Deep Cleaning 101

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its off to work I go!!

Work? Really?  Well, how about cleaning the house kinda of work :-)

Lately, there have been more and more posts on how to clean your house in a week, or how to clean it once a month.  All great ideas, right?  Only if you do them!!! 

Well, sometimes, I feel more like this lovely lady:

Yep, Cinderella . .. but without the mice (thank goodness!!!) 

I thought maybe I could share a little of what I'm doing and jump into the mix!  I still fully believe that the Flylady system is truly a great system.  It helps you stay on top of the little things and helps you declutter so you can clean (no one likes to clean clutter) but, I still struggle with deep cleaning.  I tend to get bored with it if I spread it out over several days.  Sure, cleaning for 15 minutes 3-4 days a week is great but not if you don't do it ha!!

After realizing this about myself plus realizing that the reality of trying to deep clean with three boys 2 and under in the house all day really doesn't equal much cleaning, I had to come up with a different plan.  The whole point of my deep cleaning is so that the rest of the time, I can just "vacuum the middles" and "Dust the fronts" and be done with it.  Isn't that the best part of keeping up with cleaning? Not really having to clean? :-)

This is what is working for me!

I still follow the basic zone idea that Flylady taught me years ago so over the next few weeks I'll share my deep cleaning plan for each of those basic zones.  Pictures (hopefully), ideas (what few I have), my cleaning lists, and what things I only do certain times of the year! 

I bet you cannot WAIT for these posts to begin, can you?  Go ahead, admit it, you really want to clean!!  Well, I plan on posting these on Mondays beginning June 6th and will be starting with Zone 5 and Zone 1 (there is a reason why there are two!!) - the Living Room (#5) and the Dining Room/Front Entrance (#1). 

The good thing for me?  By the end of June, my house will be deep cleaned and, hopefully, I will have this system down and be using it much better than I am right now!

Too Cute Not Too Toot!!

Lets start out with another great idea for kicking the summer "I'm bored" words right out the window.  Create a Emergency Summer Fun Basket as shown by the Happy Home Fairy.

When I saw this recipe I HAD to put it here because they are so original - Chocolate Dipped Potato Chip Cookies.  Seriously???  I WILL be trying these!  Get the full recipe over at Shugary Sweets.

Keeping with the food theme, these Roasted Marshmallow Milkshakes from Val So Cal look so yummy.  I used my blender a lot in the summer and I think I'll be trying these soon.  I think I will substitute frozen yogurt though, my latest favorite treat!

The summer brings up lots of Patriotic events - here is a really easy and adorable project from CraftoManiac that would make a great addition to any entrance!

MooMoo's and Tutos shares many links for some great recipes - she posted them for Memorial Day but they would also be great for any family picnic or 4th of July.  Here's a picture of just one of the many delicious ideas she gives.

The school year is coming to an end - here is a really adorable end of the year gift idea for your child's teacher.  This one comes form Build It, Sew It, Love It. 

I really love this idea from Eighteen 25 for another Teacher gift.  As a former teacher, I can tell you I would have loved this!!  Especially the fun stuff on the inside.  Yes, teachers do love fun paperclips, binder clips, push pins, and more.  Plus, the chocolate stash is a great idea!  Teachers enjoy mints too - all that talking makes a mouth very tired and minds perk it right up :-) 

This teacher idea from Clumsy Crafter is really wonderful because it is something useful, not something that takes up space.  What is it?  The gift of "Thyme" .. or and "Mint" :-)

I really love "I Spy" things and still have an "I spy" quilt to put together from a quilt swap I did a few months back.  When I saw this idea for an "I spy" rainbow book over at Delia creates, I had to share it with all of you!  The pictures are amazing for one, but the whole idea is just so amazing and something that could be changed based on the child.  My mind is already putting together ideas on what toys I could put together to take pictures of sometime soon. 

Next up is another example for doing a wall ruler for measuring your child's growth.  This is on my to do list this summer, sooner rather than later, and I love this easy tutorial from Six Sisters Stuff.  I love that she gives an "easy" solution for making the lines - I had wondered how I was going to do that and get it all straight.  Well, besides having my husband do it because I am no good at math HA! (I think I just heard my dad say "Amen!")

Too end this week, I'm going to include links to both Oopsey Daisy and Sassy Sites.  They both give tons of ideas related to food that is red, white and blue. Even though these were also posted for Memorial Day - they are just plain festive and could be used anytime during the summer!  Here are just two pictures (one from each site) to get your mouth watering :-)

 Have a wonderful Tuesday !