Cleaning

You have probably followed my sister Jenn’s process of selling her house, over the past few months.  Moving is a great incentive to get rid of excess “stuff” – first by getting your house ready to sell, then by packing everything, then by unpacking and deciding what to do with everything.   We went through the whole process ourselves 2.5 ... Read More »

I get a little annoyed sometimes at the price of dishwasher soap. You can pay some serious money for it. Fancy little tabs with a power-boosting ball in the centre.  Even the basic stuff (liquid or powder) can run up to 5 dollars or so and it gets used so quickly. Fill the entire dispenser, then the pre-wash, then sprinkle ... Read More »

It’s almost Spring time!  Time to enjoy the sunshine, the longer days, and the warmer weather. It’s also time to do some Spring cleaning – to tackle some big jobs that may not have been done since last year! But there’s no law that states that the mom must do all the work. And there is nothing that says that ... Read More »

The year that my first child was born, there was a Groupon for a cleaning maid service. How luxurious! I thought that I’d treat myself – absolutely I’d pay $30 for a house cleaner for 2 hours while I sit with my feet up and nurse my baby! …and then, before I knew it, my Groupon had expired. I did the ... Read More »

As the days and weeks pass by, we are slowly heading into the winter season. There are so many things to do to prepare, and readying your home is one of them. Here’s a great list we’ve shared over at save.ca with a great step-by-step list (or a “honey-do” list).   Prepping Your Home for Winter    Read More »

For the first 12 years of our marriage, we only had one bathroom. That was fine when it was just the two of us, but after the first, second, third, and fourth child, it became pretty busy and crowded. And so we finally moved to a new house with three bathrooms! Three!  As wonderful as that is, it also comes ... Read More »

 Every summer I end up with those pesky fruit flies in my kitchen.  It usually happens because I’ve been too lazy putting the composting out, or letting some fruit rot on the counter. Either way, my kitchen ends up full of these little guys, and I find myself searching for fruit fly solutions.  I went to our helpful Facebook community asking ... Read More »

I’ve always been meaning to get our kids on a job system, but never got around to it. It seemed like too much work. Charts, rewards, magnetic boards, etc.  But a few weekends ago, while I was at a get-together with my university friends,  I was inspired by my friend Christine’s simple chore chart.  One job for each child to ... Read More »

  I don’t usually do a lot of official “spring cleaning”, but I’m generally inspired by the spring weather to make things as bright, and fresh as possible.  This year, though, a few things have come together to stop me from doing this. First of all, “spring” has taken so long to come! I can’t have windows open, hang things ... Read More »

We’ve been using our public library for years, and we love the selection they have, and their printout they provide of all the books we have out.  But recently, our older two have also started bringing home 3 books a week from their school library, and they tend to be smaller in size (paperback novels) with no printout.  We end ... Read More »