So first of all...Laundry...
I know, the word in itself makes me want to run and bury my head under the blankets. It strikes fear into the heart of most woman. IT conjures up mental images of huge mountain-like baskets, over flowing with clothes that need ironing...
I do not have a domestic helper and have not had one in years. I prefer to do it all myself as I must admit I am quite fussy about how I like things done. Saying so, I have gotten myself into a good routine and can zip around my house within a morning on on Monday (when the house is at it's worst after the weekend)within around 3 hours. That includes: tidying up, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, changing all the bedding and remaking the beds with clean linen, unpacking and repacking the dishwasher, putting on washing and hanging it up, cleaning the bathrooms thoroughly. The rest of the week I have a system going in which I nip around the house normally within an hour and a half and complete all my chores.
Of course, I don't profess to be a Martha Stewart but I thought to share a few tips I have learned.
1) Instead of folding up my towels, I roll them up and then secure each end with an elastic band. This helps not only to retain their shape, but saves loads of space in your linen cupboard. I tried the folding method with the towels below and the rolling method and the folding method took up two shelves, while the rolling method as you can see from the photo, only took up one shelf.
2) When taking down the washing off the line ( I don't have a tumble drier as here in South Africa every day is normally a hot and/or windy day and I can do about 4 loads or more a day and have it all dry at the end of the day).I take down all the stuff that needs ironing first and then get to the rest of the stuff. This way, when it comes time for sorting the laundry, I sort it all out-packing each member of the family's laundry into their own little basket, and all that is left are the things that need ironing which stay exactly where they are.
3) When I clean, I carry around a bucket with all my detergents, cloths etc. I start at one end of the house and work my way to the other end. I also have with me a plastic bag for rubbish and a basket for belongings that belong elsewhere. This means that when I start at one end of the house, I take all the things (normally toy's )that don't belong in that room, and put them in the basket. I clean the room thoroughly, dust shelves etc, change bedding and put any rubbish in the plastic bag, before moving onto the next room . This saves numerous trips I would of made to each room to deposit the belonging, or to the laundry room to throw away the rubbish item.
(huge time saver).
4)With RE to the point above,when going to the next room and looking in the basket for any items that belong in that room, I put it immediately in it's right place to save me coming back again later to do it.
5) As far as the dreaded ironing goes. I have a basket for each family member. As I do the ironing, I deposit the articles of clothing into each respective basket. That way when the ironing board is packed away and it comes time to packing away the ironing, all I have to do is simply take each basket to the right room and pack it away.
This may help someone!
6) This is the shelf in my laundry room. I recently attacked it and thought to get more organized. I covered a whole lot of shoes box's with pretty rose wall paper I was given. One of the box's houses my iron, another all my sponges, cloths. Another my dishtowels.
7) I also got a bit more organized with RE to my paper scrapping supplies. I bought this cute drawer unit on holiday. I put all my embellishments into it. Divided into 6 categories: chalks and inks, flowers, brads, ribbon, tickets and stickers, and I can't remember what is in the last drawer. This kind of compact storage system is great! It can be stored under a table or on top and you simply take it out when you need to scrap-it is quite lightweight.
8)A project I did this weekend: I hate the TV remotes lying around all the time, it drives me crazy. So I thought to get a tin to store them in and decorate it to tie in with my color scheme and also explain what was in the tin. I cut out two letters, "T" and "V" from the TV guide and then painted them, I also put some contact over the letters. I also decorated the tin with flowers and buttons. Simple but I think effective and Hubby is using it! shock of shocks-ha ha!
Okay so that is it on the tips. Hope you enjoyed them. I have also been busy making more journals and note books. I plan to make a whole lot and then try to sell them.
And lastly I wanted to show you some pages from my home-file. Kari mentioned this on her blog. I have kept one for ages. I cut out pictures from magazines and words that inspire me, motivate me and things for ideas or something I would like to try in my own home oneday. I have filled a whole book with images. I am very much into the shabby-chic, vintage and country look.
wow, that was a long post! A long time coming! I hope you enjoyed it! Please scroll down while you are here and tell me three things about yourself..see previous post! Would love to hear from you!
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