It’s so interesting that once our babies start toddling around, creating a lot more mess in their insatiably curious and neverending activity, we expect ourselves to have a perfectly tidy home. When your baby was younger you probably imagined that once she started sleeping through the night and playing independently you would get a handle on the chores. Surprise!

Mothering a toddler is fun but constant vigilance. Not only are you concerned with her physical safety but you are rightly concerned with her emotional health as well. You want to have fun and play with your little one but as an adult, you have a need for some order. What to do? Here are some tips that have worked for many other Moms.

Rethink Housework & Define Your Minimums

Try to lower your standards a bit. If your house could pass the white glove test before you had kids and you try to keep up that standard now, you could drive yourself nuts.

The kitchen is one of the dirtiest rooms in our homes. Because it is usually a high traffic area that gets daily use, kitchens get dirtier, faster than other areas of the home. Kitchen cabinets are often the dirtiest area of the kitchen because we are often afraid to clean cabinets for fear of ruining them. Kitchen cabinets can get really dirty over time though, if they are left unattended. Everything that comes in contact with them, or that is in the air in your kitchen builds-up over time and causes your cabinets to look dull, dingy and old. Grease, food particles, smoke, moisture, finger prints, grime, smudges and more are all found on the face of cabinets, with the bulk of it being found on handles and other high contact areas. In most cases, if your cabinets are starting to look bad, a good cleaning is all they need.

Should You Microfiber for Infection Control’s Sake?

By David Polonsky, CHESP, and J. Douglas Roill, Dr.Mgt, MS, RD, CHESP

Whether you are an infection control practitioner (ICP), director of housekeeping or an administrator, a microfiber mopping program may be one of the most significant floor-care innovations available to your facility in the past century. Those who have implemented a microfiber mopping system can appreciate not only the uniqueness of the system but have been witness to the numerous benefits. For those who have not yet considered this new wave or those struggling with the question of how or if to make the switch, this article will explain how one facility embraced this technology and how you too can microfiber.

The first test trials of microfiber mops in the U.S. took place almost 10 years ago, yet according to representatives from Nilfisk-Advance and Rubbermaid, two of the leading manufacturers of microfiber products, only 10 percent to 14 percent of all U.S. hospitals have implemented a microfiber mopping program.

The grape juice stain is perhaps one of the most feared of all stains. This is especially true if it spills on carpet. Grape juice has a natural pigment that can result in a dark colored stain. That reddish purple stain that is created often looks as if will never come out. Grape juice is really good though, so you wouldn’t want to stop drinking it in fear of the stain that may be a product of that enjoyment. So you need to prepare yourself for cleaning this type of stain so that you will no longer worry about the dreaded grape juice stain.