To do list -- iron your pillowcases

It's been a while since I shared a project from my housekeeping to do list, but today's project is one I actually enjoy: ironing linens!

A lovely stack of pressed pillowcases -- just what I like to see when I open the linen closet!

I don't do very much of our clothes ironing because my husband is a just a teensy bit particular about how his shirts and pants are ironed.  Occasionally I'll zoom over a skirt or shirt for work, but mostly my ironing is limited to linens.  I am not one of those people who irons her sheets.  I find that taking them out of the dryer slightly damp, making the bed, and then leaving the windows open and fan on to dry them naturally takes care of most wrinkles and gives them just a bit of that air dried smell (we don't have an outdoors clothesline so I can't actually air dry them).  I do sometimes press just the top of the flat sheet; if you don't do that, over time you will get kind of crazy deep wrinkles that form there.

However, I do love ironing pillowcases.  They only take a few minutes, they are flat rectangles so they are easy to iron, and I love sleeping on a freshly pressed pillowcase!

I like this Niagra starch; it has a subtle lavender scent, and it's non-aerosol and made from 97% natural/biodegradable ingredients so I feel better about spraying it on something I'm going to be lying down on for hours.

What about you? Am I crazy for taking time to iron something no one else is going to see, or do you iron your bed linens too?

Also, old "to do" list posts: polishing your everyday dishes, disinfecting your house

To do list: polish your everyday dishes

In the last "to do list" post, I went over disinfecting household surfaces.  Today I'm tackling something different: polishing off all those knife and fork marks on your everyday dishes.  We have a simple Fiestaware pattern in white for our everyday use.  Overall, these dishes have been great; I don't think any have broken since we got them, they don't chip, and they are a nice, heavy weight.  However, since they're white, they are beginning to show a few grey marks where we've pressed a knife or fork hard against the surface.

This is one of those things that you tend not to notice for a while.  You think your dishes are pristine because, hey, they were when you bought them, umm, how many years ago?  Yikes, they're beginning to show their age!  And then all of a sudden, they look dingy.

Rather than go out and buy a whole new set of dishes, buy a cheap container of Bon Ami and pull out a rag or a paper towel and get to work polishing.

I just got the dishes wet, then sprinkled on some Bon Ami, then rinsed well and washed with dish soap.  Here are the before and after pictures.  Not every single mark was removed, but it did make a dramatic difference (which is not adequately captured in the photos below, sorry!).

Before (plate)

You can kind of see the grey marks up near the rim on this plate.

After (plate)

Much shinier!

Before (bowl)

This is probably the best picture I could get of the "before" state, but it doesn't really show all the little grey scratches.

After (bowl)

* Apologies because I know the quality of the photos is not great!  It was really hard to snap an in-focus shot of the dishes, but trust me, they really do look so much better!!  :)  And thanks to my mom for recommending Bon Ami...actually, this is her container, so I better return it soon or I'll owe her 89 cents!

To do list -- disinfect your house

If you made the slime from yesterday's post, you may want to read on as today's post is all about cleaning up!  I usually stay on top of common household chores that need to be done frequently: cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming, doing the laundry, loading the dishwasher.  But what really makes me feel good is tackling a cleaning project that accomplishes something other than routine maintenance of the house.

I love "to do" lists and always have a bunch of them scattered around the house.  So I thought I would introduce a new post on tasks to put on our to do lists (but that only have to be done every so often).  Since we're still in the cold and flu season, I am starting with an important task: disinfecting your house.

Mr. Chocolate Cookie Teeth says, "Germs?!  What germs??  And why don't you find all my fingerprints on the walls charming?!"

I have had students come to class so far this semester with laryngitis, strep throat, the flu, stomach viruses, and all kinds of colds.  In addition to loading up on the fruits and veggies and taking my vitamins, I try to prevent all these germs from making it too far into our house.  We take our shoes off as soon as we get in from the garage and try to wash our hands after every outing.  I am not a big stickler about carrying around antibacterial gel or only using disinfecting soap.  I routinely catch our four-year-old swapping kisses with the dog, so I don't think the antibacterial soap would do much to fix that problem!

I clean the "icky" germ places frequently, but as I learned from my high school biology lab, those places that we think of as icky (like bathrooms!) are not always the worst offenders when it comes to germs.  (I remember how disturbing the petri dish was that was filled with a swab from the public pay phone.  And, yes, that's how old I am: when we needed to call home we had to beg the office staff or find change for the pay phone!)

So periodically I try to go around our house and disinfect some surfaces that don't get cleaned every day.  You can use a wipe or just paper towels and some spray.  Some options for disinfecting products:

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Method Antibac Wipes

Seventh Generation Disinfecting Wipes

Obviously there are a lot of similar products out there, including several all-natural ones with no bleach, in case that's a concern for you.  I have used a few different natural products and only recommend that you give them a sniff before buying; sometimes the smell is less than lovely, though probably no worse than a big whiff of bleach!

Here are a few surfaces that I try to disinfect on a semi-regular basis:

Doorknobs (interior and exterior)

Light switches

Blinds (the little rod used to open and close the blinds)

Handrails

Laundry baskets and hampers

Washing machine and dryer (knobs, top, and interior)

Drawer pulls and knobs

I chose this project for the first "to do list" post because it takes hardly any time at all and always makes me feel like my home is just a little bit cleaner and safer.  Even if your light switches aren't harboring germs, you may be surprised at how much brighter and cleaner they look after a quick swipe with a damp cloth.

Happy cleaning!