Keeping Cleaning Under Control

Although I claim to be the queen of green clean, I'm actually a terrible house cleaner. I'm better at coming up with eco-friendly recipes and making suggestions than actually pulling out the vacuum and doing something. The good news is, I love lists. Recently, my husband came up with a fool-proof plan to satisfy my love of checking off "to-do" items and his love of living in a clean home. We each have a weekly cleaning list. Now, he works 40 hours a week at a high-stress fast-paced job, whereas I work 20 at a breezy fun-fest so they aren't perfectly even. They go like this.

Amy

Daily | Help Oliver with tidying his room/toys | Sweep after meals

Monday | Laundry
Tuesday | Dust
Wednesday | Showers, tubs
Thursday | Fridge clean-out | Coffee zone clean-up
Friday | Mop wood floors
Random | Take out recycling

Calvin

Monday | Deep clean kitchen
Tuesday | Vacuum
Thursday | Deep clean bathrooms
Random | Shovel snow/cut grass | Groceries


Both
Daily | Load/empty dishwasher | Tidy

Oliver
Daily | Put toys in bins when not using | Put cup and bowl back when done

It helps so much to get cleaning done without feeling overwhelmed. If I have only one task at hand I can do it with ease and I feel so accomplished when our home is spic and span. And P.S. I do everything with Dr. Bronner's soap!!

All-Natural Kids Cold Medication AND Another 18w18d Update

Oliver has had a cold for a few days now. The typical runny nose and seeming 'off' turned into a hacking-man-cough and trouble sleeping. Couple this with the fact that we still practice co-sleeping, and I caught the same nasty cold around Saturday night = we have a problem. Our family typically wakes up at 7am or 8am every morning (we get ready for the day super-fast) but this morning I woke up bright and early at 6:30am because I was just fully rested - we hadn't woken up once the whole night. Why? An amazing all-natural kids cold medication.

Homeocan's Kids 0-9 is a line of children's medication that is homeopathic so it doesn't need any chemicals or traditional medicines in it, but it's still extremely effective. It also does not contain any sugar or dyes, two things that really have no place in kids medications but always seem to make their way in for the sake of appeal. The line, as the name suggests, is suitable for children 9 and under, and is even safe for babies. Oliver has used the Teething and Fever since he was tiny, and he now plays with the empty bottle because he has such fond memories of it.

So last night he took the Kids 0-9 Cough and Cold right before bed and we truly saw a whole new boy. We're just so relieved that there's something out there that works and that we are comfortable giving to him (because Tylenol we are not).

Also, an update on my challenge to use only Dr. Bronner's for 18 purposes - this stuff is great for classic armpit 'sweat smell'. I've been washing with the tea tree soap and I think it has to do with the antimicrobial function of it, because so often armpit odour is a problem with bacteria (hence crystal salt rock deodorant working). The tea tree deals with the problem from the root, not masking it but getting rid of it. I think if I washed with the tea tree soap every day I could give up deodorant forever.