We have been using knitted dishcloths for quite some time now but despite this, I keep knitting more. I find them quick and easy to make, I can knit a row or two while the little fella is preoccupied or while watching a movie with the hubby and the repetitive nature of knitting is meditative.

The first time I ever heard of knitted dishcloths I thought ‘why would anyone want to knit dishcloths?’ Even taking into account the environmental benefit of ditching disposables and reusing the same cloths over and over, surely, I thought, it would be easier to just recycle rags.

Then I got my first dishcloth in an internet swap and promptly fell in love. The knitted texture makes the cloths great for cleaning. So if, like me, you’re wondering why you would bother, try one out. You may be surprised like I was.

And if you are wanting to learn how to knit, then these make an excellent first project. It doesn’t matter if your knitting looks like the dog’s breakfast (and many of my older ones look just like that), you are only cleaning with them anyway.

The coloured cloths above are made from a cotton / acrylic mix yarn. I know, shock horror, I’m using acrylic, but the label said cotton and with a cranky bub, I didn’t bother reading the fine print. As a bonus, acrylic dries much quicker than cotton, so I’m quite pleased with the added acrylic. And if you’re wondering, I use this pattern, found in the dishcloth pattern round-up.

I colour code my cloths for different cleaning jobs: the yellow cloths are for cleaning in the bathroom, the orange cloths are for cleaning the kitchen and the green cloths are for washing the dishes. This is to ensure that no cloth that has wiped the toilet seat gets used on the dinner plates. I have enough now to use a new one each day, plus a few extra if the laundry is delayed.

To clean the cloths, I put them in a bucket of water with nappy soaker in it each night, along with the bibs and face washes we use for the little fella each day plus any other rags used. Every few weeks I will put them in a bucket of water with a little bleach instead to give them a thorough sanitise and get any manky smell out, which can sometimes linger.

When I wash the towels, I rinse the dishcloths, bibs, face washes, rags, tea towels etc. and add them to the load (I never wash them as a separate load) and then hang them to dry.

To keep your dishcloths fresh through the day, rinse them thoroughly in cold water after use and hang them on your drainer, over your tap or over your curtain rod to dry. Bacteria thrive in warm, moist conditions so rinsing the cloths and drying them helps prevent bacteria growth (this is a tip my grandmother taught me years ago).

If you’re wondering how to teach the rest of the family not to leave the dishcloth in an wet, crumby pile in the sink, then I can’t help. We haven’t managed that in our household yet either .

This is our system for using knitted dishcloths. The dishcloths get a regular clean without too much hassle or effort and I enjoy having something creative to do with my hands when I want to relax although I think I’m going to move onto baby knits, so keep an eye out for a round-up.

Do you use knitted dishcloths? What are your tips for using dishcloths?

Have you read these articles?:

1. Knitted Dishcloths
2. Roundup: knitted dishcloth patterns

Kids have an infinite capacity to entertain themselves. The only question is: ‘is it mummy-sanctioned entertainment?’ Drawing on the walls is certainly not mummy-sanctioned, although I admit that I often have urges to draw on the walls myself. It’s a lot of white space just begging for a doodle or two, although all that white space can be quickly covered by an energetic toddler while mummy finished the dishes.

My budding young artist drew all over the walls in our garage-cum-playroom and all over the newly painted concrete. This method works on both painted surfaces.

All you need is a regular old pencil eraser to rub the crayon out. It takes a bit of rubbing and at first it smears everywhere and it seems like you’re making everything oh so much worse, but keep going and you will end up with a little pile of coloured eraser shedding and a clean surface.

If the crayon stains, dampen a cloth with a little plain vinegar (or water), sprinkle bi-carb onto the cloth and then rub the stain until it’s gone. Bi-carb is an awesome stain remover, the real workhorse in your cleaning arsenal.

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday – bicarb for stains
2. tip tuesday–easy, healthy toddler snack
3. tip tuesday – quick tidy strategy

This tip comes from Julie from the U.S.

The best ever drain cleaner/deodorizer is SO CHEAP! I use 1/2 cup of baking soda (bicarb) and 1 cup of the cheapest vinegar the stores have. Put the bicarb in first, then slowly pour the vinegar over it. THE KIDS LOVE THIS…. a mini frothy ‘volcano’ erupts as the two combine. Let this sit in the drain for at least 45 minutes to one hour. Then pour lots of boiling water down the drain.

Soap scum, hair, any food (if in the kitchen) etc. goes away fast. And it is good smelling for about 1 month.

Re-do when you have to.

Thanks for the great tip, Julie. Another great use for those super cleaners of the home: bicarb and vinegar! If you have a frugal tip you would like to share, feel free to drop me a line.

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday – fixing smelly floor drains
2. tip tuesday–make your own cleaner using rubbing alcohol
3. Uses for Bicarb Soda

As I’ve been decluttering lately, I’ve also been re-organising and tidying. This week, the laundry got a bit of a make over.

I had a whole packet of ‘cup hooks’ that ended up being too small to hang cups on, and so have been putting them to good use around the rest of the house.

A picture tells a thousand words, so here are some pictures of our laundry (and yes, I’ve even hung empty buckets from the ceiling).

The container above the washing machine is a peg bucket is for indoor pegs and is made out of an old cordial bottle cut down to size and with a hole punched in it so that it can hang on the hook.

A bulldog clip holds the rubber cloves.

When we first moved in there was no shelf. I don’t know how the previous occupants coped with no storage space whatsoever.

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday – fixing smelly floor drains
2. tip tuesday – quick tidy strategy
3. tip tuesday–desk drawer organisers

To keep your washing machine clean and soap-scum free, run a wash cycle with one cup full of plain old vinegar added and no clothes or washing detergent. Your washing machine will come up fresh and soap-scum free.

This is particularly useful if you make your own washing detergent from soap. A little added to fabric softener compartment will clean that part out too and ensure there’s some vinegar in the final rinse cycle.

Also, don’t forget to clean out the lint filter after every couple of washes. This is something I often forget to do. I can’t believe how much scungy lint gets caught in the filter (and gets on the clothes if I’ve forgotten to clean it).

Have you read these articles?:

1. homemade laundry detergent
2. tip tuesday–clean your drains chemical free
3. frugal (and natural) cleaning

These tip comes from Julie, a Frugal and Thriving reader from the US.

“At our medical doctor’s office, I noticed they spray and clean counters, handles etc using 1/2 water and 1/2 rubbing alcohol. This also works for mirrors and windows very well.”

Other uses for rubbing alcohol include cleaning CDs and DVDs, mozzie bites, sanitising things like the phone, remove sticky labels, make an ice pack, nail polish remover, ink stain remover.

Rubbing alcohol is a common household product in the US, but I’m not sure about its availability in Australia. You need to buy a brand that is at least 90% isopropyl alcohol. You local chemist and possibly the hardware store (and electronic store) is the best place to look.

Julie also suggests using washcloths for dish rags (easier than knitting your own), that way you can sanitise, wash and reuse them over and over.

Julie, thanks for your tips, I know there were lots more, but I seem to have deleted your second email in my over-zealous attempt at clearing out my inbox.

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday– remove crayon from painted surfaces
2. tip tuesday–clean your drains chemical free
3. tip tuesday–taking a plate

Yes, because I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath to find out how I vacuum and dust my house.

Actually, I wrote most of this article in my head while I was vacuuming, so it only seemed right to jot it down and not to waste it.

BC (before child) cleaning day was Saturday morning. A few hours spent cleaning everything and I could say ‘THE HOUSE IS CLEAN’ at least for a few minutes. Now that routine is no longer viable, I break up the cleaning over the whole week. Mondays for example, are for deep cleaning the kitchen and Tuesdays are for the bathroom and the toilet. Even these jobs get broken down into five minute tasks (like scrub the dish drainer, wipe down the cupboards under the sink, scrub the left bench etc) spread out throughout the day in between looking after the little fella.

I break my vacuuming and dusting up over two days: downstairs and upstairs. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to vacuum downstairs and the stair case, and about half an hour to do upstairs. Plus about 10 minutes each for dusting.

The 20 minutes I spend vacuuming downstairs is usually the only time all week the little fella watches TV. He likes to help vacuum (or ride on the vacuum) but that usually ends in tears, so I strap him into the highchair and engage Auntie’s Baby Sitting Services (ABC for kids TV). I vacuum the lounge (moving the furniture, which is pretty light), kitchen, entry, stairs, garage, laundry and downstairs loo, plus I use the upholstery brush on the lounge, the ceiling, the walls, picture frames, the ceiling fan, the curtain rod, the skirting boards and pretty much every hard surface that may need dusting. The other little skinny attachment is good for edges and corners and behind bookshelves. Pretty good in 20 minutes (I’ve timed myself), but we have a really tiny townhouse and it doesn’t take that long to sweep the vacuum along a wall or across the floor.

While I rarely see a spider in our house, after a week our place looks like a haunted house that hasn’t been occupied for years with all the spider webs hanging from the walls and ceiling, hence the vacuuming with the brush attachment. Do you get spider web build up?

After vacuuming everything dusting is quite easy. I hate dusting because I usually spend the rest of the day sneezing. And I worked as a private clean many years ago and still have repressed memories of dusting an entire house every week with a small paint brush. Living on a main road (and with a cat and a kid) our house looks like it hasn’t been dusted in the last six months, even though I only did it a week ago.

Anyway, I use dusting rags (old t-shirts cut into squares) and my homemade cleaning spray to wipe over all the hard surfaces. Most of the dust is in the vacuum, the rest sticks to the damp cloth. Because I’m dusting with a dampened cloth, I can also wipe off spills and dirty marks on the furniture, walls, light fixtures clean the windows and trim and the place smells like whatever essential oil I’ve put in the cleaner. It takes about ten minutes each upstairs and down to dust (the quicker and harder I work, the more calories I burn – that’s my motivation).

The rags get soaked in nappy soaker with the little fella’s bibs and then added to the wash when I wash the sheets. I have a rag bag hanging on the laundry door to store the rags (and I keep a few upstairs for easy access).

Upstairs is the same, but it just takes a little longer. I usually do upstairs when DH is home to occupy the little fella. I vacuum the toilet, bathroom (including the bath and sink which are usually full of hair) and of course the bedrooms.

Every fortnight I choose one room to do a deep clean, moving all the furniture to vacuum behind it, vacuuming mattresses and in cupboards and other weird places. I can’t believe how quickly the dust builds up.

I guess the point I want to make is that I make extensive use of the upholstery brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner – it makes dusting so much easier. Then I wipe everything down with a damp cloth so the dust doesn’t just get wafted into the air.

A year or so ago I noticed our vacuum wasn’t working. I thought it was blocked, I thought it was on the blink, I though we would need a new one. Then I thought to clean the hepa filter. It was so full of gunk you couldn’t see the flanges. What a difference cleaning it made! I had a brand new, fully operational vacuum again! Cleaning the hepa filter regularly = very important. Especially if you’re like me and like to sprinkle bicarb on the carpet prior to vacuuming for that extra fresh, clean smell.

This routine sounds like a lot of work (even to me as I write this) but it only takes about half an hour a day over two days to vacuum and dust quite thoroughly. I admit though that there are some weeks that it gets done much quicker than that and a lot less thoroughly (in fact, about every four weeks I have a no cleaning week).

With a toddler walking leaves and dirt in through the back door and a cat who sheds hair like you wouldn’t believe and walks little kitty litter rocks through the house (and somehow gets them in the bed), and bits of food that gets dropped in the kitchen, our house is really needing a vacuum after a week. I’ve heard of some people vacuuming every day, and while I may whip the old Nilfisk out if the place is really bad, once a week is enough for me.

So there you have it, my vacuuming and dusting routine. I know you’ve been fascinated and that you will now sleep well tonight having read this. Glad to oblige.

PS. Happy Birthday DH. Hope you have a great day.

Have you read these articles?:

1. Housework, Time Management And Efficiency
2. frugal (and natural) cleaning
3. Uses for Bicarb Soda

Somehow, while I was writing on the freezer bags, permanent marker ended up all over our kitchen bench. Wiping it with a cloth and vinegar didn’t budge the stain, but a sprinkle of bicarb soda and a wipe with a damp cloth saw the marker stain disappear in an instant.

Plain bicarb soda also cleaned the pink cordial stain from the bench (DH’s drink of choice) and months old tea stains from our stainless steel sink (my beverage of choice). A quick wipe with bicarb soda will also get tea and coffee stains out of mugs.

I’m in love with my bicarb, couldn’t go a day without it.

Have you read these articles?:

1. Uses for Bicarb Soda
2. tip tuesday– remove crayon from painted surfaces
3. tip tuesday–clean your drains chemical free

We have a rule in our house: never walk up or down the stairs empty handed. We have a drop off point at the top and bottom of the stairs where items that need to be relocated back to their proper place are left for when one of us next treads the stairs. This keeps the house a little tidier, whilst saving time on unnecessary trips up and down the stairs (although I could do with a bit of extra stair climbing exercise). A green bag or laundry basket is handy when carrying multiple items and then these things can be quickly deposited in the right room.

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday – three habits that stop impulse buying and reduce clutter
2. tip tuesday–make your own cleaner using rubbing alcohol
3. tip tuesday– remove crayon from painted surfaces

You know you’ve reached adulthood when your first thought on a sunny day is “I’ll get the washing dry today.”

Sunny days however, have been few and far between over the last few months and washing has been an all week chore, when it is normally a two day chore. The humidity doesn’t help. Even when it’s not pouring with rain, the high humidity of summer can mean the washing stays damp, despite the heat. With no dryer, we’ve had to come up with some creative ways to dry the washing.

I will admit from the first, we have washing hanging around our house to dry. I know some people hate the thought of airers in the living room, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I grew up in rural NSW where winters are cold and wet. My mother made extra money by washing clothes for private school boarders, so not only did she have all our clothes and linen to contend with, we had teenage boy’s football jumpers taking pride of place in front of the heater in the living room.

Living in QLD, we don’t have a heater so here are some alternate ways we get the washing dry.

• We use airers all the time. On low humidity days, this is enough to get the clothes dry. Using airers means I can easily put the washing outside if the sun comes out and then quickly whip it all back in again when it starts to rain.
• When inside, I position the airers under the ceiling fan (at least, during nap time) to help get the washing dry.
• DH strung a line up in the garage. When the car is in the garage, this clothes line runs above the bonnet and the residual heat from the car engine helps get the clothes dry.
• We also have an old curtain rod in the corner resting on the door frames (pictured), from which we hang clothes on coat hangers.
• Clothes can also be hung on coat hangers on curtain rods in open windows, or around the dining room table.
• We use the heat from the car engine to dry things by laying clothes and towels on the bonnet of the car, which is hot from DH driving home from work. You can still get that warm out-of-the-dryer pyjama feeling by leaving you PJs on the car bonnet.
• We also use the radiating and residual heat from the oven when I’m cooking dinner or doing some baking. We have a tiny, tiny kitchen, the airer takes up almost all the room and I have to keep moving it around or out while I’m cooking, so it’s a bit of a pain, but it gets the washing dry.

• We have metal dining chairs, so I hang sheets and towels on the backs of the chairs around the dining table (makes a bit of a cubby house for the little fella. Only problem is that the cat like pulling the sheets down and making a nest to sleep in).
• The hardest thing to get dry is the queen sized sheets, because there is just not enough room to hang both (and I hate all the cat hair on the sheets from using the drying method above). On rainy days, I wash one sheet with the light clothes, and the other on a separate day with the darks and the sheet can hang on the line in the garage.
• We just got an exhaust fan in the bathroom with heat lamps so I could hang washing under those for an hour or so to take the last of the dampness out of them, but I haven’t yet done this because I haven’t calculated the expense. But if I got desperate, that would be another option.
• Finally, for clothes that get ironed, I iron the last of the dampness out of the clothes and then hang them out of the cupboard for a few hours to make sure they are completely dry (I don’t want mould growing in the wardrobe).

Even when the weather is good, we don’t get a lot of sun on our clothes line, so use the airers to get the clothes (and especially the nappies) into the sunlight.

If you have your hot water heater inside the house, you could use the heat off this to get your clothes dry. If I understand correctly, the cupboard that stores the hot water heater or boiler is called the airing closet and some people build slat shelves and hangers in this closet for the purpose of drying the washing.

How do you manage to get the washing dry without a dryer on bad drying days?

Have you read these articles?:

1. tip tuesday–washing machine maintenance
2. Outside the box thinking
3. Laundry Made Frugal