When kids come visiting, be prepared!

I can imagine that a new mother with twins is bound to gain popularity overnight. Friends and relatives are most likely to visit with their children in tow to welcome the new babies. So, my idea today is to protect cushions from being stained by visiting children.

You should be interested in this tip too because it is going to help save cleaning time, water, make use of some treasured discards.

So, what do you need?

1) Lovely nice plastic bags you have been getting buying baby or adult clothings. Here is an example.



2) Lovely t-shirts that your children have outgrown. I love these souvenir t-shirts, bought by relatives while they were on holiday overseas. It is grand to think that they have thought about my children.



If you are expecting children to visit, slip your cushions...



...into the plastic bags.



Now slip the t-shirt over the plastic bag so that opening of the bag is at the side of the t-shirt.



The children will love it when they play with the cushions because of the sound the plastic bags will make. And if any of them, including yours, stained the cushion, just remove and replace the stained t-shirt with another.

It is easier to wash a t-shirt which you can throw into the washing machine than a cushion cover and the stain will not seep into the fillings of the cushions. It is more likely that you have to wash the whole set of cushion covers even if one has been stained. You do not want one piece to look obviously cleaner than the rest, do you?

It can also be a great conversation starter. Like, "Oh, you have been to Australia?" or "Check out this tactile cushion idea I created for my children".

Like this idea too? In that case you are going to like my next idea better. Just watch out for it in my next posting.

Mopping? Read my savings tips first.

The twins are due soon. They are not mine but my friend's and I am sure that she will love these savings ideas I have to ease her household chores once her family of 3 shoots up to 5 members. You should be interested too because you can also reduce some wastage in your home.

Let's start with savings tips for mopping the floor. Would you believe it if I say that I can mop a floor space of 25m by 75m with half a pail of floor cleaning solution? And it is only about 3 quarter full.



To be able to do that, you need this kind of mop handle for...



...this kind of slip on mop.



To use it with ease, you need to drape over the mop, a laundry bag for washing your delicate clothings in washing machine or an old stocking. The zip on this laundry bag shown here is damaged. So,...



...instead of throwing it away, I slipped it on to the mop to reduce friction against the floor and ease movement of cleaning.



When you mop this way, the dust and dirt will clump up together,



...making it easier for you to push them together before you sweep it up into a dustpan with a broom.



When you use a broom, the dust will disperse as you sweep and settle elsewhere. In fact, you can see the finer dust stuck to the laundry bag in this picture.



Remove the laundry bag and the mop to wash. But don't wash them in the pail of cleaning solution. I usually wash them under running water. But if you are concern about wasting too much water in the process, use another pail of water for that.



For this write up, I have collected the running water I used each time I removed the dirty laundry bag and mop to wash. This is how much water I have used. Look at the murky colour and you will know that it is an effective way to mop the floor.



Also, as you can see, my pail of cleaning solution still looked as good to clean.



I usually use that to wash the bathroom.

Also, if you rinse your your mop and laundry bag properly, you can throw them into the washing machine to wash.

So, this is my tips for the day for:

1) saving water
2) saving cleaning solution
3) saving old laundry bag or stocking
4) saving energy because the mop is lighter and not as difficult to wrung
5) saving time handwashing the mop

You can also use this mop dry. That way it functions like a broom. However, make sure that you do not buy the type with broad base as it will be difficult to reach under low tables and cupboard to clean up.

And what do I do when the mop wears out on me?



I get a new one and use the old one for the kitchen. I don't bother sewing up the loose seams. Since I drape a laundry bag over the mop, it hangs on to the handle just fine.

Watch out for more shortcuts and green savings tips that I have up my sleeves in the next posting.