Spot Shot

I have to give credit for finding this GREAT item to a book my sister gave me for Christmas one year. The name of the book is How the Queen Cleans Everything. The wonderful product?

Spot Shot. It's awesome at getting out stains. Let's just say that a purple grape had been on the floor of our vehicle a few days and left a stain and the stain came out easily. I find it in the cleaner aisle at Wal-Mart.

Your Opinion Needed

I am a hands and knees kind of floor mopper, AND I have these ugly light colored vinyl kitchen floors as well as tile in the bathrooms, and hardwood floors in just about the whole rest of the house. On top of that, I have four little ones constantly trampling the floor and bringing dirt in. Honestly, I only mop my kitchen once a week although my floors could stand a lot more, but my knees just can't. "Why not use a push mop?" is the famous question. The reply? Because all they do after the first use is push dirt around, not clean it up. Imagine my interest when I saw the infomercial on the Shark Steam Mop. Wow! Does that look great! It says that it can get your floors cleaner than anything else, and it has a washable mophead........just what I would need if I were to use a push mop. After asking around, I have found a couple of people who have purchased this mop and really like it a lot. My brother being one of those people, testified to the fact that they USED to have a paint spot on their floor that they could never get up until they bought the Shark Steam Mop. Sounds great to me. Here's my delimma. I started looking at reviews of steam mops on the internet and found that the Shark has a competitor with a much higher rating. It's called the Bissell Steam Mop. What I would like to know is, are there any people out there who would like to testify to the goodness or badness of either of these mops. One thing I do know. I sure am planning on eventually getting one.......which one is the question.

If you are interested in either of these products, Target carries the Shark Steam Mop in its store, and Wal-Mart carries the Bissell Steam Mop on its website. I'm not sure if they are actually in the Wal-Mart stores.

Some Helpful Hints

Being a parent of three little ones, I often come across something that my children have done and wonder how in the world am I going to remove that!!!!!!!!!! Here are a couple of common items that I love.
Rubbing alcohol--does wonders on ink and permanent marker. One of my little girls decided that black marker would look beautiful all over her pink wall. I took a baby wipe and poured alcohol on it and washed the marker off the wall. The more porous the object, the more difficult it is to get the marker or ink off, but I still recommend alcohol. If a regular ink pen marks on a garment, try pouring alcohol on the mark and throwing it in the wash. That usually works pretty well too.
We also use rubbing alcohol to clean our CD's that have little finger prints all over them.
When I was in college, we also used rubbing alcohol to clean our telephones. Have you ever looked at your telephone. It gets this gunk on the earpiece......anyway, you get the picture. In fact, I may go clean my phone right now!

Back With the Program..........I Hope!

I know I haven't written anything up here in a long while. I was discouraged with the lack of results from this site, and then..........I got morning sickness. It was not at all conducive to writing blog articles, home schooling, and just being a mom. Hopefully the trend of nothing up here will be over for a while.
As a quick recommendation, I would like to say that I really like Shout stain remover gel. I just came across a site that tells the opinions of different stain removers. You might like to check it out too!

Magic Erasers

If you have been looking for that “magic” cleaning tool, you need search no longer. The Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean is the end of your quest. I know from personal experience that not only does it do a great job of cleaning surfaces soiled with dirt and grime but it is also fantastic at removing unwanted pen, crayon, marker and pencil marks. Believe me, with three little children, I use my Magic Eraser often! There are several different kinds of Magic Erasers targeted to different needs, and they are widely available at such stores as Target and Wal-Mart.

submitted by: R.S.

photo courtesy of: Mr. Clean

Microfiber towels

We bought a new vehicle about two months ago. For us, that meant getting new car care items. My husband came across some great towels to dry off the vehicles. I love them. You may already use them, but they are new to me. They are Microfiber towels made by Calderon Textiles. They just seemed to suck the water right up. The ones we bought are orange, but I have noticed that they come in a variety of colors. My husband bought ours at the Dollar General; however, they are also available at you regular old Wal-Mart and Target.