Goals

How very, very basic of me. Here it is, New Years Day 2015, and I'm about to publish a list of goals for the year. Which-let's be honest-is basically just a trick of wording to deny I'm making New Years resolutions.

Certain people are awesome, ready made adults. I was never one of these people. I swear I was better at adulthood at fifteen than I am now. It's depressing. And it can feel impossible to really fix your broken disaster of a life. But that's exactly what I've spent the last couple of years doing-fixing my broken life. It's never to late to get it together.

Some of these goals are carryovers from last year and some specific things I've been working on steadily over the last few months. Knowing I've been able to make and sustain these changes gives me confidence I'll be able to attack more areas of my life. And it seemed right to start documenting my attempts at being a real, functioning adult {way, way late in the game} because as I was starting the process of getting it together I kept looking for a blog detailing a similar journey. I didn't really find it {although I do love Adulting}. So why not chronicle my experiences?

These are the fifteen in fifteen I'll be working on this year. These aren't in any order of importance, by the way.

1. Read more. Everyone who knows me in real-life just laughed out loud. I'm a voracious reader. The last year, though, I've really struggled with finishing books. Part of it is a time crunch, part of it is I'm just distracted. So I'm setting a goal of reading twenty-five books this year, which sounds doable {I'm trying not to overwhelm myself}. You can follow along and make fun of my book choices at Goodreads.
2. Socialize. This is basically my life. I get up, go to work, come home, hang out with J and the furs {which I love}, go to bed, do it again. For many reasons I severely pulled back from the world but it's time to rejoin fully. My own lameness keeps me from lots of fun social things-last night my best friend texted me to come to her party, but I was already passed out at ten o'clock. On New Years Eve. Must work on this. I've joined a book club and the first meeting is in a few weeks {and a book club will also help me work on goal one. Yay for efficiency}.
3. Money, Money, Money. This is one of the goals I've already started working on. I'll do a big post soon. 
4. Cook. I love cooking. I've written before about struggling to kick the take out habit. It's time to take my own advice and reboot my kitchen habits. Eating at home will also support my money {i.e. have more of it} goal.
5. Do one new thing with J each month. Maybe it's playing a new board game, checking out a museum, trying a new cuisine, making something together...no rules, other than doing something new together monthly. 
6. Walk. Here's another area of my life where I've gotten lazy. Here's an area with a simple fix available. At least three times a week I'm going to put Emily on her leash and walk around our {wonderfully walkable and scenic} neighborhood. I want to get into better shape without making a big deal about it. This will help.
7. Drink Water at Work. I can have coffee when I get to work, but I'm giving up keeping a two-liter of Coke under my desk. Water, water, water. I'm not going to say I'm giving up soda all together, but not drinking it at work will help keep it under control. 
8. Keep on keeping on at work. I love my job. I feel lucky to have it. I actually thinking working on my other goals will help me be better at work.
9. Calendar my life. This one of those areas I'm already working on. I found a system that really works well for me. Now I need to consistently work the system throughout the year.
10. Blog weekly. This is part of the accountability factor of working on my goals, but also I actually enjoy writing and blogging and have missed it. 
11. Unf?ck our habitat. We've lived here for four years. It's amazing the amount of sheer nonsense you can accumulate in four years. Weirdly, this is one of those areas where working on our money helped our house. I'll explain more later. I've been decluttering, organizing, and scrubbing all week.
12. Make home home. Again, we've lived here four years. We're going to live here at least another year. Time to really make it work for us, and to invest in things that will work for us no matter where we live. A great kitchen cart. Matching plates. Eventually a new sofa. 
13. My poor car. I love my car, so why do I let it deteriorate into a trash heap? Yes, I have a long commute. That's not a good enough excuse. 
14. Use my degree. Yes, I love my job but I miss working on genealogy and historic preservation projects. There's a chance I might get some freelance work this year in these fields, but even if I don't I need to plan and work on some projects.
15. Remember why I'm doing this.

This is what I've learned over the last couple of years. Start where you are. Is your whole life one big mess? You can't fix it all at once. I found a great job. My self-confidence started to increase. I had more disposable income. I started working on really getting on top of my money situation. Etc. 

My life isn't perfect and even if I work hard at all these goals all year it still won't be perfect. It will be better, and it will be better for J and our beloved furs.

So. What are you working on this year?

Jubilee In My Sad Bathroom?

I was sent a free sample of Jubilee to review on this here blog; however I wasn't paid and all the opinions are mine! All mine!

Our bathroom kills me. One of the things I liked best about this house is that came with a completely intact pink tile bathroom. Nothing says "Eisenhower was president when this place was built" quite like a candy colored tile bathroom, right?

What kills me about this bathroom is that it's in horrible condition. Decades of renters and poor maintenance haven't been kind to the vintage tile and fixtures.

My biggest complaint is that no matter how often I clean the bathroom it ends up looking dingy and gross within days.

Jubilee Kitchen Wax is a heritage product. The first occupants of Casa MCM could've used it when the tile was fresh and new (...although I find it hard to believe the tile was ever cleaned before we moved in! SO GROSS!!!!). Malco Products licensed the product from SC Johnson (from my research it appears the product was sometimes referred to as Johnson's kitchen wax).

I read a lot of vintage housekeeping manuals and kitchen wax is often mentioned. Y'all know that I believe in green, DIY cleaners. However. My grandmothers' generation were fantastic at making things shine, and more importantly, MAKING THINGS LAST. They used this product for a reason.

Jubilee claims you can use it on wood, enamel, ceramic tile, Formica, et cetera. I was obviously most excited about the ceramic tile part. I wanted to try it on the floor (which is just awful), but the bottle states "not for use on floors." Yeah, waxed ceramic floors in the bathroom might be a little dangerous.

I wiped down the tile walls as usual. Then I used a piece of Frog tape to mark off part of this wall, so I could really see the difference between using the Jubilee and not. I applied a small amount of Jubilee to a damp sponge and attacked the wall. Then I wiped it off with a clean white rag (all according the instructions.)

Wow. It REALLY made a difference. The grout, which always looks so bad that I usually think only regrouting will make it look better, showed the biggest difference.

You can really see the difference in the corner grout. Jubilee also cleans as it waxes.

Here's a picture after a few days went by.

The bottom has attracted its normal amount of pet hair, Tracie hair, and general weirdness. The top still looks shiny and like it's been recently cleaned.

(This bathroom is SO HARD TO PHOTOGRAPH REALISTICALLY. I mentioned back in the day that it always looks so much shinier and nicer in pictures!)

The only con to Jubilee is that it, in my opinion, it smells strongly. Not bad-just strong. After I opened the window it wasn't so bad.

I love how it made the tile look. I'm painting the bathroom next weekend (YAY FINALLY) and then I'm going to try waxing all the tile. I'll report back if I change my mind, but I doubt I will. I really think Jubilee wax might be the solution for making vintage tile look new and fresh. EASILY.

The Only DIY Green Cleaner Post You'll Ever Need

Green cleaners are expensive. I want my household products to be environmentally friendly, but I also need them to be affordable. So are there such things as ecologically sound, frugal cleaners?

Yes. And the good news is you can replace fabric softener, toilet bowl cleaner, bathroom cleaner, floor cleaner, oven cleaner, countertop cleaner, et cetera with four super cheap products.

These prices are from Amazon, because its easier that way! Two gallons of white vinegar are only $5.91;a one pound box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda is also around five dollars; Amazon is selling Bon ami scrubbing powder for an INSANE amount of money, but I get it for about seventy cents; and Hydrogen Peroxide, which Amazon is selling for about $2. You'll also need dish soap. Dish soap is the one thing I spend a little extra on, because we don't have a dishwasher, and I need something to make the process bearable. I love Method Dish Soap Pump Refill in Clementine. Each refill bag is about $5. I love how it smells, that it works, that it's a decent choice for the environment, and that it doesn't destroy my hands.

Some people make their own dish soap. I don't. I'm considering it, along with making laundry detergent. I'll keep you updated.

Laundry

Add about half a cup of white vinegar to the final rinse cycle of your wash. It removes ANY icky scents from your laundry, including mildew (J tends to put wet, disgusting dirty laundry in plastic bags (???) where they mildew). Vinegar slays even the grossest mildew stench. It also, somehow, makes towels more absorbent.

All Purpose Cleaner

Dilute vinegar with water, about half and half. Pour into spray bottle. That's all you need for a basic all purpose cleaner.

Now, I saw this pin on Pinterest (from this original source) about soaking citrus rinds in vinegar for a couple of weeks, then draining and using the vinegar as a cleaner.

I like this idea, but it was a little complicated for me. So I tried popping lemon peels straight into my spray bottle. It works! The vinegar is lemon scented, and it preserves the rind. When the vinegar/water solution runs low in my spray bottle I replace the citrus rinds.

Make Your Own Drano

Drano is FILLED with awful chemicals. Before resorting to such drastic measures, try Sandpaper and Glue's Stephanie's DIY Drano. It works on the same principle as your fifth grade volcano project. AND IT WORKS. I have ridiculously thick hair and old plumbing. I clog up drains with a quickness! This clears clogs quickly. Now I use it as a preventive measure about once a month to prevent clogs.

Oven Cleaner

When we moved in, our oven was disgusting. Absolutely gross. I googled around for a bit and landed on multiple ideas. Most of them involved ammonia or other heavy duty chemicals. I found this idea for using baking soda and vinegar from the Frugal Kiwi. However, in one of my old housekeeping manuals (everyone collects something strange, right?) I read about using steam.

So I put a large pan of water in the oven, turned it on 500 degrees, and let it steam up for awhile (don't let all the water steam out). Remove the pan. Use a scrub brush and scrub away. Then wipe down with a rag.

Next shake baking soda on the oven floor. Spray vinegar over the baking soda, and scrub again with your brush. Our ancient oven looks good as new!

Toilet Cleaner

I mentioned that for every day cleaning I pour a little white vinegar in the toilet bowl and scrub with the brush. Doing this a few times a week keeps your toilet nice and shiny clean.

Grout Cleaner

Mix up a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. It CLEANS the grossest grout. I apply, go do something else, forget I'm cleaning the bathroom, J yells why is there stuff all over the bathroom, I remember I started cleaning the bathroom...

Rinse with REALLY, REALLY hot water. It helps remove any stuck on nonsense.

Vinyl Floor Cleaner

Fill a bucket with hot water, a few good squirts of dish soap, and a couple of tablespoons of either Bon Ami or baking soda. Rinse with regular water.

Tile Floor Cleaner

HOT water, 1/2 a cup of baking soda, 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup of vinegar. This is a green version of this pin.

Glass Cleaner

This is my favorite glass cleaning recipe. Mix a quarter cup of white vinegar with 1/2 a teaspoon of dish soap and water. It's a little sudsy, but leaves your glass sparkly clean.

Bathtub/Sink Cleaner

Mix up a paste of Bon Ami and dish soap. Apply to tub and scrub. This cleans the GROSSEST tubs. For regular cleaning, I use either my all purpose vinegar cleaner.

Soap Scum

Pour vinegar directly on the scum. Leave for a minute, then wipe away. The vinegar eats through the scum!

Metal Cleaning

This post on Apartment Therapy is full of simple, green, cheap ways to clean and polish all different sorts of metals.

 General Tips

• Hot water is your friend. Sometimes I actually boil water to use in cleaning. 
• Bon Ami is non-toxic and safe to use as a scrubber.
• I have no experience with stone countertops, but here's a post with some ideas for making green cleaners for it.
• Keep your cleaners where you use them! I keep a bottle of my all purpose cleaner in the kitchen AND in the bathroom. A mason jar holds straight vinegar for toilet cleaning right on the shelf above it. 

Now I want to hear about YOUR cleaning recipes and ideas!

The 15/10/5/1 Cleaning Plan

As I alluded to in this organizational ideas post I'm not naturally a well-organized person. I'm also not a person whoever thinks housecleaning sounds like an awesome way to pass the afternoon.

So after many years of trial and error I've come up with the 15/10/5/1 cleaning plan. Basically, I've broken down all chores into either a fifteen, ten, five, or one minute category. By devoting thirty minutes or so a day (or, uh, every few days) it allows you to keep your house clean without having to devote all day to the task. You don't even have to do the thirty minutes all at once! Usually I end up doing a few minutes here or there throughout the day.

Oh...true confession. This doesn't cover EVERY chore. Taking out the trash and scooping/changing the kitty litter isn't on this list (changing the litter is about a ten minute chore/scooping more like 5 minutes. Neither are more rarely done chores, like windows. This is just a simple overview of most basic chores.

15 Minutes

1. Wash dishes

I don't have a dishwasher (insert sad face here). I can wash up the daily dishes and pots in about fifteen minutes. I try to do this right after dinner; usually I do it when I let Emily out for the last time before bed.

2. Vacuum A Room

3. Attack Your Personal Monster

We all have one. Right now my personal monster is our spare room. It's such a disaster that the idea of spending the day on it is both horrifying and overwhelming. Instead I devote fifteen minutes every couple of days to it. Slowly I'm seeing the light at the end of tunnel! Other Personal Monsters might be your basement, closet, whatever is a mess you aren't quite sure what to do with.

4. Scrub shower

5. Fold laundry

The worst part of doing laundry...and yet the part you can do while watching Parks and Rec.

10 Minutes

1. Sort Laundry

We don't really have room for a complicated dirty laundry system. So we toss it all into a hamper in our bedroom closet. Once a week or so I sort it into dark/lights/handwash so that when I'm ready to do the wash it's all ready.

2. Change Sheets

I know lots of people only have one set per bed...I don't understand this. We have two sets, and I'd really like another set. That way I can strip the bed, toss the dirty sheets in the hamper, and put on clean sheets all at once. The clean sheets live in the linen closet.

3. Quick Mop

Ten minutes is about right to mop either our kitchen or bathroom.

4. Organize A Trouble Spot

Trouble spots are different from personal monsters. Trouble spots are oft used areas of your home which are magnets for clutter. Our trouble spots include the dining room table and the credenza/go chair landing strip. Mail, dog accouterments, jackets, and shoes are our big clutter monsters.

5. Blitz Clean

This is sort of related to organizing a trouble spot. Blitz cleaning occurs when a room is veering slightly out of control. Grab a basket. Anything that isn't trash/dishes that doesn't belong in the room goes in the basket. Hopefully you'll be able to deal with basket in the same ten minutes. By the way, as you are putting the stuff in the basket up look for repeat offenders or things that don't really have a dedicated home. Clutter happens when things don't have a spot.

5 Minutes

1. Make Bed

2. Polish sink

I never really considered doing this until I happened across Flylady's post describing shining your sink. Now I try and do it everyday-ish. It feels like a little reward (as bizarrely Donna Reedish as that sounds) for finishing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

3. Dust 

It's enough time to knock out at least one major piece of furniture.

4. Clean Fridge

Anything lurking any there? Anyway, I bet it also needs a nice wipedown. 

5. Wipe Down Stove/Counters

We have an old stove with burners and eyes and everything. Just wiping it down isn't sufficient. A few times a week I need to really clean the burners and even lift it up and clean out anything that's fallen underneath. While you have your cleaner (I use diluted white vinegar and lemon) out wipe down the countertops!

1 Minute

1. Scrub toilet

Yes, in one minute. I keep a bottle of white vinegar and a toilet brush in the bathroom. Every morning toss in some vinegar and give it a quick scrub. By doing it every day the toilet doesn't ever get really dirty.

2. Reset Sofa

In my world, this means fold up the throw blanket and return the pillows to their correct positions. Instantly makes the living room look neat.

3. Wipe Down Bathroom Mirror

This is something else I do every few days. I'm incapable of NOT splashing water all over the mirror as I get ready.

4. Start Laundry

Okay, if your laundry is sorted and ready to go actually tossing it in the wash takes about a minute. It takes roughly the same amount of time to toss it in the dryer later...and then putting clean laundry in your clean laundry basket to be folded when you have the time.

5. Clear Nightstand

My nightstand is a known trouble spot. So every morning (in theory, anyway) I gather up the debris of the night before and throw away/return to actual spot.

Now I want to know how YOU do it. How do you keep your house neat?