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teachingmyown
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Dawn wrote:
kristina wrote:
| My sister sold Dyson vacuums at Sears and claims that they are outstanding. Can anyone second that claim? |
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Yes, Kristina, we have the Dyson Animal and LOVE it!   |
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I do love my Dyson! I am completely inept at cleaning and am taking notes. But, my Dyson is the best purchase we have made. We have two large hairy dogs plus a houseful of kids so we need a powerful vacuum. It is horrifying how many times we need to empty the canister while vacuuming, no matter how recently we it was done. I know none of my other vacuums could do that.
Elizabeth, I printed off your chore schedule and shared it with my kids. I assigned them each one of your kids just to give them an idea of what other families do. (This happened after some major wailing and moaning about picking up the house, "But we just did it yesterday!!!")
They were a little (no, a lot) surprised at what your kids do. Of course, my little girls were just aghast at me calling them Nicky and Stephen.  Since my Emily is too little to participate, we skipped Michael and paired up the rest. My boys were a little unhappy to see boys doing some of the chores, there goes their claims to men's work vs. women's work.  I don't think they will give up though, since this is a girl dominated house.
We have a long way to go. But I want to spend August getting some doable routines in place. This last year was so chaotic that we have never gotten back on track.
So, who's writing the book, Elizabeth or Donna Marie? Maybe you could partner and do it together?!  I say that only half-jokingly. There is a need for a book to address the housework side (in detail) to this large-family, homeschooling lifestyle. I know I need help. 
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Elizabeth
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Donna Marie should write the book. My house is not clean enough to be a marketing tool for a housecleaning book .
Molly, if I'd known the list would be scrutizinized like that, I might have tweaked it more. A little illumination: Nicky always asks what to do next so I had to make some things up for him. Some of these things are personality things; Paddy is younger than Christian but far more competent, so he does do tougher things for the most part. Christian mows our yard (1/2 and acre, so that's his big thing). Paddy and Michael really can't mow because of asthma. Mary Beth is good at organizing. If things were divided up according to gender, Mary Beth would have to do everything--that just wouldn't work here. The second list I uploaded is an example of how it's done without Michael--because Michael wasn't here this week. (And just as an aside, there are several people who can vouch for the fact that I totally fell apart around Tuesday night, six days into Mke and Michael being gone at the same time )
I think everybody has to tweak her own list and the MM format does work well for most households. Stephen was complaining yesterday to my aunt about the dishwasher and she asked why he couldn't trade that job with someone else. I told her he could, just as soon as he showed me that he'd mastered emptying it in under fifteen minutes on a consistent basis. He's a major dawdler.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Katie
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I also use the recipes in the Clean House Clean Planet book: The all purpose spray, the scrub cleaner, and the furniture polishes mostly. It adds up to 4 spray bottles and a few supplies under my sink - not bad and all non-toxic.
The kids like making their own "Clorox" wipes. They tear off paper towels, fold them in half, and lay them in a suitable sized tupperware/rubbermaid container. Then we add the same solution as the all-purpose spray (vinegar, soap, a tiny bit of Borax and water), with tea tree oil for disinfecting. You have to use decent paper towels that won't disintegrate for this, but one large towel can wipe down a sink, some tiles, around a toilet, and another can get the floor pretty well wiped up. They can do this fairly unsupervised now.
Thinking about the Cleaning 101 class, I have to plug an activity we did a few years ago while rowing Madeline I think. We rubbed oil or hand cream on our hands, then sprinkled glitter on them, The glitter was the germs. Then we washed our hands without soap, and walked around touching things - of course the glitter got onto everything. Then we washed with soap, but it took some very thorough handwashing to actually get rid of the glitter, and of course then it was all over the sink and the taps.....and it was still on the door knobs and other places from before. It was a BIG EYE OPENER  for my children and they still talk about it!
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Mother of 5 in South America. No 6 due in April.
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Dawn
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This thread is full of wonderful cleaning ideas!
I think I am going to order the Sh-Mop. Actually I almost did last night without my knowing ... I went to a "jewelry" party last night (long story), and came home to find youngest ds had started the order process on the Sh-mop site! I guess he thinks we need one too!
I think what boggles me is I don't have a system in place. I seem to always be playing catch up with the cleaning chores - crisis mode cleaning I think it is called. For instance we had an unexpected visitor yesterday and with an hour's heads up I went right to the bathroom. From a distance it looked ok. But down on my knees, cleaning around the base of the toilet I could see it *was not* really clean. At all. 
I guess I need to have a better system of checks and balances in place. I spend far too many weekends eating up family time cleaning the house.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Elizabeth
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Dawn,
Here is a plan for an emregency quick clean. Kim discovered it and vouches for its effectiveness.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Dawn
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Thanks, Elizabeth (and Kim )! What a great site! I *love* her Home Management Binder. I have one just like that only not *nearly* as complete or nice-looking!
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Elizabeth
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If you love hers, wait until you see the ones Kim is creating!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Dawn
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Elizabeth wrote:
| If you love hers, wait until you see the ones Kim is creating! |
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Ooh, I'm very intrigued! Kim, I don't mean to pry, but could you share a bit about the binder you are working on??? It is my dream to finish and *actually use* my homekeeping binder!
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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Cay Gibson
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The pictures are etched so it's hard to tell but do they live in a camper?
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Sarah
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Quickly-
The best thing I ever bought recently was a good PROFESSIONAL dust mop. go to professional dust mop on this site
We have wood floors throughout and this thing is awesome. The base is very WIDE so it covers a large amount of space quickly. I use it like a broom, even under the table after dinner.
The 2nd thing I did and LOVE is turn the entry way coat closet into a cleanig closet with NO COATs in it. We are going to hang our coats on nice hooks by the front door. Since this house has no broom closet, it works great! It is a central location for cleaners, broom, folded rags, etc. and the baby can't get into it because it is a regular doorknob.
I love the clean team products, too.
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Donna Marie
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Elizabeth wrote:
Donna Marie should write the book. My house is not clean enough to be a marketing tool for a housecleaning book .
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Elizabeth! We are Allllll works in progress....and marketing tools for housecleaning are the kinds of premises that are best left in House Beautiful magazine...lol....I think things actually stay where you put them on those covers
Today we are deep cleaning the main living areas...kitchen, Living room and dining room. Each older kid was given a room and the rest of the bunch run and do what I tell them...and I am STILL wearing a smile...can you believe it??! I can't ...lol (although it is a bit weary at this point!)
We are taking advantage of the turn in the weather and opening up all the windows and cleaning them and the curtians....aaaah I feel sooo much better!! We had to clean up the pantry(aka shelving) before the meal moths had a field day. I had to take all my grains and beans and put them in an extra fridge before anything happened.
I love putting the little guys to work. They get enthused with the simplest things. If it gets too complicated, I lose them. I told my 3yo ds to take a container and put it with the recycling and he kept on walking with it until he hit the outside garbage cans. When he came in I asked him why he did that as there was a recycling bin right by the door. "It is so nice mom, and I needed the extra-size!" Smiling and humming he did his next little thing.
I LOVE it when we have a GOOD day. I need more of these and I could actually take on the world with the sense of accomplishment....and if I am dreaming, please don't wake me!!
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Victoria in AZ
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Okay, I am a big vinegar fan because of the whole healthy house thing. I pour white vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser of the washing machine for a cleaner rinse cycle with every load. I pour vinegar then baking soda into toilets to clean them. I've always mopped with vinegar and water.
But I recently read in materials from a tile manufacturer never to use vinegar on tile and grout because it will damage both the tile and grout.
Anyone know a healthy alternative for mopping tile? Thanks!
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Your sister in Christ,
Victoria in AZ
dh Mike 24 yrs; ds Kyle 18; dd Katie 12; and one funny pug
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Elizabeth
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I didn't know that Victoria--I do know that nothing cleans grout quite like those Magic Erasers.
And the granite man said that vinegar is safe for granite--someone asked that.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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hylabrook1
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Victoria -
Other than vinegar, I clean with a dilute solution of Citrasolve. It is fairly expensive per bottle (like $16 a quart), but a bottle lasts a very long time (like over a year per quart in a home with 8 people and a dog). You use only about an ounce in a spray bottle along with water and maybe a few drops of essential oils (usually I use eucalyptus). I use this on the shower tile; don't know whether you need to rinse it if you were to use it on a tile floor; the shower is sort of *self-rinsing*.
I always use vinegar water on my tile bathroom floors, have done so for MANY years (like more than 25) and have never had a problem with the grout breaking down or anything.
Maybe you have a different type of tile?
Nancy
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Donna Marie
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I know that many people use Vinegar in the wash...when I do the laundry has this smell to it...could it be because of the hard water or am I using the wrong amount or is it at the wrong time?
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Sarah
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How do you clean a toilet bowl? I have Russian cleaning ladies who come once a week and do not speak English. Anyway, one of them does the toilets and she insisted (in her Russian way) on toilet bowl cleaner, which I never buy. I gave in and bought it, but I think she's using it on more than the toilets, plus the "harmful or fatal if swallowed" thing has me a little freaked out, although the lid is supposedly childproof. (This is the downfall of hired help, but I love them anyway).
What could I give her as a toilet bowl cleaner instead? She is used to the "cling gel" which is thick and you squirt it around in inside of the bowl, scrub and let it sit.
We have water with dark red iron stains. What do you all use?
Is toilet bowl cleaner as bad as I think it is?
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Victoria in AZ
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hylabrook1 wrote:
Victoria -
I always use vinegar water on my tile bathroom floors, have done so for MANY years (like more than 25) and have never had a problem with the grout breaking down or anything.
Maybe you have a different type of tile?
Nancy |
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Me too, Nancy, I've used vinegar on tile for many, many years without any known bad effects. We're moving in to a new house and I'm being cautious. I'll have to investigate if it is a different type of tile.
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Your sister in Christ,
Victoria in AZ
dh Mike 24 yrs; ds Kyle 18; dd Katie 12; and one funny pug
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Victoria in AZ
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Donna Marie wrote:
I know that many people use Vinegar in the wash...when I do the laundry has this smell to it...could it be because of the hard water or am I using the wrong amount or is it at the wrong time?
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Donna Marie, I've never noticed a smell with the vinegar rinse. One reason I use it is to take the smell of detergent away. We have hard water also, though I've read that water smells and tastes can vary quite a bit from place to place.
Since I fill the softener dispenser, I'm not sure of the amount of vinegar I use. Probably about 3/4 cup. The vinegar dispenses in the first rinse. I always use a second rinse, which come to think of it, probably then rinses the vinegar. Maybe you can try a second rinse?
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Your sister in Christ,
Victoria in AZ
dh Mike 24 yrs; ds Kyle 18; dd Katie 12; and one funny pug
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hylabrook1
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Sarah -
Since we moved to a house on well and septic, I've noticed that the toilet bowl gets really yucky much faster than when we were on city water. I'm guessing this is because of the chlorine in the city water. I think I'd rather be without the chlorine, based on some things I've read about the environmental effects of chlorine. My first thought would be to clean the toilet bowl with bleach, but of course I can't do that unless I want to kill the spetic. What I've arrived at is to put a scoop of powdered oxyclean into the toilet bowl, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes, and then brush things out. It does an excellent job and is septic safe. It IS a type of bleach, but a peroxide bleach rather than chlorine bleach. I get the oxyclean at Costco, so it doesn't cost nearly what it does at the grocery store or Walmart.
I've used the oxyclean to presoak bathtowels, which I've noticed have a musty smell (which I have also assumed was because of no chlorine in the water; never had this happen when on city water). It's better than NOT presoaking with oxyclean, but not great. Maybe I should try vinegar. At what point in the cycle do you put it in? How much do you use?
TIA,
Nancy
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Dawn
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O.K., nitty gritty question here. How do you clean (keep clean) the toilet brush? Oh how I hate that thing.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Cleaning 101
