Tuesday Tips: Spring Cleaning Checklist

Spring Cleaning Checklist
by Kristen Kanoski


Spring is officially here! Your house and surroundings need some spring cleaning as well! Here is a great list of items that Kristen has put together.

Maintenance schedule to call for service

Carpet cleaning
Air-conditioner
Gutter Cleaning
Window Washing
Lawn maintenance service
Air-Duct service

Automobiles

Thorough car wash inside and out
Vacuum inside of car
Replace wiper blades
Replace windshield wiper fluid with bug wash

Outside of house

Power wash deck
Wash patio furniture
Inspect flower pots, replace broken ones
Inspect shingles on roof, schedule repairs or replace if needed
Wash out garbage cans, replace if needed

Inside the home

Every Room

Wipe down baseboards
Wipe down walls
Clean ceiling fans
Clean light fixtures
Clean blinds/curtains/drapes and window treatments
Wax wood furniture
Wash out trash cans
Move furniture and vacuum beneath it
Install storm windows
Oil window and door hinges

Bedrooms

Flip Mattresses
Dry clean/wash dust ruffles, comforters and pillow shams

Bathrooms

Go through medicine cabinet toss old medicine and makeup and other toiletries
Clear out cabinets and clean
Stock up on toothbrushes
Soak shower head
Reseal grout

Kitchen

Clean out pantry
Appliances – thoroughly clean inside of all of them
Refrigerator
Vacuum coils and drain drip pan
Defrost and clean freezer

Office

Go through last year’s paper and shred what u don’t need

Laundry room

Clean Dryer Vents
Wipe down washer and dryer


Closets

Go through clothes
Keep, toss or give away
Empty closet
Vacuum/clean floors
Dust walls and doors
Clean baseboards
Clean light fixture
Toss broken hangers

Winter Clothes

Pull out all winter clothes
Sort, keep, toss or giveaway
Wash, dry and winterize clothes
Repair any winter clothes/shoes needed
Pack away winter clothes






Tips for staying on track:

Keep boxes for toss and donate
Make sure you schedule a pick up for donations or make a drop-off date to make sure you don’t’ keep all the boxes.

Set a timer for each room or project
Take a break
Take before and after pictures

Tuesday Tips: Organizing Your Bills & Paperwork

Tuesday Tips: Organizing Bills & Paperwork
by Kristen Kanoski


Filing bills and papers can be an overwhelming task. If you have the right tools and a system that works, that is easy, filing bills and papers can be a snap. My favorite system of filing came from a book I read called, Organizing from the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern. Chapter 10 is the chapter you want to read, it is called Household Information Centers. It breaks down everything, from zones like mail & paper flow, bill paying, filing & record keeping, and so forth. She writes how to sort, papers, recipes, photos, organize your financial & vital records, and lifestyle paper work. The best is the “How long should I keep certain papers”, this was a huge help. I always kept everything, because well, I didn’t know how long I should keep it. From financial papers, receipts, tax records and vital records, she has a keep date.

I have three filing cabinets in my office, one in my desk which houses all our mortgage documents, heath and life insurance and taxes. I do that because I know my husband will be able to find them. I have a two drawer filing cabinet that in the top drawer is, yikes, all my warranties and instructions for everything that we have in the house and all my rebates and printed orders from the internet. In the bottom drawer is our resume, past newsletter from two professional organizations and all my conference related materials that I want to keep. The last filing cabinet is four drawers, the top drawer is my bill paying drawer, next is my family drawer, and the last two are my husbands.

I realize that not everyone can have that many filing cabinets, you might need less or more, or even just a simple portable file box, and it just depends on your needs. You will need to have a few things to help you file so that it will be super easy to maintain your system. You will need Hanging folders, file folders that have a left, center and right tabs (which I love to buy both of these in different colors), and folder labels. First break down your paperwork into categories such as bill paying, insurance and personal, for like vacation/travel info.

The first set of folders will be Bills. I have one file for Bills to be paid for the month and bills to be paid the next month. Use a left tab for this folder. Then I have a file for each of my credit card accounts; use a center tab for these folders. Then I have folders for each of my bank accounts; use a right tab for these folders.

I know a lot of people pay bills on-line. Here is my suggestion to help you keep track on how much you paid and on what day. Take your center tab file and on the inside of the cover put a sheet of paper, use tape, staple or paper clip. When you pay your bill write across the paper, the date, how much you paid and your reference or authorization number. Then if there is any question with that account you have all your information in one folder.

The second set of folders is Insurance. I know everyone has such difference insurance I hope this covers everyone. We have a Health Care spending account and this how I keep our files. Left tab, bills to be submitted. Center tab, bills submitted. Right tab, explanation of benefits for the year, I toss them after all bills have been paid and health care account is spent. This is usually done by Feb.1, that way if there are any questions I have this useless information. Another left tab may be for those of you who still need Blank claim forms. You can use this system as well for your Homeowner's Insurance, Renters Insurance, and Car Insurance. Make sure you have your current policy information in the file as well.

The third set of folders is vacation/travel. Left tab put your Frequent flyer reward program, first airlines then hotels. Center tab, you can have several, like for day trips, weekend trips, Spa day, Conferences. Right tab, I keep my past vacations, with just a few things, if I went somewhere at that destination that was helpful like a map or restaurant listing.

I would suggest checking out from the library or buying Julie Morgenstern’s book, Organizing from the Inside Out. It is an easy, plus you can skip right to Chapter 10. Good luck.

Kristen Kanoski was a professional nanny/household manager for twenty years. Organizing is something that comes easy and is fun for her. She has been married for six years to an extremely unorganized hubby, whom she still loves, and is currently a SAHM to a active and silly two year old boy.

You can read Kristen's Blog, Beyond Bottles, on life with babies beyond the bottle. She provides reviews of products, and how to organize your nursery.

Tuesday Tips:Organizing Inside & Out.

Tuesday Tips: Organizing Inside & Out
by Kristen Kanoski

I love to organize. I read a lot of books on organizing. Here are a few that I really like.

Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

My all time favorite organizing book. On the cover it reads “The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life”. I would say that is true if you follow her easy steps. Organizing for the inside out is a system that is built from your needs, personality and goals. It spotlights who you are and what is important to you so the system will mirror that.

The book has 240 pages, and I would say the first 58 are the most important to read. Why, it gets you to look at organizing in steps, tackling the clutter and simplify how to organize. It gets you to look at what is holding you back and how to break that cycle.

Then the book breaks down every room in the house and tells you how to organize the room based on your needs. Julie Morgenstern uses the SPACE formula. Sort Purge Assign a home Containerize Equalize

Does it work? Yes. I did this at my sister’s house with their basement. My sister has four children, and when they were younger she wanted to organize the basement as their play room. Boy, was it gross when we started. It took all day, but we followed the SPACE formula and it took about 6 hours, with an hour break for lunch to get it organized. My sister and the kids were able to keep this area clean and organized for almost two years. Until the kids grew out of that space and moved upstairs.

It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh from TLC's Clean Sweep show

It’s All Too Much focuses on what to do when you reach the point of where you just don’t know where to start and how to start.

The book has 230 pages and again the first 56 are important because it helps you understand your excuses for clutter. Then Peter Walsh works with you to put clutter in its place. From garage sales to a peaceful organized home.

The book breaks down each room and helps you come up with a room function chart. Peter uses the F.A.S.T. plan. Fix a time, Anything not used for twelve months, Someone else’s stuff and Trash.

Does it work? Yes, I used the F.A.S.T for our garage. Wow, did it make a difference. I will be honest and say it took about a month over the summer to organize the garage. We did it on weekends when my son was asleep as well as an hour here or there. Since some stuff was my husband’s, I couldn’t really do anything with it, I sat with him and went through it. Once I organized everything he wanted to keep, he couldn’t find the items. We then redid those items together.

Another thing I really like about the book is the last step. Step 6 is all about new rituals and walks you through The Calendar For An Organized Home. It breaks down each month and tells you what and how to do things.

10,001 Hints and Tips for the Home by DK

This you will have to buy used or from Amazon. The book has 637 pages. The good thing is there are only 3 pages that I would say you should read, they are just on how to use the book. The book is filled, and I mean filled with hints and tips for everything. There are four sections Organizing Your Home, Decorating, Cooking, and Gardening. This book has some cool and easy ways to help with everything. My favorite is the dealing with stains. It is a great book if you don’t want to read a lot about organizing by being able to go right to the tip or hint you want. They have tons of pictures and illustrations.

Kristen Kanoski was a professional nanny/household manager for twenty years. Organizing is something that comes easy and is fun for her. She has been married for six years to an extremely unorganized hubby, whom she still loves, and is currently a SAHM to a active and silly two year old boy.

You can read Kristen's Blog, Beyond Bottles, on life with babies beyond the bottle. She provides reviews of products, and how to organize your nursery.