However, as an organizer I have a love/hate relationship with Black Friday.  While I’m all for a good sale, I also know it encourages us to buy things we don’t need or wouldn’t otherwise buy if they weren’t “so cheap”.  This creates excess in our homes and in the homes of those we love.  But we want to buy gifts, right?  But why, because we love our family and friends, right? 

I would encourage you to evaluate two things when shopping this year.  First, why are you buying the gift?  Is it because you want to shop?  It’s so fun, especially at Christmas, isn’t it?  Make sure you aren’t shopping to shop, or shopping because it’s on sale – those are dangerous habits!

I would also consider… this person that you love, that you are gifting to… how do they feel loved?  Have you ever read the book “The Five Languages of Love”?  It is such a great book about how we all feel loved in different ways and tend to love others in the way we feel loved.  But what if they are different, what if the people we love feel loved differently than me?  The five languages of love identified in this book are quality time, acts of service, gifts, physical touch and words of affirmation.  

What if your gifts this year aren’t just about how you love others, but what makes them feel loved.  The awesome thing is that gifting like this often eliminates the clutter of “things”.   Gifting to someone whose love language is gifts… well yes, buy them gifts!  How about quality time – plan a date night, a girls day or a day of family time.  Buy tickets to an event, a gift card for dinner together…  For someone that is loved through acts of service… a coupon book of things you will do for them is a great idea… we’ve all seen these.  And words of affirmation… create a gift that encourages them, shares all the good things you see in them and tells them why you love them.

Over the next week we will be sharing very specific gift ideas that don’t create clutter on our Organized Housewife Instagram page.  Follow us on Instagram to see the “clutter-free gifts” series.

The post Clutter-Free Christmas first appeared on Organized Housewife.

This was the opening of my devotional, and oh how true it is!  I can never fix it all or do it all. None of us can.  Some of my clients are truly a hot mess.  Other clients aren’t even close to a hot mess, but they want it ALL under control.  Neither personality is all good or all bad.  Those that are a hot mess are often the ones that are so focused on the world outside their walls that their own house is a bit out of control.  But they adopt babies, take in foster kids, serve endlessly at their school or church, help support amazing charities…  Those that want it all under control often have homes where they welcome others in and love their little part of the world inside their own walls.  They keep their homes nice and tidy, but sometimes don’t truly get to enjoy the people inside their walls as they are consumed by trying to keep it all perfect and in control.  

But here’s the thing… we’re really all the same.  Hot Mess or Control Freak… we aren’t God.  Those out serving the world are beat down by how much there is left to do.  Those that are creating a home in which they can love their people feel like they are spinning their wheels to keep all the people and all the things in order.  Our house will never be perfect, our kids won’t always be happy, our kids will make poor choices, the world will still be messed up with hurting people, the world will never be fair… 

I see so many women struggling with depression, anxiety and self-image, ultimately because we aren’t God.  We won’t ever get it all right or fix it all or control it all. 

This holiday season I want to encourage you to remember that we aren’t God – we won’t get it perfect, we can’t do everything and be everything to everybody and we certainly can’t fix it all.  Take time to remember who God is, and that only through him do we have a chance at having the strength to do what he created us to.  And even then, sometimes we’ll be more of a mess than we wish we were, our house won’t be perfect, there will be things we can’t fix, relationships we can’t heal and people we can’t help. So what do we do… submit our hearts and lives to our loving Savior and let His thoughts and His ways control our little part of the world.

I hope you can find joy this holiday season in being thankful for who God made you to be.  Celebrate Jesus and your part of the world he put you in to serve and love those around you the way he created you to, even though we’ll never be perfect at it like He was.

The post Hot Mess or Control Freak first appeared on Organized Housewife.

First, let’s look in the mirror.  I see homes where one person (it’s not always the woman!) has an unrealistic view of perfection that can’t be achieved if you have a busy family and keep your priorities in order.   I meet countless families that want their houses to be ordered and running smoothly but are too busy to ever be there.  Managing our homes requires us to be both physically and mentally present for a significant period of time on a weekly basis.   And of course, there are the families that just have too much stuff.  Remember that it doesn’t just take money to buy stuff, it takes time to manage it no matter how organized we are.  Before implementing new systems and strategies carefully evaluate why you think prior efforts have been derailed.

If you are investing time in managing your home, have a reasonable amount of stuff and a realistic expectation of what order looks like I think even the busiest family can maintain an orderly and well managed home with a few good strategies.

This chart provides a basic framework for setting up systems and then working to maintain them with some simple daily and weekly strategies.

Without a good system that gives everything in your home a place to belong, it is hard to pick up quickly.  Those “I have no idea what to do with this” items are the ones that derail us the quickest.  Find a home for everything and store very little in the hub of your home.  (think kitchen, living room, dining)  For my family, nothing belongs in the hub of our home except the items our family uses together to eat and enjoy our time together (games and puzzles).  This means that every day you can require each member of the family to take their belongings to their own personal space and all clutter should be picked up. 

I don’t make my kids keep their rooms spotless every day.  And let’s be honest, there are many days that I can’t see the floor in my 16 year old’s room.  But… that’s the freedom and grace I give him to be his own busy person during the week.  However, once per weekend he is required to get his room in order according to mom’s standards.  He still has more “clutter” that belongs on his desk and shelves than I would like but I just require that all of his belongings are put away and well taken care of.  He also has to vacuum and dust his room and clean the bathroom he shares with his brother twice per month.  I clean it at least once a month as well, because he’s 16 and I want my house to be clean when he moves out in 2 years! 

Now I know requiring your kids to pick up daily and clean their rooms well once a week sounds like torture, but I am a firm believer that the real benefits of these habits go WAY beyond a clean home.  Our kids need to learn to take care of their own belongings and be good stewards of their blessings.  Almost every client I have ever worked with has high standards for their kids to work hard at school, sports, music or whatever extra-curriculars they are interested in.  But we also need to teach our kids the life lesson that we must work hard at home too.  We often want to let our kids off the hook at home because we know they are such good students and dedicated athletes or musicians, but we aren’t truly helping them if we have no expectations of them contributing to the efficient management of the home in which they live.

The last, and I would argue most important reason to consistently require our kids to help us maintain order, is that it provides an opportunity at the youngest age and the oldest to teach and reinforce the principle that obeying your parents is not an option.  When our kids learn at a young age that obeying our house rules is a consistent and non-negotiable expectation the entire family dynamic is more peaceful—not just the living room!

By requiring my family to pick up their own belongings each day on the main floor, the spaces I live in regularly are not overwhelming for me to keep picked up and clean.  If picking up at the end of the day meant picking up after my entire family of 5, I would never do it.  Because I just pick up my belongings, do the dinner dishes, wipe off counters and sweep the kitchen and mudroom it only takes 20-30 minutes a day.  

Weekly my family must get their personal spaces in order and help with their laundry.  Remember they have been allowed to manage their own personal space throughout the week, so sometimes this takes a long time on the weekend, sometimes it is super fast.  Let your kids have some freedom for how they manage their own belongings and space, within some reasonable boundaries.  Once a week I spend at least a few hours tidying and deep cleaning our home as well.  Now I’m a weirdo, my ideal Saturday is snow falling outside and me organizing and cleaning my house all day.  I know many of you lead much more exciting lives than that, but reality is… maintaining our homes takes time.  I also spend a couple of days a year (usually after Christmas in January and after summer break in September) resetting larger spaces like the storage room, purging clothes in my closet and kids’ closets and the pantry.

Do a little bit each day, a better job once per week and reset whole systems a couple of times a year.  This will keep your systems running smoothly and your home in order all the time.

The post Strategies for Maintenance first appeared on Organized Housewife.

First, let me be clear that some of those resources are amazing.  I’ve read some of them and even stalked a few bloggers over the years.  However, I have also worked with a lot of people that wanted to be more organized.  Some of those people were actually really organized to start with and others were, well not so much!  The common thing about every single one of the people I have worked with is this…  they all set aside personal resources to get more organized and create a more peaceful space in their home.  That is the key.  No one can get organized without either committing the time to the task or money for someone else to do it for them.  If you want to commit some time to getting organized this year, I’ll share a few suggestions about the process and what I typically work on each January in my own home.  

There are plenty of articles including some of my own posts about how to approach getting organized.  Many times we read the articles and plan the fun products, and then have no time left to actually get organized.  Unless you feel like you have set out on an organization mission many times without success, I wouldn’t spend time reading plans, getting inspiration and shopping product.  I would just get started!  However, if you want to read some of my original posts on my philosophy of organization, how to get started, and other tips of general organization you can follow this link.  OH! Organization 101 

Last weekend was my reset weekend for our house, and I made some significant new year organization progress.   The first key to my success was that I did very little last weekend, except spend time in my house organizing and cleaning.  I maybe even went unacceptably long without a shower!  I know that sounds way more fun to me than the average person, but really it is required of any of us to make good progress.  When we are only home for a few hours here and there we deal with the big glaring stuff that really bothers us but so many little details get pushed aside.  What I find is that the accumulation of a million little things that I need to deal with but avoid because they seem hard end up overrunning a space until I set aside a chunk of time to force myself deal with them.   So, I started with one small space in my house that had a million little things that needed to be addresses:  my office.

My office is always my stash zone, and it never fails that I look like a hoarder instead of an organizer by the end of the holiday season.  This year I had a pile in the corner of work things (like shredding), returns, small but daunting mom projects (sewing Jase’s favorite stuffed animal), unused home decor from August, Christmas returns and more.  The middle of my office was a pile of leftover randomness from Christmas, work papers, an old computer that needed backed up, books and cards I stashed for the last 2 months…  Then there was the closet… it was overrun with office supplies, memorabilia, and too many categories that fit when we moved 4 years ago but have now overwhelmed the space.  I truly needed a whole weekend to deal with all of those little piles that together became a big project.  

One of the things that can make it hard to get through those small projects is uncertainty of what to do with them, how to fix them, guilt at throwing them away, and the sense that they just aren’t important enough to take up my precious spare time.  As I worked through my office I forced myself to deal with every single item and did not leave anything “for later”.  I did small annoying tasks (like sewing and shredding), I sorted through files and papers and tossed the outdated items, relocated some categories from my closet that no longer fit, and put every.single.little.annoying.thing that was out of place in my office back where it belonged.  As much as I dreaded each of those little tasks and put them off, it felt so good to have my office back in order for the new year ahead.  And I’ll be in here a lot!!

If you feel overwhelmed by all the little things you see throughout your house that need to be dealt with, commit to getting one or two spaces really organized.  Set aside a significant amount of time and start going through every little thing as you work your way around the room or through a closet.  

My office was really my trouble spot this January and included most of my other January priorities, but I usually find myself addressing the same things at the start of every new year: 

I purge file folders on my desk, sort paper piles, purge office supplies, sort and store cards and other memorabilia, address the Christmas overflow and work through project piles that accumulate in my office. 

I try to wash all of my blankets and linens while I’m working and “stuck at home”. 

I reset my gift wrap and greeting card supply – getting Christmas tucked away and refreshing my stash for birthdays. 

My refrigerator always needs cleaned out and I am brutal with purging the holiday excess from the pantry. 

When we take down the Christmas tree, we reset the storage room and make sure everything has a home. 

I used to also make my kids help me clean out their toy room and bedrooms before putting away their Christmas gifts.  This was super helpful when they were younger as they were more motivated to purge old toys when they had just gotten all of their new ones.   

Because I organize a little all year long, I am not overhauling spaces in the new year.  Overhauling a space that has been neglected for years can be overwhelming and you may need help.  I usually need about 3-4 good days at home to get Christmas taken down and new year organization projects all accomplished.

I love solitude, so I am quite happy with my coffee and my music, but if you thrive in the presence of people – phone a friend!  Work together, 2-3 days in each of your homes, sorting, organizing and even enjoying some coffee or a favorite carryout lunch.  It doesn’t have to be miserable… you just have to set aside time and set your mind to it.  I promise you will find joy in the final product!  I organize for a living and I keep walking by my neat and tidy office and thinking “it looks so nice in there”. 

Find some time, pick a space and Happy Organizing in 2022! 

The post Organizing for the New Year first appeared on Organized Housewife.

I really do miss the days of paper clutter, when everything I needed to know for my kids came home or through the mailbox in paper form.  I feel like the information was limited and a bit more concise.  These days I feel like I get at least five emails a day, per kid, with a mix of really important and almost useless information.  In order to decipher what is important and not completely ruin my kids’ lives, (yes a little dramatic) I have to read all 900 emails, download all 15 apps, complete and sign 20 different documents and enter no less than 300 events in our family calendar.  I was completely exhausted by Monday night, and I literally sat in the car the whole day!

I wish I could tell you I have a fabulous strategy to circumvent the time drain of reading all of those emails, but I don’t.  I do have a system that allows me to make sure all of the information in those emails is properly dealt with and filed away for reference if needed in the future, without it being a full time job.  

The first thing I do with email is let the guilt go!  Just because someone choses to send me an email on Monday does not mean that I must prioritize what was important to them that day and respond to that email the same day.  I will respectfully read and deal with emails that are sent to me, especially those sent by teachers, coaches, ministry leaders…  However, I set aside time each week or so to keep my family’s schedule and life in order.  Much like ignoring my cell phone during family time, I often ignore my email until I can sit down and properly deal with its contents.  

When I sit down with my email, I also have a notebook, my calendar and these days… my credit card.  I work through all of the emails in my inbox and deal with whatever issue must be addressed… signing forms, completing registrations, responding to requests, entering events on our family calendar…  When I am done with any “call to action” items in an email it is filed away as a reference email only to be looked at again if something triggers a question or recollection of something I need to review.

My email has numerous folders, arranged much like a file cabinet.  I have a main folder for each child, with subfolders for school and their major activities.  For example my daughter has a file named after her (her general folder), and sub folders for DMCS (her academic and general school info), School Sports/Activities  (info for extracurriculars at DMCS), VSA (soccer, her big commitment), and Church (her small group and other church related).   My folders for her look like this…

ADDISON

       DMCS

                Sports/Activities

        CHURCH

         VSA

When I am done reading and responding to emails for her I file them away in one of her categories or under her general folder (Addison).  I no longer have all of those reference emails cluttering my inbox, but can easily find them if needed.  I use this method for each of my kids and have other folders for bills, online orders/receipts, work emails….)

My email Inbox is truly only for emails that I still need to take action on.  This prevents me from opening the same email a million times to see if I have dealt with the important items, or letting important emails get so far down in my inbox list that they are forgotten until it is too late to deal with them properly.  

One additional thing that I regularly do to help with my kids’ folders is using the “pin to top” or “flag” options.  For example, the email from my daughter’s soccer team mom with our season game schedule is flagged and “pinned to the top”  so that it will be the top email in her VSA folder until this season is over.  When we get emails for the upcoming week or tournament I flag those emails  so I can quickly refer to them for details I don’t want to include in my family calendar… like jersey color, link to the tournament website and game results…  The weekend of the tournament I can quickly find the email I need and then I simply unflag it when the weekend is over.  

It may sound like a lot of work to set up email folders, but I promise it brings so much peace of mind to know you have dealt with all the important stuff and reference information is easily accessible!  If you have thousands of emails in your inbox and this feels daunting… don’t go back and sort or delete them all.  Simply create an Archive July 2021 folder and move everything from your inbox that is from July 2021 or older into that archive folder.   You haven’t deleted the emails or lost them forever, but you will eliminate the crippling inbox clutter that prevents you from knowing you have all your emails under control.  You will have an inbox that you can manage and keep clutter free from August 2021 forward!

The post I Kinda Miss Paper Clutter first appeared on Organized Housewife.

I am all about keeping the house clean and ordered and truly believe that promotes better family life and mental health for moms.  However, I have worked with kids on several organizing projects over the last few weeks and have been reminded that order is important, but it is not the most important thing.  Each of these projects started in a home with some pretty significant chaos… we were working to uncover beds, couches and floor that had become completely covered in laundry and clutter, making it almost impossible to use those spaces for their intended purpose.  

I’ll be honest, my first thought on the first couple of projects was… “this is going to be a long day working on such a big project with kids that clearly have no structure.”  OH MAN! I was WRONG!  In all three projects I worked with middle or high school aged kids that were incredibly helpful, polite, and  respectful towards me and their mothers despite several hours of being asked to help sort, carry, distribute stuff and even work on loads of laundry. 

It was such a good reminder to me of something we all forget as moms…  Just because our house may be cluttered or even downright dirty, it is not a reflection of who we are as a mom.  And when it comes down to our priorities… wouldn’t we all rather have successful, polite, obedient and amazing kids than a perfectly cleaned and ordered house.   It has been such a great reminder to me that spending time parenting my kids and growing a relationship with them is so much more important than my house… especially in the summer when they have more capacity for building a relationship with me.

The other thing I was reminded of in working with these three awesome families, is that kids are REALLY good at organizing and TOTALLY feel the same satisfaction as we do when the project is complete.  These kids engaged in the process, helped sort and categorize belongings, and expressed the satisfaction they felt in all they had accomplished. 

One boy said, “my sisters are going to be so excited when they get home.  We are going to be able to sit on the couch and enjoy the living room tonight.”   As I left he thanked me several times for all of my help.  His pride in what we had accomplished excitement for his family was so fun to see!

In another project we had been organizing a girl’s room with little involvement from her mom.  As we were nearing completion her mom came upstairs to check on us and the girl yelled at her, “Stop, don’t come in!  We’re almost done and I don’t want you to see it yet.”  Her face had a huge smile and she was so excited as she showed her mom her new clean and organized space that she had worked so hard on.  She told her mom, “I am going to keep my room so clean and organized from now on”.  We all know that may not be entirely true, but she realized what she had accomplished and was so proud and excited!

In yet another project, a high school girl worked with us in her parent’s room for several hours sorting, hanging up clothes, distributing things around the house…  None of the work was for her and almost none of the stuff was hers.  She cheerily helped the entire time without any complaints and grumbling.  She found joy in helping her mom and seeing a space in better order for her mom to enjoy.  What an awesome daughter with such a sweet heart. 

Seriously!!  3 amazing kids that reminded me how much our job as moms is NOT about our houses!

These projects also reminded me that we can make progress in our houses over the summer, and our kids CAN help us!  If you want to tackle a kid’s room, playroom or teen hang out space over the summer, set aside a few hours to work with one of your kids.  You will have much more success working on-on-one.   You can celebrate your success with a trip to the pool or an ice cream shop!  I know, sometimes it is easier if they know someone is coming to help and they have to be on good behavior because a guest is in the house.  However, most kids really do enjoy the final result of an orderly space to spend their time in at home.

Here are a few tips when organizing with kids.  

1. Start by sorting into 4 categories: Keep, Donate, Relocate & Toss.  Do it fast and keep it simple

2. Resist the urge to distribute “relocate” items while you work.  Just make a pile, or fill a box or bag and distribute all of it at the end.

3. Don’t micromanage the process.  Hold up clothes or toys and just ask them the category it goes in.  Throw it in the right pile and keep moving.  Hold back on sharing all of the stories you associate with their stuff… stay detached from the stuff and help them sort.

4. If they want to get rid of something and you don’t think they should… set it aside to asses at the end.   More on this in a minute..

5. Once you are done sorting, look at what is going to go back in the space and create a space plan.  

1. 1. What is used the most?
   2. How much do you have of each thing?
   3. Create zones for storing clothes, toys, sports equipment… zones help kids remember where things go  and recognize when something is out of place.

6. Evaluate if you need any new storage pieces to coral belongings.  Never buy before you organize… always sort & create a plan and then buy product.

7. Labeling items will help older kids remember the system.  Taking photos of the finished space and printing them out for younger kids will help them identify where everything goes when it is time to pick up and reset the system going forward.

Back to disagreements about what to keep…  One of the biggest challenges I see when kids and parents organize together is that they have different priorities of what should be kept and what should be “on display”.  If you tend to be sentimental and they aren’t… you can keep a small amount in their closet on a high shelf.   If you want to keep a lot of things… you need to find a space to store those things that you are responsible for managing.  I have seen many parents want to store their childhood memorabilia in their kids’ room because they think their kids will appreciate it.  I have also seen parents that are too attached to every one of their child’s toys and stuffed animals that their kids are living among clutter they don’t want but their parents won’t let them get rid of.   If your child is the one that wants to keep everything… set up a system with the things you both think they should keep.  Then, establish one space with a defined boundary where they can store and keep anything they want.  It might be a drawer in their nightstand, a basket in their closet, or a box in their room.

Enjoy this summer with your kiddos!  Let the house look like all you did this summer was eat Oreos with those sweet, respectful and responsible kids of yours.  Or, get your kids on board with creating order and making progress.  Either way, I hope you find time to really enjoy your kids this summer and parent them into amazing people!

The post Summer Focus: Kids! first appeared on Organized Housewife.

I thought this would be a perfect time to share how I pack for longer trips (more than a few days).  I’m not someone that has a ton of clothes or loves to shop, but it seems like I want to take everything I own when I travel!  I am known for moving things to my husband’s suitcase so I don’t go over the airline weight limit.

A couple of years ago my sister-in-law bought me these Lean Travel bags for my birthday. LEAN TRAVEL  They aren’t something I ever would have thought I needed or voluntarily spent money on before I had them, but I love them!  

I categorize my clothes (p.j.’s/lounge, activewear, pants, t-shirts, dressy) and each category is in a bag.  I use the Marie Kondo folding method Marie Kondo so that it is easy to see what is in the bag and rolling actually prevents hard wrinkles.

You can fill the bag REALLY full and then zip it up.  There is a second zipper to compress the contents, so that it takes up very little space in your suitcase.

Once I have everything packed, I stack them in my suitcase, leaving a little room for shoes and toiletries.

Unpacking at our destination is super easy, as I don’t have to pull out each item and sort through everything.  I typically hang my dressy clothes and then unzip the rest of the bags and utilize them to keep my clothes neatly stored in a drawer or an a shelf.  The slight germaphobe in me loves that my clothes aren’t actually touching the drawer or shelf at our destination too!

When it is time to head home, I make a couple of bags with dirty clothes and re-pack anything clean separately. 

I hope you are going somewhere fun this summer!  And if you tend to overpack like me, this might help consolidate your suitcases and keep things ordered while you are away!

The post Summer Travels first appeared on Organized Housewife.

*Applicants:  Please click the blue application button below for a brief online application and you will be contacted for a phone interview.

Cleaning and Organization Associate:

Are you a hard worker that loves the satisfaction of a tidy and clean home, and serving others? Do you enjoy being active while you work?

Are you interested in sharing your talents with other families in the Des Moines area?

Organized Housewife is a growing cleaning and organization company looking for an Organizing and Cleaning Associate to assist with the housekeeping and home management of ongoing clients. Full or part-time position with flexible and school-day hours available. Opportunity to grow!

Organized Housewife partners with ongoing clients to assist them with maintaining order, and thoroughly cleaning their homes on an ongoing basis. No move-in, move-out or one-time cleanings.

The cleaning services of Organized Housewife go beyond surface cleaning of bathrooms and kitchens, dusting, vacuuming and mopping floors. We build relationships with clients that allow us to maximize the potential of their home to serve as a place of rest and joy for everyone that lives in it.

Details:

Flexible schedule between 8:00am-5:00pm: 5 days/week. No nights or weekends required. Flexibility to work between 15-40 hours/week depending on your availability.

$12/hr with opportunity to grow

Mileage Reimbursement for use of own vehicle.

Waukee/Western Suburb location

Seeking individuals that are energetic and excited about working as a team (no formal experience required)

Paid Training: Applicants must be willing to learn procedures and systems of Organized Housewife to thoroughly and efficiently clean and de-clutter

Primary responsibilities will include housekeeping in client homes, with some personal organization services.

Responsible for own transportation

Hiring subject to background check

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time

Salary: $12.00 to $12.50 /hour

Employment Application

The post Current Employment Opportunity first appeared on Organized Housewife.

Here’s the thing though… we all use the kitchen sink to wash our dishes and rinse our dish rags or sponges.  But, how often do you really clean your kitchen sink?  Research says most Americans don’t clean the kitchen sink very often, if at all.  In fact if you google the topic (which you may not want to!) you will find that in most homes the kitchen sink has more germs and bacteria than the toilets, and also has mold spores.  blahhhh!

Why is that?  Well in part, it is because we soak and rinse our dishes in the sink and never actually clean the sink itself.  We may rinse the sink out, but we down really wash and scrub it.

On a daily basis when I am done washing our dishes I use Dawn soap, hot water and my dish rag (or sponge) to wash the entire tub of the sink along with the faucet and handles.  I scrub the sink and all it’s parts just like I do the dishes we cook in and eat off of.  

Cleaning the sink on a daily basis will get rid of most of the germs and keep it from getting really gross, but there are still stubborn germs and bacteria that will thrive.  At least once a week (more when anyone is sick), I use a stronger and mildly abrahsive cleaner to really scrub the sink.  I use “Bar Keepers Friend Liquid Soft Cleanser” which uses oxalic acid to disinfect and is a mild abrahsive so it will provide a little deeper clean than regular dish soap.  You can also use Comet or Ajax, but I typically avoid bleach products in our house.  With any of these products you need to use a little water with the product to scrub the sink and then let the cleaner sit for at least a couple of minutes (5-10 minutes is best) before rinsing to give it time to kill more bacteria and germs.

When I thoroughly clean the sink, I also scrub down the sides of the drain and around the base of the faucet and handles.  I occasionally use a small “toothbrush” to clean around the drain surround and around the seam where the sink meets the countertop.  Many drain or splash guards (the rubber cover on the garbage disposal side) can be removed and cleaned as well, especially in newer homes.  If your splash gaurd comes out and you have never cleaned it, be prepared for what you will find! 🙂  You can also regularly remove those and toss them in the dishwasher.  

After cleaning my sink I disinfect the rag or sponge that I used, using the laundry and dinfecting procedures I discussed in my last post.   If you are particularly concerned with the germs in your sink, you can boil water in a kettle or pot and rinse the sink with it.  I worked as a nanny / housekeeper for a microbiologist many years ago and every time raw chicken was in their kitchen he would dump boiling water on anything it could have possibly touched.  I always remember that when I’m considering what will best kill bacteria and germs… boiling hot water!

Happy Cleaning!!

The post Everything but the Kitchen Sink first appeared on Organized Housewife.

However, there are a lot of things about germs that aren’t as obvious as, “don’t even touch the handrails on the escalator at the airport”.  Because I feel responsible for keeping client homes germ free all the time, I have done research on eliminating germs and bacteria and thought I would provide some guidance to all of you on how to disinfect your laundry.

A few facts that might surprise you…

• The washing machine won’t kill most of the germs in your laundry, even with the hot water cycle.  Washing machines can actually spread germs while items are being washed.
• More soap in your washine machine will be counter-productive.  Our newer He washing machines become less effective when too much soap is added.
• Your dryer is the most effective place to kill germs and bacteria.  Germs and bacteria thrive when humidity is between about 23-77%.  High heat and high humidty is best, (humidity above 77%)  but high heat in the absence of any moisture is also good.
• Towels of any kind (especially those from the bathroom & kitchen) are typically the dirtiest things we wash.
• Although I love vinegar for general cleaning, it is not effective against these nasty viruses. (according to the CDC and FDA)

What you can do…

• If someone is sick, wash their clothes seperate from everyone else’s.  Remember the dyer is where they will be disinfected, so keeping items seperate in the washing machine will reduce the risk of spreading germs.
• Wash towels seperate from clothes, for the same reason.  Also, we don’t have to worry about shrinking towels so washing them separate allows us to use the highest heat possible in the dryer and then we can dry towels extra long.  This allows high heat and humidity at the begining of the cycle and high heat with little to no humidity at the end.  I always wash my towels this way and it helps with the mildew smell in the summer months.  
• If you have special clothes that must line dry and can’t be exposed to high heat, drying them in the sun will also help kill germs.
• After washing towels, cleaning rags or clothes from someone that has been sick, clean your washing machine to prevent the spread of germs in the next load.  Run a cylce with an empty washing machine and add bleach into the dispenser. If you can not use bleach, you can also use Hydrogen Peroxide (3% solution).  Although I regularly clean my washing machine with vinegar to clear odors and soap build up, it is not effective against the germs and bacteria we are currently working to eliminate.

There is also a laundry product, Lysol Laundry Sanitizer,  approved by the FDA to work against the coronavirus in the washing machine.  However, at this time I can not find any source where it is available for purchase.

Although the dryer is very effective, drying something that has not been washed and is not wet when added to the dryer is not effective.  For example, you can not take your child’s jacket that he wore to school and place it in the dryer to kill germs.  You need to wash the dirt away in the washing machine and have the jacket wet when placed in the dryer to create a high level of humidity during the dry cycle.

Last, if you have cleaned your home and want to make sure sponges or rags are exceptionally clean and sanitized you can place a large kettle of water on the stove and place rags & sponges in boiling water for 15 minutes.  This is considered the best possible way to kill all germs and bacteria.  

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