Household Organisation

I like to be organised. I need to be organised or my family life completely falls apart, and I get grumpy! I have some helpful charts and noticeboards around our house to help me in keeping my family somewhat organised and informed of what's going on.  It really does make life a whole lot easier.

 Our fornightly meal planner.  I usually try and fill it out, because when I do it is much easier.  I had to put a disclaimer on the bottom because I have a somewhat fanatical son who got 'put out' when I changed my mind at the last minute. We had sandwiches on Tuesday night instead of pizza, and said son has been hounding me since, because he loves pizza.  Home made pizza, of course!  We had been meal planning for a few years now.

 My family calendar.  All our events go on here.  It runs for three months.  I left December up so I could take this photo, so you can see what goes on it, and how it gets crossed off.  It is a giant sheet of cardboard that has had a calendar drawn up on it, then covered with contact.  I use whiteboard markers to write on it, then eucalyptus oil to remove the writing.  It's nothing fancy, but it definitely does the trick!

 My birthday and anniversary 'chart' that my Mother-in-Law made for me.  I LOVE it!  It has little wooden hearts that I had to 'decorate' and write everyone's name and date of birth on.  The red heart in December is my wedding anniversary :D

 A whiteboard outside my daughter's room that has the children's daily school events listed.  It helps remind them when they need to wear their sports uniform or take their library bag to school.  It helps jog my memory too ;D

A noticeboard on the opposite wall of the whiteboard where I keep the children's excursion notes, textbook fees and anything else I get important from school.  After I diarise whatever needs to go on my giant calendar, it gets stuck up on this board so it doesn't get lost.  It keeps all those notes off my kitchen bench too!

What organisational aids do you have in your home?  Perhaps you have something that you think might only be little, that might be life changing for someone else.  Feel free to share :D

Orange/Citrus Cleaner Review

A funnel and a strainer to get every last drop!

I am using my orange peel cleaner, and it is just as great as the stuff you purchase, so I won't be purchasing any more!  I could buy three bottles of vinegar for one bottle of commercial citrus cleaner, and I'm sure it isn't good for my lungs to be breathing in those chemicals.

In fact, my lungs have been much happier with the vinegar/orange peel cleaner, so it's staying.

It doesn't leave a residue.

If you spray it on white tiles in the bathroom and forget to clean it off again, it won't stain the tiles, but it will look like a naughty boy has urinated all over your nice white tiles.  Oops!

The only person not happy with my new cleaner is my son.  He doesn't like the smell of it.

I haven't known him to ever wipe down benches anyway, so tough luck kiddo!

My orange cleaner concentrate back in the vinegar bottle. Two more jars of peels 'marinating'.  The green spray bottle is my diluted half water/half citrus cleaner concentrate ready to go.

I found three weeks was better to leave the citrus peels 'marinating' in the vinegar.  Two weeks doesn't quite develop them enough.  It smells better after three weeks as well.

Orange Vinegar Cleaner

I have been doing some reading about this citrus/vinegar cleaner, and how wonderful it is.  I have been using about 1 cup vinegar to 2 cups water (or something like that - probably more like half and half because I can't be bothered measuring) to clean my kitchen benches with, and everywhere else except the bathroom.  I figured I needed something a bit stronger for my bathroom.  Because I was using vinegar already, this seemed like a logical idea.

So on this Blog: http://justlikemynanmade.blogspot.com/2011/05/citrus-cleaners-so-easy-and-good.html there is a wonderful easy recipe to make your own citrus cleaner at home. 

Navel Oranges are in season right now.  We had a huge box of them we have been munching through, so I gave the orders that the peel was to be removed and put into glass jars containing vinegar.  How easy!

This was our second box of oranges - about 1/4 full in this picture.  They were $12 a box and are super sweet, just as fresh oranges should be!  Unfortunately we don't have an orange tree, so this is the next best thing for us - straight from the Grower's Market.

You could use an orange peeler before you use the orange but I found it much easier to use a filleting knife.  My arthritic/RSI-ridden hands prefer this method - it's more of a downward action so my thumbs are much happier!  You want the peel, not the pith.  The peel contains all the oil that you want to infuse with the vinegar, which helps with cleaning.

I started our third jar yesterday.  The first two will be ready this Saturday (I think - or I could leave it for another week if I wanted to).  The third jar began two days ago, so will need a couple of weeks to steep.  They smell lovely and orangy, and after a day seem to lose the vinegar smell.  Or perhaps my nose is refusing to smell the vinegar *winks*.

So the quick run down on how to make it:-

- Grab a very clean glass jar.  With a lid.
- Peel an orange or lemon (or mandarin if you wish) trying to leave as much of the pith off.
- Put the peel into the glass jar and top with vinegar.  Keep adding peel to the jar as you go through oranges until the jar is full to the top.  You want to try to cover the peel so it doesn't end up mouldy. Depending on the size of your jar, one helpful suggestion was to fill a small snap-lock bag with water and place that on top.  It will keep the peel submerged.
- Leave for 2-3 weeks. The vinegar will extract the oil from the citrus peel, and create a lovely concentrate for you.
- Pour half water and half the citrus cleaner into a spray bottle and use away!