FLY LADY - The Laundry Room

If you follow  my blog, you know this is NOT the week I'm to be doing the laundry room. Sadly, I've gotten off track the past couple of months and am jumping back in where needed. While this should be the week for deep cleaning the bedroom, the laundry room had to take priority.

A couple of weeks ago during our monthly shopping trip to Menards (where we buy all of our pet supplies on the 11% rebate) I thought I'd try a new Arm & Hammer. The information on the box looked promising, was Arm & Hammer, after all, and was four dollars less expensive. Seemed like a win.  NOT!

The box says HARD CLUMPS for easy scooping. They are so wrong!

As soon as I went to scoop the clumps from the litter box, they immediately fell apart, dissolving through the slats in the scooper to fall back into the box!!  Seriously?

That was the first issue.  

The next problem I had was Eliminates Both Urine Odors and Feces Odors..

Okay, this part may be true - because all you can smell is AMONIA!

Silly us, bought two boxes because we're trying to stock up when we can.  Once we get them home, Bob divides the boxes up into jugs from previous litter purchases - only about 2/3rds full - so that I can handle them easier.  (yes, we've tried the lightweight but it's more expensive)

Our laundry room is open to the kitchen. The litter had to GO! 

We've dumped the remainder of the two boxes into a 5 gal bucket and will drop off at the Howell Co. Animal Shelter next trip Bob can go with me. I couldn't begin to lift the bucket.

So today has been about stripping out the laundry room, detailing the floor, wiping everything down with Pine-Sol water. I've scrubbed out the litter box (which is an under the bed storage box to accomodate three cats). Once everything is dry, I'll put down fresh rugs then fill the litter box with our preferred litter.  

Since we pour into mutliple jugs, we often mix the 24/7 with this one:

We are a Purina household from Cat food/ litter to Dog food.

If you have cats, I'd love to hear what you use. Have you tried either of these litters? One person also recommended Scoop Away but after the Arm & Hammer fiasco I think I'll stick with Tidy Cat. 

Are you cleaning your house or decluttering during this Stay At Home?  

Whatever your project...

Enjoy the Journey!

FLY LADY - Laundry & Kitchen

A new month and another opportunity to reign in the chaos that is my living room/ kitchen area.

I spend a lot of time mopping the laundry room floor but I look forward to the deep clean the first of the month.

I have a tabby cat that I dearly love. Goddess is a rescue kitty who is now almost 12 years old. She's had bladder issues her entire life. For a long time she was back and forth with various antibiotics for UTI's. she would no sooner get off one then we'd have to put her back on another. $75 every three weeks was getting ridiculous.

Then I discovered two things. 1) Purina Urinary Tract and 2) cranberry juice.

All three of my cats now eat a blend of Urinary Tract and Hairball Treatment. Once a week I add a Tblspn of cranberry juice to the water bowl.  Goddess seems to stay on track.

However, she has a pump handle for a tail!

Pixabay Photo Courtesy

She has a reflex that when she begins to urinate, her tail rises up like a pump handle... letting her pee straight out behind her. TMI? Probably. But I wanted you to have a visual of where my almost daily cleaning comes into play.  At least once a week I'm pulling the rugs from under the litter box - which is a long under the bed storage box, by the way - mopping the floor, putting down fresh rugs and wiping down anything she may have hit.  If she would just remmber to stand lengthwise of the box, she'd be fine. But periodically, she has to face the wall - spraying out into the room. Ugh!

So while I've mopped the floor multiple times over the past month, the first Monday of every month is dedicated to stripping out the laundry room and giving the floor and surrounding area a detailed cleaning. I did this on Sunday this week since the day was gorgeous and I knew I could put stuff out on the deck out of my way and to air out. 

I'd love to strangle her but on the upside, I know she's healthy!

I love my pets, but there are days  LOL

Do you have a pet that falls into that category? Share your stories. 

On a side note, I'm still working on the office. I have a deadline. 

My sissy will be here on the 12th to spend 4 days with me. We will be playing in the craft room so I HAVE to get this room done in the next 10 days! So far I've moved most everything out that can be moved out. My plan for this week is to shampoo the carpet on thursday when I can open doors/ windows and let the air really do its thing. The weather is to be almost spring like. 

Speaking of - I am soooo ready for Spring! 

Enjoy the Journey!

FLY LADY - Laundry room/ Kitchen/ Christmas

Yes, you read that correctly. I said CHRISTMAS!

No.. I'm not behind LOL.. okay, maybe on one thing. The make-shift tree is still in the living room but for good reason. I'll get to that in a moment.

While most of the Christmas decor comes down around Epiphany my bathroom/ laundry room/ kitchen always stay up until Feb. 1. Why? Because I like the decor. Okay, so sometimes the laundry room/ kitchen comes down with everything else but the bathroom stays up. The decor is all about winter/ snowmen and that encompasses January. Well, if you look at the forecast for Wedneday (never mind we were 75* for Super Bowl Sunday!), winter is still here but come down they must. I need to get this house back in order.

I spent all day yesterday washing curtains, dusting decorations and packing everything away in the new Holiday Decorations storage unit we bought last fall. I wasn't ready to give up my Christmas pretties but time to move foreward.. in spite of our ground hog. Grrr.

The Christmas tree has stayed up way longer because we hadn't done anything more than put lights on and I had not had one single evening to sit and ENJOY my tree lights and a Hallmark moive. Every movie I recorded, save the one I watched Saturday night, is still on the DVR. But the tree must get put away and our living room back into shape.

I do like the idea of getting back into my clenaing routine. I've been so focused on trying to get the studio in shape that the rest of the house has been sorely neglected. As of this writing, Bob will be home tomorrow. Time I made the house look more like home.

While I won't be doing any deep detailing this month, I'm going to be thrilled to just do a basic clean.

What will you be focusing on this week? Share in the comments and let me know. I'd also love to hear if you have any challenges. Let's work together to make our homes at least presentable. ;-)

Happy Cleaing!

FLY LADY - Laundry & Kitchen

I am so thrilled to get back into my system. Everything has been kind of let go since May. I've done the basics but really need to do a deep clean, back on track and be ready to decorate for the holidays.

Things are so bad that I'm picking a day this week for different areas. So lets look at what I'm doing this week and what constitutes that area:

MONDAY - Clear the sorting table & clean the cat area in the laundry room.
I've had an 8' table in my kitchen for a couple of months. I've been using that as a sorting surface for mixed media items from the studio. Today is the day that stuff gets put away. The table will stay up.

For the cat area, I take the litterbox outside and give that a good cleaning, shake out and wash the throw rugs underneath, sweep, steam, mop the laundry room floor. Put the cat box back with clean rugs and litter.

TUESDAY - Sort out the kitchen cupboards
Since I need to go grocery shopping, this is a good time to see what's up there. Some things can go back down to over-stock. Some probably just needs pitched or turned into bird/ squirrel food.

WEDNESDAY - Take down the Halloween decor and pack away. Set up the minimal fall decor
Put the sorting table away.
Sweep/ mop kitchen floor and wash down cabinets

THURSDAY - Clean out fridge for garbage day
Make Fall curtains and shelf liners so I'll have them for next fall.

FRIDAY -  Give everything a once-over and be ready for next week's new room.

That's it for this week.
Feel overwhelmed about where to start?

TIP - Pick one area to focus on. Put blinders on to the entire room then just pick ONE task.
One bite at a time.

Enjoy the Journey!

FLYLADY - Kitchen & Laundry

We are back to the Laundry Room and Kitchen for Zone Deep Clean this week. Tasks I hope to accomplish include:

LAUNDRY ROOM:
Decorative Shelf above the washer/ dryer
Recyclables taken into town
Sanitize the cat counter

KITCHEN:
Create new storage for under the sink
Inventory the canned/ dry goods cabinets
Declutter the silverware drawer (I swear utensils multiply!)

I've already started a big box to deposit thrift store donations as I come across them in each zone this month.

There is one thing I'll need to wait on Bob for with the under the kitchen sink area. We bought baskets to hang on the inside of one of the doors for storing cleaning rags. We measured the basket with a cabinet at Menards only to find out when we got home that our door area is a bit wider. The basket will still fit, Bob just needs to put a piece in to screw the baskets to. I could do that part but his shop is such a disaster that I can't get to the miter saw or the small circular saw. Maybe I need to add a battery powered circular saw to my tool collection.

Speaking of tools, I bought a set of tools for my vacuum cleaner last week. I had a set that came with my small shop vac and we had a set that goes with the Kirby. Well, both my shop vac and the tool caddy for the Kirby were in Bob's shop and guess what... not a single tool to go with either of them. I swear I'm putting my shop vac under lock and key. As for the crevice, upholstery, and dusting brush I bought last week. I have them in a tool bag under my work station. They won't leave the office unless I am the one using them. Do you ladies have that problem with your tools?

Recap for last week, I didn't get anything done in the basement. I was too busy creating in the craft room. I'd lost my mojo earlier in the year but when the creating energy spark lit last week, I created card after card after card... well, you get the idea. I finally have enough cards to mail off to everyone with birthdays and anniversaries this month... something I failed to do in February and March.

I'm hoping the April Showers (that we've had in place since February) will pass soon so I can start working outside. Even  my Great Pyrenees is getting depressed. He is shedding his winter coat. When the rain stops long enough for him to come out of his dog house, he lays in his favorite corners -which are mud puddles most of the time these days and has become a matted mess. I can't wait for a warm day so I can get him brushed and clipped. That is going to be a task but he's a good boy and trusts me to do pretty much whatever I need to do. For now, he's so depressed he doesn't even bark. Poor baby. I'm hoping a few days of sun will turn him around.

What is your focus area for this week? Whatever it is, remember to Enjoy the Journey!