Features
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Spring into Spring!
Say goodbye to winter (we hope!) and Spring into Spring with safety tips to keep you and your family safe, green solutions for everyday living and spring cleaning advice from professional organizer and 918moms.com blogger, Clear the Clutter.If you tweet and Facebook about your family's vacations, you may be rolling out the welcome map for thieves.Spring Break Safety
Checklist for Traveling with Kids
Spring Cleaning 101
Seeing Green
The National Crime Prevention Council says preventing crime during family travel starts with making sure your home is protected while you're away. The key is to make it look like you never left:- Keep shades and blinds in their normal positions.
- Stop mail and newspapers or ask a neighbor to pick them up every day.
- Put timers on several household lights so they turn on and off at appropriate times. You can also put your radio on a timer.
- Arrange to have the grass mowed or snow shoveled while you're gone.
- Make sure your door and window locks are in working order. If you have a home alarm, activate it.
- Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway overnight- anything that might suggest someone's at home.
Preparing for a family trip requires a lot of planning. You need to decide where you're going, where you'll stay and how you'llget from one place to another. You also have to decide what to take on your trip. Some tips from the National Crime Prevention Council include:- Clean out your wallet or purse before you go. Take only essential credit cards. Plan to use credit cards or traveler's checks instead of cash wherever possible.
- Carry your purse close to your body or your wallet in an inside front pocket. Another option is a fanny pack or money pouch under your clothes.
- Pack as lightly as possible. Lots of heavy, cumbersome bags will slow you down and make you more vulnerable to getting robbed.
- Keep a separate record of the contents of checked luggage. Keep anything of value such as medicine and jewelry in a carry-on.
Checklist for Traveling with Kids
Planning ahead is key when traveling with kids. Here's a checklist adapted from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website so you can prepare and make the trip as hassle-free as possible.Keep in mind- the TSA has to screen everyone, regardless of age (even babies), before they can go through the security checkpoint. The TSA will not ask you to do anything that will separate you from your child or children. The TSA website states, " We specially train our Security Officers and they understand your concern for your children. They will approach your children gently and treat them with respect. If your child becomes uncomfortable or upset, security officers will consult you about the best way to relieve your child's concern."
- All carry-on baggage, including children's bags and items, must go through the X-ray machine. Examples include: diaper bags, blankets, and toys.
- All child-related equipment that will fit through the X-ray machine must go through the X-ray machine. Examples include: strollers, umbrella-strollers, baby carriers, car and booster seats, backpacks, and baby slings.
- When you arrive at the checkpoint, collapse or fold your child-related equipment. Secure items that are in the pockets, baskets, or attached to the equipment and place it on the X-ray belt for inspection. Plastic bins are provided to deposit such items. If any of your child-related equipment does not fit through the X-ray machine, security officers will visually and physically inspect it.
- Medications, baby formula and food, breast milk, and juice are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding 3.4 ounces (100ml) and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint. You should only carry on the liquids and gels needed for you and your infant/toddler’s immediate comfort. You should pack larger volumes needed for your trip in your checked bag.
- All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in 3.4 ounce (100ml) or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be 3.4 ounces (100ml) or smaller.
- Parents or guardians of children with disabilities should... inform the security officer if the child has any special needs or medical devices and offer suggestions on how to best accomplish the screening to minimize any confusion or outburst for the child. Tell the security officer what are your child's abilities are. Know that at no time should the Security Officer remove your child from his/her mobility aid (wheelchair or scooter). You are responsible for removing your child from his/her equipment at your discretion to accomplish screening.
Your home is secured and now you're packed. Remember that tourists are tempting targets for thieves. To avoid attracting crime like a magnet, the National Crime Prevention Council recommends the following:- Don't display expensive jewelry, cameras, bags and other items that might draw attention.
- Check maps before you go out so you can tour confidently.
- Stick to well-lighted, well-traveled streets at all times. No short cuts.
- Always lock your car when it's parked, even if the stop is brief. Keep valuables out of site, preferably locked in the trunk. Don't advertise that you're a tourist by leaving maps and guidebooks on the seat or dashboard.
If you tweet and Facebook about your family's vacations, you may be rolling out the welcome map for thieves.As people reveal their whereabouts on social networking sites, friends and the not-so-friendly elements, are taking notice. One example is a newly-launched website called Please Rob Me. This website warns, " The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you're definitely not... home. So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home."
Please Rob Me states the goal of the website is to "raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information. "
Spring Cleaning 101
by Michelle Lehman
“The National Soap and Detergent Association believes getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of the housework in the average home”! Need I say more!?!?Certainly, there’s a lot to be said for the first spring cleaning. It’s a good time of year to start deep cleaning the dirt, dust and disorder that’s crept into your house over the winter. By doing a thorough clean once a year, no area of the home gets too out of whack that can’t be managed by your normal dusting, mopping, vacuuming and cleaning the mirrors. With the longer days brings a new burst of energy and raising our spirits for summer vacation.
Let’s start with the obvious clutter. Things which are just laying around, like magazines or newspapers, clothing on the floor, bills/paperwork, or things out of place are the easiest to tackle first. These are also the things that will make you feel the most out-of-sorts. Take the time to put these things in recycling bin, closets, files or trashcan. Now for everything else that is just lying around and is a permanent item or something I wish to keep, put it in its home.
With everything put away and the clutter gone from our homes…let’s start our spring cleaning madness! Let’s get crazy, are you ready for this!?!? I am thinking we should make a spring cleaning song here and we could all play it as we are cleaning our homes…American Idol anyone!?!? Or should we just go for a record deal!?!?
I know this is going to sound even crazier but let’s make this a family event! Pick this weekend or any other and gather the family for Spring Cleaning! As a reward you can order a pizza for dinner and maybe a little extra money for their piggy banks.
Before we gather the family for the fun weekend, take some time to analyze your home and make notes of the areas of concern or improvements for each room. Hopefully you have already “cleared the clutter” in your home so we are just focusing on the cleaning and organization of your home.
Work on one room at a time, even if you'll be doing similar chores like washing walls or vacuuming in several rooms. You'll get a greater feeling of accomplishment, and save steps. Put all your cleaning supplies, including dusting cloths and paper towels, into a bucket to carry from room to room. Give a specific job to each person so that as you move from room to room, everyone knows the game plan!
Now that the family got together for a fun weekend of spring cleaning, let’s find ways we can fix the problems before they reoccur again in each room. Ask yourself, do I need some sort of a tool for organization to help or is the problem a habit that just needs to be enforced? Keep in mind that the best organizing system of shelves, hooks, and baskets does no good if it isn’t utilized and you have cooperation from your family, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page or just threaten them with a “Monthly Weekend Cleaning”!!!
All rooms:
- Thoroughly dust and vacuum all surfaces, including baseboards and under furniture.
- Take down curtains and wash or send out for dry cleaning. Wash windowsills and blinds. I personally would leave washing windows for another fun weekend project or hire a window company to wash them. I hate washing windows!!!!
- Wash the walls. This is easy, if you use a sponge mop, a bucket of diluted all-purpose cleaning solution and start at the bottom and move up.
- Roll up area rugs and vacuum the floor beneath them; then vacuum both sides of the rug thoroughly.Kitchen:
-Wipe tops of cabinets, fridge coils and appliances. If possible, move appliances out and clean or vacuum under them. Then thoroughly clean the interior of your refrigerator with baking soda and water, or use an all-purpose spray cleaner.
- Wash your dishwasher with a packet or two of Kool-Aid Lemonade to remove build-up. Make sure your dishwasher is empty.
- Scrub floor with an all-purpose cleaning solution and a scrub brush to get out ground-in grime.. Use tile cleaner to clean grout on ceramic tile and some stone floors.Bathrooms:
- Scrub around faucets with bathroom cleaner and an old toothbrush to get rid of built-up soap scum. If mildew on tile is a problem, use the toothbrush and tile cleaner to get rid of it.
- Take down shower curtains and plastic liner and wash.Bedrooms:
- Strip all the sheets, blankets, including bed-skirt, and wash. Flip your mattress and box spring and spray lightly with fabric freshener.
- I would add organize and clean out your closets and drawers but I know you already did that a couple of weeks ago when I suggested it, right?Once you have all of the systems in place and everything has been cleaned from top to bottom you can implement your changes immediately. Force yourself to remember to put your keys in the new bowl, don’t just throw the mail on the counter, sort it and file your bills in one area, recycle the flyers and put the magazines in the basket so the mail does not pile up on the kitchen counters. Ask for your family’s help. If they see a magazine on the counter hopefully they will take the initiative to put it away in the basket for you. You may find that initially your family will find this whole new routine annoying and that is was easier to just drop things around the house but, once they get used to putting things away in the end they will prefer that knowing where things are is a lot better than wasting time hunting for the things all over the house. Be patient, it is not going to change overnight but you are well on your way to having an organized home!
Contact Organizing Solutions professional organizer, Michelle Lehman
Seeing Green
With an expanding cornucopia of sustainable building and remodeling options that marry "killer" looks with "killer" utility bills, Tulsans continue to seek green solutions to their energy needs, whether remodeling for pleasure or to age in place. The March issue of Tulsa People magazine unearths green solutions.
