Children Cleaning!!!

So I got a couple pictures of my children cleaning with my Norwex supplies. Gideon LOVES to use the mop...so nice, just wet the pad and then rinse it out with water when it gets to dirty...I have been quite amazed at how much dirt it picks up (I guess I shouldn't be that amazed with the amount of traffic in my house)! Even Chloe likes to help...:-) I just love that there isn't any cleaning solution they are getting into and that they are able to help with anything...

So I love the mop...but this past week I've been discovering the amazing things the dusting mitt can do...besides being a mitt you put on and it uses static to pick up dust on shelves, furniture, etc. It's so easy to pick things up with one mitt on and dust it with the other mitt...so it does a great job dusting! But, I am more wowed by the fact that if you wet it, you can clean your screen windows!!!! Like a dream! Have you ever cleaned your screens? I hadn't and let me tell you I've only done a couple and I am incredibly amazed at the amount of dirt! Yuck! But it's so clean after! And then I take my black dusting mitt and rinse it and rinse and rinse it--lots of dirt and then I use it again! Or hang it to dry! The first screen I did was my kitchen window, it had stink bug poop and was so gross...

Also just a couple more notes...and I promise I'll stop talking about Norwex for a while...my rags are so easy to clean...just put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them and add a little detergent...the water turns gross with all the dirt and deposit and then I rinse them out and they are as good as new!!!

How to plan a Successful Yard Sale: Fifty Cent Yard Sale

My sister Beth and I had a yard sale last weekend and it was very successful! We advertised it as a Fifty Cent Yard Sale and sold everything that was worth more on craigslist and swap sites so everything else we were eager just to get out of our houses for whatever we could. Here are some tips for a successful yard sale:
#1 Have Yard Sale Prices: We were eager to get rid of our stuff and we had a nice variety of things from cloth diapers and dvds to clothes, shoes and baby stuff. But having everything for sale for $.50 (except a couple strollers and a piece of furniture that we sold for under $10) made it easier to not have to price each item and people were eager for a bargain so they bought several things. Don't forget it's a yard sale--don't have extravagent prices like a consignment store, if you have something you want to see for a higher price use a different method than a yard sale.

#2 Have Good Signs and Advertise Advertising as a Fifty Cent yard sale sure brought in a lot of people but we also made bright signs and had them pointing the way. We also advertised on craigslist and facebook. We had many people showing up before the yard sale was to start and before we had even pulled everything out. We sold a bunch before the start time. Make sure you take down your signs as well!

#3 Host with a Friend: Having the yard sale with Beth and her mother-in-law was so much more fun as we had someone to talk to during down times. We were able to take turns talking to people...and we had a better variety of things to sell!

#4 Have Reasonable Expectations: We were just so ready to get rid of stuff so we were happy to make $20 a piece so we would have money to do yard sale shopping ourselves so imagine our happiness when we made over $50 a piece! And we sold things for other people as well. We also had very little left over and were able to take it to the goodwill on the way home and have it all gone!
#5 Have Yard Sale at Beginning of Season: For us it was also very profitable to have the yard sale at the beginning of the season when people are dying to get out and yard sale! Also there aren't as many people to compete with! It was the perfect timing!

More Exciting Norwex Cloths! Before and After Pictures!

So I have not lost my enthusiasm for cleaning at my house! I am still finding all sorts of spots that need to be cleaned or maintained. I am still trying out different Norwex tools and rags that I have and have been thrilled with what I have discovered. My new favorite cloth is the Kitchen Cloth which is antibacterial like the enviro cloth but has grooves and is perfect for wiping down counters and high chairs to get all the loose food crumbs. It does a great job cleaning...just wanted to show you two things I did last night. I wiped my ceiling that had applesauce stains from a couple years ago...with just a swipe it was gone. Then I wiped the top of my microwave that had grease and crumb build up from probably the past five years...but all it took was water and the cloth and it's clean! I also of course wiped down my trash can, stove top, floor, dish washer--everything I could think of! My kitchen looks so much cleaner these days!!!! All I do is wash the cloths out with hot water and then when they have a build up I put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them (sometimes add a little detergent) and then let them sit over night. They dry rather fast too when I hang them up to dry.

Here is my kitchen cloth! I am so thrilled I am getting another one in the next week or so for reaching an incentive goal! They come in two or three colors I think!

Another amazing cloth is the body cloth. I am not really big into washing my face everyday...but after trying out this cloth and all the amazing things you can do with it...I find this another must of Norwex! So these body cloths are the softest microfiber cloth--they exfoliate the skin incredibly! So besides being great for my face, I also hear it takes of make-up like a dream but since I don't wear make-up I was more interested in the other things it could do...like eliminate the need for shaving cream and give the smoothest/closest shave on my legs!!! All you do is wipe your legs down with it and then shave like a dream--no razor burn or bumps! And so smooth! Joshua was curious and decided to give it a try on his face...and says it was amazing! So no need for shaving cream and a great smooth shave! Another thing that is nice about these cloths that I've heard about but haven't had a chance to try yet is that they have silver in them so it's great to put on scrapes and cuts that my kids get...helps keep them clean, so I'm excited about that.  They come in a package of three. They are great!

Yard Sale Season 2014 Week 1

Oh yes!!! It is that time of year again! Yard sale season! Besides having so much snow off and on the last two Saturdays have been fairly pretty! So last week Joshua and the kidos and I set off on a short yard sale trip where we went to one Church yard sale and one moving sale. I picked up a few great bargains. I picked up the bouncy chair and swing for $5 total. Now I did have to clean them up (my enviro cloth from Norwex was AMAZING, it cleans fabric stains and such just using water!) and both had corroded batteries. In fact the swing was almost pouring battery juice and took quite a bit of time to clean up...but got that cleaned up and then bought some dollar tree batteries for both and good as new! So I sold them for $30 total...making $25! I also found some great Happy Hollister hard backs with dust jackets for $1 a piece which I will be passing on to my brother...also found a Little People set that come to find out is really popular, rare and I guess worth more than I thought. I bought it for $2 and sold is easily for $10 with a line of people wanting it. I also got my kids some new fridge learning magnets. And I picked up a beautiful baby boy outfit that still has tags for $1. So I spent about $22 last Saturday and already I have made $45 plus I am getting my $8 back for the books...so not so bad for the first Saturday and a little cleaning up!!

Visit to North Carolina Friends

First stop on our trip to North Carolina was a visit with Maryanna and David who are living in a sweet little log cabin and expecting their first baby. We also got to see her sister Joanna! It was such a nice visit. We had a little scare with Gideon and his asthma while there since we had colds but the Lord was merciful and everything was okay!

 

Next stop was a wonderful visit with Mark and Bekah Reese with their four sweet little girls!!! We had seven children four and under! It was so fun! The kids had so much fun and us parents were encouraged being around each other. Here are a bunch of the kids listening to the Bible story.

Joshua was so popular!!! The girls kept wanting to sit on his lap and let him read to them!

Then we moved on to Joshua's cousin's house Michael and his wife Katelin! They bought a house last year and are renovating it...the kids loved the big bear they had. We had a nice visit with them.

 This is their house!

 

We then moved on to Richmond where Joshua was speaking and on Sunday we got to visit Wanda and TJ's family and it was so fun! The kids loved that there was so much room outside to play and a trampoline and so many kids! 

 They built their house many years ago, it's so pretty!

I am ADDICTED to Cleaning right now!!!!

Why in the world? Because I have just become a consultant with Norwex!!!! They have the most amazing cleaning supplies/tools that have made cleaning easier, way more effective, are so safe with my kids--now they can help in everything and they have been working magic around my house!!! So what is Norwex? They are a company that have cleaning supplies and tools that don't use the chemicals found in most cleaning supplies---so no more bleach smell on your hands, no more ajax on the bottom of your bathtub, no more windex sprayed everywhere by kids...

My favorite thing is their famous EnviroCloth that is a rag made of microfiber that has silver in it so that it becomes antibacterial. So when you wipe your counters from chicken juice or your bathroom from bathroom drippings the cloth locks all the germs in the cloth and you can still use it--it doesn't spread! These cloths are far superior to microfiber you can buy at the store! I have three of them and I use one for windows with the polishing cloth and let me tell you--these have got to be the best window cleaner ever!!! All you use is the cloth with water and then dry it with the polishing cloth and the windows are sparkling!!! Also I used one on our mirror in our room that the kids had wiped gobs of vaseline all over and the cloth picked it all up and "ate it" and didn't smear it around on the window or anything and the mirror looks brand new!!! It surely would have taken a roll of paper towels to get that off the mirror and it still would have left smears and lint--that's the other thing no more lint all over the windows and mirrors! So this is saving me money on paper towels and windex...and looks far superior than I've ever been able to clean!

I used one of my other EnviroCloths in my kitchen and it's amazing!!! I wiped down my whole trash can with the rag and water and it worked like a magic eraser plus using some sort of clorox spray to clean the yuckiness...my trash can smelled better and looked so clean! Then I used the rag on my refrigerator to wipe it down...my sink--(I did use a little cleaning paste to scrub down the built up soap scum stuff), my floor, baseboards, my stove and then I pulled out my stove...YUCK! It was disgusting! But all I used was my cloth and look at how amazing it looked after? And it came up so easily!!! All I used for my kitchen was the Envirocloth, water and sometimes a little cleaning paste and a spirinett (which is a stainless steel scrubber)! And the best thought was that I wasn't spreading my germs and bacteria all over the kitchen, the rag would eat it up and then I would just rinse it in hot water and keep going! Incredible!!!

 

Now, my bathroom is most embarrassing my tub had gotten so bad with a huge ring around it...and I had scrubbed and scrubbed it with ajax and a scrubber...and all I got was some little scratches through. It was gross...well I sprayed some descaler and used an envirocloth and it came off almost with just a wipe...it was wonderful!!!!!! It still sparkles and now when I clean it I just wipe it with the cloth and water...and it comes off just like that! I was also able to clean my grout much better and get marks off my tile that I had never been able to get off with the cleaning paste.

Now moving on to my toilet...I only show these pictures to show the difference...it is really embarassing how bad the toilet had gotten but it was old when we moved in and had these rust stains...and it had just gotten worse...I though the only thing to do was to get a new toilet. I was wrong...I used my spirinett scrubber and my cleaning paste and look at the miracle! It's like 90% better and I've only cleaned it once...I can't believe I let people use this for so many years without some help in cleaning it!!!

Lastly I took an envirocloth and cleaned my kids bedroom...I washed the walls from smudges and smears (worked like a magic eraser but didn't take off the wall paint)...did baseboards, did the light fixture, the toys could be wiped down!!! These cloths are incredible!

The last thing that I LOVE is their dish cloth--it's $7 and it has solved all my problems with dishes. It is a mesh that does an amazing job cleaning off hard dishes with stuff on it but it also rinses out and doesn't hold food or smells!!! No more remembering to take out the rag and hang it up!!! You can also cut it into smaller rags as it is large.

So I know it is shameless to tell people about something I now help sell but ladies and gentlemen it is incredible. It is a small investment for the cloths but they are guaranteed for two years, will save you so much money in different cleaning supplies and you are just using water--so your kids are safe too!!! So my top five things they offer: EnviroCloth, polishing cloth, cleaning paste, dish cloth and spirinetts! Let me know if you want to place an order...it's really incredible! Or if you have any questions or have a cleaning job you want to know if they can conquer! Joshua is so happy with the miracles going on in this house!