Archive for the 'Kids clean' Category
June 9, 2008 | Organizing, Kids clean, Lifestyle
Our good friend Jeana posted at her blog last week about having her 2 year old help her in the kitchen with tasks as mundane as unloading the dishwasher (though how can it be mundane when a toddler is handling your dinner plates?) to actually making salad, complete with cutting vegetables (again, toddlers and knives might not be a good mix in all situations).
Posted by mudlark @ 9:17 pm | 1 Comment
March 11, 2008 | Kids clean, Cleaning products
Q. Could you please tell me what I could use to sanitize my twins’ sippy cups when they drop them on the floor of the store (something portable so we can finish our trip) & to “try” and sanitize the shopping cart handles?
A. I’ve got 3 suggestions for you. The first is that according to Parenting magazine, parents don’t need to be so vigilant about what falls on the floor. Apparently there’s something to that 5-second rule. Of course, I’d throw that advice out the window in certain places - public restrooms (ew!), malls, etc… General dirt won’t hurt anyone, and it’s actually been found to increase endorphins. It’s the germs you can’t see that you need to be concerned with.
Now, to actually answer the question. One of my favorites is Clean Well. They have a line of hand sanitizers and soaps that are non-toxic, kill 99.9% of germs, are alcohol-free and biodegradable, smell nice, and leave your hands soft. You should be able to find a supply at your local Target.
Lastly, a travel-sized bottle of Listerine (or presumably any other mouthwash) will kill germs equally well. Of course, you lose the environmental friendliness, and many of them contain alcohol. But in a pinch, a bit of Listerine will kill any germs your child’s paci, bottle, or sippy may have gathered from the floor. It’s cost-effective and easy enough to use. You could even put some in a small spray bottle to keep in the diaper bag. (And now for the shocking reveal: I use mouthwash or toothpaste to clean my kids’ things when I’m upstairs and too lazy to go downstairs. I don’t want to use regular soap on anything that might find its way to their mouth, so if dish soap isn’t handy, I go for toothpaste or mouthwash.) I don’t know if toothpaste would be as effective as mouthwash, but Listerine was originally used (in the 19th century) as a multi-purpose disinfectant for surgical purposes. The active ingredients are 4 oils: thymol, menthol, eucalyptol and methyl salicylate. Do rinse well though, because a baby wouldn’t be so happy to get a paci back in his mouth if it tasted like Listerine, and frankly, Listerine isn’t meant to be ingested anyhow.
Posted by mudlark @ 11:40 am | 2 Comments
February 16, 2008 | Kids clean, Cleaning tips
Posted by mudlark @ 6:57 pm | 3 Comments
February 15, 2008 | Organizing, Kids clean, Cleaning tips
One of the things that irks most of us is that cleaning the house takes so much time. And time is precious, right? So, here are a few tips to make the most of your house cleaning - do it easier, faster, and with less frustration.
- Gather supplies. You’ll need (more…)
Posted by mudlark @ 12:28 pm | Comments
January 9, 2008 | Kids clean
There’s just something about what happens in a bathroom that screams Please Clean Me! And when there are kids around, the scream gets even louder. And rightly so - the thought of what kinds of germs my toddler and preschooler could encounter in that place sends me reeling!
Well, we found a great post over at Honey, I Fed the Kids! - the post is actually a plea for advice (this week’s Works For Me Wednesday is a backwards edition - asking for rather than giving advice), so what’s great is the comments. If you have kids under the age of, say, college, you may find this helpful.
See now, this is what we love about the bloggy world. It’s a mega-ginormous virtual library of tried and true tips and tricks. I love that the parents commenting there keep their kids - even the little ones - involved in the cleaning. Start from a young enough age, and it’ll be hard-wired into them.
Posted by mudlark @ 4:02 pm | 1 Comment
October 3, 2007 | Kitchen, Kids clean, Vinegar, Essential oils, Cleaning tips, Cleaning products
Shannon asked for this one. Now first of all, I can do this because my cleaners are 100% non-toxic, safe. If yours aren’t (like, if you use, say Formula 409) then I’d certainly recommend keeping them in their own ugly containers, locked in a cabinet that the kids can’t get to.
But, if you use safe household cleaners, like diluted vinegar with essential oils or Barefoot Home Essentials, most kitchen supply stores sell oil misters. I like to put some olive oil infused with fresh herbs in mine since my Calphalon cookware doesn’t like aerosol cooking sprays. But, you can also use one for your all-purpose cleaner (that is, if it’s non-toxic). The reason I caution you from putting anything toxic in it is simple. Your mother-in-law comes to visit and is cooking in your kitchen and !whoops!, or your kids are playing with what they found on the counter and —EEK— Call poison control!The one pictured to the right is from Williams-Sonoma, but I’ve seen them in ceramic and all sorts of other pretty appearances in kitchen stores and even grocery stores. If you use something toxic as an all-purpose, by all means keep it locked up tight. But if you use all-naturals, or if you’re willing to try it, put some diluted vinegar in there. Add some orange zest and a cinnamon stick, and you’ve got a pretty, sweet-smelling cure for most germs and grime.
That’s what works for me. Head over to Shannon’s place for more ideas.
Posted by mudlark @ 11:10 am | Comments
September 6, 2007 | Kids clean, Cleaning tips
To all you parents of toddlers out there, I have some information you’ll want to be aware of. Here it is: Age 3 is most certainly too early for glue sticks, glue, glue-based glitter pens, or anything glue based. Especially when it involves your grandmother’s mahogany table. Should your 3 year old decide to have a glue stick party (complete with blunt child-safe scissors and paper) at your mahogany table, a gentle all-purpose cleaner will become your BFF. We recommend Sun and Earth or Barefoot Home Essentials. You may need to complete the process with a furniture polish - treat that mahogany right after it’s been abused by your 3-yr old’s glue stick and then scrubbed with an all-purpose. While that all-purpose cleaner may become your BFF, your mahogany will never make nice with it. So the best advice is to keep the glue sticks put away, until your child is, say, 16. And then only give it to them under their express promise not to go near your grandmother’s mahogany table.
And in case you were wondering, even the all-purpose cleaner that’s your new BFF won’t remove most markers from your mahogany.
Posted by mudlark @ 7:42 pm | Comments
August 27, 2007 | Kids clean, Reviews, asthma, Health, Cleaning products, Pregnancy
We’ve talked about the dangers of alcohol-based hand sanitizers for children. But we’ve also talked recently about back-to-school germs. In the midst of all this, Germ-X sent me a new product to try that’s just showing up on shelves at Wal Mart. It’s an alcohol-free sanitizer with moisturizer, and it’s so new I can’t even find pictures of it online. It’s called Germ-X Advanced Protection, and I did find plenty of reviews and a few news stories toting its benefits though.
I tried it. It’s a foaming sanitizer, feels all nice and silky on the skin. And it has a nice fresh scent. But unfortunately, I can’t give it any more kudos. (more…)
Posted by mudlark @ 3:15 pm | Comments
August 1, 2007 | Kids clean
No - not the Army - your kids! From a very early age your kids can learn to participate in the upkeep of the home. And it’s good for everyone involved. You get a bit of a break, and your kids learn to be contributing members of the family. If you bring your children up to believe that cleaning up is fun they’re much more likely to view it positively as they grow older, as opposed to a chore. Here are some ways to enlist your kids from an early age:
(more…)Posted by mudlark @ 6:14 am | 3 Comments
