Grocery shopping, I also refer to this as "household shopping" because it includes things like toilet paper, trash bags, toothpaste....you get the idea. Not my favorite task but one that comes with my favorite job - being a wife and mom!

Even though I do use Instacart regularly now (and highly recommend it, if you follow the link here you get $10 off your first order!), as a mom (aka home manager) I still have days that require me to shop for the home.

I am a creature of habit, meaning I rotate between 3 stores for just about everything and get to know my stores inside and out but sometimes find the store has been rearranged or I am looking for an item that is not always on my list such as light bulbs, or an unusual ingredient for a recipe (fish sauce?).

I used to wander the store for hours (that’s a little dramatic...maybe lots of minutes but either way it was a frustrating waste of time) looking for said items and would be come frustrated due to the wasted time until...

While my previous post about Our Groceries is still applicable and it is still one of the most recommended grocery list apps I have recently discovered another list making app that seems to be more useful for us simply because my family seems more willing to use it!

It could be because we are a technologically mixed family – we have Apple users and Android users in this home. Yikes! 

I live by my lists. I am an avid Bullet Journal user and list making junkie so you can imagine my own surprise when I decided to start using a  grocery list app and discovered it is an effective, time efficient tool for the whole family!

We just lived through a big move across many miles and states. As with any move there is so much involved with "setting up house" in your new location.

Especially for us, we moved after 18 years in the same home so we did a LOT of purging. In addition to that our new home is not equipped with things like ceiling lights? I don't know about you but where I come from that is just a given. I need light. I have learned in this area, it is common for homes to come with lots of outlets (bonus!) but no ceiling lights. Add lamps to the list!

We had a lot to manage and faced many store runs in the process.

How many times have you done a quick tidy on the house because you just don't have time to really clean?

​Then the grime and gross builds up because after the event that caused you to do a quick clean you become busy with life and things "seem" clean enough after the quick tidy...

More days go by, another quick tidy, throw things in the dumping spot (ours is usually the office/guest room) do a quick wipe down with a cleaning wipe or towel - whatever is handy  - and move on.

Then, once again, the grime and gross builds up...until finally you have a mommy melt down send everyone to their rooms and deep clean the house for HOURS. Anyone else? I know I am  not alone...

I have a couple tips that may help you!

The Quick Tidy of the Clutter

Now this requires a product you may or may not have and *disclaimer* I sell these products!

I almost didn't post this in my "tips" because I don't want you to check out on me here.

Then I realized if I don't share this quick tip I won't be helping you, only keeping this amazing secret to myself. So by sharing its a win -win...and all the products are 100% satisfaction garunteed (that always helps when trying something new).

Norwex offers tons of products but my focus for the "quick clean that feels like a deep clean" is the Norwex Enviro Cloth.

This one item will allow you to do a "quick" , super quick, wipe down AND deep clean at the same time. 

How? This one cloth is made up of a patented microfiber that, with proper use and care, has the ability to clean up to 99% of all the bacteria (and gross, grime that builds up everywhere) from the surfaces of your home with the cloth and water only!

Prior to selling these products I tried a few and one by one quickly realized these products are saving me so much time (quick cleaning, no more gathering cleaning supplies and lugging them around the house) and  MONEY (no more loads of cleaning supplies and paper towels) . 

Here at the SOS blog I am always trying to save time and money then share those tips with you. Norwex products align with that goal perfectly - I am sure you can feel my excitement right!?! 

All Norwex Cleaning products have a two year warranty and 100% satisfaction garuntee! Again - saving money, a cleaning product that will last at least 2 years? with no more purchases required or special sprays or refills? yes please!

Check out my Norwex site: www.simplycleanwithwater.com for more information and to order one of these amazing cloths....oh and by the way this one cloth is often referred to as the "everything" cloth because it does just that, you can clean almost everything with this.

Talk about quick! No need to switch sprays and cleaning tools from room to room! I do like to have a separate one for the bathrooms just because...its the bathroom. 

I hope these tips serve you well as we head in to Thanksgiving and Christmas, then News Years Eve and all things NEW.

Happy Quick Cleaning!

Do you ever find yourself picking up the house over and over again, day after day? Do you ever find that you spend at best 30 minutes to an hour, or at worst a couple hours just putting things away, folding clothes, wiping down counters, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning up the kitchen?

I have been there many times. Feeling like a maid. Thinking I would rather be spending my time writing, reading, playing a game with my kids, anything but this!

Until I discovered and implemented the 15 minute clean up. Similar to The Big Comfy Couch 10 second tidy (anyone remember that?), the 15 minute clean up is an all hands on deck, mad dash, clean and straighten up the house all together, all at the same time! 

This is quite a bit different from many "clean your house in 15 minutes a day" plans which usually include choosing an area to light or deep clean for 15 minutes a day on  your own. This involves a whole house tidy (minus personal bedrooms) and takes team work!

15 minutes? Yes!  Depending on the size of your house, number of and age of participants 15 minutes should be enough time.

If you have limited participants (as in not many people living at your house) my guess is your house may not be that messy anyway. If you have an extremely large house - I am not sure if 15 minutes is enough time for a whole house quick clean you may have to do a 20 minute version, adjust the time as needed! If you have an average size house and 1 or 2 participants, other than yourself, this should be adequate time.

​Tweens and teens can do A LOT of work in 15 minutes. They just need specific directions when establishing this new routine, if you assume they "know" what to do jokes on you! Make sure you communicate your expectations clearly with your crew. After they actually do know what to do (because you have told them and shown them what you mean) you won't have to tell them every time, but be patient, you may have to repeat yourself a few times. 

It's important to have thick skin mom, this will not be a popular idea at first, if ever,  so expect some groaning and dramatic sighing.   

If you have younger ones you can teach them to do a job and do it well. It may not be perfect but it will be done and they will be learning important life skills and teamwork!

What can you do with 15 minutes? 

This is what we do:

• put all the clutter away
• clean up the kitchen including doing the dishes, emptying the dishwasher if needed, filling it up again
• fold the clothes and distribute them to the owner's rooms
• straighten up the living area
• clean up the kitchen table (which becomes a catch all)
• sweep the floors
• do a quick clean and straighten on the hall / guest bathroom (putting clutter away, wiping down the sink area, empty the trash, straighten the mats, wipe down the toilet, take out any dirty clothes on the floor, sweep the floor)

​Your list of to-do's may be different. You decide what tasks should be done during your clean up time.

We try to make it fun with a good play list (singing loud and dancing highly recommended! especially by mom). We set the timer so we know when to stop. 

Setting a timer is very important for the kids, they will work harder knowing there is an end time. This is also important for you, mom, so you can move on to something much better than cleaning!

On that note, if members of your 15 minute crew are being purposefully sloth like, just give a friendly warning that another 15 minute session is not out of the question if everyone isn't working as fast and as hard as they can! Positive peer pressure.

The best part is - knowing we will be doing the 15 minute clean up helps me concentrate on other tasks instead of thinking "I better do the dishes before I...." or "I need to fold these clothes before I..." 

This is such a time saver! 15 minutes of team work saves me at least an hour a day (sometimes more!) allowing me to spend my time on things I love to do, including quality time with my family!

I like to do this before we leave the house for the day so when we return from afternoon/evening activities or a day out we come home to a clean house!

The idea for the 15 minute clean up is my own adaptation of a quick teamwork tidy idea Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman a book that was recommended in a blog post by, Amy Spencer. Her blog The Many Sides of Amy is delightful. So encouraging, funny, heartfelt and full of love. I highly recommend it!

Please comment and let me know if you try this time saving tip! It has done wonders for me not only with time management but mentally (I operate better in a space that is at the very least picked up!).

 Large Family Logistics and Home Management Plain and Simple  By Kim Brenneman

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