May 10 Is A (Very Practical) Holiday!

Most parents know their young children's idea of cleaning up their room is to throw everything under the bed, straightening the pillows and declare it "clean." Here's a way to use May 10 as a holiday while showing them how to use 15 minutes to make a real dent towards a cleanup success everyone can agree on.

Here's a step by step tutorial I found at about.com that truly gives parents a way to have some fun themselves and use May 10 as a holiday to learn practical ways to teach Clean Up Your Room Day.

Time Required: 15 minutes
Here's How:

1. Grab your supplies.

You may already have a hamper, trash can, or toy box in your room. Use the list below to gather the things you need to clean your room. Don't begin cleaning until you have all of your supplies in your room. Trying to find supplies one at a time is a waste of time.

2. Grab all dirty clothing and put it in a hamper.

I know the dirty clothes in your room are probably near the hamper, but we want to actually put them in the hamper. Don't worry about unfolding your socks or turning clothes right side out. We'll do that when we sort out the laundry.

3. Grab all trash and put it in the trash can.

Don't worry about anything but trash right now. Pick up all the obvious trash and throw it in the can.

4. Make the bed.

If making the bed seems like a waste of time, humor me. Smooth out the sheets. Smooth out the blanket or comforter. Fluff your pillows. Stand back and take a quick look at the bed. It looks much neater, not necessarily better, just neater. On the plus side, you're not as likely to loose things in your bed when it's neat.

5. Grab all the clean clothes and refold or rehang.

This is where that made bed comes in handy. If you have a lot of clothes to refold or rehang you can neatly stack them on your bed to remind you to fold them later. This saves you a little time now, keeps the room looking neat, and makes sure you will be reminded to fold them before trying to crawl into bed.

6. Pickup all the toys from the floor, bed, desk, etc.

Put them into a toybox, petnet, or wherever they belong. Don't worry about sorting out what toy goes with what piece, etc. Just put them all into the box.

7. Pickup all the items that don't belong in the room and place them in a basket, box, or bag.

We're not worrying about placing the items where they belong right now. Just put them all in a basket for now.

8. Sweep and mop, or vacuum.

Don't worry about moving furniture to do this.

9. Put away all of your supplies.

That's it. You're done. Does it look like a place you'd actually like to live in?

Tips:

1. If you have a few minutes leftover after vacuuming, older children can grab the basket and take the items in it to their proper area. With younger children, have them put the basket in the hall for an adult to sort through later.
2. Be careful about leaving the items in the basket. Very soon, you'll find that the basket is overflowing from your mini-cleanup times. You'll still have to sort and organize weekly. Yes, I know that doesn't seem fair.
3. Model the efforts with a young child's help every day for a week to get them used to the new cleanup method.
4. Make a picture chart for young children to allow them to see the steps they need to go through.
5. Consider a visual reward chart using stickers to show that the kids have down their cleanup each day.

What You Need:

* A basket, bag, or box to put clutter items
* A vacuum cleaner or broom
* A hamper
* A trash container
* A toy box

Tutorial source here >>

photo credit photo8

When cave men and their families looked for ideas to make life more comfortable, once of the first things they did was, well, escape the cave and build a freestanding shelter.

What were they thinking? It's likely they had no clue what they were letting loose? A dwelling meant doors and locks. With a door, not just any ol' former cave-dweller could walk through the cave opening. Moving out of a cave to rooms - with doors, of all things - meant that Jane and Johnnie Cavepeople could actually hold on to possessions. Now we all know what happened next. Well, things started to pile up. Right? Organizing them. Keeping them clean. Eventually, those possessions had a way of annoying everyone with their dust and disorder. So there we go...

First thing you know it's the Fourth of July, and Mr. and Mrs Cavepeople were cooking outdoors again.

Christmas, a reason to cheer because pine needles and trees are indoors.

May 10, and whatever has collected has to be cleaned or, it goes out, again.

As Holiday Insights reminds us, May 10th is always the day to look for the fun in what some call the chore - clean up your room.

photo creditphoto8

Step 1 ~ May 10 ~ Clean Up Your Room Day cleaning tricks number one, mix a little baking soda in a bucket of water. Saturate the mop, and then wet mop the floor, one section at a time. This will loosen the dirt.
Step 2 ~May 10 ~ Clean Up Your Room Day tricks number two, ventilate the room by opening the windows, and then sprinkle bleach onto the floor and into the white grout. Follow up immediately with a wet mop. Let soak, and then mop away.
Step 3 ~ May 10 ~ Clean Up Your Room Day cleaning tricks number three, check for any stubborn areas during this tile floor cleaning. Use the wet scrub brush mop to loosen the dirt in these areas.
Step 4 ~ May 10 ~ Clean Up Your Room Day cleaning tricks number four, mix together:
1 cup of ammonia
1 cup of baking soda
1/2 cup vinegar
10 cups of water
Stir well, and then pour into a spray bottle, undiluted. Spray the entire area and let this tile floor cleaning solution sit for a few minutes.
Step 5 ~ May 10 ~ Clean Up Your Room Day cleaning tricks number five, follow up with a wet mop, and then wipe up with old towels or just let the floor dry. Use the mixture in step 4 to keep your floors refreshed in between tile floor cleaning.

Here's my eHow.com reference, where there are additional tricks and tips for floor cleaning more >>

Prior to deciding to go green when cleaning windows, most of us used commercial window cleaner. When you switch to a more environmentally conscious (and, budget-sensitive) household-vinegar based solution, (pun intended!), know that the old method leaves a very fine wax residue.

Vinegar alone will not be enough to remove it. A lot of people have switched from "their mother's" window cleaning products, and the result was discouraging, because of streaky windows. Instead, the first time you switch, add a dab of liquid dish soap to the vinegar and water. The wax will easily disappear and the windows will be cleaned perfectly!

Here's my favorite recipe:
Combine 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar
Add up to 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap or detergent
Keep this solution in a spray bottle.

That's it. You can leave out the liquid detergent after this bottle is used up because residue from commercial cleaners will be gone by then.
Label the bottle and keep it out of the reach of children.

photo credit Photo8.