Is the sun peeking through your windows casting light on all the dust balls? Is it time to go through the kid’s clothes and sort through your outgrown winter wardrobe? Ready to dig out the camping gear that’s piled behind boxes in the garage?

There is something about the energy of spring that inspires people to clean and organize. After the dark of winter, huddling in our caves, we are ready to lighten our loads!

But, you are also a busy parent and the thought of a spring clean can be overwhelming, right? I know it is for me. So, I am going to challenge you to a Six-week Spring Clean Plan!

If you follow the rules below, I promise this can work for you! At my house, last week we did the fridge, this week we worked on the yard and next week we are sorting out all the outgrown baby clothes.

The Rules

1. Make a list of all the areas in your home that you would love to clean or organize.


2. Pick your top six areas. If you can get your family enrolled in the challenge, let them help you pick the top areas. That gets more buy-in for help.


3. Break your top choices into tasks that can be done in less than one hour. Keep it reasonable for the amount of time you have. Set yourself up to succeed!


4. Choose at least one task per week for the next six weeks. This will have you complete by the time summer rolls around.


5. Pick a time that you know will work for you and put it on the calendar. When you work on your task, set a timer or watch the clock. Commit to being done in one hour - or less!

Quick cleaning ideas

Here are some suggestions of Spring Clean ideas that can be done in less than one hour:

• Clean out the fridge – for real. You know, with a sponge, cleaner, etc.


• Sort and organize the kid’s clothes. Sell unwanted items on Craigslist!


• Wipe down the baseboards in your home. No fun, but they’ll look great.


• Clean the windows in the main room of your house. Do another area the next time.


• Rake the yard, pull some weeds, organize the kid's outdoor toys.


• Go through and sell books, CDs or DVDs you don't need.


• Move the furniture in the common rooms and mop/sweep/vacuum under it.


• Clean out your email box and computer desktop. Then back up all your files.

Making it work

Answering some basic questions about your needs and habits can make the difference in a challenge like this. Here are some to ask yourself:

Who can help you? Get your family on board to enjoying a cleaner, more organized space. Or invite a friend to trade time with you. You go help organize your friend’s garage and she/he will do the same with you.

How can you make it fun and easy? Pick some great music or listen to a podcast while you work. Bribe yourself (and family members) with a yummy treat when you finish. One client shared with me that she cracked a beer and cleaned out the fridge on a Friday night while her husband played with their toddler. And, she said: “It was satisfying...as satisfying as a bubble bath and a glass of wine, believe it or not!”

When is the very best time to do it? Probably when the kids are more needy or fussy is not ideal. Neither is a time when you are feeling tired or scattered. Perhaps mid-morning on a weekend day before everyone gets their activities started.

How can you involve the kids? For older kids, keep it fun and don’t pressure them to participate. You might be surprised when they volunteer. And with younger kids, find a special way to help them feel a part of the activity. They are at an age where “helping” is fun! We started in our yard yesterday and my toddler had a blast picking up pinecones. Remember, your kids feed off your energy and mood. If you have a positive attitude about what you are doing, they are more likely to participate.

Be SMART about it! Revisit our post about making goals work for you.

So, what can you do this week to help spring clean your home? Leave a comment and share your plans. In a few weeks we can chat again to see what we've all accomplished!

I’m feeling better already!

When it comes to material to make everyday items, glass is one of the most beautiful as well as green materials. One of the main reasons it is environmentally-friendly is that it can be endlessly recycled. When recycled, plastic and paper are actually down-cycled, meaning they are made into a product of lesser quality. Eventually they cannot be recycled and end up in the landfill. Of course we should continue to recycle our paper and plastic, but we must do so with the understanding that we're prolonging their time of use before they will ultimately be discarded. Glass, on the other hand, can be recycled into a new glass product of equal quality.

It’s unfortunate that many grocery store items in recent years have switched from glass to plastic packaging. Hopefully we will see a reversal of this trend as companies take more responsibility for their effects on the environment and consumer demand for glass increases.

Here are some companies making recycled glass products I'd love to have in my home:

Fire and Light is a company creating colored glass tableware from recycled glass. The company was started as a partnership with the Arcata Community Recycling Center in Humboldt County, California. They are made of over 91% recycled glass and come in a rainbow of different colors. Visit their website to find a retailer that sells their tableware.

The Green Glass Company is based in Wisconsin and sells a variety of glasses and vases made from recycled glass. My favorite is the “Assorted Clear Pop”, a set of 4 tumblers made from old soda bottles with the colorful bottle design still in place.

Looking to remodel your kitchen? Vetrazzo has some beautiful countertop options made from recycled glass which makes up 85% of the material. They even track where the glass came from and provide you with a Certificate of Transformation that tells you the story of the glass that makes up the product that you bought. And when you have gotten years of use out of your countertop and you decide to replace it, Vetrazzo will take it back and recycle it into new countertops.

Vivaterra is a company committed to selling sustainable, earth and people-friendly products for the home. Among their many products they sell many recycled glass products. Some of my favorites include the Recycled Glass Terrarium in the shape of a pear. It comes with sand and four air plants that need minimal maintenance but create a beautiful display for your home or a great gift for a nature lover. I love the bright colors of the Sol Recycled Mini Glass Bowls and Saucers set. And the Recycled Glass Live Edge Servers would be great for parties.

Let us know in the comments if you have come across any great recycled glass products!

Confession: I have only just started turning off lights as I leave a room. My wasteful habit required three years of spousal nagging to cure, but cure he did (with a little help from guilt-inducing mass media). So, I was interested to read the spirited discussion at Parent Hacks last week about how to foster energy-saving habits in children. Where had my parents failed?

One mother wrote that she confiscates light bulbs when they’re left on. Gradually, her children’s rooms fade to black. Light bulbs are re-introduced when a parent is caught leaving a room without turning a light off. Another, more draconian parent turns off the fuses in his children’s rooms at the circuit breaker. They must turn the breaker back on themselves, which teaches children (adolescents, in this parent's case) where the breaker box is.

Of course, these suggestions raised cries of being overly hardcore, and potentially dangerous. Other, gentler suggestions followed. Some parents bring their children into the conversation about saving, discussing power bills, opting together to purchase wind energy. Creating charts to help children see how their habits have helped the family reduce their power bill could be also prove useful.

One family installs motion-sensitive switches some rooms, like the bathroom. This wouldn't work in most rooms, however, and the challenges of illumination made me think how turning lights off and on at the switch can be impossible for children, and I started to look for solutions. I can’t train a child to turn off a light if she can’t reach it.

Some lamp switches can be difficult for even adults to use. It’s simple to change a traditional lamp to a pull-chain - a lamp store can sell you a new mount for the bulb for a few dollars or you can order them online.

Kidswitch makes a light switch extender that mounts on wall-switches that are too high for your child to reach. You can order one through Amazon for about $9. Jeremiah and Jenni used one of these for Z in her bedroom for a while, and swear by it.

I’ve never before taken The Clapper seriously as a product, but it might work for a child. The novelty of clapping a light off and on might remind them to clap it off. Alternately, it might remind them to turn the light on and off incessantly.

Once the physics of lamp illumination and cessation are mastered, conservation can begin. At that point, traditional avenues, like docking allowance, might be helpful. And your savings could be applied to your power bill. Let us know if you figure out how to use pinwheels to generate wind energy!