Thursday, January 19, 2012

How to Clean Your Bathroom in Five Minutes or Less

The way to make housework easy is to get a system going. I call it "the flow" (especially important in the kitchen but that's another post for another time). 

Marla Cilley aka the FlyLady inspired my current evolution of the system I have for my bathrooms. She teaches people to clean their bathrooms every morning with a quick "swish and swipe." I love that! But let me break it down for you exactly in simple steps how I complete a "swish and swipe."

  1. Get a clean rag, toilet cleaner, and glass or all purpose cleaner which is stored in each bathroom.
  2. Lift the lid and seat to the toilet and apply toilet bowl cleaner into the bowl, then put it away.
  3. Spray cleaning solution onto mirrors and wipe clean with your rag.
  4. Spray cleaning solution onto the faucet and sink, wipe clean with the same rag.
  5. Swish/Clean toilet bowl with a brush. Lower the seat.
  6. Spray cleaning solution onto the top of the toilet seat, then lift the seat and spray underneath and the top of the toilet bowl.
  7. Close the lid, spray the top of the lid and behind the lid on the rim of the toilet.
  8. Take your same rag and in this order wipe off the top of the lid, under the lid, the top of the toilet seat, the underside of the toilet seat, the rim of the toilet. 
  9. Close the lid and use the rag to wipe off behind the seat on the rim.
  10. Fold the rag inside out and wipe the base of the toilet (spray with more cleanser if you have boys who miss).
Done. Five minutes or under. Do this daily or a few times a week to keep it simple. As FlyLady says, "Nothing says 'I love you' in flu season like a clean toilet bowl." (We should never know from such things!)

To your health!
Love,
Aunt Laya

Thank you so much to www.morguefile.com and phaewilk for the perfect photo! 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

GMO produce

I do find it disturbing that there is a whole industry designed to genetically alter fruits and vegetables. It's not a comfort to know there could be genes of insects or amphibians or something in my produce. Yikes. Here's a link to an article that came to my attention about how to recognize GMO produce in US supermarkets. http://www.kipnews.org/2011/07/14/how-to-i-d-genetically-modified-food-at-the-supermarket/ 

It's getting more and more compelling to buy organic. I'll give my garden another go this spring. It didn't do that well last spring and summer but the idea is that you keep learning, right?