Ideas on how to clean and organize the home

My Wash

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I thought I would do a quick post about how I take care of my laundry.

I use Purex detergent. You can find it in most stores. My family has very sensitive skin and have clawed themselves whenever I use Tide, Gain, etc. This brand is very reasonable and I can use all the scents without irritating my family’s skin. 
I also love to use the Clorox Ultimate Care Bleach. It is very gentle on my whites and cleanses very well. You can also find it in most stores as well. 
For stain removal I use the Oxiclean Spray and the powder. My husband and I LOVE this! It works well on everything! It even gets out blood which is wonderful. I just spray it on and let the fabric sit overnight, put it in the normal wash and the stains come right out. It’s great! I love Bounce dryer sheets. They help the clothes smell so good and sometimes I put them in my suitcase when we travel. 
Delicate Wash
I use this on my delicate items. It smells wonderful and works great! I wrote about it here if you wish to read it. 
Afterwards, I fold and put everything away. I have to fold my towels like this because my linen closets are so small. I am hoping that in the near future I can come up with this more inventive ways to have more space. I do hope that you enjoyed this post!

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Organization and Cleaning ~ 2018

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With the year beginning most people have lots of resolutions. Organizing being one of them. I just thought that I would share some of my posts from last year about the wonderful book that I read called the Butler Speaks. I had lots of readers on this series and just thought that I would share those links again. Enjoy!!!!

The Butler Speaks: The Art of Housekeeping
The Butler Speaks: Housecleaning
love the table:
The Butler Speaks: Housekeeping
Butler's pantry storage:
The Butler Speaks: Deep Cleaning
I love this wallpaper in the bathroom http://www.stylemepretty.com/living/2014/10/30/traditional-meets-cozy-home-tour-in-long-island/:
The Butler Speaks: 10 Golden Rules of Housekeeping
White marble with a hammered silver sink:
The Butler Speaks: Starter Cleaning Schedule

(photos via Pinterest)

Teacup Organizing

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I really miss Martha Stewart being on cable T.V. I know that she has her Potluck Show with Snoop Dogg but what I miss is her old show with all the learning material that she shared. I learned so MUCH from those shows. At that time I was a young wife and new mother so the Martha Stewart Show was my cookbook, my sewing book, organizational book, I mean you name it!

I often find myself going to her website and looking for old vintage Martha Stewart shows on Youtube. There is a guy by the name of Joseph Patz who has a vintage Martha Stewart channel on Youtube if you are interested.

I was looking at my messy and unorganized cabinet recently. I stood and thought I need to organize this. What came to mind was Martha’s episode called, “How to Display a Collection in a Cabinet.”

I immediately started stacking my teacups in all my cabinets and it looked so orderly and wonderful that I had to share it.

Before the stacking….

After….
Better, much better!

Doesn’t it look great? And what’s so funny is that my cups are from the Martha Stewart Collection! I just love it. You can watch the video here if you are interested. Happy Organizing! 
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Home Memories

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This is just a small post about life memories. I love keeping memories and my daughter loves going through the boxes that I have of all her photos, artwork, graded papers, birthday party mementos, and clothes.

I don’t have much from my childhood so I wanted to make sure that I captured my daughter’s life as much as I could. I also have kept all of my cards from her and ornaments. Keeping memories, I believe is another way of having a beautiful life. It shows your children and family that you care enough to document your life with them. If you keep things continue to collect.

I can’t wait until I have some grandchildren to share all of the memories that I have. Enjoy!!!

I keep most of our memories in boxes like this.

In here I have all of my cards and I write the year on the back of each one. Something I learned from my mother in law. 
In this box I kept some of Lauren’s baby clothes and her first costume! I love looking at these and seeing how small she was. Boy, does the time really fly!
I have kept all of Lauren’s birthday cards and artwork. She will love this when she gets older. 
For each school year I take a photo and make her write down a few things. I also keep some of her work, report cards, drawings, and photos with friends from each year. She will enjoy looking at these with her kids and talk about her school years in the future. 
Well I hope that you have enjoyed this post and that it has inspired you to continue to document your life as well. 

(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

My Charging Station

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Okay, we all have “tech junk”. I mean lots and lots of “tech junk”. We don’t need half of it really but we do own some much of it and it needs to be managed.

So once my husband painted our bookshelf (that he purchased from Borders bookstore before they closed, really neat!) I was able to use my sofa table that we had in our room as a charging station for all of my tech items.

Okay, here is my table. I have photos of my two grandmothers who are no longer with us. I miss them both terribly! I have a vintage glass holder. I found it at a thrift store last year and could not pass it up and I have this faux flower arrangement that I picked up at T.J. Maxx a few months ago. 
Here is my tech tray. It’s a gold tray that I picked up at Marshal’s two years ago. I have my Coach tablet case, 2 Amazon Kindles (first generation), 2 Samsung Tablets, Mp3 player, earplugs, and chargers. 
I also have my pens and my favorite candle right now. It is called Sunlit Garden from Bath and Body Works. 
Here is a view of the entire table. It love it because everything is there and I don’t have to wonder where my chargers are or have them plugged up all over the house. I still love my candlestick holders that I picked up in North Carolina last year while visiting the Biltmore! Such a great trip!
I hope you enjoyed this post and perhaps it inspires you to create your very own charging station!
(photos via Mrs. Shockley)

Inspiring Calendars

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Has anyone ever read Martha Stewart’s magazine and seen in the beginning the “Martha’s Month”? I mean it is incredible! I know that she has people assisting her with all of these duties but still it is quite inspiring to me that she keeps up with all of her duties and home this way.

I just love it….


This is a photo that I took from April’s issue of Martha Stewart. I was in awe of her daily reminders and chores. I mean “wash and store heavy sweaters on April 8. On April 21 she will be cleaning and organizing her pantry. On the 25th she will be washing her baseboards. 


As I said, I know that she has someone helping her but still this is so inspiring to me. For me I don’t think, “Oh my gosh, I could not do all of this”. “I am not Martha Stewart”. But here is the reality, I am not Martha Stewart. I am Mrs. Shockley and will live my life according to what works for me and my family.


But seeing this does inspire me to add more to my calendar and to be more organized. Each year there are things that I put on my schedule. For me it’s washing my windows, cleaning my carpets, planting more flowers around our home. 

photo credit Mrs. Shockley 

My “honey-do” list for my husband is pretty long to. He has to stain the fence, paint our master bedroom, bathroom and our daughter’s room and help me plant my roses bushes in the back. I am hoping we can get it all done this year. 


But I just wanted to share Martha’s calendar. I just believe that it is a great inspiration for all of us and we should take some of her tips and ideas and use them for ourselves.


Oh, she also had horseback riding scheduled for the 29th of this month…..


Oh, I wish I could add this to my list. I may have to look into that…..


The Butler Speaks ~ Starter Cleaning Calendar

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Good Morning, and today is the last post from my “The Butler Speaks series”. I hope you all have enjoyed reading them. I know I have enjoyed the comments.

For this particular section of the book, Mr. MacPherson talked about a simple “starter” calendar. This calendar ensures that you will deep clean one area of your home per month, instead of doing it all at once a couple of times a year.

You’ll notice that there are no tasks scheduled in December. This is a month for us to entertain and enjoy time with our families.

January
* Deep clean kitchen (post-holiday entertaining)


* Flip mattresses


February 
* Clean out all closets


* Deep clean master bedroom


March
*Dust bookshelves


* Deep clean all other bedrooms








photo credit the French Manoir Instagram account

April
* Flip mattresses

* Check all outdoor lights burned-out bulbs

* Deep clean hallways, front hall closet, linen closet

May
* Wash windows

*Clean garage (post-winter mess)

*Deep clean laundry room and basement area

June
*Clean all outdoor barbecue items

* Deep clean outdoor entertaining areas

* Deep clean the kitchen





photo credit the French Manoir Instagram account



July 
*Flip mattresses

*Deep clean bathrooms

August 
*Clean garage (post-summer mess)

Deep clean kids’ rooms; prepare wardrobes for school (this would be done in July for us!)

September 
*Deep clean family room

*Check furnace for the winter season
October
*Wash windows

*Flip mattresses

November 
*Clean silver (preparing for holiday entertaining)

* Install holiday lights before the first snowfall

December 
*Enjoy your family and friends!

photo credit French Country Cottage Instagram account
(list via Charles MacPherson)