Stuff on the fridge

It’s time for a little DIY Day spring cleaning! This post is for anyone who has ever had a hard time finding the fridge under the mound of papers and magnets.

Exhibit A. Clearly, I had a bit of a problem.

Exhibit B. Yep. The problem wraps around the side of the fridge.

I’m aware that it’s terribly uncool and a big decorating no-no to stick things on the fridge, but I don’t care. I’m a real person and I like keeping photos, notes, and invitations in plain sight. The fridge reminds me to pray for my missionary friends, RSVP for an upcoming wedding, and smile at my cute little cousins. However, things had gotten a bit out of control. Plus, I’m pretty sure Brad and I are too old for Family Guy magnets.

So, I pulled everything off the fridge and made three piles: magnets, keep, and toss.

Next, I cut up my old magnets into circles, big squares, and little squares.

I cut the same shapes out of pretty scrapbook paper.

I used a brush to apply Mod Podge to the back of the paper and the front of the magnet. After fifteen minutes, I applied a top coat. Fifteen minutes after that, my fridge looked like this:

I feel like the de-cluttered look is much easier on the eyes! Is it crazy that part of me wants to scan all those photo cards and print them out in black and white on photo paper?

Still, I think this is waaaay better!

Do you have an area in need of a mini spring cleaning? Any tips for keeping the fridge from paper overflow?



<3
Hattie

As Seen on TV

My husband loves gadgets. I mean, he LOVES them. This man could spend hours in Brookstone. On Friday, we had a conversation in Target that went something like this:

Me: “Why is there a Shark portable steam pocket in our cart?”

Brad: “Do you know how many attachments this thing comes with? It has the wedge tool, the duster, the scrub brush, a cylinder…”

Me: “But why is it in our cart?”

Brad: “Guess how much it is? Twenty bucks cheaper than on TV!”

Me: “If we buy it, do you promise to use it tomorrow to clean the whole house.”

Brad: “Yes!”

Me: “Sold!”

I’m always skeptical of infomercial products, so I thought I’d take a few action shots as Brad put the steam pocket to work.

First he used the duster tool to go over every bit of fabric in the roost. He did the curtains, furniture, pillows, and mattress. I have a horrible dust allergy, so this is one of the features I was the most excited about. The house definitely smelled and felt fresher after this, and the steam didn’t soak any of the fabric. I really have no idea if it actually killed any dust mites, but I certainly haven’t sneezed any more than normal and I have had less sinus headaches.

Next, Brad went over all the kitchen cabinets and counters with the wedge tool.

Before:

After:

I liked the results, but this tool is not a miracle worker. It cleaned the areas I normally clean every week like a charm, but it did not fix some bad grease spots I’ve been trying to get rid of for awhile. If you use this to clean a fresh mess, you’ll probably be fine, but it’s not the answer to your ancient stains.

The scrubby brush went to work in the shower and the sink

And the cylinder pocket fit all around the faucet.

I’m happy with this purchase, but I don’t think it’s going to replace all my cleaning supplies. I love that it can be used to freshen fabric and steam wrinkles out of clothes. I think I’ll use it every week for my regular kitchen and bathroom cleaning. But – for big messes or stubborn stains, I’ll need to fall back on more traditional cleaning supplies.

Note: Shark did not compensate me in anyway for this review.

Now, spill: What is your favorite cleaning gadget? Just don’t tell my husband!

<3
Hattie

Much ado about stuff

Are you ready for a little DIY Day organization?

You know that room in your house where all your junk goes to die? The room you close off the second surprise guests walk in the door? Ok, maybe some of you are too neat to have a room like that, but Brad and I definitely did. If you would like to feel better about your own clutter, take a gander at our office/craft/sewing room:

Note the box full of other empty boxes and containers I might need someday for some unknown project.

Pillow and picture frame destined for crafty makeovers.

Drawer full of scrapbook paper, actual scraps of paper, and tissue paper.

Ridiculously awful drawer of stickers, brads, and other miscellaneous scrapbooking junk.

Pile of fabric with no home to call its own. Not shown: drawer full of duct tape and ribbon bits.

Clearly I have a problem. I. could. Not. Stand. It. Anymore. Notice the visible areas weren’t too terrible, but the drawers were in serious disarray. My tendency to shove junk in drawers rather than deal with it probably reveals some deep and disturbing psychological trait, but I’m not going to think about that. Anyway, I knew any organizational solution was going to have to include a plan to keep the drawers in order, or this room would only stay neat for about two seconds.

This area doesn’t look that different, but I did deal with the box ‘o boxes.

My desk is all orderly now.

I tried to fit as much of my spool ribbon as possible on these little shelves.

I used these retro bird mugs to hold all my sharpies and scissors. Does a girl really need eight pairs of scissors? Yes. Yes, she does.

On to the drawers! First, I took everything out of the drawers, piled like items together, and got rid of a ton of stuff.

My dad heard me complaining that 12x12 scrapbook paper is too tall to fit in a normal filing cabinet, so he surprised me with this handy little expandable tote, made just for over-sized paper.

The rest of the paper got sorted by color, holiday, etc. and filed in regular folders. I also made files for stickers and various bits of paper memorabilia. For instance, I have a folder labeled “summer 2009” and another labeled “wedding.”

The rest of my scrapbooking supplies and those empty containers are organized in two boxes at the front of the drawer. Just by organizing things and throwing out tiny, random scraps of paper, I managed to fit two drawers worth of craftiness in one drawer.

This left the bottom drawer open for all of my fabric.

Here is my new and improved ribbon/duct tape drawer.

Most of my vintage trimming was already neatly wrapped on cardboard, while the rest of my ribbon scraps were just shoved in a plastic bag. I decided to cut up some cardboard and make “spools” for that ribbon as well.

The best thing about tackling this project is that I now know exactly what supplies I have on hand. I also created a “home” for every item, with extra room for any new items I might will acquire in the future.

I hope this inspires you to tackle your own organization project! If you’ve posted about organizing lately, be sure to put the link in the comments, so I can check it out!

<3
Hattie

Shark Attack

When I got home from work today I found these boxes taking up some prime living room real estate, and I practically squealed with excitement.

Our new vacuum arrived! Brad and I have been drooling over this vacuum for almost a year. Note: If 16-year-old me heard 26-year-old me uttering those words she would roll her eyes and say, “You are so lame!” To that, 26-year-old me replies, “Whatever, you have gymnast bangs and blue glitter fingernails!” Anyway, when we received some Christmas money and a reimbursement check on the same day, we knew we could finally make this beauty ours.

Let me introduce you to the never loses suction power of the Shark Navigator. I’m sorry the picture is blurry, but you never, ever make a vacuuming husband stop vacuuming! Although Brad and I watch a lot of infomercials, (I blame this on a combo of Saturday morning sloth and lack of cable television. We also have been known to watch Power Rangers and Hannah Montana reruns. The shame.) we’ve never actually purchased anything “as seen on TV.” However, we’ve always liked the idea of a Dyson – but not the price tag. So Brad put his obsessive home electronics researching skills to work, and read about a trillion reviews of the navigator before we decided to go for it.

I have to say, this little guy did a much better job on our floors than our old vacuum. It didn’t spit any crumbs back out as it went along, and the crevice tool has every nook and cranny of the roost cleaner than it’s been since we’ve lived here. I also like that it worked just as well on wood floors as it did on the carpet. Whether or not it really keeps its suction remains to be seen, but I’m hoping for the best! We got in on the deal where Shark also throws in their steam mop for free. Hopefully that will arrive tomorrow, because I’m super eager to remove the layers of swiffer residue from our newly crumb-free floors!

Do any of you have any Shark products? What do you think? Any favorite go-to household appliances? What is it about January that makes us all so ready to clean house?

Note: Shark did not pay me to say any of this, nor did they give me any free products. I am so not that big a deal! But if I was, they could send me a portable steam pocket any old time, and I would love them forever.

<3
Hattie

Spring Break update - day one

Spring break is off to a pretty good start. I decided to begin checking off my to-do list with the thing I've been putting off the longest - cleaning out the fridge.

As you can see from the before photo, the doors were the worst problem. I had way too much crammed in there, and it was pretty common to be hit on the toe by a rouge salad dressing bottle every time time I opened the door. My goals were to:

1. Get everything out so I could wipe down all of the surfaces with a natural all purpose cleaner, including the sticky spots I new lurked in the back.

2. Throw out everything past it's expiration date or that I hadn't used since Christmas.

3. Arrange things so that like items were closer together.

Ta-da! My new clean and organized fridge. I would encourage everyone to take the time to at least pitch out everything past the use-by date. I had no idea how much expired food was taking up space in my fridge. I found old mayo, dressing, jam, cream cheese, etc. Taking the time to note what types of food didn't get used up before they expired is a great way to save money in the future. For instance, we really only use some foods and condiments, such as ketchup, seasonally. Today I discovered that our giant ketchup bottle from last summer was only 1/3 empty, but way past the use-by date. Now I know that buying the small bottle this summer will save us money, even though it cost a bit more per ounce.

Last night we started on our other big spring break project - painting the kitchen table and chairs. I nearly had a break down in Lowe's when we discovered that they no longer sell Rust-oleum Americana spray paint. They had other types of Rust-oleum, but none of them looked familiar. I waffled for a minute, but decided to check Home Depot before we bought anything. Over at Home Depot they also didn't have the Americana line, (maybe it's been discontinued, which is a shame because half of our furniture is painted Americana Blossom White) but they did have the Rust-oleum Painter's Touch line in Heirloom White, which we used last summer to paint a dresser. We loaded up on spray primer, paint, and sealer, so we are ready to go when the weather cooperates.

Here is the table we are planning to paint,

I keep it covered because the bare top looks like this.

This morning I sanded it down so everything will stick better and so the scratches are even with the rest of the surface.

Now, we just need a nice sunny day with no wind!

<3

Hattie

Spring Break to-do list

Only three more days until Brad and I enjoy a week of Spring Break. I think we are more excited about it than our students! I already have a long list of projects I hope to tackle. If the weather cooperates, I just might get most of them done, if not, I'll roll them over to my summer break to-do list.

1. Spring Cleaning
I do a little cleaning every weekend, but it's time for a major overhaul. Cleaning out the fridge, removing every trace of mildew from the bathroom, and really scrubbing (not just swiffering) the floors would be a good start. Real Simple has a cool room-by-room guide to cleaning your house with natural ingredients that I'm going to use.

2. Paint the kitchen table and chairs
If It doesn't rain too much, I really want to paint our kitchen set white. We got the oak table and two chairs at Goodwill about two years ago, and found two almost matching chairs at Garden Ridge to go with them. They are not quite the same color or style, and the table has a few fairly deep scratches in the finish that make it necessary for me to always use a table cloth. I've been thinking about it for awhile now, and a good sanding and a few coats of white paint will make a big difference. I'll post before and after pics if all goes well.

3. Garden Prep
Our raised garden boxes are in serious need of some TLC. I need to clean out all the old weeds, mix in some new soil and generally prep everything for some plants. I'm too afraid to plant anything yet (we had frost last night!) but I want to get the boxes ready to go.

4. Make a new purse
I am tired of my winter purse = it's time to make a new one. I'm gonna get out the duct tape and go to town. I'm thinking of making a yellow one again, as I'm really loving it this spring.

I'll be sure to update with pictures as I complete some/all of these tasks!

You know you're officially a homebody when spring break means home improvement not surf and sun! What are your spring plans?

<3
Hattie

It’s cheaper being green

In my quest to switch over to natural cleaning products, I’ve discovered that it’s actually often cheaper to use green products.

1st switch – I was pretty much addicted to cleaning wipes because of how convenient and easy they are to use, but they get to be expensive and wasteful, not to mention how toxic a lot of the ingredients are. So, when Target had all of the back to college stuff marked down cheap at the end of the summer, I bought a huge stack of plain white wash cloths for about two bucks. I use these with a non-toxic all purpose cleaner to wipe down everything from kitchen counters to bathroom surfaces. I pop the cloths in the wash once a week, but if any of them ever get too gross to re-use, I don’t have to cry over it because of how inexpensive they were.

2nd switch – Our bathroom sink is prone to the occasional clog and I’ve found a cool new way to fix them. Drain cleaners are full of gross chemicals, but there is a simple and fun way to get rid of the gunk. Start by pouring some good old baking soda down the drain. Be pretty generous. Next, pour some plain white vinegar over it until you get a little volcano fizz a la 5th grade science fair. Wait until it stops fizzing, and then pour a little more. Repeat until the fizzing stops. Leave the drain alone for a few hours and it should be as good as new. Really gross clogs may need a second dose.

3rd switch – Speaking of vinegar, it is seriously a super hero. You can use it to clean pretty much anything. I buy it in a huge jug and use it all the time. You can use it to clean everything from mirrors to toilets. If you add half a cup to a load of dingy whites it brightens them up. It is my favorite thing to use to clean the coffee maker. I usually run a cup mixed with two cups of water through the machine about once a month.

4th switch – No more dryer sheets. I had a really bad skin reaction a few months ago, and in an effort to figure out what was causing the irritation I stopped using dryer sheets. I don’t miss them one little bit.

Any other ideas for inexpensive and natural ways to keep things neat?

<3

Hattie