Spring Cleaning and Organizing tips

Hey everyone!

It’s Jennifer from Blissfully Ever After and today I want to share with you some simple, practical, and effective Spring Cleaning and Organizing tips!

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Wow, I cannot believe it is already the end of March! Good thing we have been getting our Spring Cleaning done right? It is almost time to start playing outside …you know, yard work, gardening, bike rides, walks, playing with our kiddos/grand kids. I am really looking forward to the beautiful sunny days. My son is almost 6 months and so I cannot wait to show him all that nature has to offer and to take him swimming, boating, and just to be able to lay out on a blanket with him on the grass. Wahoo! I have a feeling he is going to love it. But, until the sun starts peaking its head out at us a little more, I am sticking inside to get the rest of my spring cleaning done. How are all of you doing? Are you staying focused and accomplishing your goals? I hope so!

If you are just joining us, here is what we’ve completed so far:

5 Best Ways to Remove Dust

Spring Cleaning Checklist

How I Prepare for Spring Cleaning

Laundry Room Organization

The following post is a re-post from last year but it is exactly what I do to get my bathroom sparkling clean!

Today, I am going to show you how I clean and disinfect my bathroom naturally. My go-to products I use are Basic G, Basic H, Scour Off and the Microfiber Window, Cleaning cloths and Sponge. 
{This is all I use to clean my entire house….but today we will be focusing on just the bathroom}.

Here is my bathroom mirror. When cleaning this I use only 2 drops of Basic H per 16 oz. spray bottle to make window cleaner and then I use this spray along with my trusted Microfiber Window Cloth and tada tada, sprakling clean! No streaks, film, or annoying particles from paper towels.

I use 1/4 tsp of Basic H mixed with 16 oz. of water to make an all-purpose cleaner and I use this along with my Microfiber Cleaning Cloth on my granite countertops, cabinets, light fixtures, mirror frame, tile backsplash, light switches, and faucets. {There are 1,000 different uses for Basic H…so really the cleaning opportunities are endless}. Basic H is the best cleaner to use on granite countertops. Our countertops are brand new and I wouldn’t trust any other product on them besides Basic H.

To clean my sink, I use Basic G and Scour Off together with my trusted Microfiber Sponge. Basic G is a disinfectant made from natural surfactants and kills 99.9% of germs on contact and the clean lasts up to three days {bleach only lasts for up to one day} and is registered with the EPA to be used as an effective formula to kill germs, bacteria, and viruses.  Scour off scrubs any hard water spots or caked on gunk and leaves my sink sparkling clean {plus it smells like cherry bubble gum}. All of the Get Clean line products are safe to use on surfaces, will not dull, stain, discolor or harm finishes.

I also use these two products to clean my toilets and showers. The combination is powerful yet safe for my family and I. I love that I can clean my entire house with the Get Clean line without having to use gloves, open windows {unless I want to} or turn on fans like I used to have to when using bleach, Comet, Windex, etc. And my house is the cleanest it’s ever been! Don’t you want a clean and safe house too?!!

I also use 1 oz. of Basic H and 1/2 oz. of Basic G mixed with 1 gallon of hot water to mop my bathroom floors. I am telling you, NOTHING cleans my floors better! They look brand new every time I use this stuff!!

So, there you have it, a look into how I clean and disinfect my bathroom. It feels so good to have a clean bathroom and the best part is, I love knowing that I’ve used products that are natural, powerful, and safe.

Here is a little more information about each product I used today:

The safest disinfectant on the market! Nonflammable, Biodegradable & Non-toxic. Cleans, Disinfects & Deodorizes in 1 Easy Step! (Once mixed, use in 30 days)

Mix 3/8 teaspoon to 16 oz spray bottle.

Mix 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water.

Because it is so concentrated, a little goes a long way and saves you $$$!

Basic-G has a 3 year shelf life. Its residual effectiveness lasts up to three days after application. Chlorine (bleach) used as a disinfectant is effective no more than one hour. Great wherever disinfectants are used! Kills up to 99% of bacteria.

Great to use for: Toilet, showers, sinks, countertops, door knobs, garbage cans, diaper pails, pet areas, cutting boards {but not around food}, and it can also be used as a weed killer which you can read in my post here.

Basic H is not only the best selling cleaning product on the market, it is the CHEAPEST and the SAFEST!!

It is cheaper than using vinegar and it is organic! It is a concentrate so you add your own water.  This helps save you money and cut back on your cleaning bottle wastes and product packaging waste.

1 bottle of Basic H²equals the cleaning uses of 5,824 bottles of 26 oz. Windex!!

Basic H² is all you need for thousands of household jobs

• Ultra concentrated – 16 ounces makes up to 48 gallons of super powerful cleaner when mixed with water.
• Versatile and powerful cleaner – removes dirt, grease, and grime from any washable surface, inside and out. Dilute according to directions.
• No rinse, no residue, streak-free formula.

Use on any washable surface – indoors or out

• Walls, Windows and Mirrors, Countertops, Floors, Appliances, Stoves, Sealed Woodwork, Pots and Pans, Furniture

Clean Credentials

• Nontoxic
• Natural
• Doubly concentrated
• Biodegradable Surfactants

  
  

  
  

• Natural ingredients remove the toughest dried-on splatters and spills, burned-on grease, baked-on food, and sticky messes without hazardous chemicals or toxic fumes.
• Scour Off is made from natural mineral abrasives and biodegradable cleaning agents. It does not contain chlorine, bleach, or dye.
• Scour Off gently removes stains other cleansers can't and is great for cleaning tubs, ovens, sinks, and tiles.
• It will even remove rust, and is great for cleaning these surfaces: copper, grout, cement, ceramic, and imitation marble.
• Wide-mouth jar makes it easy to use.

Clean Credentials

• Nontoxic
• Natural abrasives
• No harsh chemicals
• Biodegradable surfactants
• No phosphates

THIS IS THE BEST CLEANING PRODUCT FOR YOUR STOVES, SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, ETC. It will remove hard water, baked on oven grease and food, soap scum, and it also cleans grout like no other product! You will be replacing a ton of your current toxic household cleaners by switching to Scour Off!!

Use these super absorbent, microfiber cloths and sponges for all purpose cleaning with Basic H²™. Leaves surfaces clean and lint free.

Cleans Virtually Everything:

• Ridiculously absorbent
• Lures dirt and dust and devours it
• Safe on all your precious surfaces
• Washable, Reusable, Remarkable

These are the BEST cleaning cloths and sponges I have EVER used! They can be washed nearly 400 times before they need to be replaced and make cleaning a breeze!

Happy Cleaning!

Check out my bathroom redo here

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CRAAZY CURRENTS

World Ocean currents. Click for larger view. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

NASA/Goddard has stunning images up at their Scientific Visualization Studio showing sea surface currents colored by sea surface temperature data. From the explainer:

This visualization was produced using NASA/JPL's computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2. ECCO2 is high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice. ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans.The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization.

Pacific Ocean currents. Click for larger view. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Here's the insanely beautiful eddies of my home ocean, the Pacific. Note the superhighways of the Equatorial currents that run so much of Earth's climate via the El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation. And note the powerful Kuroshio Current off Japan (upper left) currently carrying that nation's tsunami debris towards North America.

North Atlantic Ocean currents. Click for larger view. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

  

In this view of the North Atlantic you can see the data-rich regions—the places where oceanographers have been cranking out the studies for decades—throughout the Caribbean and up the Gulf Stream through to the North Atlantic Drift en route to Europe.

  

Indian Ocean currents. Click for larger view. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

What pops for me in this Indian Ocean image is the crazy interference patterns around the Cape of Good Hope (bottom left quadrant) where the Benguela and the powerful Agulhas currents spin up some stuff known as mesoscale eddies... and the way those ripple through the system into the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

The movement in the animation is subtle and hypnotic.

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Easter craft and fun activities for kids: Pretty Egg decorations!

Easter is almost here! I have been away, but am back with some interesting ideas for Easter craft!! Dyeing Easter eggs is a beautiful tradition. There are some really cool twists and variations for those looking for new ways to decorate and delight little ones :)

Use a whole variety of things and easy techniques to get these gorgeous colorful eggs ready in no time! Great way to spend evenings and building a family tradition. Ingenious little tips and tricks to create lovely floral designs sans dyeing and absolutely great for different levels of crafting.

Pretty pastel floral designs in glitter!! Use punched designs on ultra-thin double sided tape, peel carefully and dip/sprinkle glitter on them. The best part is how you can go over each pattern individually to create a really colorful design. Easy and quick! 

Have you saved up an old magazine/calender with lovely details? Here is an easy way to display and wow everyone! Use dyed eggs or brown eggs, speckle them with some paint (try spraying with a toothbrush with thinned paint) and glue cutouts or stickers on them! Makes for a wonderful centerpiece too :)

If you love polka dots, this is such a cute idea. Open a bobby pin and dip them in colors to create perfect dots. Get creative and let your kids have fun! You can also make use of rubber tipped pencils or top end of paint brushes etc.

Kids love working with white glue! Get lots of colorful craft twine, dip them in white glue and make colorful spirals! Alternatively you could just keep dabbing white glue on the eggs as you go around it. Use lace, wool or colorful threads. These would look great on an egg tree!

My favorite of the lot and so much fun! Use colorful tape (Japanese washi tape) and stick bits of it to create a fun pattern! These colorful tape are no mess and perfect for little fingers too! Add muffin liner in grass pattern and you are all set! Almost addictive ;)

Use rubber bands and masking tape to mark out designs and have fun painting without hassles. Layer your paints and let them dry in between. Love the rustic look and amazing color combination. So fabulous!

Punched designs from card stock make for easy embellishments! Artistic layering of designs for this modern twist to traditional Easter eggs! Love the simplicity and ease of this crafty inspiration :)

Another variation of double sided craft tape! Use thin slivers to create fun pattern, sprinkle them with colorful glitter and place them as centerpiece on your Easter lunch table setting. 

Felt or self adhesive foam stickers can be the easiest and absolutely no mess idea for kids! You can use double sided tape or white glue to secure the designs! Pass some green paper through paper shredder to get instant Easter grass :)

Decoupage using white glue and pretty tissue paper. These look so gorgeous and a unique craft project! If you have been looking for some lovely inspiration for Easter holidays this sure deserves a try.

This should help with the supplies and the basic technique! Let your creative juices flow :)

Love these funny quirky egg cozies! Made of felt, these would make perfect Easter gift for friends and co-workers. Whimsical little gem!

Stunning design! Simple punched paper designs have been scoured and placed with such an artistic flair. Beautiful design, this just elevates punched paper craft to a whole new level!

Stuffed cloth eggs. Love the country feel and the fabulous patterns! If you are as much an admirer of country cottage decor. This is perfect for your home. Can't get over the tailor's tape place mat either : P

Use simple floral stickers or punch some pretty designs and decorate plastic/foam eggs in no time! Specially good if you have impatient little ones who are just getting into crafting.

Bright polka dots on rainbow colored eggs! Egg hunting would be so much fun with these bright eggs peeking out from the grass :D

Dainty wild flowers placed in egg shells! Something so simple and stunning. Pick some spring blooms and create a unique centerpiece or decoration for foyer table. Lovely freshness.

Quite out of tune with Easter holiday but these are just so fabulous! Dress up some boiled eggs with tomatoes and olives. A sprig of fresh coriander and some cloves and whole black pepper :D Book mark it for Halloween craft! Kids will squeal with delight!!

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MARINE SANCTUARY REALLY HELPS RARE DOLPHINS

Hector's dolphin. Credit: James Shook via Wikimedia Commons.

  
A new study provides the first empirical evidence that a marine protected area (MPA) has robustly improved the survival of a marine mammal. In this case, one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, the Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) of New Zealand.
  
The IUCN Red List describes the problems facing this diminutive cetacean:
  

This species is considered to be Endangered due to an ongoing and projected decline of greater than 50% over 3 generations (approx. 39 years)... Hector’s dolphin has the most limited range of any marine cetacean other than the vaquita (Phocoena sinus)... The main cause of population decline is ongoing bycatch in [gillnet and trawl] fisheries.

  
Concerned for the future of this rare species (population: 7,270 individuals), New Zealand in 1988 established the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary in 1,170-square-kilometers (451-square-miles) of waters off the South Island. 

Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand. Credit: NASA Astronaut Photo ISS013-E-67242.

The research, ongoing since 1986, involved identifying 462 individual Hector's dolphins through photographs and then analyzing the photographic re-sightings using a Bayesian mark-recapture technique. The team applied a population model to assess the impact of the MPA on the dolphins.

Their results show that since the designation of the sanctuary, the Hector's dolphins' survival rate has increased by 5.4 percent: 

• From a decline of ~6 percent per year
• Now slowed to a rate of decline of ~1 percent per year

As good as that sounds, the researchers were surprised survival rates hadn't increased further, since they expected the establishment of the MPA to solve the problem entirely.
    

Hector's dolphin. Credit: David Searle via Flickr.

Instead they discovered the dolphins don't spend the whole year in the sanctuary. Co-author Liz Slooten tells me:

Their distribution with respect to depth and distance offshore changes. In winter they are almost evenly distributed with respect to depth and distance offshore. In summer they are strongly concentrated close to shore. This means that in summer about 80% of the population is inside the sanctuary and protected. In winter this drops to only about 40%. Too many dolphins are still being caught in fishing nets to allow the population to stabilise, let alone recover from the massive decline they've suffered over the last three decades.

"The MPA hasn't quite yet 'saved' the dolphins," says Slooten, "but it's been a major step in the right direction. The take home message is that size matters. Marine Protected Areas work, but they have to be large enough in order to be effective."

The paper in early view at the Journal of Applied Ecology:

• Andrew M Gormley, Elisabeth Slooten, Steve Dawson, Richard J Barker, Will Rayment, Sam du Fresne and Stefan Brager (2012). First evidence that Marine Protected Areas can work for marine mammals. Jour. App. Ecol. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02121.x

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How to Stay Organized with a Bill Binder!

I recently posted about how I {attempt to} stay organized. I thought it might be beneficial for some of you if I went into detail about my Bills Binder.

Let me say this again… this was NOT my idea. I found it somewhere online. I have NO idea where. If you are reading this and this is your idea PLEASE let me know so I can give you credit! ;)


For the longest time I had no real system for keeping up with the bills. It was chaotic. I did have a filing system for paid bills but I ended up creating piles of paid bills that needed to be filed instead of actually filing them.


This is my Bills Binder. :)





Here is what I used for this organizational tool…


2 inch binder


2 pkgs of dividers with write on tabs


1-5 clear sheet protectors


1 fine point Sharpie marker


1 -3 hole punch


1 monthly calendar page





The Bills Binder is such a simple method…it’s quick and efficient!


Now you don’t have to be as specific as I am with the dividers but it works for me. I don’t look for the word electricity…I look for the name of the company because it’s what is in my hand at the moment. :)


When bills arrive, I open them up and stick them in the front pocket of the binder labeled “Need to pay”.





As each bill is paid, I sometimes write paid or the conformation number and sometimes I don’t. It just depends on my mood. hahaha.Then I punch the bill with the hole punch and put it in the right section. I then cross the bill off of the calendar so I know it’s paid!


And then I put the binder away.


That's it.


No filing. None. Nada.


During tax time,  I clean out the binder and keep a years worth of paid bills in a filing box. Just to be safe. I have that fear that a company will turn around and say I never paid something. I’m a dork.


Beyond the dividers I keep a few clear sheet protectors and I put random things in there that I need to keep up with. Classroom purchase receipts. Large item purchase receipts. Voters registration card. Etc.


In the very back pocket of the binder I keep our personal property tax documents and assessing documents. That honestly helps me to remember to assess and pay those darn taxes!


And I like the simplicity of the calendar pages in the front for tracking. It seriously makes it all super easy. I love to have a monthly lay out view. 





I said in a previous post that I just make a copy of the calendar that I keep on my fridge. (I found our “family” calendar that it on the fridge at Wal Mart!) I recently created a monthly printable for YOU! I actually updated my Bills Binder with my cute printable BUT did not give you an updated picture but here is a picture of the printable.





Guess what? If you sign up to follow my blog you can receive my free monthly printable at the first of each month! Sign up here.


I hope if you hate filing, like me, you find this method a little more helpful in rounding up those pesky bills. Also, if you have a personality like mine then this binder will make you happy. If you don’t have a personality like mine…then this binder might help you get organized and you may hate it but I really hope that it’s beneficial for you like it is for me!


**Also, just in case you thought I wasn’t aware…YES, I realized that I did not blur my company bill names. I know maybe that’s too much info out there but honestly, they are mainly student loan companies and BLESS YOU if you don’t owe them any money. Just don’t try to stalk me. ;)**


How do you organize your bills? Is it working? Do you have any questions about my system? Do you have any suggestions for my system?? I love to get feedback!


Thanks so much Katie!!!  Awesome ideas!!! :)
Please go follow Katie's blog Building a House of Love for more tips!!

Have a great day!

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