Ideas on how to clean and organize the home

Organizing My Monthly Expenses

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I have been discussing routines and trying to stay organized here on the blog for some time now. I just realized that there is one thing that I have not shared and that is how I organize my monthly expenses.

Expenses 
11/3/18
Mortgage

Car

Light Bill



Car Insurance 

Water Bill



Home Depot Card 



Groceries 
Parking





Church 



Savings



Total:

This is an example of what I use to organize our monthly expenses. I just use a basic table on Microsoft Word and type in the amounts. I do this every week. I like to know what’s going out and what’s coming in.

I remember hearing this phrase in church, “know the state of your flock”, and I knew immediately what that meant. Shepherds always knew how many sheep they had and what state they were in. So we as individuals need to be aware of our flock. 

photo credit Tuft and Trim.com
I still receive paper bills. I have not moved our bills to email or receiving them electronically yet. It is very easy for me to delete an email and I am so afraid that I would delete a bill. I am also not comfortable with automatic withdrawals from our account. 
I still like to have some control over our accounts and I like to be able to pay our bills from our account. I don’t like the idea of a company withdrawing money without me seeing it. So if that is something that you do and are okay with it then good for you. I am not quite there yet. Sorry….
When our mail comes in I open it and then place new bills in my bill organizer on my desk at home and it looks very similar to the one above. 
Wednesday is “bill” day. I then plug in all the bills that are due for the next coming week, add them up and then log in the dates on my calendar on my cell phone. I set up reminders to get notifications of when a bill is due and that is it. 

photo credit Anthropologie 

After the bill is paid I do print off the email and place it in that bill’s folder in my drawer. Sorry I know that sounds like a lot of work but I guess it is the paralegal quality in me. At the beginning of each year, I do go in and throw away the previous year of bills.

But I can tell you how much we spend on our bills, I know about all of the expenses in our home. I know the “state of our flock”. Everyone has a different way of organizing their monthly expenses. Do what works for you and your home. I just wanted to share how I organize ours. I do hope that you may have found something useful out of my super long process. Being organized is a quality that a lot of people admire and it is another way of being elegant.

Enjoy your day!

(photos via Pinterest)

Order is Elegant

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A few weeks ago my office had it’s WLI meeting (Women’s Leadership Initiative) and in these meetings we always have a speaker and discuss ways to volunteer around our city. Our co-members of the group always want to start it with an icebreaker. This month’s icebreaker was to come up with a hashtag that described your morning.

Most people talked about coffee and their kids. I sat and thought about my mornings and the first words that came to mind were order and elegant. I always try to have order in my morning routines (see my blog post here about that) so the word order had to be included. The word elegant is always on my mind because of the way I desire to live. It doesn’t have to be fancy but elegant.

So in today’s post I wanted to share a little more about my morning routine.

My closet
What helps me to keep my mornings orderly is picking out my outfit the night before and all of the accessories that I am going to wear. 

I pick out my shoes (which sometimes can take an eternity).

I lay everything out so that I can see it. I switch my bags the night before if I need to. 
I will then look at scarves if I decided to wear one. 

I will pick out a bracelet….
Or a brooch for my outfit….
Of course I will have a pair of earrings that I will grab the next day.
And a bottle of perfume will be selected to wear the next day. 

Having these items picked out and ready to go the next morning makes my mornings go very smoothly. With all of this already selected it gives me time to have my morning workout and a bubble bath every morning. Yes! I take bubble baths every morning! I have been doing it since I was 21. My routine has not changed. 
Well I hope that you enjoyed this post and are inspired to add a little order to your morning. 
Enjoy your week! 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Elegant Pyrex Storage Containers

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About a month ago I was watching a blogger on Youtube by the name of Lisa and she was doing her fresh meal prep with her glass lock containers. I thought, “oh I would love to find some of those”. Well we did!

We discovered these great storage containers at Costco called snapware storage containers and I could not find them online! I found this option here. My set is quite similar and we paid the same price.

My snapware set at home. It is 18 pieces with the lids. 
The bowls are Pyrex glass which is great! I love that they are not plastic so I don’t have to worry about staining and them looking disgusting after a few months. 
The snapware lids feel secure on the bowls and they were so easy to clean and looked great!
I am sorry that I could not find them online. I love Pyrex products. They are made very well and last. I was so happy to find these at the store. If you wish to watch the video that inspired this you may see it below. Her food habits and meal prep is very inspiring for sure!
Enjoy the video!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Mrs. Meyer’s Natural All Purpose Cleaner ~ My Review

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Okay time for my second natural product review. This time I decided to try the Mrs. Meyer’s Lavender Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner.  I LOVE IT! 

I love everything about this cleaner. I love that it is made with essential oils and plant derived ingredients. 
I have used it on my counter-tops, appliances and our bathroom. 
And the smell is marvelous. It is truly therapeutic and relaxing. I was a little unsure about using it. I wasn’t sure if my kitchen would feel clean or if the product would get “soapy” enough for me but it does. 
I have been using it for almost two weeks now. This item will be permanently added to my cleaning product list. You must try it! I do enjoy using it every night while cleaning up after dinner. Here is a video from Jennifer L. Scott. Of course I was inspired by her to give this product a try. 

Enjoy!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley, opinions are of my own)

Mrs. Meyer’s Natural Detergent ~ My Review

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So as I mentioned last week I have been really inspired by Jennifer L. Scott’s reviews on natural home products. In July she did a review on Mrs. Meyer’s laundry detergent.  So again I became very intrigued and quite curious.

I went to my local grocery store and purchased the lavender scent detergent. It smells wonderful and is very concentrated. Now I will be fair and say that once the clothes were put into the dryer the smell does disappear a little but it is still a wonderful detergent. 
I have been using it all week and do enjoy it. The only con is that it is quite expensive! I paid $15 for one bottle. That is double what I normally pay but I wanted to give it a chance and see what it was like using a natural detergent. We have very sensitive skin in my home and it does not take much to get a rash from using a different detergent. 
I have really enjoyed Jennifer’s reviews and have loved learning about natural home products. If you want to watch the video you may see it below. 
Enjoy!!!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Learning about French Linens

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Earlier last month another favorite author and blogger that I admire wrote a blog post about french linens. She just recently returned from her MONTH long trip to France! Gosh, I was foaming at the mouth while following her on Instagram looking at all of her pictures and watching her videos.

What a dream! She also got to stay with the wonderful Sharon Santoni (another great author and blogger) at her swoon worthy chateau in Normandy. But let’s get back on track with french linens.

This was an outstanding post! So informative and enticing.

One thing that I learned was that it is environmentally friendly. Linen is biodegradable. That’s interesting. 

Shannon talked about how hypo allergenic it is, that it lasts longer than cotton (good to know), is stronger than cotton, get’s softer with each wash, and is extremely absorbent. Great facts!

Shannon also gave a wonderful list on tips on how to care for your linens:

Tips About Buying & Caring for Linen

  • If purchasing vintage linen, make sure you open the entire sheet to see if there are holes or marks. Often the marks can come out, but you will either want to determine if you can darn (fix) the holes or pass on the sheet as it will only get worse with wear and wash.
  • Vintage sheets are usually only large enough for a queen or double. If you find a sheet that has a seam down the middle, this is absolutely fine as it shows that they combined (usually hand-stitched) two smaller sheets together to preserve them. 
  • Often on vintage sheets you will see the family name on the bottom left or right edge as the sheets would be washed by the staff in a wash house along a river, and if the sheets were accidentially swept away or mixed up with other sheets, they would be able to determine whose sheet was whose. 
  • With vintage linen, the top sheet will contain most often a monogram (see in my image – 3rd below), and it is placed on the very top of the sheet (the top sheets are very long to enable you to fold back about 1-2 feet over the top of the blanket). 
  • Most vintage pillow cases are only sized for Euro (large square) or the long bolster pillow that lays behind the two Euro pillows (you can see how Sharon made the bed below with this approach). I saw oodles of bolster linen pillowcases at the brocante boutiques.
  • Price for vintage linens at markets – the average I spent was 35-40 Euros (a sheet).
  • Vintage French linens do not have available a fitted sheet; you simply use a flat sheet and tuck to fit.
  • New linen French bedding makes available the standard pillowcases and fitted sheets we are accustomed to.
  • Line dry only – preferrably outside under the sun as the sun will keep them white AND if you can, Sharon shared to lay them flat out on grass as the chlorophyll helps keep the sheets white as well. 
  • Yep, you will have to iron them, but your body will thank you with a deep sleep. 

And last but certainly not least she shared where to find the best linens. I never thought that Etsy would be a great place but it is. Here is her link to the shops. 
I must admit I am really loving this linen dust ruffle coverlet below. I may have to save for this purchase!
Isn’t it gorgeous? There were so many linen items that I wanted. I even looked for linen aprons but we will see. 
If you wish to read Shannon’s blog post about french linens you may view it here. It is wonderful blog post for those of you interested in this beautiful material. 
(photos via Pinterest, tips via Shannon Ables)

A Cleaning Habit Poll

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Sometimes I wonder if I am a really bad neat freak. My daughter’s friend was over one weekend and I was washing some cabinets doors and the front of the fridge. They had a little dust and dog drool on them (gotta love those boxers!). So she was watching me clean and said, “Wow….really, your house doesn’t have to be perfect!” Honestly, I wanted to drop kick her in the face but I just calmly said, “I like to clean and I like a lovely home.” Geez! Me wiping down a few doors was that bad?

I don’t know…. but I saw this fun poll on House Beautiful and wanted to share it with everyone. It was quite interesting. I hope you all enjoy it and have a Happy Mother’s Day weekend.

I am taking my mother to the Sassafras Tea Room for their Mother’s Day Brunch event! We are both excited and this will be the first tea room that my mother has ever visited. I hope that I can take pictures and I hope that we both enjoy it!

Have a great weekend!

(photo via Pinterest)