Welcome Back to Me!

     Where am I??? Oh, I am back!!!!

     I do not know why but every time I come home from a long trip, I have this almost maddening urge to clean, organize and declutter my house.  If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know about it. My theories are one, control. Being away and living off suitcases mean you are never really settled therefore you have no control over ANYTHING. Two, it helps me settle back in or three, since traveling opens my mind to new things, ideas and life lessons, I feel changed and renewed therefore a newer, fresher backdrop to go with it?

     I guess it is a combination of all three. Here are three links to get me started on my, I want to call it welcoming- myself- back- home and back- to- reality to do list

 

     Here are daily reminders to help us keep our homes organized and clean. Click here.

     And the 21-Day Organization Challenge. I already started with my medicine cabinet. Oh, forget about the holiday sparkle part.

     Maybe if I am still inspired I might even get around to making this which I have been wanting to make for a long time. The Home Management Binder!

     So good luck to me and I will let you know how it goes..... Wish me luck! 


PS

To my dear regular readers who want to know about my Apartment Therapy Home Cure.... Can you guess how it ended? You're right, it hasn't. Well, I keep trying. We all should.  

It is great to be back!

    

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

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.....