. I refuse to allow it to happen again. So this year, I took matters into my own hands again.....

     I will pack away the decors myself.......I documented each step to share and hope you guys can learn a thing or two....

1.  

Remove each Christmas tree trim one at a time and clean them with a microfiber cloth.

2.  

Have boxes, trays or bins ready and sort them out by design, color or kind. This year I used empty wine boxes.

3. 

Set aside broken decors and fix them before packing them away,

4. 
It is always best to preserve and use the original packaging of your decors. They are best protected this way.

5. 

Christmas lights though may be excluded from step 4 as it is tricky to return them in their original boxes. First roll them in a circle and tie a spot with a ribbon. Store them in disposable plastic boxes like this.

 

6. 

Zip lock bags are also great for decors that need to be packed individually.  

7. 

My one favorite tip in organizing anything is LABELING! Label each of container and mark them if there are several of one decor.

8. 

Put your containers in big boxes. Not too big as when filled these may get too heavy to carry. What I did was I put all the Christmas tree trims together, faux flowers together. etc.

9. 

Scribble the contents of each box for easy identification come next Christmas time

10. 

For big items wrap them in Manila paper or big brown paper bags and place them in a an open bin or crate.

     Now, everything is ready to be hauled up to the attic....Until the next time the sleigh bells ring again....
 



Are you ready to say good-bye to Christmas? Then get your stuff ready

microfiber cloth
scissors
masking tape
black Sharpie pen
zip lock bags
re-used disposable boxes,
tin biscuit boxes or anything you can re-use.

Good luck! 

    

Quick Fixes: Bedroom Clean-Up

     What is your opinion on clutter?

     Me? I hate it. It paralyzes me. Still 'it' happens. Most of the time it is our fault. Who left last weekend's shopping loot by the bedroom door anyway? Who created the pile of magazines under the night stand?

     Clutter to me has a very close bloodline to life. In fact as I was writing this entry and thinking why does clutter always find its way back in our spaces, the only thing that kept popping in my head was because life happens. It is true, come to think of it because if we go on extended vacations, our homes and offices stay the same. Once we are back though, expect all of it to come growing back. It is because we read, we sleep, we watch, we eat, we pray, we shop, we forget, we neglect, we get tired, we get bored.....This post though is not being written to defend clutter because as I have said I hate it but it is a reality we need to face everyday. It is either you ignore it, you're okay to live it (pack rats - hello!) you avoid it, (OC peeps, way to go), right? I choose to engage in battle but intermittently. C'mon how many of us actually can?

     Recently, our bedroom was starting to feel constricting already to me. We still had several items from our previous travel in bags and a few other things that were just there and screaming 'I am clutter. Get rid of me!' to me.  Yes, this was our bedroom. I have no shame. Since I wanted to move the computer inside our bedroom and I needed a different table for it. It was all too prefect an excuse to get to work....

     This was how it was slowly coming along on Instagram..... the artsy-ish picture of clutter.....tragic!

     Here it is after decluttering.....minus the tower of books and other stuff.....TADA!

      AAaaah, I can sleep so much better now......

     A clean space = a clean mind so I was so happy I brought out our new Ikea sheets and bought a cute throw pillow to go with it.....The cute doggie is actually saying, keep the room this way please.

     One thing I fear about getting old is what if I am too weak to do this? To clean, to purge? Then I would simply say I completely understand my parent and most of my friends' parents who were baby boomers. Do not blame World War II for the all the junk they have hidden/ hoarded in their bodegas (storage rooms). They are just tired and old. 

     Scary thought. So before that happens ....BE VIGILANT, TOSS, DONATE, PURGE...as if you will grow old tomorrow.....AN EVEN SCARIER THOUGHT.....

A Label Suit

     One morning I was horrified to open my chest of drawers and see these.

     In the Philippines, we are lucky or are we unlucky to still have house help. The pics above were the work of one of mine. Sometimes we fondly call them house angels. She was not very angelic-looking to me that particular morning so I decided to put matters in my own hands. I need to label these drawers but I refuse to stick labels on this lovely piece of furniture. Then beneath one pile of pillowcases, I saw a stash of old packaging for undergarments. I do not throw them away as they are plastic and I do not know where they will go if I do but hey, lookee here:

(The labels are in Filipino for house angels to understand it better)

     So far my chest of drawers have been er ...behaved and looks like it is working......for now.

These are all you need. =-) Zip lock bags will do too.