July Monthly Newsletter
www.enjoyrnr.com •
(484)903-9808
How
are you surviving summer so far? Hopefully you are enjoying the warm sun, the
laughing children, and the sticky popsicle messes. Being home with the children
can take a toll on your home however; so if you feel overwhelmed, you can call
us in for some closet organization, some in-depth cleaning or some special
attention on your patio, windows, cabinets, or refrigerator. Taking the extra
step with us will not only help you, it can change your life.
Charity
of the Month
This
July we will be donating our 5% to a non-profit organization called Practical
Family Living. They are all about helping YOU with life skills. PFL.org
provides "fully loaded" information and guidance for personal and
family issues. This up to date information is provided by well-seasoned,
licensed, professional therapists from the Center For Family Healing. For more
information you can go to http://pfl.org.
Organization
Idea of the Month
Have
you opened up your medicine cabinet, thrown something in, and slammed the door?
Let’s fix that.
Step 1: Categorize all of your
medications. Categorize them into
groups: Pain Meds, Cold & Sinus, Ice Packs & Wraps, etc.
Step
2: Make sure to check the expiration date on each item in the medicine
box. You don’t want to use anything that
has expired. Also get rid of all of the bulky boxes that are in your medicine cabinet
before. All boxes do is take up
unnecessary space. Take things out of
the boxes and you’ll be surprised how much easier they fit!
Step
3: Properly label each box. Bust out the label maker, or if you don’t have one,
use a permanent marker. Also purchase a
small set of plastic drawers for all of the little things. When you buy a box of band aids, dump it in
the band aid drawer and it makes them much easier to access when you need one. Also have a drawer for neosporin, poison oak
cream, etc. Ointments are too small for
a whole box so you can give them their own drawer instead. The only things that
may not fit in the boxes are the alcohol and hydrogen peroxide bottles. Now you have plenty of room – so enjoy!
Cleaning
Idea of the Month
Oh,
laundry, laundry, laundry…Is it just me or is the fact that the kids are back
from school I feel as if my laundry machine is constantly running. I discover
new clothing every day and the kids are finding new ways to get them dirty.
Let’s deal with this head-on or we will lose our heads!
Are your washer and dryer clean?
When was the last time you have cleaned it? If not, every 3 months you should
be running a load of just vinegar or lemon juice 3 cups per load. It’s cheap,
it disinfects, and gets out the mold.
Next – you must understand this
– you need to get to stains ASAP. First, blot the stain, do not rub, to absorb
excess liquid before it soaks in deeper. Rubbing will just rub the stain in
deeper; it will not remove it. For solid stains, such as mud, you should scrape
it off with a butter knife before you attempt to clean the stain. Sometimes
simple household products are perfect for removing stains without having to
purchase a stain removal product. For example, hydrogen peroxide removes
organic stains such as blood. Be sure to test this in a hidden spot before
using on your clothes, however. Peroxide can bleach dark fabrics. Another
example of a simple stain remover is white vinegar. It can be used
full-strength on underarm stains or diluted with water and sprayed on
tomato-based stains or mustard. Vinegar also removes grass stains. The type of
stain you have will dictate how it is removed. Protein-based stains such as
mud, milk or urine should be dissolved in cold water before laundering. Agitate
the garment in cold water until the stain is gone. Then wash as usual in warm
water. Hot water will set the stain in the fabric. Tannins such as coffee, tea
or berries can be removed with liquid laundry detergent and warm water. Oily
stains can be removed with a dishwashing liquid (not dishwasher detergent) and
then washed as usual. Home remedies such as vinegar, peroxide or lemon may
bleach fabric so they should be tested on an inside seam first before using it
on the stain. Salt can help restore vivid colors to your aging fabrics. To stop
color bleeding, add 1/2 cup of salt to the wash cycle. To remove yellowing, boil
yellowed cotton or linen fabrics in a mixture of water, 1 tablespoon salt, and
1/4 cup baking soda. Soak the fabric for 1 hour. So go now and fight a good fight!
Craft of the Month
I found a recipe
called the “World’s Best Bubbles”, so I gave it a try. I usually buy the
massive jug at the store for a $1, but I thought it would be fun to see if this
recipe was really any better. We went to a store and bought a bubble wand for
$1.00, then went home and made our bubble mix.
The World’s Best Bubbles
1 1/2 quarts of water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup liquid dish soap
Mix water and corn syrup until completely blended. Slowly stir in
soap. Will last several weeks in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
Healthy Idea of the Month
To keep the kids busy this summer shouldn’t
be a chore for you, it should be a chore for them! It is needed to help them
learn to do things on their own, things they will need to know in the future
and how they are to contribute in their own home. Here are some topics that
help them do chores around the house.
Think: Clean is better than dirty.
When they say: Why bother cleaning? For one thing, it makes a space
look nicer. Doesn't the living room look prettier when the glass-top coffee
table gleams? And then there are the practical concerns: How much easier is it
to find your favorite shirt when all of your clothing is in the closet instead
of in a pile? And of course, an unclean home just isn't healthy. Keep it
simple: Germs can cause sickness, and mold and dust can trigger allergies. This
approach may get a positive reaction.
Think: Keep it appealing!
Make a chart: Most kids, especially under the
age of 12, love charts. Especially colorful ones that move in some way, like a
job wheel, or require the use of crayons or markers, like a bar graph that must
be filled in with the completion of a job. Together, sit down and create a job
wheel that your child spins each cleaning day, or a graph your child fills in with
the completion of each task or time period (10 minutes of cleaning, for
instance, fills in a box). You may find it adds a sense of control (for your
child) and excitement to the task at hand.
Make it Fun: If there are any guarantees in
childhood, one has got to be the love of all things game-like. Turn cleaning
into a game or a competition, and chances are your kid will be pretty into it.
This might mean timing a task and setting a challenge to break the record, or
maybe seeing who can fill a bucket with weeds the fastest.
Make it Their Own: Being told
what to do and how to do it is simply part of being a child; but that doesn't
mean children like it. One way to make cleaning more palatable is to let your
child set the schedule, deciding the order in which jobs will be done, and
picking out his or her own tools.
Provide Incentives: For 16-year-olds,
and 8-year-olds for that matter, you'll want to give them a totally selfish
motivation to mop: rewards.
Keep it Short: A 10 or 20 minute
cleaning session is going to be so much easier on everyone than a one or two hour
cleaning marathon. Keep it short.
