Clean House

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Is it time to chill the chore wars? Clean house fast and furious!

Check these articles to learn the secrets of professional cleaners, make your own cleaning products, and bring the family onboard to create a clean and organized home.

Magic Minimum: Cleaning Secret of Organized Families

minimum maintenance
Posted by Cynthia Ewer on April 9, 2014

Is it time to clean? Not for today's busy families!

Between work, children's activities, and vacation plans, even the most leisurely 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.

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Clean Sweep? The Case Against Spring Cleaning

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on March 31, 2014

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.

But is spring cleaning really necessary?

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Five Tips For Spring Cleaning With Kids

kids and chores
Posted by Cynthia Ewer on March 23, 2014

Spring cleaning is on the horizon, and you could use some help. It's time to try a team approach to seasonal cleaning.

Many hands make light work ... so how do you get the kids to pitch in when it's time to spring-clean the house?

Try these five tips to involve children with housecleaning chores.

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Family Ties

Kids and Chores: Chilling The Chore Wars

kids chores
Posted by Cynthia Ewer on March 14, 2014

When it comes to kids and housework, the blasted terrain is familiar: a dirty house, balky children, and frazzled, frustrated parents.

Tired parents try it all, from chore charts to screaming fits.Canny children engage in housework sabotage, selective hearing or childish irresponsibility to duck assignments.

The noise levels--and stress levels--rise along with the stacks of dishes.

How to negotiate a peace on the issue of children and chores?

Try these family-tested strategies to calm the conflict and gain the goal.

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Family Ties

Swing into Spring: Five Easy Ways to Welcome Warm Weather

spring cleaning
Posted by Cynthia Ewer on March 4, 2014

Blooming bulbs and Spring breezes signal that warmer weather is on the way.

Sure, many of us will do an all-out session of Spring cleaning, but even small, simple jobs can bring the season's freshness inside.

Shake the winter doldrums out of your organized home with these five easy ideas to swing into Spring.

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Seasonal Spin

Sew A Clean Sweep Apron!

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on February 26, 2014

A cleaning apron? What, me?

Yes, you! Forget those '50's images of housewifely frou-frou and ruffles: a cleaning apron has a place in the modern home manager's toolkit.

A cleaning apron speeds cleaning chores. Spray bottles of cleaning solution hang ready for use. Apron pockets lined with plastic bags corral bits of trash. Cleaning tools live at the tips of the cleaner's fingers.

Stockpile a stack of cleaning cloths in one pocket, a cleaning sponge in another. With a cleaning apron, supplies, tools and materials are literally close to hand.

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Wipe Out! Make Your Own Cleaning Wipes

homemade cleaning wipes
Posted by Cynthia Ewer on February 10, 2014

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 refillable cleaning wipes!

Homemade cleaning wipes are easy to make, economical, and contain only those cleaning agents you select. Use them in the kitchen, the bathroom, or for cleaning windows.

Put homemade cleaning wipes to work for you in your organized home with our easy instructions and cleaning recipes.

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Speed Cleaning Tips From Professional Cleaners

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on January 14, 2014

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. Watch professional cleaners at work: they don't waste time, cut corners or dawdle over the job--and they know how to clean fast, clean right.

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