NFPA

National Fire Protection Association and Sparky The Dog

Spring cleaning is the perfect time to check on all those wires and cords. Hopefully you are moving furniture and cleaning and dusting all the surfaces of your house.  So don’t neglect the electrical wires!

You all know Sparky the fire dog right?  I had the pleasure of interviewing him (via email) to give you some tips on how to keep your home safe in regards to wire and cord safety.

Did you know that according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) that extension cords that we overload can get really hot and could create real fire risk?  NFPA suggests that as part of our spring cleaning each year we need to check our electrical wires throughout our homes.

They also say that electricity is a leading cause of home fires in the U.S. It’s because we overload extension cords or plus, there is wiring not done to code, we have damaged cords or loose connections that can create these fires.

Sparky.org is a cute web site that has games and activities for children to do to learn about fire safety.

I created some questions that Sparky answered. Take a few minutes to read through them, there may be some info that you weren’t aware of.

#1 Sandy: How do you know if your electric system is up to code?
Sparky: A home would be determined to be code compliant by  an electrical inspector.

#2 Sandy: What are some key things to look for when it comes to your electrical wires?
Sparky: Among many, damage or discoloration of a wire are both common indicators of an issue.

#3 Sandy: How do you know if you have too many plugs in one room if you don’t blow a short?
Sparky: This is something that typically needs to be addressed on a case-by-case basis.  If a circuit breaker trips or a fuse blows, it is usually an indication that the circuit is overloaded.

#4 Sandy: What is the best thing to do if you have something electric (for instance a lamp) that sometimes goes off by itself and there isn’t something obviously wrong (such as a loose light bulb)?
Sparky: Have it repaired by a qualified person or replace it.

#5 Sandy: Is it alright to plug an extension cord into a power strip?
Sparky: It is best not to plug an extension cord into a power strip.

#6 Sandy: If you run over an extension cord with a vacuum cleaner and it cuts some of the plastic, what is the best solution for the cord?
Sparky: Replacement is often the best solution.

#7 Sandy: Do you have suggestions for cord or cable organization? Are there any methods that can cause harm or danger to the wires?
Sparky: There are many varieties of cord organization systems available so it would be important to refer to the manufacturers’ recommendations for the product when selecting one.  Avoid any systems that would require putting cords against walls or furniture or running them under carpets or across doorways.

#8 Sandy:  What are the dangers of using inside extension cords outside or vice versa?
Sparky: Indoor extension cords should not be used outside because they were not intended to be exposed to elements typically found there.

In general, it is a good idea to call a licensed electrician if you experience any of the following:

·         recurring problems with blowing fuses or tripping circuit breakers

·         a tingling feeling when you touch an electrical appliance

·         discolored or warm wall outlets or switches

·         a burning smell or rubbery odor coming from an appliance

·         flickering lights

·         sparks from an outlet

·         cracked or broken outlets

#9 Sandy:  What are your tips for a good home safety plan for fire evacuation?
Sparky: Be sure to have working smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside every sleeping room and outside of each sleeping area.  Draw a home escape plan and discuss it with everyone in your household.  Practice the plan during the day and at night with everyone in your home at least twice a year. It is important to know at least two ways out of every room.   (More information on basic escape planning and a downloadable grid are available at www.nfpa.org/escapeplan

#10 Sandy:  What are some other tips you’d like to share when it comes to spring cleaning and fire safety?
Sparky: Key fire safety tips: Key Fire Safety Tips – From “A Reporters Guide to Fire and the NFPA

Spring Cleaning – Declutter Winter Gear

Spring is (almost) here. Let’s clear out winter clothes & gear!

Winter clothes, coats, hats, gloves, boots, shovels, sleds are just part of what can be either decluttered from your home or stored away until next winter.

When you go through your winter gloves make sure if you are going to keep them that:

1) They all have a match
2) They still fit your children and there are no holes in them.

If they are in good shape but are too small for your children, then put them in the donate bag.  If you only have one, then don’t keep it, and certainly don’t throw it in the donate bag (someone one other end of sorting will just be the one to have to get rid of it)

For your hats and coats and boots – Go through the same thing. For those items that will still fit next year and are in good shape, store them in a clear bin and label it.

For your snow shovel and sleds and skies.  Ski racks on your garage wall would be ideal.  The same for the snow shovel if you have the space.  Look UP in your garage. Use your wall space.  If you have rafters in your garage… use those for storage!

8 Easy Steps to Transferring The Clothes

1) Get your supplies ready. White (donate) and black (trash) trash bags, sharpie
marker, labels -sticky address labels work great, bins (clear are best).

2) Go through the drawers & closets. Pull out each piece of clothing and evaluate it quickly.

* Will it fit someone in the family in the future? (If not dontate)
*  Is it in any condition to save? (If not then throw away, don’t donate clothes
that are torn, stained or are better for rags)
* Will the next child wear it? Was it worn at all this season? (Do they like it?)

3) Make piles

* Save for next year
* Donate (white bag)
* Trash (black bag)

4) Get out the summer clothes from storage.

5) Go through the new season clothes and do the same thing as you put them away in
the kids drawers. Make sure they will fit your child this year and it is
something they will wear.

6) I prefer using clear bins if possible. Get ones that fit your space to store and latch closed. They will go from season to season. Now for really long clothing storage, you might want to look into another form (but I don’t suggest long term clothing store of any one item …usually)

7) Take the bins you have for next year and be sure to label them.  The labels don’t have to be fancy printed out labels!  Just get something you can see clearly and you can peel off or stick over for next season.
Put either sex or child’s name, season and size on each label. For instance, Boy – Summer – Size 10

8) Your donate bags can be taken to friends who can use them, sold at a garage sale or resale
shop or taken to a facility such as Good Will, but get them out of your house as soon as possible.

We have so much cold winter gear, that just putting it away or giving it away makes you feel less cluttered doesn’t it?

I’d love to see how you clear out your winter clutter!  Blog about them and then come back and

link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !!

I LOVE your comments!!

Spring Cleaning – Dust or Vacuum First?

Cleaning Debate Here We Come!

What do you do?  Do you Dust or Vacuum first when you are cleaning?

Hasn’t that been one of the long standing debates?  Kind of like the chicken or the egg.

When dust, the dust that doesn’t stick to the dust cloth falls down onto the floor.  (So then you can suck it up by the vacuum right?

But…. when you vacuum, it stirs up dust and makes things dustier.

So – Which do you do first?  If you dust first, the vacuum will pick up the dust that falls on the floor. But when you vacuum, it stirs up dust and then you need to dust?

Which do you think I do first? hmmmm…. you’ll have to read and see.

Dusting

Dust… ewww….   how can you watch one of those 60 Minute TV shows on dust mites and ever look at dust the same way again?  lol  It’s much easier not to think about that isn’t it?

I’m sure not all of your homes get this dusty, but I’m sure we’ve all been there at some point. I have two dogs, carpet and seven people in the house. All of those add up to dust. It doesn’t matter that the windows have not been open, and no one has been digging a foundation right near my house in dry weather stirring up all the dust. It’s just life.

When I dust, I prefer to use a spray cleaner.

I’m not endorsing Endust. I usually use it, but I’ll also use other products.  You pick what ever product you like to dust with, it makes no never-mind to me (that reminds me of my Grandmother talking… lol)

I prefer to spray the Endust directly onto the dust cloth, not the furniture. Why? Because that is how my Momma taught me.  Simple as that.

Dust away…..

Doesn’t it look great after you have dusted?  Are you a good duster?  Do you always dust the entire piece of furniture, down the legs, behind it… the sides?  Or are you a surface duster?  Me…. I tend to me a little in between.  I probably lean more on the side of surface dusting on most days. What about you?

Vacuuming

Dogs?  Sometimes I wonder why in the world I have them.  Their dog hair (Sadies’ fur) gets everywhere.  Their dander creates so much dust and dirt, there are those occasional accidents (Gizzy) and muddy paws.  But the love, licks, and smiles you get from them every time they see you is worth it (I think)

This shot is of a little end table that is right between the wall and the couch. The green basket is the dogs toy basket, you can see (not only one of their toys, but some ear phones) all the dog hair and dirt on the carpet and edging.

How about these stairs.

Look at that baseboard along the stairs. and all the dog hair stuck in the edges of the carpet.

Yes… Vacuuming is essential.

Here is another question for you.  Do you like the lines in your carpet after you have vacuumed?  I have a good friend who says she gets upset when her kids come in and ruin the lines in the carpet, from the vacuum cleaner.   Does the carpet feel cleaner when there are lines?  I think that is what the represent to me. “Freshly vacuumed carpet”

When you vacuum, do you go in the same pattern?  Do your lines have to be straight?  Aren’t these fun questions?

To answer my own question, I vacuum first and then dust.  Again, that is what my mom taught me to do.

I’d love to see your dusting/vacuuming or spring cleaning tip! Blog about them and then come back and

link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !!

I LOVE your comments!!

Spring Cleaning – Vents & Accessories

Vents

This is another thing we don’t think to clean! (At least me… isn’t this gross?) Check your furnace filter first. More than likely it needs to be changed.   Be sure to check your furnace filter. From what I have read the 1″ filters should be changed every month and 4″ ones are every 3 months. But there is much debate about that.

This doesn’t have to be hard to do. I again suggest making a sink full of hot soapy water. Arm yourself with a Phillips head screw driver and start going to the rooms that have the vents and take them off the wall.

Wash them and use a scrubby brush (but one that isn’t too course, you don’t want to scratch off any pain)

Make sure to dry it well.

Also get a rag and or your vacuum wand and clean inside the area of the vent.
Replace the vent and look how much nicer it looks!

There are so many things around our house that get dirty and dusty.  I have a glass candle tube on my mantel and it was filthy too!

Instead of just dusting it like I normally do… This got a good hot soapy water bath along with all of the rocks inside it .

Now look at the difference just a little soap and water can make!  You can also use a vinegar water mixture instead of soapy water if you’d prefer.

What can you find around your house that you don’t normally think of really cleaning well?

Get that soapy water going again and get a screw driver and tackle those vents.. and then let me know what other items you cleaned for spring!
Then come back and link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !! (You can link any of your organizing or cleaning posts.. they don’t have to be your lamps)

 

Spring Cleaning – Lamps

Are you ready to open those windows?  Ready to feel that nice warm air coming into your house to help “air” it out as so many people say?

Unfortunately spring cleaning involves a little more than just opening the windows.  Spring is a GREAT time to not only clean, but organize!!  Putting away winter gear, clothing have to be done anyway, so why not work on organizing some other areas of your home .

But we are going to do a little bit on some cleaning.

Let’s start with a couple things that you might not even think to clean.  They aren’t hard things, but just getting them done can make a difference.

Lamps

I suggest doing this project after you have already vacuumed and dusted the rooms involved.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think about cleaning the inside of the globe that is above my head.. at least very often.  But there is so much dirt in there.

Take apart the lamp globes of the lights you have downstairs that can be washed.  Here is another one that needs it really bad.

This is looking inside the globe of a lamp. It is filthy!

 

Make a big sink full of hot soapy water.

Washing them really good.

Dry with a towel so you don’t get water spots.

Doesn’t it look better?  (even though there was still a sticker on the under side that I didn’t see until I saw this picture!)

Wipe down the rest of the lamp with a cleaner of your choice.
Then take the clean and dry lamp globe and put it back together.

Then you have the finished clean lamp…  to let more light in!

 

Looks much better doesn’t it?

So what do your lamps look like?  Do they need a little Spring Cleaning?

I want you to get that soapy water going and clean your lamp globes!  Then come back and link it to my Organizing Mission Link party – Mission Spring Cleaning !!   (You can link any of your organizing or cleaning posts.. they don’t have to be your lamps)

 

Organizing Mission Link Party – Mission: Spring Cleaning- Week 11

Are You Starting To Get Spring Fever?

Spring isn’t very far off. I know I am more than ready to open the window and let the nice cool spring weather into my house to air it out. What about you?

I’m going to start a series on spring cleaning and organizing for the Organizing Mission link party for the next several weeks. Join in and link up your spring cleaning and organizing posts!

Featured Bloggers For This Week

Parents of a Dozen – How We Organize Our Laundry Room

I love how organized this laundry room is. Can you imagine keeping twelve kids organized? Wow.. you can imagine what a house of that size would look like if she wasn’t organize can’t you?

I love how she has all the kids pictures across the wall too!

Look at the shoes and boots! Shoes coming off at the door can be problem can’t they?

I also love how she took off the cabinet door so she had a place to put the empty laundry baskets when they weren’t being used.

You can see the rest of her laundry room if you go to her blog: Parents of a Dozen!

Denise from Pink Postcard – A Gun Rack and A Skirt

I love inventive ideas and uses of items that can be turned into an organizing tool. Denise took a gun rack and used it to make an organizer for her ribbon.

She painted it and made rods to go across and hung her ribbon on it. Easy to get to and nice to look at. She attached scissors so being able to cut a piece of ribbon is easy.

Then she finished off her craft room with making a skirt to help cover up the table she uses for her sewing machine. She loves a vintage look. I loved this because it brought back such sweet memories of that trim with the little balls… my mom used to have some that she used for things and it sat in her sewing basket for years.

You can see the rest of her craft room make over on her blog Pink Postcard.

Be sure to stop by both of my featured bloggers today and give them some “comment love”

For those of you who were featured this week, please pick up your button (code below the button) for your blog!

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Link up to my Link Party

Link up any organizing or cleaning post to my link party!!

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Rules

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog

2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)

3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it

4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning

5) No sales pitches or web sites.

6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.

8) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Be sure to check out my list of link parties! If you have a link party.. please link it up! Underneath the daily buttons there is a list of text links I have compiled too! (Many more there!)

If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple.

I would love it if you could vote for my blog! You can vote up to once per day. Just click the button. Thank you!

This will be open until Saturday night March 19th.

I LOVE your comments!!

Spring Cleaning – The Coat Closet

Organize that Front Coat Closet

By the time spring hits, the coat closet is usually a mess.  Winter hats, gloves that don’t have matches, boots and coats that are stuffed in.  It is about time to get rid of the winter coats and hats and time to get out the spring jackets and raincoats.
This is a video I did last year for NBC 4 First at 4 with Ellie Merritt.

I had to get a picture with Ellie before she left my house. By the way, I there was a mix up in our times for this interview. She was supposed to come the following day and called me about 45 minutes before she arrived to ask if it was ok to do today. I had been ill and in the ER with diverticulitis for the 3 days before this & had planned to get ready that day. I knew what I wanted to do and had in my mind things ready. But with 45 minutes (thank goodness my son was home from school because he helped me get the house in shape too. – Remember I had been in bed for 3 days…so my house was a mess) Ellie was so sweet on the phone, she told me not to worry about it they could film around it. But of course I couldn’t do that. So we were racing all over. I had to dumb my baskets of hats and just throw them up on the shelf to show what it might look like.
Then like 10 minutes before they got there I realized I hadn’t done my hair, so I ran up and threw my head under the tub facet and did my hair and makeup like fast. LOL Anyway…it was probably a good thing that I didn’t have time to be nervous!

Spring Cleaning – The Garage

Spring Cleaning – The Garage

Spring is in the air and dirt is in your garage. I think garages tend to get very messy in the winter time at least in the cold weather states because it is too darn cold to stay out there and clean them!! So what happens, things get taken out of the cars and dumped, shovels are out, rock salt out, things just left on shelves and not put away. Tools left just set by the door and not put away on the workbench. But boy does it feel good to clean out that garage in the spring.

Steps to Clean and Organize your Garage:

1) Get your black (trash) and white (donate) trash bags. Most of your cleaning supplies are probably already in the garage.

2) Pick a nice sunny day and open your garage. You will need to clear everything out. If you have just too much to handle in one day, then work on one side of your garage at a time.

3) Once you have things out, start with cleaning the floor. Sweep out the dirt and dust. If you are able, hose down the floor or use a wet broom to clean it off.

4) Sort your things. If you haven’t used it in years, then donate it. If those roller blades don’t fit, donate them. If that bike that is hanging is from the 1980′s and hasn’t been riden, donate it.

5) Now that you have decided what you are going to keep, you need a system. Peg boards work great in garages. You need to think “up”. Use your wall space, use your ceiling and or rafters. Get shelves and clear plastic bins (like in picture) and sort through your things. Be sure to label your bins!

6) Hang up those roller blades and store all those balls and bats.

7) Find a place for each thing you plan to keep. If you can’t find a place then you have to evaluate if you really need it. If that has to stay..then maybe something else needs to go. Visualize what you want in your garage your garage to look like, and you can make it happen.

You will feel much better each time you pull into your garage. You also won’t be embarrassed when your garage door is open and the neighbors can see in.

Spring Cleaning – The Refrigerator

Organizing Your Refrigerator

Do you open your refrigerator and see something like this? Or does it look worse? Old food, expired left overs that the lids have popped off of. Several containers of cream cheese because you forgot you had some in the back?

Your refrigerator can breed all kinds of things!  It is just like anything else….it needs to be kept up.

To Organize and Spring Clean your Refrigerator:

1) Take everything out of your refrigerator.

2) Pull out the shelves and wash them with warm soapy water.  Pull out the drawers and do the same. You can also use vinegar to clean.

3) Be sure to wipe down the walls of the inside of the refrigerator.

4) Go through all your food. Throw out anything expired.

5) You can adjust your shelves so that they work best for you. Maybe you need some shelves that taller items (milk, bottle of wine or pop) can fit in. Some others can be a smaller space between the shelves for things like eggs, cream cheese or dips.

6) I like to put my condiments, salad dressings, mustard, ketchup etc in the door.

7) Keep your lunch meats, cheese etc in drawer. Be sure to keep them covered with plastic bags or plastic ware to keep fresh.

8) Try to keep like items together.

9) Clean the outside and top of the refrigerator before you are finished.

10) If you like your children’s pictures or artwork on the outside of your refrigerator…..I suggest one magnet with either a picture of them or one piece of their artwork only. It will seem much more special if there is one item per child and you notice it rather than a bunch of stuff that is all cluttered.

Spring Clean the Kitchen – The Drawers

The messy kitchen gadget drawer

Spring Clean the Kitchen

The kitchen can be a big job to spring clean. You will want to allow several hours for this room, or break it into a couple days.

I start with the drawers.

1) Take out each drawer and all of it’s contents Thoroughly clean the empty drawer. Get all those crumbs that gather in the corners out. Pick up the twist ties that seem to accumulate (at least at my house…do they ever get back on the loaf of bread when you have 5 kids?) Contact paper can work well to protect the inside of the drawers.

2) Go through the items that come out of that drawer.  Make sure if it is silverware….is it clean? Does it have any rough edges (from getting caught in the garbage disposal)  Do you use the item?  If it is something that has been in your drawers for years and you don’t use it, or are not sure what it is or it is broken…or you don’t like using it. Then get rid of it! Toss it!  (or donate of course if in good shape)

3) Make sure the outside of the drawer and all the tracks and edges are clean and then put the items you are keeping neatly back in the drawer.

4) Before you put the items back into the drawer – figure out a system. If it is silverware or gadgets, you can use something like the Rubbermaid Drawer Organizer that I am currently doing a review and giveaway on (until 3/15/10) I did like this one because of the rubber on the bottom & it doesn’t slide around…but there are many different ones out there to choose from. You can use small baskets or even the lid to a shoe box.

5) Place the items back into the drawer neatly.  It is ok to label things in your kitchen.  You can label in your gadget drawer if you would like to and that system works for you.

It will feel so good the next time you open those drawers….to see how clean and how organized they are.

Be sure to check out my giveaway that is going on until 3/15/10 on my review site.  Rubbermaid Drawer Organizer

Spring Cleaning

Spring at our Farm

Spring Cleaning

The Sun is out, it is warming up…things are beginning to grow and you want to clean.  The spring brings new growth, new smells of flowers and grass.  The windows are open…the breezing blowing in – and you don’t want it to blow papers all over your house and stir up pet hair and dust bunnies do you?

Where to Start?

To clean, you need to “put away”. Many time there in lies the problem. There may be no place to “put away” to.  Clutter building up can increase the difficulty of cleaning.  So do you dust around the piles of “stuff”, or do you just not dust because that just seems silly.

Start your cleaning much like you start your organizing.

1) Set aside a time to clean each room

2) Get cleaning supplies, bucket of cleaner or spray (I personally like Odo-ban). Rubber gloves (because it doesn’t seem so gross to clean if you have on gloves). Trash bags – black for trash, white for donate.

3) Start in one place. This is a great time to sort through the clutter. Sort quick, clear off a surface and clean it well.

4) Be sure to clean your walls, inside drawers, baseboards, etc.

5) Have your family help you. Many hands can accomplish the task much quicker than just yours.

I reviewed a book last year called Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home Book . The contest is closed, but you can go look at the review.  She has some great tips for cleaning….anything you can imagine!

Guest Post

I Did a Guest Post On Ellie Merritt’s Blog from NBC 4

Ellie and I are tight.
LOL No, not really – but she did post a 2nd guest blog from me.  It is called Spring Cleaning – Get Organized Tips, so I am thrilled.
She has her own News show on NBC channel 4 here in Columbus. It is called First at 4 with Ellie Merritt. She does the normal news stories for the day, but what is really nice is that she has a little more focus on woman and mom’s. On Mondays she rotates having on Marcy from Stretching a Buck and Tara from Deal Seeking Mom (local mom bloggers) to give tips on saving money, coupons and free deals. She realizes the value and how much the bloggers can teach, so she features us often.
Check out her blog called, Elaborating with Ellie and you can check out my post, but you can also look at the other information she has and learn a little more about her. (She is really nice)