Monthly Cleaning of House and Heart

There are several things around the house you should clean once a month. Sure, some might do this more than once a month. Many (myself included before now) don’t think about cleaning these areas until a problem arises. I challenge you to be proactive and maintain them rather than deal with them when there is a problem. You use the same cleaning materials (water, distilled white vinegar, baking soda and assorted scrubbing cloths/brushes) for each area, so it makes it easy to do in conjunction with one another.

  

Here is my monthly cleaning routine:

Dishwasher

To clean your dishwasher once a month first take the racks out and inspect all the nooks and crannys. Use an old toothbrush or scour pad to clean around the door hinges, around the filter, in the filter and anywhere else you see visible grime. Reference your manual if you are not sure how to get at the filter. Once you have de-gunked, put it all back together and pour 1 cup of vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher Then run the dishwasher on it's highest heat cycle with nothing in it other than the vinegar. Some sites say you can also add a little sugar-free lemonade powder to give it a good lemony smell. That’s it! Easy!

Washing Machine

I never thought about cleaning the washing machine before. Because it always smells so good, I don’t associate it with dirtiness, but it makes sense. The machine gets all the dirt and grime off your clothes, and how can little particles not get left behind? We have a front load washer so this is how I cleaned that style of washer. I opened our detergent dispenser and inspected it and was disgusted at how bad it had gotten. 

Yuck!

First I took out the detergent drawer. Again, look in your manual how to do this correctly so you don't break it! Then soak the drawer in a mixture of about 3 parts water to one part vinegar and about 1/4 cup of baking soda for about 15 minutes. After it has soaked and I used a scour pad, Q-tips, an old toothbrush and some elbow grease to scrub out the black stains and slimy parts. Rinse with water, then put it back in. 

I'm embarrassed to show this, but it's for the better good of society :) See the black grime?

While the drawer is soaking, check out inside the detergent dispenser. As I said, I hadn’t ever thought to look at this before, so I’m guess everyone else that lived here, and the landlords never thought about it either. Here is an after picture with using nothing but paper towels and elbow grease.

Like new!

Drains

It is important to keep the insides of your sinks clean to keep water flowing well and just for general health of your home and mold protection.

For bathrooms I recommend monthly to open up all drains and first de-clog any superficial issues (hair). It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it! Next pour a pot of boiling water down the sink. Follow that with ½ cup of baking soda. Let the baking soda sit for about 5 min then add 1 cup hot white distilled vinegar. If able, close the drain over that mixture to let it bubble below the surface. Visually inspect the drain with a flashlight and if there is remaining grime in the top part of the drain, try using a bottlebrush to dis-lodge it. After about 10-15 minutes flush another pot of boiling water down the drain and you’re done! This helps get any grime pushed through without having to use harsh chemicals like Drain-O, or if you don’t have access to good chemicals.

Use a rag or bottle brush to clean the top part of the inside of the drain

The garbage disposal can be another killer. No matter what I do, I always seem to have a stinky garbage disposal. I tried this a few weeks ago and it has actually seemed to work well and I haven’t noticed it being stinky! This is similar to the bathroom drains. Run very hot water down the drain for about 1 minute. Add ½ cup baking soda. Flick on the disposal for just a second or two to distribute the baking soda. Let that sit for about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup very hot vinegar and again let it bubble. Wait about 10 minutes then flush with very hot water. In between cleanings, make sure you flush it with hot water and run the disposal at least once a day to make sure no food sits in ready to rot and wipe out the top part with a rag to reduce slime once a week. Also, you can throw in some eggs shells or ice cubes to sharpen the blades when you do your monthly cleaning. One site even said to make ice cubes out of vinegar. Haven’t tried that yet, but sounds cool!

You'll see some bubbling. Bubbles= clean :)

Another practical Bible application is looming :) Psalm 51:10

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Pray that while you are working hard doing some deep cleansing for your home and your family, that God cleanses your/your family’s hearts of any troubles and renews your faith in the Lord our God.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy the recipes, activities and thoughts of a wife trying to stay “classic” while living in the modern world.

So what is this blog all about? This isn’t a blog about how to be “super woman” with a full-time powerful career, amazing social calendar, 2.5 kids and a beautifully styled home in suburbia. This is a blog about enjoying being a homemaker and living a classic life.

This can be a touchy subject and I want to make something very clear. I’m not out to criticize anyone’s lifestyle and I hope others don’t criticize mine. It is what I choose and this blog is for others who have made the same choice. I say live your life how you want! Life is all about choices- I choose this, you choose that, let’s all be friends.  Did I beat my point to death? Good.

The idea for this blog was about in varying degrees throughout the past few months and here’s how it started:

While staying with my grandparents for a few days before moving to New Zealand my grandpa made a statement about how hard it must be to raise a family these days. My grandma worked as a teacher for a few years then got married, had babies and became a housewife. It was expected, no one blinked an eye at her choice. Now, he says, I see moms pull into the grocery store kids in soccer uniforms and dance outfits at 6pm, grab a box of chicken and potato salad from the deli, then head home for their dinner from the store.

That struck a cord with me as that is what Will and I did many days while living in Minneapolis. I would stop at Rainbow on the way home to pick up a rotisserie chicken and make quesadillas or just eat the chicken with a boxed side dish at least once or twice a week. And we don’t even have kids yet! I was feeling tired, unmotivated, stressed and rushed. I never worked out because I was so tired from work and my commute. I didn’t eat really well because it was more convenient to make things from a box. I never made time for my husband. Will and I had to run all errands on the weekend so we didn’t really have much time for rest and relaxation. I’ll admit, we even often skipped church because we were just too tired or needed/wanted to do something else during that time. While I’m admitting things… I was not enjoying my life. I was struggling to juggle my job, husband, God, life and myself. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I added house and kids to the mix! I may have appeared to be the beginning of a “superwoman”, but underneath I was just going through the motions.

Fast forward a couple of months and we are living in Auckland, New Zealand (a 2 year placement for my husband’s work). I was only able to get a job 2 days per week here and was a excited at having more time during the week. I am amazed at the transformation I have made with my life. I joined a gym and go 3-5 times per week, I make healthy, homemade meals for my husband most days, I have more time to read and I generally feel good. I am also being a better wife, in other ways, if you know what I mean… I went from feeling overall stressed out, to overall relaxed and enjoying life.

So I hope you enjoy the blog as I share my journey of being a classic and traditional wife in a culture that tells women they should be able to do it all, rather than do what you can while maintaining happiness for you and your family.