clean house

Winter Preparedness Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

winter safety checklistWhen wintry weather blows, will your family be prepared?

Take time now to review your family's emergency preparedness with our Winter Preparedness Checklist. It'll help you prepare your home and automobile for cold-weather hazards.

Out and About:

Will your home welcome winter visitors safely? Be prepared for snow, ice or rain on walks and driveways with:

  • Snow shovel
  • De-icing compound
  • Waterproof floor mats

Read more »

Fall Cleaning Chore Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

fall cleaning checklistIt's Autumn.

Pumpkins glow in golden fields. Shorter days, crisp mornings signal winter's approach.

Can the holidays be far behind?

Use Autumn's brisk and breezy days to conquer deep-cleaning chores for a clean and comfortable winter home, and wrap up summer's outdoor areas for the coming of cold weather.

Our Fall Cleaning Chore Checklist will help you prepare home and hearth for the coming of winter: Read more »



Kids and Chores: Chilling The Chore Wars

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

kids and choresThe blasted terrain is familiar: a dirty house, balky children, and frazzled, frustrated parents. How to negotiate a peace on the itchy issue of children and chores?

Try these strategies to calm the conflict and gain the goal:

The Buck(et) Stops Here
We have met the enemy, and it is us! Lingering ambivalence about our family's life and our own choices can keep us from successfully gaining kid cooperation where household chores are concerned.

Perhaps we grew up in a home heavy with sex-role stereotypes but have chosen a different viewpoint. Maybe we work, and feel a lingering guilt. Some of us may still harbor childish resentment against our own parents, and feel uneasy about "making" children do household chores.

Whatever the reason, an ambivalent mindset can sabotage attempts to enlist children in the fight. Too often, we announce a new regime of household chores in a moment of anger and frustration. Elaborate chore charts are made and ignored after the third day. Family meetings are held which settle nothing more than another layer of dust on the television. Read more »



Summer Cleaning Chore Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

summer chore checklistSummer's here, hot, high and sweaty. Vacations beckon. The garden takes on a life of its own.

Busy families don't have much time for home chores these months. School's out, travel's in and it's easy to let life slide on the home front.

Still, summer will run more smoothly if you keep tabs on these important areas in the Summer Cleaning Chore Checklist.

Our checklist list tackles hot-weather issues, summer health and safety: Read more »



Wipe Out! Make Your Own Cleaning Wipes

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Who doesn't love commercial cleaning wipes? They're wickedly convenient--but also wickedly expensive and often contain harsh chemicals.

The alternative: make your own!

Homemade cleaning wipes are easy to make, economical, and contain only those cleaning agents you select.

Put homemade cleaning wipes to work for you in your organized home with our easy instructions: Read more »



Clean Sweep? The Case Against Spring Cleaning

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Spring blows in with warm wind and the promise of ... spring cleaning? With the coming of spring, even the most casual home managers feel an inexplicable urge to move furniture, clean windows and vacuum baseboards to welcome the return of sunshine and warmer weather.

Certainly, there's a lot to be said for the notion of spring cleaning. It's a good time of year to rout out the dirt, dust and disorder that's crept into the home since the holiday season. By doing a thorough clean once a year, no area of the home gets too far removed from the results earned by energetic mops, vacuums and cleaning cloths. Longer days bring a new burst of energy for many of us, and using that bonus to deep-clean our homes seems like a good match for rising springtime spirits.

Then there's another point of view: that spring cleaning is unnecessary in an organized modern home. Read more »



Spring Cleaning Chore Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

It's Spring!

Warming breezes scour the last of winter from house and garden. Spring rain awakens the earth and calls forth new life.

Meet the rising sap with a new broom. Spring clean indoors and out to prepare home and hearth for the return of warm weather.

Our Spring cleaning chore checklist will help you take care of important seasonal chores and welcome Spring to an organized home: Read more »



Speed Clean Tips From Cleaning Pros

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Paid cleaning help can be a wonderful short-cut to a clean and organized home--if the household budget can stand the cost.

But what do you do if the Prize Patrol bypassed your door this year?

Take a speed-cleaning lesson from the pros! Paid cleaning services are masters of the art of speedy, efficient cleaning. They don't waste time, cut corners or dawdle over the job--and they know how to clean fast, clean right.

Take a tip from their copybook. To clean your house in record time, try these tips from professional cleaners: Read more »



Pantry Cleaners: Recipes for Homemade Cleaning Products

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

homemade cleaning productsTaken a trip down the cleaning aisle at the supermarket lately? If you believe the ad hype, you can't keep a clean house without loading your shopping cart with a different cleaner for each surface, floor and sink in the house.

Hogwash! Simple recipes using products from your pantry make effective household cleaning solutions. An added plus: these natural products are more environmentally friendly than commercial alternatives.

Stock your cleaning tool tote with these homemade cleaning sprays and solutions to make short work of household grime--without harsh chemicals or irritating fumes.

Try these easy recipes to clean your organized home faster, better and cheaper: Read more »



Magic Minimum: Cleaning Secret of Organized Families

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Autumn days are long and lazy? Not for today's busy families. Between work, children's activities, and vacation plans, even breezy fall days don't seem long enough to get everything done at home.

There's a solution for busy times. Just as your body needs a "minimum daily allowance" of vitamins and minerals, an organized home needs a minimum of maintenance and attention to keep running smoothly.

Think of this as a Magic Minimum: a short list of essential household tasks. It's a bottom-line list of chores and activities necessary to keep things running at a basic level.

With a working Magic Minimum plan, the household stays afloat, even when time is short. Read more »