Domestic Bliss

In the midst of all the gardening and preparation for the greenhouse arrival I’ve also been trying to re-engage with the daily round of cleaning and keeping the house tidy.  I keep trying new regimes – a day dedicated to cleaning; a room a day but I think I’ve finally figured out that for me the best regime is to do downstairs at the beginning of the week and then upstairs just before the weekend.  This means we start off the weekend with clean sheets and a clean bathroom and that the living areas get sorted out after the chaos of the weekend and I don’t get overwhelmed with guilt if the house doesn’t look perfect all the time. 

In my battle with the daily grind of house hold chores I have found some fabulous allies.

My trusty broom, dustpan and brush.  They are a true pleasure to use on wooden floors and much easier and friendlier than a vacuum cleaner. I like the cheery dot pattern too - it makes cleaning easier when you like your tools.

My household cleaners; caustic soda and oils for making soap, soda crystals and borax for making laundry liquid and bicarbonate of soda for making bathroom cleaner. These and some tea tree oil are all the chemicals I really need under my sink - yes really Jean-Luc,, return that cleaner to the supermarket and stick to the shopping list!

Just under 9 litres of homemade laundry liquid, scented with tea tree and lime essential oils.  Recipe as usual on the fabulous Rhonda's  Down to Earth blog - do visit her; her blog on simple living is fascinating and full of useful tips and recipes as well as being a damned good read.

 And lastly, my old favourite jeans finally got holes in, so having an even older, more threadbare of jeans waiting in the wings for just this sort of thing, I cut them up and patched my beloved favourites.  Perfect for wearing at weekends and in the garden - probably not perfect for being the first pair of jeans you throw on in the morning prior to a meeting with a partner agency, as I did the other day - I only realised as I sat on the second train staring idly at my legs thinking 'these are really comfortable'.  Lesson learned - pay more attention when getting dressed. Doh!