One Project At A Time: The Linen

It might seem strange to most, but I just think the word "linen" is so  sophisticated. It just reminds me of the fresh clean scent of sheets and towels that are soft and luxurious. I think of stepping into a high end hotel room with all the clean beautiful ammenities. I know, it might be a tad strange - but, don't you think that some words just hold a certain smell, memory, thought, or reference when you speak it?  Well, I do.  And, I think that the word "Linen" is much more refreshing to say then my plain old sheets and towels.

So... back to the MAIN point of this post. (Thank you for obliging me to spin off on a luxurious word)

My Linen.

I thought I would share with you my next little phase of "Simplifying our Home".  I worked on the linen closet.  We have two of these in our home.  One in the main hallway and one in the master suite -- which currently the girls use as their bathroom (I can share why that is later, if you are so interested).

I will just be showing you the main one in the hallway today. What I didn't do for you was take before pictures. Sorry. But, you can trust me that is was previously a big mess.  First, I did an overhaul  with ALL my medications, lotions, toiletries, first aid..etc.  and put it out onto the table.
YIKES!

  I had a huge day of sorting, purging old stuff, and then putting like items together.  I bought some new bins to hold the items and then labeled each box according to category:  Kids medicines,  Pain meds, Cold & Flu,  first aid, soaps, lotions, hands, feet, etc.  I located them to the top two shelves in our closet (on one side).

In regards to the linen closet -  I took everything out and sorted what I could give away, what could be used as rags, and what could just be thrown away.   I simplified a lot.  Each bed has 2 sets of sheets, that way a clean one goes on while the other is washing.  I recently got some new towels for Christmas, so I got rid of those old towels we had since we got married in 1999.  It is nice to have something new and fresh.  The towels in this closet are for adults and guests.  The girls have their own towels in their bathroom. I will show you that later.

Here is the first side of the linen closet = done up all perty like. 
Towels are below the labeled boxes as well as some afgans.

 On the other side of the closet:
Top Shelf - I have a bin of doiles, a comforter,
4th Shelf - napkins with napkin ring box, table clothes
3rd Shelf - Guest bedroom sheets, basket with guest related items, linen sprays, etc.
2nd Shelf - Master bedroom linens
1st Shelf - Girls linens
Bottom (floor) - blankets

TIP: One of the tricks that I do with my sheets is to fold them and then put them in the matching pillow case. This allows for the sheets to be all together and not have to search and find loose sheets, cases.  I think it makes it look a little neater and clean kept as well.

How do you organize your luxurious linens?

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Wrap Up! Winners!

I think for Lil Daisies hosting their first "Spring Clean Carnival" -- that we had a pretty good turn out. There were about 12 people participating and about 25 entries. Yay!

I went through and gathered all your comments and links toward your cleaning -- then wrote down your name on a slip of paper (one slip of paper for each room you cleaned).

My little helper Lydia helped me pick the winner!

And the winner is....

Josselyn

Oh, BUT WAIT... Lil Daisies was feeling pretty generous and could not just pick ONE winner...so, we drew another name -- this person will be receiving an apron and a few other goodies.

Niana's Mommy

Congratulations to my two winners -- and congratulations to ALL OF YOU that participated -- because you now have some clean rooms for a time of relaxing into the Summer season...you can dip your toes in the sand, drink a glass of lemonade, or just read a book by the pool -- because your Spring cleaning is ALL DONE!

Thank you for participating and motivating me to get some Spring clean done in my own home -- especially in time for our new little one coming in a few days!!

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Week 5

So, my friends -- this is the last week of our carnival. I have had some faithful readers join in on the cleaning fun. If you have commented or linked up over the last 5 weeks, I will be sure to tally your entries and choose a winner at the end of this week. I hope to announce our cleaning guru next Monday!

You have all this week to put in your last entries. Remember, you get an entry for each room/area you have cleaned!

Last week we worked on the Living Room & Family Room. How did you do?
I will admit that it was another busy week for me and I didn't get all that I wanted accomplished in the rooms. I am hoping to finish up in the next few days and take some pictures to show you. I still need to show you pictures of our bedrooms....hopefully I will get to that soon.

As you know I have been nearing the end of my pregnancy and not able to get as much accomplished as I would like. I am taking it in stride and just being content with whatever gets done for my cleaning.

I am glad that this week should be an easy week for me: finishing up last minute details in other rooms but, mostly going to concentrate on a few areas.

This week: Laundry Room, Front Porch

My Plan:

FRONT PORCH

• Sweep front porch area, Shake rug, set-out pretty flowers
  
• wipe down the front door (inside & outside)

LAUNDRY ROOM

• wipe down dryer & washer.
  
• organize shelves in laundry room
  
• sweep & mop floors of laundry room
• empty garbage can & lint holder on dryer
• take out any empty bottles

Okay -- let's get to it!

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Week 4

Last week we combined weeks 3 & 4 and did bedrooms. How did you do?
I will admit that it was a busy week for me and I didn't get all that I wanted accomplished in the rooms. I am hoping to finish up in the next few days and take some pictures to show you.

As for this week: Living Room & Family Room

My Plan:

• Dust
• Vacuum floors, under & behind couches
• wipe down window sills
• Dust & clean entertainment center
• organize shelves, side tables, etc.
• baseboards (girls will get the pleasure of helping with this!)

If you one or both or another living space you will be working on -- don't forget to come back here and post what you accomplished so that you will be entered in to win the fabulous prize.

Remember what you are cleaning for?:


* TWIST Bamboo Cloth - contains three 100% Biodegradable bamboo clothes. Dusts- Polishes, All household uses! Made from Bamboo and Corn.


* Microfiber cleaning towels - contains two sunny yellow clothes


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Surface Wipes (Lavender Scent)


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day All Purpose Soap Bar (Lemon Verbena Scent)


* 12 Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaner Recipe cards


* Lil Daisies Homemade Luxurious Linen scented Sachet


* Lil Daisies Wild Flower Mix for planting


* Lil Daisies "Daisy" flower mix for planting


* Meal Planning Pad (magnet)

* Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaning Apron (not shown in pic)

Is that enough to motivate you to clean at least one room in your house?

Remember you do not have to participate in every room to be entered into the challenge. Even if you clean just one room -- that gives you one entry into the prize. AND, it just may make you feel a little better to have at least one clean room done in your house...but, of course if you clean more than one room ...you will have more entries into winning the fabulous prize!


Okay let's don our aprons and get cleaning!

Spring Clean Carnival -- The Bathrooms! (Recipe Included)

I was glad to do the bathrooms this past week, because the last week was such a busy week and cleaning the kitchen was A LOT of work. It was nice to have a somewhat easier week with cleaning -- especially since I took on a big sorting clothes project this week!

The bathrooms were kind of fun to do -- I know that that sounds weird, huh? But, I think that I spent more time decorating and organizing than cleaning them. I like that part of it more. I have been in the process of moving rooms all around since February. We have done a major overhaul of switching rooms --and part of it was the bathrooms.

I don't have too many before pics because I had already been moving stuff from one bathroom to the other. The girls are now in the Master Bedroom and now claim the Master Bath as well. We took over the girls bath/ guest bath.

So, this week besides cleaning, I made it "our own" bathroom sanctuary! My guests like it too...because they don't feel like they have to go in a kid bathroom with toothpaste stuck all over the vanity!

This was my plan:

* Sinks
* Toilets
* Tubs
* Mirrors
* Under cupboards
* Drawers -- clean & organize
* Floors
* Wash Shower curtains and area rugs

I did NOT clean the bathtubs this week-- Ahem, I was a little bit clever and put my girls to work for me! The Lil Daisies cleaned it for me! Nice! I made a safe cleanser for them to use. And they LOVED it. I gave them a bowl of homemade soft scrub and each a sponge and they got in the tub and scrubbed away. It smelled so good in there! After rinsing they -- enjoyed a nice warm bath in the CLEAN tub!
I am telling you -- it is a great way to have your tub cleaned!!. Just a warning tip -- it is slippery, so I have them start at the top and then go down to the bottom of the tub -- that way they can be on their knees and not slip in the tub while cleaning.

HOMEMADE SOFT SCRUB CLEANER

1/2 Cup of Baking
Soda Liquid Castile Soap
5 drops Lavender essential oil and/ or 5 drops Tea Tree essential oil

Simply pour about 1/2 cup of baking soda into a bowl, and add enough liquid detergent to make a texture like frosting. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and wash the surface. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bathtub because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit.

Note: I used Dr. Bronner's Lavender Liquid Castile Soap -- therefore, did not need to add the essential oil. The Lavender smells so nice and clean! The essential oil is optional --but, if you have plain Liquid Castile soap -- I prefer to add it because the smell is just yummy!

OKAY OFF TO VIEW THE BATHROOMS~

BEFORE:

AFTER:

THE GIRLS BATHROOM:

I organized the girls hair pretties. So far it is working out great. I found containers that I already had and used them to separate each of the hair accessories: clips, hair-bands, head bands, larger foofy hairties....

The girls top drawer contains organized toothbrushing station.... the containers make it easier to maintain --that way the toothpaste and toothbrushes are not just thrown in the drawer and mixed around into a big mess.

The girls bottom drawer is organized with hair brushes (also a box to hold brushes -- to maintain organization), hair dryers, curling irons, etc.


Created Potty Books for Rosi in both bathrooms. She loves to read while going on her potty. This container keeps the book in one place rather than all over the back of the toilet or on the floor. It is her own Potty Library!

THE GROWN-UP BATHROOM

I bought myself a new floor rug -- it was time for a new fresh one! I also created a new picture frame over our toilet (I will have to share how I did this in another post)


Organized the drawers: going from a much larger bathroom space to a smaller space was a bit of a challenge -- but, it was a good time to purge old stuff, minimize toiletries, and find better solutions to organizing what I had. I now enjoy the simplicity of it all.

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Week 3

Last week we worked on the bathrooms. I have a post to share with you about my bathrooms, unfortunately I am not near my c0mputer with pictures. So, I will post that tomorrow for you. I was happy to not only get some cleaning done in the bathrooms, but some organizing and decorating. We had switched bathrooms about a month ago with the girls, so I had made our "new" bathrooms our own. It was fun.

NOTE OF CHANGE: I was looking at the calendar that I had set-up for the Spring Clean Carnival and realized that it would be getting REALLY close to when we are having our baby. AND, I have some other things I need to do to get ready for when baby arrives -- like sorting through baby clothes & things and also meal planning.

So, with that said, I am going to adjust the schedule to end a week earlier. This week was scheduled for bedrooms -- so I will combine week three & four together. Remember, if you do all you rooms, you will get an entry for EACH room. Just make sure to comment to let me know how many rooms you have done.

This week, we are working on BEDROOMS (any bedroom/office, etc.)

Here is my plan:

Bedrooms:

• Windows
• Dust
  
• Floor Boards (kids will do this for me)
• Floors
• Wipe down doors
• Clean up clutter/make beds/etc.

Office:

• Clear-up clutter
• Dust
  
• Organize
• Window sill
• Floors

Okay -- Blessings this week as you clean! I hope that you are feeling good about getting some cleaning done in your house! Don't forget to come back here and enter!!

OOPS! I forgot a title to this post!! --Join in with me?

I hope that some of my readers will join in and share with others about the Lil Daisies Spring Clean Carnival. I would love some company in my insane pursuit of a clean spring home! Please?

Plus, I would love for someone to win the fabulous prize at the end of the Carnival. Need a reminder of what you could win?

I think so.


* TWIST Bamboo Cloth - contains three 100% Biodegradable bamboo clothes. Dusts- Polishes, All household uses! Made from Bamboo and Corn.


* Microfiber cleaning towels - contains two sunny yellow clothes


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Surface Wipes (Lavender Scent)


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day All Purpose Soap Bar (Lemon Verbena Scent)


* 12 Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaner Recipe cards


* Lil Daisies Homemade Luxurious Linen scented Sachet


* Lil Daisies Wild Flower Mix for planting


* Lil Daisies "Daisy" flower mix for planting


* Meal Planning Pad (magnet)

* Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaning Apron (not shown in pic)

Is that enough to motivate you to clean at least one room in your house?

Remember you do not have to participate in every room to be entered into the challenge. Even if you clean just one room -- that gives you one entry into the prize. AND, it just may make you feel a little better to have at least one clean room done in your house...but, of course if you clean more than one room ...you will have more entries into winning the fabulous prize!

You can join in anytime --- We are currently at WEEK TWO !

You can enter through Mr. Linky at the end of the weekly posts or leave a comment at the weekly posts as well. ---I hope you will join me!

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Week 2

How did we do? We made it through Week 1 -- and let me tell you it was a tough week here for Lil Daisies home. Not only was it Easter week filled with celebration activities, but plenty of school activities, science projects, and then having to clean the hardest part of the house (in my opinion) - the kitchen! But, I did it! And, it felt so good to see a beautiful sparkling clean kitchen. VERY rewarding!! (You can see my success in the Kitchen here!)

You can join anytime during Spring Clean Carnival! Just join in wherever we are at... If you want to read up on how we are going to do the Spring Clean Challenge go HERE!

I hope you will join me ~ I need the support and what better way than to get a little clean shine to your home by doing it together?


Let's get going!

THIS WEEK : I am focusing on the BATHROOMS!

* Sinks
* Toilets
* Tubs
* Mirrors
* Under cupboards
* Drawers -- clean & organize
* Floors
* Wash Shower curtains and area rugs

Spring Clean Carnival-- My Kitchen

It was a busy week with Easter celebrations, School activities, Science projects, meetings, etc. that I was a little worried at first that I wouldn't be able to get my Spring clean done in my Kitchen. And, wouldn't you know that the kitchen (in my opinion) is the most difficult to clean?

But I did it! And it was VERY rewarding and felt so good to see a beautiful sparkling kitchen that smelled so yummy clean!

Here is what I did!

BEFORE:



This was my plan:

• Wash the outside of cupboards, handles
• Wipe down windowsill
  
• Shine sink
• clean off all counters
• clean under the dish drain
• microwave
• clean out dishwasher drain plug
• clean under kitchen sink cabinet
• floors
• outside of appliances (refigerator, oven, dishwasher)
• oven - inside, and outside
• wipe down small appliances (crockpot, vitamix, coffee maker, cuisinart food processor, etc.)

AFTER:
( I was even able to add some decorative touches -- look atop my cabinets!)




AND A BONUS! I was able to enjoy my new clean kitchen with freshly baked homemade Papa bread~ Thank you to my hubby! Oh, the joys ....

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL -- Week 1

Are you ready? Do you have out your favorite cleaning supplies -mop, rags, broom, dusting wand? Don your favorite apron and let's dive in!

You can join anytime during these next 5 weeks! Just join in wherever we are at... If you want to read up on how we are going to do the Spring Clean Challenge go HERE!

I hope you will join me ~ I need the support and what better way than to get a little clean shine to your home by doing it together?

Note: Some of you asked if you could do ALL the cleaning this week? Why YES...if you are industrious and have the time to do it all, by all means GO for it! I broke it down into smaller steps by doing one or two rooms over the next few weeks. I can only do just a little bit at a time to maintain the rest of my household!

Just remember that you get ONE entry for EACH room that you clean in your home!So, be sure to leave one comment for each room completed. There is a fantastic prize in the end! If you have a blog, it would be fun to see the before and after pictures too.
I will be doing this!


THIS WEEK: THE KITCHEN
(I will post my pictures this week!) I am starting with the Kitchen mainly because it is one of the hardest rooms and I like to get it out of the way!

Here is my plan:

• Wash the outside of cupboards, handles
• Wipe down windowsill
  
• Shine sink
• clean off all counters
• clean under the dish drain
• microwave
• clean out dishwasher drain plug
• clean under kitchen sink cabinet
• floors
• outside of appliances (refigerator, oven, dishwasher)
• oven - inside, and outside
• wipe down small appliances (crockpot, vitamix, coffee maker, cuisinart food processor, etc.)

Remember your plan will be different from mine.vSpring cleaning is defined by you - we'll operate on the honor system. We all have different ideas about what spring cleaning means, so I'll leave this pretty open.

Okay, Let's go!

LOTS OF FUN is happening here! Join in!

How do you celebrate Easter with your children?

I have had several people ask me this question. And, I think it is an important question to reflect upon -- Let me share with you our journey of celebrating Easter in our own home......

You can finish reading about Celebrating Easter because Lil Daisies has a guest post today over at Creative2xMom! Go Check it out!

***************************************************

SPRING CLEAN CARNIVAL CHALLENGE is up. Look below and find out all the details! I hope you will join with me! I NEED the support. Tell your friends and family!



Don't Forget about our sweet Lovely giveaway with Scooterbug Flair! Enter to win some absolutely adorable hair pretties!

Spring Cleaning Carnival Challenge

Spring has Sprung! It has been a long Winter for some of you in certain parts of the world. But, now that April is almost here...I am hoping that we can now begin to put some fresh Spring cheer into our homes!

My purpose for hosting this challenge is to motivate myself and those of you anticipating this series --knowing that it will provide motivation to do it together and have accountability from all of you to complete my much-needed deep cleaning.


Let's get started!

Each room you clean counts as one entry in the drawing for a fabulous prize. For example a bedroom and Master bedroom would be two entries.

Rooms must be cleaned between March 29th - May 3rd

Spring cleaning is defined by you - we'll operate on the honor system. We all have different ideas about what spring cleaning means, so I'll leave this pretty open.

How to share your results and enter to win a fabulous prize:

I will post on Mondays and you have until the following Monday to complete the task and comment or post about your progress.

Anytime during the week, if you are a blogger, post about your results on your own blog and then use the Mr. Linky to link to your post. Don’t forget to link to this post!

If you aren’t a blogger, post about your results in the comment section of the post on Mondays.
Note: Any comments that are left which include no e-mail address, blog link, name or way to contact you will be automatically deleted.

Please feel free to share the above button on your blog and link others who may want to participate over here for more fun!


Okay! Let's define the rooms we're going to clean and go ahead and schedule them on our calendar.


Here's the plan:

Week One: Kitchen
Week Two: Bathrooms
Week Three: Master Bedroom/ Bedroom
Week Four: Bedroom/Office
Week Five: Living Room/ Family Room
Week Six: Laundry Room/Car/Porch

Let’s take a look at what you have the chance to win.

* TWIST Bamboo Cloth - contains three 100% Biodegradable bamboo clothes. Dusts- Polishes, All household uses! Made from Bamboo and Corn.


* Microfiber cleaning towels - contains two sunny yellow clothes


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Surface Wipes (Lavender Scent)


* Mrs. Meyers Clean Day All Purpose Soap Bar (Lemon Verbena Scent)


* 12 Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaner Recipe cards


* Lil Daisies Homemade Luxurious Linen scented Sachet


* Lil Daisies Wild Flower Mix for planting


* Lil Daisies "Daisy" flower mix for planting


* Meal Planning Pad (magnet)

* Lil Daisies Homemade Cleaning Apron (not shown in pic)


Let's get our homes clean! (Remember you do not have to participate in every room to be entered into the challenge. Even if you clean just one room -- that gives you one entry into the prize. AND, it just may make you feel a little better to have at least one clean room done in your house.)


We start Monday March 29th -- so be ready to don your favorite apron and feather duster!