DESIDERATA

Great bin for under sink and big enough to hold the essentials

I cannot tell you how much I love and use these cloths – they’re perfect for everything. From washing my face to cleaning. I get many, many, many uses out of each one but the price point is low enough that I don’t feel badly if I need to toss one after a particularly messy clean up.

This is my go-to all around cleaner. I’ve been using it for years and I have yet to find anything better (including the ones with harsh chemicals). It smells AMAZING but isn’t overpowering and does an incredible job on the all around grime that accumulates in a house full of boys and dogs.

I use these mister bottles for EVERYTHING and just color code for what’s in them: white is all-purpose cleaner, green is water for plants, black is for hair, etc.

Sturdy, long handled cotton swabs for getting in all those cracks and crevices. Game-changer to have a pack (or 3) of these around

I really hate rubber cleaning gloves. Like really hate them. And wearing gloves in general. But sometimes they’re handy (see what I did there?). So when it’s something particularly messy or I want to protect my hands from paint, chemicals, icky things, I grab these and then toss. I think houses should just automatically come with an unlimited supply. But since they don’t, here’s a link to the ones I have on my Amazon Subscription

Keeping this with my cleaning supplies has made a world of difference. No one wants to go to the workshop to get putty, and a knife, and then fix the hole, and then sand it….keeping this right with my things means I can much more easily patch as I go. My youngest has an affinity for thumbtacks so it gets a LOT of use around the house.

I gave the viral paint brush thingy a try and did not love it. The bristles were weird and tiny and the paint didn’t come out evenly. But what I DO love are these refillable paint pens. The felt tip seems to apply so much better and they have these little marbles in there to mix everything up (and make a very satisfying noise). I keep the main colors for the house in with cleaning supplies for quick touch-ups and, like the hole filler glue stick, keeping it around means I actually touch up the paint

Why is Alexa on my list of favorite cleaning things? I’m so glad you asked!

1. She plays music and audio books, which is an excessively important part of my tidy the house process

2. She keeps my lists. I used to have notebooks and clipboards everywhere to write down things that are broken, groceries needed, etc. Then I’d lose the notebook and it was a whole thing. Now, I just say « Alexa, add cereal to the grocery list » or « Alexa, add replacing the light switch to the home tasks list » and I can just keep moving on with my chores.

Trust me here. Sounds weird but you will LOVE it.