spring Archives - Dad of Divas

5 Hacks To Make Cleaning Easier This Summer

May 1, 2018 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Summer is a time to get outside and start enjoying yourself so thinking about cleaning might be the last thing on your mind. Prepping your home and garden for summer is a great way to make the most of your beautiful exterior areas for family fun and outdoor dining. Starting with a big spring clean is one of the first steps in getting your house ready for the warmer weather, but once the sunshine arrives, there is a host of cleaning hacks you can use to keep your home looking and feeling fresh all season. If you’re looking to make your cleaning routine a breeze, take a look at these handy hacks to get you started.

Lemon power

During the summer, lemon will probably be a permanent fixture on your grocery list. Not only do they add zingy flavors to your favorite drinks, but they can also be used for cleaning too. Using half a lemon, rub it into stainless steel fixtures and wipe with a cloth afterward and it’ll be sparkling in no time. Due to its antibacterial power too, lemons can also be used to disinfect worktops.

Cleaning your outside grill

Barbeques are often a favorite pastime during the summer months and if your grill has seen better days, before purchasing for a new one, why not clean it with oven cleaner? Just like using products in your conventional oven, while the grate is slightly warm use the cleaning products to lift off the grime. You might need a brush for those tough spots, but it’ll be worth the effort.

Removing tough stains

With kids and pets going in and out of the garden during the summer, your carpets might start to look a bit grubby and in need of some revival. There is a selection of non-toxic products that can help lift dried in dirt and grime plus they are safe for both children and pets. For those stubborn patches, turn to experts at My Technicare who can help with deep cleaning ready for summer.

Try rubber gloves to remove pet hair

If you’re vacuumed your home, and you are still having issues with embedded pet hair, why not try using your rubber gloves? All you need to do is put your gloves on and run your hand over the area you want to clean. Doing this helps to create friction that pulls the hair more easily from stubborn spots.

Use baby wipes to clean furniture

Baby wipes are perfect for cleaning a multitude of things, so it’s no surprise they also work wonders on furniture. Due to their ‘gentle on baby’ composition, they won’t ruin the material either.

Use dryer sheets to clean shelves

Dryer sheets are the perfect way to get rid of dust and dirt from shelving and baseboards. Due to their anti-static nature, they repel dust and are a quick win if you’re in a hurry.

These are just few cleaning hacks that will see you through the summer months. Why not give them a try?

Spring Cleaning with JORD!

March 23, 2017 by dadofdivas 2 Comments

After a long winter spring cleaning is a great time to refresh and renew your home and I know for my family this is a time to simplify too. We will go through things to get rid of things as well as to make repairs around the house as well. Below are a few tips that may be able to help you participate in your own spring cleaning.

5 Spring Cleaning Tips

When it comes to spring cleaning, work from the top down, inside to outside, to avoid getting what you just cleaned dirty again.
When tidying, reduce trips around the house by temporarily depositing items in one spot en route to but not at their final destination.
Make small repairs. If you’re not handy, hire someone.
Don’t stand your brooms on their bristles. It will destroy their shape and diminish their effectiveness. Instead, get a broom holder, like the Magic Holder 5-position broom organizer.
Do one room, even one area of one room, at a time to avoid unfinished jobs.

Also, with the end of Winter, you can also wash away their blues by working on your style. One way that I know that I do this is to find accessories that will accent your personal style. JORD watches do this for me. Recently, I have tried out the brand new Conway JORD watches.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CONWAY!

The Conway is JORD’s first chronograph watch for men.
Chronograph watches are traditional display watches with the addition of stop watch functionality.
Chronograph watches were originally invented and used for tracking astronomical objects in the sky!
Chronograph watches are now popular in aviation, racing, diving, and most athletics where precise time-tracking can be utilized.
Many fashion chronograph watches on the market, don’t actually work! They just have the chronograph look on the face, but JORD’s Conway is a true operating Chronograph watch and uses the Citizen Miyota 0S10/0S1A movement.

Wooden Wristwatch

ENTER THE CONTEST HERE – https://www.jordwatches.com/g/dadofdivas

In addition, here is a 15% off code (for the Conway) you can share with your readers, which they can use now and expires on 6/31/2017: dadofdxx2zha

Please note that codes are not stackable

Clever Spring Cleaning Tips

March 13, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

I am happy to have the opportunity to have Karen Eschebach, Clever Container co-founder share her thoughts today with all of you on ways that you can work on your spring cleaning. Seeing that we had 60 degree weather recently, I can just see that Spring is almost here. My thanks to Karen for her tips. Hope you enjoy them!

Out with the Cold in with the Hues! It’s time to clean out our closets and get ready for spring and summer. Get yourself into a mindset that you are setting up a boutique just for you. The clothes in your closet should be the clothes you wear and love. They also should be the clothes that fit you. If you’re hanging clothes that are too large or too small, box them up for now and see where you are size wise next year. If the clothes are still too large or too small, don’t peek inside the boxes, just donate them and take the tax write off. Try putting outfits together and taking digital pictures of them. Make sure you include accessories such as jewelry, shoes, purses, belts and scarves. Print off the digital photos; hole-punch each one and slide an “oing” through them. Hang the “oing” from a hook or hanger and you’ll always have ideas on how to get out of the house quickly and stylish.
Go Vertical! Many people forget to use wall, closet, and door space. We’re so used to binning everything that sometimes it makes sense to just hang it up. For instance, hang pegs and hooks up to hang coats, backpacks, totes, leashes, and purses. If used in a family room, these same hooks could hang your lightweight blankets your family cozies up to or in the bathroom your everyday towels. Also, using vertical storage in any closet whether hanging from a hanger or attached to a wall will keep things nice and tidy and out of sight.
In the kitchen do some clever clustering. Cluster all the tools necessary to make lunches each day or cluster all the accessories required to do baking such as bowels, mixers, measuring cups and baking soda. This will save you time by not having to walk across the kitchen or open up numerous cabinets and drawers.
Set a timer while decluttering and do not accept any interruptions during this time. Let the phone go to voicemail, don’t answer the email that just came in, and avoid all distractions that don’t pertain to your decluttering effort.
Organizing a room full of stuff can be overwhelming to say the least. Break the job down into smaller pieces. I prefer to work in a clockwise manner. I enter the door and immediately break the room down into twelve sections representing one o’clock through 12 o’clock. I begin by organizing and cleaning just the 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock space. If I can’t move forward that day, I keep the area I already organized neat and tidy and I know exactly where I need to begin the next time I’m able to conquer this task.
Not only do we put away our winter clothes, but our coats, hats and mittens need to be stored as well. First off, make sure everything is washed or dry cleaned so that you are ready for next year. Sort through your coat closet and see if there is anything you can donate. I store all my hats, mittens and scarves in a clear, plastic 3-drawer container. Each person has their own drawer for this purpose. I either keep the drawer in the bottom of the coat closet or I store it in the basement. Coats can stay in the closet if there is room. Consider storing the coats in hanging storage bags to keep them fresh and out of the way. The quickest tip to making your coat closet appear organized is to have all the same hanger, not a hodge-podge.
Our automobiles could also benefit from a nice spring clean. Begin by gathering everything that is trash. Next remove all the items that don’t belong in the car and put them away. Wipe everything down on the inside of the car and vacuum the interior. Lastly, put everything back in the car that belongs there. There are so many wonderful products to help keep your car organized such as a cargo tote, a hanging office organizer, or media storage.
Spring is also tax time. Decide which bills you want to keep on hand for historical purposes and box them up by year. Most credit card companies will send you an end of year statement which means you can shred each of the individual statements you have on hand. Many of your bank statements are also consolidated. If your cable, home phone, and internet bill are the same each month then there is no need to hold onto your statements. Only keep the changes such as increases so that you have bargaining power when you go to make changes. Purge as much as possible but be careful to shred anything with personal information on it.
Books, magazines and catalogs tend to gather heavily during the holidays and for those of you who do not go through and purge them regularly, now is the time. For books that you’ve read, but you’re not going to reead, consider logging them onto to www.bookcrossing.com. It is a website dedicated to logging your book and leaving it in a public place for someone else to pick it up, read it, and journal online about it. It’s a great way to track where you’re books have been. Magazines should be purged monthly or as a new issue comes in. If you haven’t read the one April’s issue, odds are you probably won’t get to January’s. Same goes for catalogs. Many catalogs are outdated within two weeks. If you have a computer you’ll find more styles online as well as the opportunity for better pricing and potentially free shipping.
Spring is also time to spruce up the garage. Store away all the snow shovels, sleds, and snowmen kits. Do quick bike checks making sure the tires have air and they are ready to go. Take inventory of the fertilizer, plant food, and tools that you have on hand for the spring summer planting season. Utilize www.craigslist.com and www.freecycle.com for all the items you are ready to let go of.

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Thursday Thirteen (A Day Late) – Random Thoughts

May 9, 2008 by dadofdivas 3 Comments

Well to follow a friend’s blog (Deb @ Mom of 3 Girls) I am doing my first Thursday Thirteen…we’ll see what I come up with.

1) JEL and I have a cold which is playing havoc at home right now, as we are trying not to get my wife sick. I think Diva-PJ gave it to us but you never know.

2) My dad and grandmother are coming into town next week Thursday and we are defnitely looking forward to it. This will be the first time they have met Diva-PJ!

3) I love the fact that Spring is upon us, though that has equated to more work outside which is a prescious commodity especially with a baby that does not let us put her down much.

4) Work is calming down as we get ready for graduation which is in 2 weeks and finals week that starts a week from tomorrow.

5) It’s rummage sale time of year, time to get all the deal that you can…I would be all over going to our friend Kristi and Deb’s sale especially for clothes if I was in the same state, but oh well…

6) Does anyone else out there think that the whole democratic primary is getting out of hand…someone just need to be named the candidate…geez (Better keep the political speech down to a minimum).

7) JEL has lately had a aversion to riding her big girl bike though she is very good at it. She had a scare where she accidently rode it out into a busy street (we caught her right as she went out in it) but she knew she was not in a place where she should have been and since then has not wanted to ride the bike much.

8) Can anyone tell me how the heck to insert pictures between my writings as I cnnot seem to get the blogger.com site to allow me to do this. Whenever I try and insert a picture it always places it at the top of the page and then my text goes beneath…

9) I find it interesting that there are so many blogs for moms and a lack of blogs for dads…at least I don’t know where to find them… how do you find all of the blogs you enjoy reading?

10) Last night we heard this awful sound coming from JEL’s room, only to find out that she was grinding her teeth. This sound was something I heard from the other side of the house it was a bit creepy. We have no clue what to do about this and may call the Dentist today to ask for advice.

11) Sad news this week, we found out that one of my inlaws cats Piper has Cancer and they do not know how long she will live. They knew that one of their other cats (Minnie) was also not doing well, but now they have 2 cats that may not be with them much longer. The cats are definitely a part of the family, so I ask for continued prayers and support for them as they prepare to say goodbye.

12) Adsense – My blog now has Ad’s so if something looks interesting please click on it as I get paid for every click through – woo hoo… an extra earning opportunity.

13) Work from Home – J-Mom and I have talked about the fact that it would be great to find a work alternative that was genuine for her to make some income from home, but there are so many fradulent companies out there… anyone know of any that you would recommend?

I made it! My first Thursday Thirteen…