Author: admin

It is a crazy time in the world right now. We have all been on lock down for weeks and now they’re asking us to wear masks when leaving the house, & that’s only to work, pick up groceries and medications. Who would of every thought this world would ever come to this?

Everyone is supposed to be staying at home, so what should we do at home as to not lose our minds? It’s very easy to become bored, although I can’t even imagine the thought. I seem to be very good at always finding a project or activity. So here are some ideas to keep yourself busy and keep your mind off the global pandemic, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

After your done cleaning and sanitizing all the areas you normally do, pay close attention to the areas that don’t usually get your attention such as your oven, refrigerator, baseboards and moldings, cabinets, closets, and inside drawers. These areas that we say we never have the time for, because we’re too busy. Well……guess what mama, now we have the time because we can’t go anywhere, and there’s that special feeling about getting something accomplished instead of just sitting on the couch and binge watching all the shows. Make a list from most important to least and get started.

After your to do list for cleaning, make a game plan for cleaning your closets and drawers. Pick an area for each day as not to overwhelm yourself. I started the other day with my medicine cabinet. I am in there each day, getting vitamins for my whole family, trying to keep them healthy during this time. So I wanted to pay extra close attention to all that. I found rounders last year when I was reorganizing my pantry and they’re perfect for this area. Here is my approach:

1. Remove everything out of the cabinets…. I mean every last thing and put it on the counter.
2. Separate into groups. ( i.e. Medication and Vitamins)
3. Check the expiration date, if it’s food, vitamins, medication, etc.
4. Put in separate containers. ( i.e. rounders and boxes)
5. Use things you have on hand to group them. (i.e. cake decorating plates that spin, mason jars)
6. Unbox what you can to save space and put in containers that fit better.
7. Make the space work for you.

I’ve found that anything that takes your mind off of what’s happening in the world right now is something worth doing for my mental health. Whether it is cleaning, reorganizing, baking, cooking, or playing bored games with our children keeping busy and engaged is the key. My friends I hope you are all taking the time to enjoy your home making it better and more improved. This will help tremendously when it’s time to get back into the swing of everyday life at least our space will be in working order and that will relieve any unnecessary stress.

Be well and Be safe my friends. ~ Sherri XO

Well, the world has gone into lock down mode. Businesses, schools, bars, restaurants, gyms, and churches anywhere that 20 or more people gather is off limits. Keeping our own home safe and our families healthy is essential.

Our hands are raw from the 20 second washings…which are pretty much happening a bazillion times a day, and there is no hand sanitizer or toilet paper to be found on the store shelves. I luckily own a cleaning service, so I was stocked up on Lysol, Clorox wipes, and antibacterial cleaners which I’ve been using during flu season as well. My kids are older, but they still carry everything. My son has just recently started being more concerned with singing “Happy Birthday” twice during hand washing, only because of social media. I may add he has also learned far more irritating songs on you-tube, God please let this last no more than two weeks. All kidding aside my home needs to be sterilized everyday. So I’ve brought out the big guns (Clorox Wipes) by wiping down all doorknobs, light switches, banisters, faucets, toilets, remotes, phones, keypads. If it were an Olympic sport, I’d surly win the gold. I also started sanitizing my laundry loads with Lysol Laundry Sanitizer added to the regular detergent and fabric softener. Better safe than sorry, that’s my motto.

If you’d prefer a more natural route Hydrogen peroxide is a great disinfectant and so is rubbing alcohol, although you are going to have a hard time finding these gems at the store right now as well, thanks to the panicked hoarders, white vinegar, vodka, lemons, essential oils, steam, Castile soap.

You can make your own homemade cleaners as I have listed in my earlier blogs, using any of these essential oils:

• tea tree
• citronella
• geranium
• lemongrass
• orange
• patchouli

Whether you choose to clean with or without chemicals that is a personal preference. Don’t make anyone feel badly about there choice for their home & families. We clean many homes and each family is different and is concerned about certain things, and we address each one individually. We want to give a feeling of security, attention to detail, and peace of mind.

These days peace of mind may be harder to come by with all the media coverage of what’s happening world wide. If we can just each do our small part here, we can make sure that we are protected. Stay prepared, but also stay calm…this to shall pass.

Peace to all of you,

XO ~Sherri

Your closet whether big or small, is a very important thing to keep organized and neat.  It helps you start off your morning in a stress free way and helps everything run smoother when your space is tidy and organized.  Here are my top 10 tips for organizing the closet you have right now.  

1.  Completely empty the area you are working on  This means EVERYTHING must go into another space.
2.  Have 3 bins/bags/piles: One for keep, one for giveaway, and one for trash.  
3.  Every item must go into one of these bins.  If you haven’t worn something in the last 6 months give it away, someone else will love it! If it’s seasonal like shorts, or sweaters and you didn’t wear it last season, GIVE IT AWAY. It’s just taking up valuable space.  If the item is torn or stained and you don’t wear it (most likely) TOSS IT.  No one wants a hand me down with stains or holes.  Say this out loud “IT IS OKAY TO THROW CLOTHES AWAY” Love it – Great job!!
4.  Clean out closet area fully, dusting, vacuuming, & wiping down. Having everything out of the space really helps this go quickly. 
5.  Fold sweaters, don’t hang them they will stretch out.  Color coordinate them for a quick grab & go.  You can use separators for your shelf or if you don’t have the space you can use bins, under the bed bins are a great space saver if you’re limited.  
6. Fold all pants, and jeans and if you have space put them on the shelve, color coordinated is the best bet.  If limited on shelf space you can hang them, store in a drawer, or use a bin.  
7. If you have shelf space for your hand bags set them up there. Clean the bags out too!! Just a little f.y.i.  I also found out that the dry cleaner cleans your favorites. If you don’t have the space you can hang the bags on hangers or use hooks.  
8. Hang with a plan, put all short sleeves together, long sleeves together, button down shirts, together…. you get the point.  Color coordinate all of these things as well it makes choosing outfits so much easier
9. It’s all about the shoes!!! Store shoes front to back on a shelf, putting them this way saves space and you can fit more in a smaller space.  If you don’t have shelve space, you can put them on a hanging shoe rack, use cubbies, or store them on the floor.  Also, you can use pant hangers to hang your boots from the clothes bar.  
10. One final tip. To help store your scarves and belts is to install a towel bar in your closet area, or bare wall.  This will create extra space for your accessories.  

 

  

The finished project.  Everything is neat and has a space of it’s own.  Now relax and enjoy the stress free day.  XO ~ Sherri

If your family is like mine, the dishwasher is forever being loaded and unloaded.  We do at least two loads a day, I always tell my hubby that in my next house I’ll need two dishwashers, but by that time my kids will be grown up and we’ll be empty nesters.  So to save money in the meantime and to use natural products, I’ve found my favorite recipe for homemade natural dishwasher detergent.  So I thought I would share my secret, no just kidding, it’s really no secret… if you’ve been reading my past blogs and making your own cleaning products, you’ve probably got most of this stuff in your home already.  

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of washing soda
• 1/2 cup of citric acid (Lemi Shine)
• 1/2 cup of kosher salt ( for scrubbing )

Directions: 

• Mix all ingredients together and store in a container that seals
• Use 1 Tbsp for each load.

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I add white vinegar to the rinse aid holding area and sometimes add an extra 1/4-1/2 cup to the main area of the dishwasher to help the glasses dry spot free.

This one container has lasted over a month and the dishes turn out nice and clean and I save a ton of $$.

Enjoy XO ~Sherri

For as long as I can remember I have switched laundry detergent for different reasons, the intoxicating scents, the  non scented for kids skin sensitivities, the chemical free all natural way, you get the point.  There have been times when I’ve bought whatever I’ve had a coupon for to save a couple bucks. 

This recipe for homemade laundry detergent is such a great one and I can add whatever scents I love, plus it’s super cost effective and great for sensitive skin (which is pretty much everyone in my home). So it definitely covers all my bases when it comes to a detergent.

The ingredients can be purchased at you local grocery store or you can order from Amazon. 

• 1 cup of Borax 
• 1 cup of Washing Soda
• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap
• Essential oils of your choice ( I use lavender & lemon)

Directions: Use a blender 

• Add 1 c. of Borax to the blender
• Add 1 c. of Washing Soda to the blender
• Add shredded bar of Fels-Naptha (use a cheese grater to grate bar of soap)
• Add 3- 5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil (or oil of your choice)
• Add 3-5 drops of Lemon Essential Oil (or oil of your choice)
• Blend well, wait until dust settles before removing blender lid.

Store your Laundry Detergent in a pretty canister and label it.

Note * I usually double or triple my amount so I have a full container and it lasts longer, plus I do at least 2-3 loads a day.

• Use 1-2 tbsp. per load depending on how dirty the clothes are and load size.
• For extra softness and extra stinky towels I sometimes add 1/4-1/2 cup of white vinegar depending on load size. 
• Do not overload your washer, your laundry won’t get as clean and you can put unnecessary stress on your washing machine.
• I use wool dryer balls scented with Lavender Essential Oil instead of dryer sheets ( which also saves a ton of $$$)

Everyone in my family comments on how good their clothes smell and feel.  I have to agree that this is the best homemade laundry detergent you can make. This solves all my laundry needs…… oh except for the folding and putting clothes where they need to go.  If anyone can help me solve those needs I’d love to hear from you… XO ~Sherri

P.S. The Bath and Body Sweater Weather Candle is one of my favorite scents and apropos for the laundry room which is also a mud room and an entry way into my home (plus the laundry room houses the litter box) so it needs a little scent boost sometimes.  The Laundry Co. sign in the background is from Magnolia Market. 

Hey ya’ll oven cleaning is usually such a tremendous chore.  The oven spray that chokes you out, the hours on self-clean, and after all that still having the oven look old and not so appealing. After cleaning many ovens over my years this by far is the quickest and easiest way to clean out stuck on cheese and sauce. Did you ever want to cry after cooking a pizza on the rack (as per instruction) to find half of it on the bottom of the oven.  Oh and you’re in a rush so the burnt on cheese stays on the bottom of the stove and you forget about it until you preheat your oven for another meal and your kitchen fills up with smoke. Umm… or does this just happen to me?

Here are the easy steps to a clean and shiny stove that looks like the day you bought it.  

• Purchase some kind of All Natural Biodegradable Cleaning paste, I used Earth Brite (from HSN), you may also like Bar Keeper’s Friend or something similar on Amazon Prime.
• Sponge
• I used Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap, or you can use some dish soap.  
• Steel wool 
• A good Microfiber cloth
• pair of rubber gloves

Directions

• Coat entire area with Cleaning Paste with a sponge and let sit for 15 minutes.
• Add a couple squirts of Castile Soap or dish soap.
• Scrub entire area with steel wool.
• I usually let it sit 5 min after scrubbed down with the product on it.
• Wipe down on with a clean damp micro fiber cloth.
• Repeat if necessary, until shiny and new.  

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Taking your range apart is something that I suggest you do at least once a month, you won’t believe the crumbs and grease that gets down inside and prevents the stove from working to it’s upmost potential.  Plus it can be a fire hazard. 

This process works on all types of stove tops and the cleaning paste is safe for glass top ranges, but please note***that you shouldn’t use steel wool on the glass stove top because you may scratch the surface. I would use a green scotch brite scrubber for a glass top.  

This friends is honestly the easiest way that I have found to power through even the worst build up on stove tops and ovens.  Now this is for my friends who actually use their oven for baking not for my friends who use their ovens for storage. XO ~Sherri

The kitchen sink in my house is in constant use, I must do dishes at least twice a day.  I’m sure so many of you can relate, we wash dishes, dirty hands, toys, aquarium parts (just happened yesterday in our home),  babies, even our pets.  It gets any kind of liquid imaginable poured into it, YUCK! It is one of the dirtiest spots in the whole home & it needs a good scrub down daily. Also, if you have a disposal it can start to smell really bad if you don’t take care of it on a regular basis.

This DIY natural sink scrub smells so good and freshens the whole kitchen up. It has minimal ingredients and is safe and natural for everyone, and saves money and time.  You can make just one small amount or have a bigger batch, & put it in a pretty container and store under the sink for a quick freshening up.

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Directions: in a mason jar or container of choice mix

• One cup of baking soda 
• 5-6 drops of Lemon Essential Oil
• 5-6 drops of Grapefruit Essential Oil or use what ever essential oils you really love.
• Pour baking soda into the jar and put the drops of essential oil in, mix until it’s dissolved evenly into the baking soda

Directions: Spray Sink completely down with water. Making sure to get all of the surface area completely covered.

Sprinkle on the Baking Soda and Oil mixture over the whole area with a spoon.  

Add a few squirts of Pure-Castile Soap, I love the Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Hemp Citrus scent (you can find this on Amazon Prime) It really goes along with the essential oils in the mixture.

Scrub down the whole sink area with a scrub brush and let sit for 5 minutes.

If you have a garbage disposal add a real lemon cut in half.  Squeeze the juice down into the drain and then toss the half a lemon in turn disposal on and run water until lemon is gone.  It freshens it up so nicely.

You can start rinsing and also use a Magic Eraser to get off the tougher areas and it leaves the sink shining. This also helps tremendously with soap build up.

Rinse completely and then dry off with a microfiber cloth.  

Voila!!! A fresh clean sink. Use a Daily or a couple times a week depending on how much your sink is used.  If your home is like mine you’re gonna need it a lot.  XO ~Sherri

     I have a love hate relationship with my grout.  Even a weekly tile cleaning can’t keep the grout from getting a build up and a need for some special care once in a while.  Mops tend to push debris and dirt into the grout, a good old fashioned hands and knees cleaning is needed to keep it looking in tip top shape, but even then the grout can get a build up.   For some grout (especially lighter grout) a bleach cleaner such as Tilex mold and mildew works wonders with a tooth brush/scrub brush and Magic Eraser.  But, I wanted to try out a more natural and a less harsh approach and this recipe for cleaning grout works wonders!!! This is also much safer for little kiddos crawling around and even the fur babies that we love so much.

Ingredients for Natural Grout Cleaner:

1/2 Cup of baking soda

1/4 Cup of hydrogen peroxide

1 tsp. dish soap

Mix together the baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap in a small mason jar and use the tooth brush or a spoon to put the mixture on the grout.

Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Scrub with toothbrush and wipe off with a multi purpose spray, Windex, or vinegar and water solution and clean rag. Make sure you wipe area until mixture is completely gone.  A magic eraser is also a great addition to this cleaning combo.

You can also try a mixture of: 

1 cup baking soda

1 cup of hydrogen peroxide

Directions: Sprinkle baking soda onto the grout until it’s covered and then spray with hydrogen peroxide.  Let it sit for 5- 10 minutes and scrub with a tooth brush. Wipe clean with an all purpose or Windex and clean rag.

PSA: Invest in a pair of knee pads before you pay special attention to your grout, your knees with thank you!! xoxo ~Sherri

The smells of fall are so intoxicating with the strong fragrance of cinnamon, cloves, citrus and rosemary, I just can’t get enough.  Until recently I have always loved to diffuse the oils in my home in almost every room.  Last week my dog, Sam started to have Petit Mal Seizures.  The first thing the Vet asked me was if I diffused essential oils in the home.  I immediately went home to every room and unplugged my beloved plug ins and put away my diffusers.    I am not going to jeopardize the health of my pets, or at least try to see if this makes a difference. 

I have other plans though to get the smells I love so much filling up my home and feeling the fall vibes again.  I have a few simmer pot recipes that I absolutely love. I use my slow cooker because it has a simmer control, but you can also put a slow cooker on high and it will go all day with the wonderful scents of fall.  If you need to you can also use a regular pot on the stove top, just make sure you don’t forget about it for hours on end.  

2 Oranges

3-5 Bay leaves

2 tspb of whole cloves

1 tsp of vanilla

4-6 Cinnamon Sticks

2 twigs of Rosemary

Fill pot with water and set on simmer or high in slow cooker. On stove top set to high, once simmering turn down to low.  

1 orange

2-3 Apples

4-6 Cinnamon Sticks

3-5 Bayleaves

you can also add 1/2 tsp of nutmeg

fill pot with water and set to high/simmer on crock pot or stove top High to simmer and then set to low.  * keep a watch on stove top pots.

1 bag of Cranberries

1-2 twigs of fresh rosemary

1 orange 

Fill pot with water and set to high/simmer on a crock pot.  Stove top, set high to a simmer then turn down to low.  

Enjoy!!! xoxo ~Sherri

Fall is here!!! I can not contain my excitement. This is by far my favorite season, I love everything about it, the pumpkin patches, apple orchards, bonfires,  roasting marshmallows, decorations, and most importantly …. the sweaters, flannels, jeans, and boots.

I always look forward to decorating for fall, with the bright colors and delightful scents. The oil plug ins, the soy candles, oh how I love them! I even have some of my favorite counter top/ all purpose sprays that have that fall aroma.  Not only does it disinfect, but it smells so good.

This is my simple recipe for an all natural disinfecting cleaner. It will leave your counter tops sparkling and is safe to use on granite and marble.  Plus it saves money and is quick and easy to whip up.

*Note: all of these items (except YL Oil, which you should by from someone who sells it ** note: that’s not me) can be bought on Amazon ( I love Amazon Prime!!) 

2 oz. of rubbing alcohol

1 oz. of Citrus Pure-Castile Soap

16 oz. Water

a couple drops each of  Cinnamon Oil, Clove Oil, & Rosemary Oil.  Unless you have a blend on hand such as Thieves, or Medieval Mix with Rosemary and Thyme (then do about 8-9 drops)

• Don’t use on Wood: because of the Alcohol

• 

This is another favorite all purpose you can use on other surfaces ( if using on Cabinets, test an area first)

1/4 cup of distilled white vinigar

Rest part water ( I usually use a 16 oz or bigger bottle)

10 drops of Thieves or Medieval Mix 

                OR

2 drops of Rosemary, Clove, Eucalyptus, Oils

4 – 5 drops of Cinnamon Oil

5 drops of Lemon, and Grapefruit Oils

1 tsp. of dish washing liquid (Optional, but really helps as a degreaser)

Pairing one of these bad boys with a microfiber cloth does wonders.  Oh and you can also pair with a Magic Eraser for your kitchen sink ( but we’ll chat later about my love for Magic Erasers).

There’s no better feeling than a fall fresh and clean home. To be able to refresh the kitchen and bathroom quickly is  one of the most important things.  Important things to me are also known as anything that’s quick and easy and eases the chaos and stress, oh…. & anything that I can order on Amazon Prime!! Did I mention I love Amazon Prime?   xo ~Sherri