Home and Health Tips

5 Ways To Get Ready For Unexpected Guests

by Jennifer | No Comments Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Imagine that the phone rings, and it’s your mother-in-law/aunt you rarely see/old friend from high school. She is in your part of town today and will be over in about an hour for a visit. You hang up, ask yourself why you answered in the first place, and then take a look around and realize the place is a complete disaster! It’s been a busy week for sure, and you have understandably let some things go. We all go through this. But before you panic, there is a way to get it all done (or at least done enough to make it look great!) And don’t forget to allow some time at the end to get yourself ready!

1. Close Off Rooms That Are Dirty.

You don’t have time to clean the whole house, so close the doors to rooms that you are sure you won’t get to, such as your children’s rooms, your room, etc. If your guest can’t see in there, they won’t know it’s messy!

2. Pick Up And Dust The Main Areas

The areas that you know will be seen, such as the living room, kitchen, family room, etc. just need a quick organizing (or just throw the excess in one of the closed off rooms, who will know, right?) Dust the areas that are the most obvious. Most people aren’t going to inspect every surface of your home, so focus more on the main parts of the rooms, such as the counters, tables, and shelves that are eye-level. Also, keep the lights just a little lower if possible.

3. Vacuum/Dry Mop Floors

Unless you have managed to spill everything and anything all over the floors, you don’t need to do a full cleaning. If you have carpet, vacuum the high-traffic areas, and if you have hard floors, go over them with a dry mop, such as a swiffer or microfiber to remove any noticeable dust or dirt.

4. Touch Up The Guest Bathroom

Close the shower curtain, clean the toilet, and wipe off the countertop and mirror. Then sweep and/or dry mop the floors. Voila! If you’re in enough of a hurry, this could take you 10 minutes total.

5. Clean Off Your Patio

You spend most of your time inside your home, so it can be easy to overlook the patio. But remember, this is the first thing your guest will see. Sweep it off and remove any unnecessary clutter. Make sure your porch light works, and turn it on, even if it is still daytime.

Now all you have to do is get yourself ready (hopefully that won’t be so challenging,) light a few candles to make your home smell nice, and voila! You are ready to go!

How To Remove Wax From Your Carpet

by Jennifer | No Comments Thursday, April 19, 2012

We have come across this problem many times, where a client calls saying the candle fell over, and now there’s bright red wax on the clean white carpet. It happens to pretty much everyone at some point, and we think it’s important to know how to remove it. It’s actually very easy!

All you need is paper towel and an iron. It is described well In This Article By The Same Name.  So don’t panic, and in no time your clean carpet will be good as new!

5 Steps To Cleaning Out Your Kitchen

by Jennifer | No Comments Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Your kitchen accumulates a great deal of clutter, aka tools and devices that are really neat, but just don’t get used. Well, it’s time to clean out that mess, and let your kitchen stand out as a beautiful and functional area of your home, not the place where the drawers don’t close and every cabinet you open is subject to spill out. Use this as a checklist to get started. The general rule here is: if it’s not special enough to use at least once a year, get rid of it!

1. Cabinets

Go through each cabinet, one at a time, pulling everything out. Then, put everything that you still use back in. Once you see how much nicer it looks in there, you will be less likely to try and stuff everything back in it. Get rid of the rest. Leave extra space where you can, because there is a really good chance you’re going to need a new home for some of the items on your countertops.

2. Drawers

Just like cabinets, go through each one individually, pulling everything out, and replacing only what you use. Is your silverware drawer overflowing? I get it, you hate doing dishes, so the more flatware the better, right? It’s ok to have extras, but if there are 4 people in your home, and you have 15 forks, you are not saving yourself any trouble. And keep in mind, you probably don’t need more than one food thermometor.

3. Countertops

Is your countertop full of appliances? Does it take a long time to clean, because you have too many items to move? Take inventory of everything you have on there, and get rid of or find a place that is out of sight for everything that doesn’t get used daily. Sure, the breadmaker makes you look really cool, but if you’re only using it a handful of times a year, does it really need to take up that much space? Or maybe you keep the blender up there thinking it will motivate you to make healthy smoothies every day. But if you’re not, put it somewhere you can easily get to, but is out of sight.

4. Pantry

The pantry is one of the easiest areas to clutter. You buy something because it’s on sale, or you convince yourself you will eat it, and then before you know it, it has been in the back of the pantry for over a year collecting dust. Throw out all food that is past it’s expiration date, and donate food that is still good, but has been there long enough to where you know you aren’t going to do anything with it. And be realistic, just because those canned beats are good for you, doesn’t mean you will convince yourself that you like them.

5. Decor

Just like any other part of your home, decor can be easy to bypass in your cleaning adventure, especially if it has been there for so long it just seems necessary because you’re used to it. Your decor puts the whole room together, it creates the feel of the area, so have some fun with it! But don’t overdo it, for example if you can’t see more than the edges of the windowsill behind the kitchen sink, you have more on there than you need! Try reducing it to just your favorite picture, or a little plant.

5 Important Ways To Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Disease

by Jennifer | No Comments Monday, March 26, 2012

Heart disease takes the lives of roughly 1 in 5 people in America. While advances in medical technology have increased that can help people at risk or suffering, this problem won’t be reduced until we make better choices in our lives. Everyone already knows that a healthy, balanced diet and regular excercise are the two greatest things we can do for ourselves, and should be taken very seriously, but what else can we do?

1. Take A Multivitamin Rich In B, C, and Omega-3.

These vitamins should be present in your daily diet, but a boost from a multivitamin will help as well.

2. Drink Lots Of Water

While not everyone can realistically drink 64 oz. of water a day, drinking it as often as possible will do wonders for you. Choose water over soda, and you will notice a difference in your overall well-being.

3. Have A Beer Or Glass Of Wine Every Day

Just one of either of the two will help lower your cholesterol, a major player in heart disease. It will also put you in a more relaxed mood, which will assist with your blood pressure. Just don’t have more than one regularly, that will counteract the positive effects and can bring you into alcoholism.

4. Get Help If You Have Sleep Apnea

If your partner says you snore too much, get help. If you are by yourself, try and record you sleeping to make sure. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes you to stop breathing many times a night, which interferes with your REM cycle, increases blood pressure, and reduces your overall health.

5. Drink Hot Tea Every Day

Not only is it soothing and tasty, it’s great for you! It doesn’t really matter what kind you drink, but green and black are best. It helps lower your cholesterol, and that warm comfy feeling you get from drinking it can’t hurt your mood either!

There are so many things you can do to help lower your cholesterol. Hopefully our advice will get you started, but check out these great websites that go in greater detail and have loads of little things you can do every day to make a significant impact on your health:

30 Ways To Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Disease And Stroke – Reader’s Digest
Lifestyle Changes – American Heart Association

How To Get Your Kids To Help Clean

by Jennifer | No Comments Monday, March 19, 2012

It’s not always easy getting your kids to help out around the house. Their growing minds are going at a million miles an hour figuring everything out, and it may seem impossible to get them to focus on house cleaning, especially when it’s not as exciting as everything else. The trick is to make it a fun learning experience with them. Keeping the chores age appropriate is necessary. Go To This Chart as a guideline of what you can realistically ask a child/teen to do.

To keep your kids on track with their duties, try a chore chart with a rewards system! It will teach them a great deal more than an allowance alone, and you can be creative with what you decide to give them if they complete all their tasks. They will happily oblige if they know they are working towards something they can really look forward to! The reward could be strictly monetary if you would like (for example, you will give a dollor for every chore completed by the end of the week,) or add a bonus for the end of the month, such as dinner at a restaurant of their choice or a day at the water park. You know your children better than anyone, so use your judgement. If you want to create your own fun chore chart, Try This Link By Tipjunkie for some great ideas!