Monday, March 31, 2014

Monthly Cleaning Challenge: Change Magic's Litter

This month it's all about getting cleaning!  I know, so exciting.  Haha.  The first step was to create a list of the things I want to accomplish.  The next step is to accomplish them!  Here's the list of the things I have already accomplished:



For this post I took on the task: Change Magic's Litter

We use scoopable litter for Magic's litter box.  It's wonderful that we can keep his box clean and not have to buy new litter all the time.  Typically I try to scoop out his litter box every day (or every other day if I forget).  It keeps him happy and keeps me happy :)  But just because we can scoop the litter that doesn't mean we can keep using the same litter forever.  So, once a month, we throw the litter away and replace it with fresh new litter!


This month we are using Tidy Cats.  Why?  It was on sale.  This household is loyal to whatever brand happens to be the cheapest when we need to buy new litter.  Magic isn't picky (thank goodness!) and neither are we.  But I will say we are loyal to Jonny Cat Heavy Duty bags.  Magic has a big litter box and these bags fit.  They are also sturdy and don't break when we swap out the litter.  Occasionally Magic get's a little aggressive with covering up his stuff and he has ripped some holes in the bag.  But that doesn't happen often and it's worse with other bags.  So these win!

As I said, we typically scoop out his litter box each night which usually means grabbing one of these babies!


We grabbed these at the dollar store and I love them.  They're cute and perfect for the job they fill.  But this time that wasn't needed.  I'm going to spare you all the pictures from before and after.  Because, let's be honest, litter is pretty gross.  Especially used litter.  So I'm avoiding that all together and giving you my "artistic" angle which prevents you from seeing inside the litter box.



His litter box (or man cave as we call it) is on the patio.  We keep an empty bucket which used to hold Publix's brand of scoopable litter next to it.  I stick the filled zebra bags in it when I clean up his litter box each night and then they all get tossed in the dumpster at the end of the week.

Well, we have reached the end of March.  And I didn't accomplish everything that I had intended to.  But that's okay!  The rest of the items will just need to be completed in February.  Along with other tasks that I may decided need to be accomplished.  Or things that need to be accomplished again because, even though we don't want them to, things get dirty again after you clean them.  I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish and I hope you are too!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Dumpster Find: Dresser

I am so excited to share today's post with you all!  A few days ago I was pulling into a parking spot in my apartment complex when I spotted something sitting outside the dumpster.  I immediately backed out of my spot and drove over to see if I could take it home with me!  Curious?  Take a look!


A beautiful dresser!  Okay, so it's not so beautiful.  But I knew that it could be beautiful with a little TLC.  I wanted it!  But I ended up not being able to lift it alone.  So I waited till my roommate came home and she helped me out.  And then we were struggling to get that thing upstairs..  But a friendly guy from the apartment building next to us came out and helped us take it upstairs.

We set it down outside the front door since I knew I wanted to clean it up before taking it inside.  And here's what I was working with.


A missing drawer, coffee or tea stains, and water damage to the top.  Oh, and one of the drawers is missing the bottom piece so it's pretty pointless.

So I pulled out the useless drawer and swapped the remaining drawers around, wiped it all down with my homemade all purpose cleaner, and got another look.


I'm really excited to tackle this project.  I've got big plans :)  I don't have a dresser in my bedroom and I really need one.  So this is perfect.  Keep an eye out over the next few days, I may have an update for you all.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Monthly Cleaning Challenge: Wipe Down Cabinets/Appliances

This month it's all about getting cleaning!  I know, so exciting.  Haha.  The first step was to create a list of the things I want to accomplish.  The next step is to accomplish them!  Here's the list of the things I have already accomplished:


For this post I took on the task: Wipe Down Cabinets/Appliances

Luckily our cabinets and appliances don't show much dirt.  Though that could be a bad thing since it leads to them getting cleaned much less often than they probably should.  This is the first time I've wiped down the cabinet doors since we moved in almost a year ago.  And the appliances haven't been wiped down much more often.  

I'll let you take a look at the cabinet that showed the most dirt.  The cabinet to the right of our stove/oven.


See what I mean?  Doesn't seem so dirty.  But that spot right at the corner of the stove hood you can see that something got splashed on it.  And I'll let you know it's something sticky.  Gross.  Time to arm myself with some cleaning supplies!


Are you sick of pictures of my all purpose cleaner and a microfiber rag yet?  Haha.

I sprayed down the fronts of all the cabinets and ran over them with the microfiber rag.  Then I did the same for the appliances (oven, microwave, toaster oven).  And even though I couldn't really tell they were dirty, looking at the rag afterwards I realized they were dirtier than I thought.  I'll spare you that picture.  But I will show you a nice pretty picture of a cleaner cabinet and microwave:


No more sticky stuff!  Hurray!


Why hello there!  Yup, that's me holding the rag in the reflection on the microwave.

Everything is feeling so clean and I love it!


So let's see how many more things I plan to accomplish:
1. cycle clean appliances
2. clean out car
3. wipe down trim/doors
4. clean out one drawer
5. vacuum furniture
6. clean oven
7. change magic's litter
8. change air filter