Tips: Get Ready for Garage Sale Season

Tips: Get Ready for Garage Sale Season

With spring cleaning season soon upon us, homeowners want to be out with the old and in with the new. During this time of transition, there’s no shortage of garage sales to help turn one person’s trash into another person’s treasure. To host a successful garage sale, The Lehigh Group, maker of Crawford®-brand garage and home organization products, offers the following tips:

Time it right – Many neighborhoods schedule an annual date on which all homes can participate and will promote the date on your behalf. If your neighborhood doesn’t set a date, consult local newspapers for upcoming community events in order to plan around them. Some say a weekend around the first or fifteenth of the month is most profitable, but if you’re competing with the town fair or a festival, live entertainment likely will trump your toddler’s toys.

Stage for a sale – Plan the layout of your merchandise with customers in mind. Staging similar items together, like children’s toys on a small table or electronic items near an outlet for testing, will help bargain hunters to hone in quickly on items they want.

Organize for safe shopping – Rummage shopping trips often are family outings, so make sure outdoor and garage items are secured out of children’s reach and cords are tied up to reduce tripping hazards. Crawford organization products – such as the new Safe-Mount Mobile Caddy – help homeowners solve a number of organizational challenges. The Caddy features mesh pockets that are ideal for holding odd-sized items and a durable mounting wall bracket for easy storage off the ground – helping to create a safe garage and a streamlined shopping space.

Be inviting, but cautious – Greeting guests as they arrive offers a chance to quickly evaluate whom you’re letting near your home and valuables. Be available for any questions they might have about the merchandise, and reassure the quality of goods by allowing customers to test or examine them before purchasing. Always monitor shoppers and keep an eye on higher-priced items, especially if they’re placed near the street.

*** This is a guest post ***

Spring and Easter Home and Yard Decorating

Every year when the season changes I like to change up my home decor and my outside yard decorations to reflect the new season or holiday. When we had full-time children at home, we really went over-board with our decorating but have scaled it down quite considerably now that we are empty nesters.

This year I decided to get out just a few of our Easter decorations and most of them are ones that I've had for many years. Yikes...I need to update and get some new fresh things for next year. About 12-14 years ago my husband made me two 4 foot tall wooden bunny rabbits out of pine wood which I painted and decorated. Every year I put one on our porch near the front door and the second one on the little porch near our side door. They welcome holiday visitors into our home every year. I think once the holiday is over, I am going to give both of them a fresh coat of paint and new bows, they are starting to look a little shabby!

Right now the walkway of our front porch I placed a wooden "Easter Bunny Stop Here" yard sign since that is the walkway and door that my little grand daughter tends to use. Nearby that I have a few outdoor ceramic Easter eggs nestled among some flowers and grass.

In my family room I have a few stuffed bunny rabbits sitting out, a few ceramic Easter figurines sitting out and a small bunny rabbit throw rug in front the sofa. I love taking little plush bunnies and nestling them in and around my house plants which looks cute!

Last year I did pick up 2 sets of these resin bunny rabbit figurines after the holiday on clearance and ONLY paid $1.49 per set. I love bargains like that and I think they are adorable. I have one set sitting on an end table in the family room and another set sitting on top of our entertainment center.

Also outside I hung up a very large "Spring" themed house flag onto the flag pole that I got this year. I love the white daisy's and the cute red lady bugs on this flag! It's cute and I can leave it up until the start of Summer and then I will switch out the flag to another one. I also hung out on my little garden flag holder a small "Easter Bunny Welcome" flag which is way too cute too!

In our eat-in kitchen I did put an Easter theme'd table cloth, placemats and a centerpiece onto the table which looks really cute and festive. I did dig out a few of my spring theme'd kitchen linens and put them out on display too (dish towels, dish cloths, oven mitt and hot pads).

As you can see, I didn't go overboard this year but next year I really plan on going all out! Do you decorate for the Easter holiday? The spring season? Do you just do a few little touches or do you go way out with your home & yard decorating?

Christmas 2014 Holiday Decorations Part 2

Two weeks ago I shared some of our indoor and outdoor holiday decorations with all of you. You can read that post on Christmas Decorating to refresh your memory. We are getting close to the big holiday and I decided to put out a few more decorations and wanted to share those with all of you today.

First up, My new holiday wreath which I hung on our front door. I just love this fresh wreath and it is full & lush! We got this wreath from Creekside Farms and just love it. Right out of the box you can hang it up and it welcomes all of your guests this holiday season.

About 10 years ago I picked up this handcrafted wooden snowman from a local craft show. He stands about 1 1/2 feet tall and while he is plain...I think he has a lot of personality. I usually place him indoors but this year he is outdoors on my porch near the front door. Before I put him out there, I sprayed him with 2 coats of clear sealer to make him weatherproof. I love where I placed him and all of our guests think he is adorable...I do too!

Last summer I found this adorable very large outdoor house flag at the local flea market for $3.00. I quickly snatched it up and brought it home. It features a design of penguins out playing in the snow. We have it hanging from a wooden flagpole right above our second porch (yes, we have two porches!). I had seen very large flags like this in the store but they were always $20 and up, so getting a brand new one for $3.00 at the flea market was a treasured find!

About 3 years ago I got a little wrought iron black shepard's hook and as the seasons change, I change out my garden flag on that. This year I decided to put a snowman garden flag on that so that I have something different than the penguin one listed above. This is near our smaller front porch and right beside it I have the solar snowman light that I featured in the previous post (see link above).

I really love decorating for Christmas and every year I like to move things around and add new things to my holiday decor. I hope you like the items I featured today!

Happy Holidays!!!

Our Outdoor Christmas Lights for 2014

Every year we look forward to putting out various Christmas lights and holiday yard art for everyone to enjoy. There are a handful of us here in the neighborhood that do it every year and some of my neighbors go all out. We keep ours pretty basic and simple.

One thing we like to do is to change up the look every year. This year we decided to put lights around all of the front windows on the house, along the rooftop on all four sides and we used net lighting on the bushes out front.

We decided to move our Christmas garland this year and used it on our front porch and mixed in some pretty LED lights with it. We have lit door wreaths on 2 of our entry doors and then just a plain wreath on the third.

I picked up these adorable glass snowman balls at our local Christmas Tree Shop for $10.00 (they are made out of glass) and included very nice black shepard's hooks. They are solar and I picked up four of them and have them sprinkled around the front of the house. I love them!!! The lights inside each snowman's head morphs into different colors. I wish I would of bought more!

At Kohl's we picked up this adorable inflatable snowman family for $39.00 and they are worth every penny! I had been wanting inflatables but wasn't willing to shell out $100+ so I was pretty excited to pick up this set for less than $40.00 on clearance at Kohl's last month.

Every year we add a few new pieces and/or items to our outdoor Christmas lights display and we are pretty excited about our ever-growing collection. This year everything looked nice and once Christmas is over I will be hitting the stores for some additional items on clearance to add to our collection for next year.

Do you like to decorate outside? Do you do just a little bit or do you go all out and really light things up? I would love to know! Got any tips for us? Thanks!

Some of My Favorite Halloween Decorations and Yard Art

Our Decorations During the Daytime

Fall is such a fun time of the year and Halloween is one of my favorite times to decorate our home for some spooky fun. When I decorate for Halloween I don't do anything evil, exceptionally scary, witches or devils. Sorry folks, I am Catholic and we just don't do that here.

I would call my decorations as a "Cutesy" Halloween style with a little retro-vintage thrown into the mix! I don't over-do it either because we have no small children at home. We do have a grand child, nieces and nephews who visit us often. Plus, the neighborhood kids like seeing it too.

In the top photo you will see some of our LED outdoor lighting on the bushes. We did an orange and purple color scheme this year. If you look close, you will see pumpkin and ghosts hanging in the windows, a pumpkin on the front door, lighted wooden ghosts & pumpkins on each side of the door on our porch, a small pumpkin stake & cement tombstone (near the walkway) and black spider hanging wind chimes.

Years ago when our daughter was 6 years old we purchased a big plastic lighted ghost and always put that in our front yard. Our daughter is now 29 years old so that ghost has been around for a very long time. Last year we got this little wooden pumpkin face yard stake and he is shown on the right in the photo above. Underneath him is a lighted scarecrow ceramic pumpkin that sits in our dining room window. I think he is adorable and I love putting him out every year.

Next is the wooden lighted ghosts that we purchased this year. We got them at the Christmas Tree Store and absolutely love them! We put batteries in them and their eyes glow a beautiful purple color. Not scary at all, but definitely cute! To the right you will see our hanging spiders wind chimes. When you walk by them they jiggle and make a creepy noise. The kids love them. Underneath that is my scarecrow flag which I think is cute...especially nestled among our fall outdoor flowers in the same colors.

Decorating for Halloween is so much fun! In the photo above is our stacking wood pumpkins that we also got this year at the Christmas Tree Store. Love those eerie glowing purple eyes, don't you? The wood pumpkin on the right is a new addition this year too! He is hanging on one of our doors.

A few years ago a family member who is no longer here with us (bless her sole) gave me this adorable fiber optic light scarecrow head which sits proudly on a table in our family room every year when Halloween rolls around. It is a memorable keepsake to us now.

Another new addition this year is this gorgeous Fall Harvest Pumpkin Wreath that I got at Kohl's which I absolutely LOVE! I have it hanging on one of our doors but when it comes to special Fall family dinners, I will put it onto the table with some LED candles in the center and use it as a table centerpiece. It is large and very pretty!

Finally, I picked up this adorable metal yard state featuring cute pumpkins at Kohls about 3 weeks ago and my little grand daughter loves seeing it every time she comes over. It's a great little piece welcoming guests to our home and sits proudly in our front yard.

We have several more Fall and Halloween decorations that we put inside and outside our home. For now, I thought I would highlight a few of our favorites! Do you have favorites that you put out every year? If so, what are they?

Shutterfly Party Decorations Infographic

With holidays around the corner, now is a good time to brush up on the latest party tips. Let's face it, many of us struggle with what to do when Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's rolls around.

Here are a few examples from the graphic:

Living Room:

Be neat but not too neat – it should look lived in

Create a theme – perhaps “Memory Lane” and have everyone bring their favorite picture

Dining Room:

Consider serving all appetizers – they’re easier to prepare and finger foods foster mingling

Create one-of-a-kind coasters

Bedroom:

If using your bedroom for coats, make sure the bed is made and put recent photos of a trip on an end table as a conversation starter

Kitchen:

Ask your guests about food allergies – this will make them feel safe and welcome

This interactive is provided to you by Shutterfly, the leading online provider of photo books, cards and home decor.

Decorating your home for parties is easy thanks to Shutterfly home decor products. A living room gets cozier with pillows decorated with a favorite photo or saying. Custom plates with the family monogram make gatherings more personal.

The infographic above will give you a lot of great ideas and help you get started. If you are going to be entertaining guests this holiday season, now is the time to prepare. Enjoy!

Coastal Home Decor Items for the Bathroom and Bedroom

I love decorating in a coastal style and a beach cottage style here in my home. I do like some "nautical" items but frankly, I consider nautical and coastal two different things. Here in Pennsylvania often times it is hard to find beach items for my home so every time we are down at our beach house at the Jersey Shore, I go on a shopping spree and bring items back up to PA. and vice versa.

Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite bathroom and bedroom coastal home decor items with all of you that I have here in my own home or down at our beach house. All of these items are what I call "affordable" home decor items.

First up, this beautiful framed "Blessings by the Sand and the Sea" wall art (picture) that I have hanging in our master bedroom. I just love this piece...it is framed in a wooden off-white rustic frame and matted under glass. It is about 15" by 20" in size and I just love it for its simplicity.

Next is the Hydrangea and sea shells framed and matted print that I made. I bought a cross stitch kit and spent 4 months stitching the design onto canvas and then took it in to a local framing shop and had it double matted and framed under glass. I have this hanging in our master bedroom too on another wall. Overall it, it measures about 14" wide by 20" high.

I love this next piece that is hanging in our one hallway leading to the bedrooms. Total cost was $20.00. I bought 4 white shadow box frames and filled them up with photos from various vacations we have taken to the beach. Often times our family members are with us on these trips so I got to show off many of them too. I took some genuine star fish and glued them onto the front of the shadow boxes and then laid a few seashells on the top edges. These sea shell accents turned it into a nice coastal piece. I picked up the shadow boxes at A.C. Moore's for $5.00 each and then used a 10% off coupon. The sea shells I already had on hand. It is a narrow hallway so I couldn't get a proper photo of how nice it really looks hanging on the wall.

Next is the white shadow box hanging in one of our guest bedrooms. I wanted to show off some of our best sea shells that we have collected over the years. I bought the shadow box at a flea market for $1.00. I brought it home and painted it white and then placed my shells into the cubby holes.  People like to pick up the shells and look at them when they visit us.

In one of my guest bathrooms I have a sea shell themed fabric shower curtain with matching sea shell shower curtain hooks. I picked up the shower curtain about 2 years ago at Kmart on clearance for $5.00 and the shower hooks for $5.00 for a total cost of $10.00. It is a beautiful shower curtain and I just love it!

In that same guest bathroom I have a wooden peg shelf in a coastal theme with 4 large wooden pegs so that my guests can hang up their wet bath towels. I love the variety of sea shells and sea birds that are within the print that decorates it. I picked this up on one of our trips down to the Jersey Shore for $10.00 a few years ago. It is very sturdy and can hold thick & heavy bath towels with no problem!

When you walk into the master bathroom there is a small wall space right above the entry door into the bathroom. I bought an arrow shaped wall hanging that says "Seaside Delightful Days!" on it for $10.00. I thought it looked too plain so I glued a beautiful real star fish on the left side and think it looks beautiful now!

Finally, on one of my smaller sized walls in the master bedroom I have another framed cross stitch picture that I did about 2 years ago. It measures 11" by 14" in size and is matted & framed under glass. I bought a cross stitch kit and the design features a star fish and 4 different sea shells with some sea grass. I had it framed in a vanilla colored wooden frame. On the side of that I have 2 resin square shaped wall plaques. One says "Sun Sand Surf" and the other one says "Sail Sand and Sea". Each one measures 5" square and they make the perfect little accents.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will show you some more coastal decor items that I have in my home and some of our coastal landscaping projects that we have recently completed. Do you like to decorate in a coastal or beach theme?

Cheap Fix: DIY Hanging Pot Rack

For the past several months I have been looking around for an affordable hanging pot rack to hang up inside my pantry closet. When I say affordable, I was NOT willing to spend more than $25 for something that no one will ever see but me since it will be inside my pantry closet.

Everything that I saw was $75 or more...sure, they were pretty but crap...all they were doing was holding pots and pans! Seriously? I am not paying $75.00 just for that!

Finally, I stumbled into the odds & ends section at one of the local stores and found a metal coat rack, towel rack..whatever. It can be used for a gazillion things around the home. Price? Try $4.99 which was right up my alley!

I brought it home and had hubby hang it up on the wall inside our walk-in pantry closet. He located the studs and used screws so that it would hold the weight of my heavy frying pans. There are 8 hanging hooks...4 large ones and 4 smaller ones. Each hook can hold one pan and I just love it!

Once it was up, I loaded it up with all of my heavy-duty frying pans and couldn't be happier! Matter of fact, I am going back there next week and grabbing another one so I can hang up some of my saucepans and lids too! That will free up another kitchen cabinet that I can use for other things.

While it might not be pretty like those expensive hanging pot racks you see in all of the kitchen stores, it serves my purpose, works beautifully and I love the price tag of less than $5.00 each! Yay me!

5 Ways to Green Up Your Spring Cleaning

Those who know me will tell you..."Shelly has a cleaning fetish" and frankly, I am pretty proud about it. I would rather live in a very clean & organized home than one that is in disarray. When people "just" drop in...I don't have to feel ashamed when they walk through my home.

Recently I was asked to share this article with all of my blog readers and I thought today was the perfect day to do that since most of us are doing our Spring cleaning and most of us do our cleaning during the weekend. There are a lot of great tips in this article that I just love!

5 Ways to Green Up Your Spring Cleaning

We all want to be better patrons to our planet, and Earth Day is a great reminder to be more conscious in our day-to-day activities. Since it falls in the midst of spring cleaning, the event represents a great time to green up our storage, organization and decorating practices. If you'd like to reduce your impact on the environment as you spruce your space for the season, try any of these ecofriendly strategies.

1. Storing
Open up your pantry door and you'll likely find a ton of plastic containers. While convenient for storing dry goods, the process of making plastic is extremely harmful to the environment. Consider switching to glass and reusing jam and pasta jars to store rice, nuts, popcorn and the like. Not only is this a cost-effective solution, it's also an aesthetic one; your pantry will never look prettier!

2. Decorating
Did you hear? Tin cans are the new mason jars when it comes to home decor trends. Instead of tossing that empty can of whole tomatoes or green beans into the recycling bin, repurpose it into a vase with a little spray paint. Check out this article from Apartment Therapy for recommendations on low-VOC and eco-friendly paint that will help keep things green.

3. Cleaning
If only spring cleaning was truly limited to a single season! The process of keeping things neat and tidy is surprisingly wasteful. Americans use 13 billion pounds of paper towels every year, which requires 60 million gallons of water and over 50,000 trees to produce. Reduce your paper towel usage by substituting rags and microfiber towels when cleaning up. Simply toss these rags in the laundry and reuse!

4. Pest Control
Nothing stops you in your tracks faster than rodent droppings in cupboards or spiders in window corners. Instead of loading up on harsh chemicals and pesticides, spray baseboards and window sills with a water-peppermint oil mix to deter spiders and rodents naturally. Check out this video from AOL DailyFinance for more information on this combination, and drop harmful chemicals for good.

5. Filing
Transition your storage habits from paper to digital by scanning important documents and saving them "in the cloud" using free services like Dropbox. If you must print, look for ink cartridges through sites like InkjetWilly.com, where you can find compatible and remanufactured brands that work with your printer. By using remanufactured toner, Americans can save 38,000 tons of plastic and metal from being dumped in landfills.

Kendal Perez is a frugal blogger who helps fellow shopaholics find hassle-free ways to save money. As the Marketing Manager for Kinoli Inc., site manager for a family of money-saving websites, Kendal has the resources to be an extreme couponer but prefers a less complicated approach to staying in-budget. Kendal has been quoted in such media outlets as Woman's Day, People StyleWatch, FOX, TIME Business & Money and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. For savings tips and more information, visit HassleFreeSavings.com or follow Kendal on Twitter.

Coastal Holiday Tree Decorations and Beach Ornaments

The holidays are quickly approaching and this year we will have 2 Christmas trees here in our home. One is a 7 foot tall super large artificial tree that will hold all of our family ornaments that we have collected over the past 28 years. That beast of a tree will be in our family room throughout the holiday season. We will start decorating that one in a few days and it takes us 3-4 days to complete.

New this year is our 5 foot artificial Christmas tree and this one is going into our dining room. I have always wanted a coastal theme'd holiday tree and this year I am getting one! For the past 5 years I have been purchasing coastal & beach ornaments and I finally have enough of them to decorate an entire tree! Yay!

We started decorated the coastal theme'd tree a few days ago and I still have some ornaments to add to it, my coastal garland and the tree topper but for now I thought I would share a few photos of our coastal holiday tree "in progress". In a few days I will share more photos once it is finally done and the rest of my coastal ornaments that I ordered arrive.

Now that our little grand daughter is 4 1/2 years old...the Christmas holiday has become a big deal around here again and it's really fun for our entire family to have a little one to enjoy the holidays with. Have any of you started decorating your Christmas trees yet? When do you usually decorate them and for how long do you leave them up?

Holiday Gift Wrapping Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday

The holidays are on the way and before you know it the holiday will be here. Like millions of people I used to wait until the very last minute to wrap my gifts which always stressed me out before the big day.

Last year I got my holiday gift wrapping in-order and figured out a system that worked really well for me. Every weekend leading up to the holidays I spent one hour wrapping gifts & addressing holiday cards, so that I didn't have to give up an entire weekend right before the holiday to get them done.

Here are a few tips that I wanted to share with all of you.

1. Set up a small area in your home to be your gift wrapping station. In my case, I have a large rectangular table set up in my basement near one of our large basement windows. You want to make sure that your area has proper lighting.

2. Head out to the store and buy everything you think you will need in one shopping trip. For me, I headed to my local dollar store and picked up numerous rolls of wrapping paper, several packs of holiday print gift bags, ribbons, bows, gift tags, colored tape and regular gift wrapping tape. I also picked up a pack of fun colored gel ink pens for doing my gift tags in fun colors. I always make a point to buy a little more supplies than what I think I will need, so that I don't have to run out again.

3. Organize all of your supplies onto your table so that things are kept neat and tidy. I purchased small plastic bins (at the dollar store) and have all of my ribbons in one, gift tags in another, bows in a third and so forth. If you are organized, the gift wrapping will go much quicker and you won't get stressed out trying to find something.

4. Designate an area in your home for the wrapped gifts to go! I have four large plastic bins in that room (our laundry room) and each bin is labeled for the family. ie. Hubby's Family, My Family, Friends, etc. Once you got the gifts wrapped, you want to place them into the appropriate bin to keep things organized.

5. Once a week (for me that is on the weekend) I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour wrapping gifts and addressing holiday cards. I play Christmas music or I will pop in a holiday DVD while I am wrapping gifts, addressing cards and doing other necessary pre-holiday tasks. Setting the mood, reduces the stress!

By the time the Christmas eve rolls around you should have all of your gifts wrapped, sorted and be ready to go come Christmas morning! It's a great way to cut down the stress and a fantastic way to get the most enjoyment out of this important holiday season.

Quick and Easy Natural Microwave Oven Cleaning Tips

If your family is anything like mine...they make a mess every time they use the microwave oven. For some reason they won't grab a paper towel and cover what they are reheating and they certainly do not clean up the splatters. Cleaning up the microwave used to be a real chore for me until I discovered a few quick and easy cleaning solutions.

Tip #1 - Keep after your microwave and don't let those splatters and crusty food drips get out of control. I wipe out my microwave twice a week (Wednesday & Saturdays) and stick to that schedule. If you keep on top of it you won't have to spend an hour cleaning it up.

Tip #2 - Fill a glass bowl with some tap water and add in 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Set your microwave on 50% power and microwave for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. You want the water to get nice & hot and a lot of steam to occur. (plus it will smell good too!). Carefully remove the hot bowl of water from the microwave and set it aside to cool. While it is cooling wipe out your microwave with a clean damp cloth. Once the lemon water has cooled, use it to wipe out the microwave again. Lemon naturally cleans and deodorizes and the steam will loosen up food debris.

Tip #3 - If you have a lot of hard baked on food debris...sprinkle some table salt onto that debris and scrub it off with a clean sponge. The salt acts like a natural abrasive and will loosen it up for you. Then wipe out with your lemon water and let dry.

Tip #4 - When the microwave is really filthy you can sprinkle some baking soda on those tough stains and food debris. Mist the baking soda with some tap water using a spray bottle. Let it sit for several minutes and then use a clean sponge to clean it up. Baking soda will act as a natural abrasive, deodorizer and it can remove stubborn stains.

Tip #5 - I am not a big fan of the smell of vinegar so I usually don't use it. However, My mother makes a spray solution of white vinegar and tap water - 3 to 4 teaspoons of vinegar per spray bottle mixed with tap water and uses that to clean out the inside of her microwave. It works like a charm. Like I said, I just don't care for the smell of vinegar so I rarely use her cleaning method. 

I always finish cleaning up the inside of my microwave with lemon water and then I towel dry or air dry. My microwave smells good and is sparkling clean. At most I spend cleaning my microwave is 5 minutes, twice a week. I don't use any type of chemicals as I don't want that near my family's food.

The Swiffer Sweeper 2-in-1 Sweeper and Mop

** Complimentary Product Received for Review **

I love having a clean and organized home...matter of fact, I am pretty passionate about it! Some people would call me a 'clean and neat' freak and others would just call me plain crazy, but I absolutely love to clean my home! I take great pride in keeping a nice home for my family and I love to show it off when guests arrive.

Recently I had a total hip replacement surgery and doing my day-to-day cleaning tasks have become a real big challenge for me. I was sent a Swiffer Sweeper 2-in-1 Sweeping & Mopping Starter Kit to try out for all of you. I just love reviewing cleaning products, especially ones that make my life easier.

The Swiffer Sweeping & Mopping Starter Kit includes:

* 1 Sweeper
* 2 Dry Refills
* 1 Wet Refill

The dry cloth traps & locks in dirt which is good for dry mopping and sweeping. The wet cloth traps & locks in dirt deep into the cloth and is for your wet mopping to clean your floors. What is really cool is that those dry cloths leave floors up to 3X cleaner due to the way it traps & locks in dirt. I am all for that as I hate using a regular household broom with a passion!

One of the things I love about this product is the telescoping handle...you can adjust the handle length to the size that you need. The cloths are very easy to attach and remove from the sweeper/mop head and simply tuck into the little cut-out grooves.

I first started with my dry mopping (sweeping) so I used the dry cloth first. I took it into both bathrooms and did the floors and it did a fabulous job at picking up all that disgusting hair and dirt. When I was done...I couldn't get over how much hair & dirt it really picked up...OH MY GOSH...and I thought my floors looked clean before that! Geesh, I was missing a lot! Thank goodness I have this new Swiffer Sweeper!

After I was done in the bathrooms, I changed out the dry pad and put on a clean dry pad. I then started in my dining room, worked my way into the living room and finally ended up in the kitchen...all using this one pad! I love how this product is designed as I am able to get underneath the edges of furniture, tables, consoles, under chairs and all kinds of other places I normally couldn't reach.

Now it was time to mop...so I put the wet refill pad on and got busy! I first started in the kitchen, moved into the dining room & living room and finally finished up with the 2 bathrooms. Surprisingly...the wet pad stayed wet and was plenty moist for me to do all of those rooms on one pad! 

Gross & Disgusting Dirt!

My tiled floors and hardwood floors are all looking sparkling clean again and I love how easy it was to do! I didn't have to lug around a broom, dust pan, mop, bucket and all of that other nonsense to complete this cleaning task and using the Swiffer Sweeper & Mop made the job quick and easy! Yay!!!

This Swiffer Sweeper & Mop will always be in my cleaning arsenal of products from now on! It did a fabulous job cleaning all of my floors and I love that I just toss out the used pads and just purchase the refills when I need them. Finally, I love it's slim & compact design and the handle has a hanging hole so that you can hang it up on a hook for storage (mine hands in my cleaning closet) and takes up very little room!  Thanks Swiffer!!!

Disclaimer: I did not receive any monetary compensation for this blog post. I did receive a free Swiffer Sweeper & Mop to use and evaluate in the privacy of my own home. My thoughts, opinions and ideas on this product are honest and unbiased. Your opinions may differ from my own.

Best Way to Clean Ceiling Fans? The Swiffer 360 Duster!

I love a clean home and ever day I am cleaning something inside or outside my home. When it has come to cleaning the 3 ceiling fans in our home...it was always a struggle for me because I am only 5ft. 6" tall. Not only that, I had a total hip replacement back in April so dragging around a step stool or ladder to reach the high places is out of the question.

Recently I received a Swiffer 360 Duster and immediately fell in-love with it! A few days ago I blogged about how it's the best thing for cleaning mini blinds and today...I am going to tell you how I use it to clean my ceiling fans!

The Swiffer 360 Duster has a telescoping handle so I can adjust the length of the handle for whatever cleaning job I am tackling. Next, it has an adjustable angled head so you can adjust the head to whatever angle you need. Third, I love that I can purchase refills for my new Swiffer 360 Duster which saves me money...because I can use that same dusting head for many weeks before I have to change it.

When it came to dusting all of our ceiling fans I was able to telescope the handle out and reach the ceiling fan while standing on the ground...no step stool needed! I adjusted the dusting head at one angle to get above the fan blades and readjusted it the other direction to get underneath. This duster quickly gathered up the dust and cobwebs in quick, rapid fashion!

I loved that I was able to get inside those glass light globes and dust those out too! Each ceiling fan took me about 1 minute to clean and I was done and onto my next cleaning project. Wow, these Swiffer 360 Dusters just make cleaning so easy and they get the job done beautifully!

I have been using my new Swiffer 360 Duster all over my home and now I can't live without! Nope, you are going to find one of these products in my home all of the time! Over the next few weeks I will share with all of you all of the various ways I have been using it to clean my home.

Disclaimer: I did not receive any monetary compensation for this blog post. I did receive a free Swiffer 360 Duster to use and evaluate in the privacy of my own home. My thoughts, opinions and ideas on this product are honest and unbiased. Your opinions may differ from my own.

Best Way to Clean Mini Blinds? Use the Swiffer 360 Duster

The Swiffer 360 Duster!

If you talked to anyone who has ever been in my home they would certainly tell you what a clean & neat freak that I am. That's right...I love to clean and I love to show off my home once it has been thoroughly cleaned! While most people are not fond of cleaning, I actually enjoy it!

A few weeks ago my husband finally got around to installing the new mini blinds into our new home. He spent the afternoon installing 8 of them in 3 different rooms. I love the clean & simple look and just purchased new window toppers to hang above them.

The following week I realized I didn't have a good plan in mind on how I was going to clean the mini blinds weekly because I do know that if you don't keep at them, they will collect dust & get ugly in a hurry...especially almond colored ones like the ones we purchased.

Well...I am hear to tell you all that my new favorite cleaning product is the Swiffer 360 Duster! Oh my gosh...I am in-love and can not believe that I didn't own one until now! That duster is the best thing to hit the cleaning world in a very long time!

I love that the handle is adjustable in length and in angle...I can get up really high and get it in-between all of those nasty mini blind slats. Each mini blind takes me less than 1 minute to clean and then I am onto the next one. Once I am done...I just hang it up and it's ready for the next time. When the current cleaning pad gets too dirty, I can dispose of it and attach one from my refill box. 

Over the next few weeks I will share with all of you the different ways I have been using my new Swiffer 360 Duster around my home...this weekend...I will be tackling the cleaning of our ceiling fans with it! Yay!!!

Disclaimer: I did not receive any monetary compensation for this blog post. I did receive a free Swiffer 360 Duster to use and evaluate in the privacy of my own home. My thoughts, opinions and ideas on this product are honest and unbiased. Your opinions may differ from my own.

$1.00 off Coupon for new White Cloud Soft Bath Tissue!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Let's talk bath tissue today...yes, bath tissue! If you are like me, bath tissue is something that is an important part of your daily life and when you buy your bath tissue you want it to be super soft, strong and very absorbent. On top of all of that, you want it to be affordable...am I right? Of course I am!

Well, I have great news for all of you and its news about the brand new White Cloud premium bath tissue which is super soft, strong, absorbent and very affordable! That's right, it meets all 4 of my personal bath tissue requirements!

This new bath tissue is luxuriously soft and features the brand new TAD (Through Air Dried) technology where a special machine blows air between the layers of the bath tissue to make it amazingly soft! Why didn't anyone think of doing that before? I don't know but I am glad that White Cloud did!

You can Find White Cloud products near you and exclusively at Walmart stores (located in the bath tissue aisle). You can use their store locator to find one near you if you are unsure where one might be. Luckily for me, I have one close by.

Right now you can Like White Cloud on Facebook and get a $1.00 off coupon which you simply fill out the form, download and print! Super easy and we all like to save money...right? RIGHT!!! Now you can give this new premium White Cloud bath tissue a try and save money in the process! Yay!

How many of you are on Twitter? I know I am and guess what? You can Follow White Cloud on Twitter and get company news and interact with the brand there! They love hearing from all of their White Cloud fans!

If you are a picky bath tissue gal like myself, give the new luxurious White Cloud Soft Bath Tissue a try and for those of you who have already tried it...what did you think about it? I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave your comments in my blog's comment form! Thanks!

DIY: How We Repainted Our Old House Shutters

Newly Painted Shutters

We moved into our new (old) house back in January of 2013 and have been remodeling it from top to bottom. Seriously, we have yanked out all of the carpeting and replaced it with new ones. We yanked out the old wood flooring and replaced that too!

All rooms in the house got a fresh coat of paint! The kitchen got new appliances, new kitchen cabinets, new countertops and a new tile floor. The only thing left to do in our kitchen is to replace the main kitchen light and hand some pendant lighting above the kitchen bar.

We have really been tearing apart the inside of this house, gutting it and remodeling it. The previous home owners didn't update it or modernize it over the years at all.

Old Disgusting Shutters

The photo above shows the ugly old and faded window shutters...ewwww!

In a few months we are getting our ugly white siding painted but in the meantime we wanted to paint our ugly and faded pale blue shutters. We headed out to Lowe's and purchased 8 spray cans of exterior outdoor paint with primer in a pretty dark country blue color.

Once we got home, we pulled down all of our shutters and just laid them out onto the lawn. We painted each one using this colored paint with primer and each shutter took about 5 minutes to spray. We then left them dry in the warm sunshine for 8 hours and hung them back up.

The eight spray cans we purchased did all 20 shutters that we had. Our shutters are made out of a heavy duty plastic and were 15 years old. Due to the sun and weather elements, over those 15 years they became dull and faded. We hated them....until we sprayed them dark country blue. Wow, what a difference they have made to the exterior of our home!

The entire project took us only one day (both hubby and I worked on it) and it was done! Total cost $48.00 to paint them all! When buying your spray paint...you MUST buy exterior paint with the primer in it. If you don't...the paint can and will run when water hits it.

I probably won't stick with the country blue shutters in the long-run because our new house siding will be a sandy color (beachy color) and our woodwork trim will be done in white. Once the exterior gets painted, we are going to buy new shutters and go with white ones or a dark olive green...not sure yet! However, we are very pleased with spending the $48.00 now and updating the shutters. It looks nice and will hold us over until we get the new siding done.