New Year's Resolution # 1

Happy New Year's!

I feel like I am still celebrating, since I am still on "vacation".  :)

I wanted to share one of my New Year's Resolutions, (which technically I am still in the process of phasing in):

1. Thoroughly clean my house, & keep it clean with as little chemicals as possible.  I plan on making a schedule to clean/work on 1 area of the house each day/evening, so it will not be such a chore.  I typically like to let everything build up, and then take care of it over the weekend, which is no longer working for me.  I mean, who wants to spend their weekend cleaning, organizing, & doing laundry?  It doesn't help that I have 2 little tornadoes living with me, either.  You can see my 2 new helpers here to help me accomplish that goal.  Here is a great website I ran across which gives inspiration on cleaning & organizing.  "FlyLady" recommends taking "Baby Steps" (check her plan out here) for 1 month, to start instilling new daily habits so this task is not so overwhelming.  I am going to use some of these, but maybe adapt a little to something that works for me.  

• The first in her "Baby Steps" is to "Shine Your Kitchen Sink".  This is actually something that needs to be done heavy-duty the first time, and then after that, make sure it is clean and wiped up on a daily basis, preferably before you go to bed.  That way you wake up to a clean kitchen sink, which makes you feel happy (according to her, but we will see tomorrow!).  For the step-by-step instructions for the first deep cleaning, click here.  

Here is one side of my sink soaking with bleach & water (1 cup bleach added to the water):

This part was the most time consuming because she recommends to soak for 1 hour, and then do each side of the sink separately, so it took 2 hours.  I know, I know, I said "with as little chemicals as possible", & bleach is a biggie, but my sink desperately needed a tune-up, & I didn't figure my Shark could handle it.  Next time, Sharky! 

Another up close picture of the other side & you can see how un-shiny my sink looks:

Ewwww, not making me feel very happy...

After rinsing the bleach out very well, you then clean with a scouring cleaner such as Comet, or even baking soda.  (Watch out for the giant arm, sink!)

If you have a stainless steel sink, she recommends buffing with steel wool or an SOS pad (without the added soap) to make it shine.  You can also wipe down with some Windex if you really want it shiny, but I didn't do that step.  I figured it was already sterile enough at this point anyway.  

See, nice & pretty, and oh so shiny! (that's the steel wool pad in the middle)

We'll see how happy it makes me in the morning...

The most important part she says, is to make sure to wipe out your sink dry each night, so it stays shiny & clean.  We'll see how long this lasts... of course it will! 

Tomorrow, resolution # 2...