While grocery shopping the other day, my son asked if we could buy some Nutter Butter cookies. I haven’t had a Nutter Butter cookie since childhood and I was surprised that my son had one, since we don’t usually buy packaged cookies. He said he ate one at school one time and they were so good! I checked out the ingredient list, and needless to say, it was long, controversial, and we couldn’t even pronounce some of the ingredients. We skipped the cookies and instead I suggested we try our hand at making our own when we got home.
We spent the afternoon gathering the wholesome ingredients from our kitchen and started baking. We started using our favorite vegan, organic peanut butter cookie recipe and whipped up a simple cream filling to add to the mix. What we created was something on a whole new level of yumminess! These cookies are chewier than their traditional store bought counterpart, which is fine by me. They are made using organic and vegan ingredients and overall, they are just as good as the Nutter Butters from your childhood — actually, they’re even better! Jump over to Inhabitots to grab the recipe.
Between raising a family, keeping a household, building two businesses, and trying to have a social life – having a home that is always organized and clean can seem impossible. Over the years, I have always received compliments on how clean and organized my home is – usually followed by questions of how I have time to do it. For me a home that is clean and organized has much more to do with my personal sanity than it does for impressing others. I learned very early in my marriage that if my home is always clean and organized that I am able to get more things done in life. Which means that I don’t have to spend any time on the weekends or evening cleanings. I want all of my free time to be just that – free. The key to having a home that is always clean and organized is simple, it’s consistency. Read on to learn my 6 secrets to keeping a clean, organized and green home.
#1: Everything In It’s Place The first rule to having a home that is always clean and organized is to assign a place for everything in your home. Start by asking yourself whether you use, need or love each item – if it doesn’t fit into any of those categories, get rid of it. Everything in our home has a spot – from books, to crafting supplies, tools, and toiletries – every single cabinet, closet and drawer is organized – it makes it really easy to find anything that I need in just a few seconds, saving me a lot of time. This also saves me money, because I always know at a glance if we need more deodorant, nails, or light bulbs.
#2: Chores for Everyone Every person in your family should have a list of chores that they are responsible for completing each day. In our home, Eben takes care of the laundry, pet duties, dishes and a few other things. The mister is responsible for making all of our meals, grocery shopping and the garage. I take care of everything else including the errands, vacuuming, dusting, organizing, cleaning the kitchen, living room and bathrooms. It makes it a lot easier to keep the home clean and organized when everyone in the home is part of the process.
#3: Clean Up as You Go Whether I am working on a work project, recipe, or craft I clean up as I go. As soon as I am finished with an item, I put it away. When I am finished with dishes, I load them in the dishwasher. If I spill something, I clean it up immediately. I have also instilled this lesson in Eben, when he is finished playing with one thing, he puts it away before getting something else out. If he is done reading a book, it goes back on the bookshelf when he grabs another. This goes along with #1, if you put it back where it belongs immediately, you will always know where it is and everything will stay relatively clean.
#4: Clean After Use I like to keep my green cleaning supplies where they are needed and use them often. For example, I keep a bottle of green cleaner in the shower and tub and then spritz everything down every couple of days. I keep a bottle of green glass cleaner in each bathroom and spritz down the mirrors and sinks everyday. I keep a bottle of green toilet cleaner near the toilets and spritz them down as well. It ensures that the dirtiest parts of our home are always clean and healthy. And I never have to spend a whole day or afternoon deep-cleaning our home.
#5: A Load A Day I have Eben do a load of laundry and dishes every day or as soon as the washer is full. He is then responsibly for getting the clothes into the dryer and folding it and putting the dishes away too. We never have a laundry room stacked with dirty clothes, or a kitchen sink brimming with last night’s dinner plates. We don’t have a need for an insane amount of clothing, linens or dishes because everything that we own is usually either being used or clean and put away.
#6: Unpack + Put Away Immediately We venture out to the beach or swimming pool almost every day and we always take a huge beach bag stuffed full of towels, books, snacks, hats, water bottles and other items. When we get home I always feel like leaving that bag by the front door. Instead, I carry it up and immediately unpack it. The dirty dishes and water bottles are put in the dishwasher, uneaten snacks go back in the pantry, books go back on the bookshelf and the wet towels and swimsuits go into the dryer. This has saved us from mildewy swimsuits and towels, ruined books and wasted foods. This tip is also great for backpacks and lunchboxes when school is back in session. You immediately see any permission slips or homework and you can sometimes save an uneaten snack before the lunchbox icepack completely melts. Stay tuned — coming up tomorrow is how I speed clean our home everyday. It takes me less than 1/2 hour but the house is super sparkling when I am done. Followed, later in the week on how I can deep clean the entire house top to bottom in 85 minutes. I do this usually about twice a month – it makes keeping up with the 6 steps above a breeze.
Do you have secrets to keeping a house clean, organized and green? I would love to hear them.
Hello, Friends! How was your 4th of July? We ended up spending the afternoon soaking in the hot tub, floating in the pool and ended the night eating homemade sorbet and watching Once Upon a Time.
This weekend, our amazing friend Phyllis is stopping by for a visit. I think I will serve these organic frozen gin lemonades, along with a Greek menu. Then, for dessert a yummy vegan pineapple-colada sorbet. Watch for those recipes coming up next week!
While Eben and I ride our bikes over to the grocery store to pick up some goodies for the weekend, here are a few green things if you are in the mood:
I was excited to receive my Ecocentric Mom Box last month – OK, I am always excited to receive it. My favorite goodies in the box are always the beauty products – however, one of my favorite snacks was included too. Here’s a peek of what was inside of the box in June.
#1: Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques Lip Colour ($12) This lip colour was smooth and kept my lips hydrated all afternoon. It was a little shiny for me, the color itself was really beautiful. #2: Happy Seeds Watermelon Foaming Hand Soap ($5.45) This hand soap smells super yummy – I put it in our main bathroom for guests and several friends and family member mentioned that it smelled wonderful. #3: Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips ($1.29) Our family is a fan of Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and we have enjoyed them several times before in our home. These were already a hit with us!
#4: Turtle Moon Health All Natural Mosquito and Tick Repellent ($12) I usually make our mosquito repellent, however we haven’t had to use any so far this summer. When we go camping we usually run into mosquitoes, so I will be packing this toxic-free spray for our next trip.
#5: Brigit True Organics Magic Healing Skin Balm Stick ($5.50) The eczema on the misters hands has been flaring up again so I immediately gave him this healing skin stick balm. It’s the perfect size to stash in his pocket for easy access at work.
#6: Essence of Antiquity Pomegranate Lip Scrub ($6.95) I am a huge fan of lip scrubs and I think this product was my favorite in last month’s box. I keep it in the shower and scrub it on as soon as I step in, then rinse while washing my hair. My lips feel and taste amazing after using it. The mister isn’t complaining!
#7: Shea Terra Organics Rose Hip Black Soap Face Wash ($18) I am loving this product – I have been using it to get rid of dead skin (especially after a week in the Florida Keys sun), it leaves my skin feeling clean, fresh and calm.
#8: Green Leaf Lotion Bar ($6) I love small-batch, handcrafted lotion bars – they are easy to carry in my handbag (no spills) and these would make amazing gifts.
#9: Jenuinely Clean Laundry Power Wash ($9) I thought this detergent smelled really good and it seemed to work as well as the other eco-friendly laundry detergents that I use.
#10: EcoTrek Fitness Whole Foods Bar ($3) I rarely eat fitness bars since I work and exercise at home. However, these are great if I am venturing out for the day or if Eben is looking for a sweet treat around the house.
In total, June’s box retails for over $50 – yet costs only $21.
SUBSCRIPTION DISCOUNT: You can get $3 off a monthly subscription by using the coupon code ECOMOM3OFF – bringing the total to $18!
It’s Independence Day! Yay for America! Our plans to visit friends in Atlanta were put on hold, so we will be staying close to home today. We plan to hang out by the pool this afternoon – and hopefully catch the fireworks this evening. Also, I really want to make an organic Fourth of July treat and I plan to make our red, white and blue as green as possible!
I hope you are enjoying a day of friends, family, fun, BBQs, and maybe a bicycle parade!
