February To-Do List

This February think about getting cozy, gathering with friends, enjoying more time for your hobbies and planning changes both big (like the sale of your home) and small (new paint colors). It may still be cold out there, but there’s plenty to do indoors. Here are 10 ideas to make the most of your month. 

 1. Plan for a spring or summer home sale. With warmer weather and kids out of school, summer is a popular time to sell or buy a home. If you are considering putting your home on the market this year, it’s a good idea to start planning now. Interview real estate agents, make a list of home projects that need to get done to help your home look its best, and line up work so any major projects will be completed in time.

 

 2. Clean road salt from entrances. Road salt, melting snow, mud and grime can give the floors around entrances a beating this time of year. Clear away the clutter and give your floors a thorough cleaning. Then set up shelving or a tray to store boots near the door, and protect your floors with waterproof mats. Stash a few old towels in a basket near the door to quickly wipe up messes.

 3. Clean interior windows. It may be too cold and icy to clean windows outside, but cleaning interior windows can still help boost light — something we could all use a bit more of during the winter.

4. Conserve energy and stay warm. Block drafts coming through cracks around doors with door sweeps or good old-fashioned door snakes. Keep doors shut to rooms you’re not using, and warm up with cozy rugs, throws and duvets.

 5. Organize the craft area. If you enjoy crafting as a hobby, you probably find yourself doing more of it in the winter. And more crafting usually means more mess. Get a handle on your craft stash by sorting through your supplies and storing them in labeled bins, baskets and jars.

 

 6. Clean the air. Treat your home to a few new houseplants this month to help boost interior air quality and add life to your home. Even if it’s cold where you live, try cracking open a window or two each day (even if only for a moment) to bring in some fresh air. Clean or replace furnace filters as needed. And if you have allergies or are concerned about the quality of air where you live, look into getting an air purifier as well.

 7. Give your bath a spa-inspired makeover. Details can make a big impact in a small space like the bathroom. Bring in fresh white towels, a new shower curtain and liner, and a few organic accents, like potted plants and a wooden stool. Then be sure to make time for a relaxing soak in your refreshed bathroom!

 8. Pick up some paint swatches. Fight off winter doldrums by focusing on ways to enhance your home with color. Visit a paint store and scoop up swatches. Play around with potential color combinations by pinning your favorites to a bulletin board. By the time spring rolls around, you’ll be ready to break out the paintbrushes.

 9. Invite friends into the kitchen for “freezer cooking.” Make lighter work for all by inviting friends to participate in a day of cooking, with the express purpose of making dinners that can be stored in the freezer. Go in on ingredients and make a really big batch of chili, pans of lasagna or whatever strikes your fancy — just remind guests to bring their own containers to take food home.

 

 10. Treat your home (and yourself) to fresh flowers. With Valentine’s Day this month, the markets are bound to be bursting with blooms — and often at good prices. Why not treat yourself to a weekly bouquet?

 

Help your home shed those extra pounds!!

So this sounds strange but it is true.  Year after year your home gains weight, not like us but it does accumulate extra clutter which in many ways is just like gaining extra pounds. We over look the clutter because we just get used to it. It's time to get organized again! This weight is easy to shed, too...follow these simple steps and you will be amazed at how much lighter your home will look and feel!

Try tackling one or two of these tasks at a time will keep the de-cluttering stress to a minimum and; you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment after each completed task which will motivate you.  Just a few changes will make a big impact and you will want to do more around the home

Living room
1 Don't cultivate a hospital waiting room aesthetic: recycle your old magazines. Scan design magazines first and rip out tear sheets for your project-inspiration book.

2 Banish kids' toys to the family room, kids' bedrooms - or Goodwill!  I aim to do this in November or least before Christmas.  I know my children will be blessed with many gifts and enough is enough, time to let someone else enjoy!

3 It should go without saying, but if that Christmas tree is still up, evict it ASAP. I try to have the tree down around the time the kids o back to school.  Once you remove your holiday decor you will be amazed at how much decorative stuff you actually have.



Dining room
4 Clear dining room paperwork piles. The dining table may rock as a work-from-home HQ or homework station, but don't let clutter from old projects linger. Recycle, shred, or file away. I also have a corner in my kitchen that accumulates paper, I try to go through it every 2 weeks.

5 Move wool or shag area rugs and/or runners into storage. Opt for bare floors or lighter, coastal-inspired sea grass, sisal or cotton rugs especially in the summer. Get those rugs cleaned once a year, you will feel and smell a huge difference (I usually do this in the spring or summer)

Kitchen
6 Don't just clean your fridge, purge it of condiments you don't use. Even preserves go bad or lose their flavour. If you haven't used a condiment in three months or more, free up fridge space by disposing of it. Be ruthless!

7 Ditch those novelty cups. Chances are the plastic ones - often bearing the recycling numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 - contain Bisphenol-A anyway, making them potential health hazards as well as space hogs.

8 Donate small appliances you use less than once a year. Sure, you could sell that long-neglected slow cooker for $10 online, but if you donate it to the Salvation Army, you'll gain a donor high worth double that!






Bathrooms
9 Clear out medicine chests and cabinets of no-longer-used cosmetics, personal-care items and medication. If you stopped using a product and put it away last year, chances are you aren't going to like it later. Just dump the contents and recycle the packaging. (Medication should never be dumped down the drain or thrown into the trash, however. Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies accept leftover medication and sharps for safe disposal.

Bedrooms
10 Edit the pile of junk under your bed. Nothing under your bed? Treat yourself to a latte!

11 Clunky table lamps? Swap them for tidy wall-mounted reading lights. Or just give them a good dusting and cleaning treatment.

12 Edit your dresser contents. Make three piles: garbage, donations, keep-and-repair. Make this the year you cultivate a smaller wardrobe of better quality clothes you can mix up with accessories.

 Closets
13 Get rid of those boxes and boxes of kids' crafts and pictures. It's amazing how they pile up! If you're feeling sentimental, hold on to a couple choice art pieces-preferably by framing and displaying, not storing. (And if you absolutely MUST keep an exhaustive record for posterity, take digital shots of everything and archive your images by burning them onto CDs.)

14 Got coats or boots you didn't wear at all this winter? Donate those in good, wearable condition, throw out the rest. (If we all got rid of clothing we didn't wear but were holding onto "just in case," the average home would probably need 50% less closet space!)




Home office
15 Toss the Yellow Pages into the recycling bin and bookmark yellowpages.ca instead.

16 Unload old office electronics - but avoid the landfill. The Electronic Recycling Association repairs and refurbishes old desktops, laptops, fax machines and more. Your hard drives and personal data are irretrievably wiped beforehand to RCMP security standards. The new-again items are donated to community organizations across Canada, while the unsalvageable bits are sent off for environmentally responsible recycling and disposal.

17 Shred old income tax records. Just keep returns and documentation from the past six years - everything else can go.

Garage/basement
18 Throw out your VHS collection. Yeah, that one sitting in a plastic bin under the stairs. It's time to let go.

19 Donate useable leftover paint to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Paint and varnish can also be dropped off at the Special Services desk at any Home Depot for safe disposal.

20 Get rid of old bikes and large kids' toys. While it's true old toys can increase in value down the road, that usually takes a half century or more! In the meantime, if you clear the clutter, you'll have room to enjoy a new hobby (refinishing flea market furniture, for instance).

If you are looking for even more great organizing ideas, check out Better Homes and Gardens Storage and Kitchen and bath ideas.  I used their special interest issue on storage last year and it was full of incredible ideas, probably the best $8.99 I have ever spent

Clean House - Cleaning the things we forget to clean

Is one of your New Year's Resolutions to keep a cleaner house?  I find at the start of every year I try to improve the condition of my home with better organizing, more maintenance, updating, DE-cluttering and more thorough cleaning. 

It's easy to forget certain areas of the home, we just simply over look them but even just cleaning the small stuff makes a big impact

1 - What state are your lamp shades in?  Check out this great tip for a quick and easy clean for your lamp shades

 

2 - Get rid of those yucky coffee stains from the bottom of your mugs with this easy peasy tip using a baking soda recipe.

3 - Start sterilizing your sponges this year, not sure how?  Click here to find out more

4 - I have cleaned my mattress with baking soda but I know many people have not, try this lavender and baking soda recipe to get your mattress nice and fresh

5 - Make those faucet sparkle and shine with a simple combo of : vinegar and paper towel.

6 - Baskets are great for easy storage but they do get dusty, check out this tutorial to learn how to get them dust-free

Easy cleaning!

Check out "The Molly Maid Cleaning Handbook" - this book has all of the answers for your domestic dilemmas such as the best way to clean and degrease a stove top, best way to remove pet hair from the sofa, keeping your cupboards tidy and organized and much, much more...

Buy your copy today at http://www.chapters.ca/