SPRINGSPECIAL

MOORESVILLE TRIBUNE
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www.mooresvilletribune.com
HOME & GARDEN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012
9A
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Tips and tricks to get your home clean for spring
Following winter months
spent indoors, it’s important to take the time to get
rid of the dust, dirt and allergens that accumulate in
your house. Use these tips
to get your home organized and clean:
» Gather your arsenal.
Save yourself time and hassle by organizing the items
you’ll need, such as rubber gloves, scrub brushes,
multi-purpose cleansers,
etc. into one bucket with a
handle.
» Cover the basics. Make
sure to dust, disinfect and
clean all of your surfaces,
as well as those areas that
get the most use. Sanitize telephones, remote
controls, door knobs and
counter tops. Take down
and launder curtains and
wipe down window blinds
using a damp sponge.
» Tackle the kitchen. Focus on the key areas. Using a solution of half water,
half white distilled vinegar,
wipe down the plastic
and glass components of
the refrigerator. Sprinkle
baking soda onto a damp
sponge and clean counter
tops, stainless steel sinks,
the oven range, and within
your microwave. To remove soap buildup in your
dishwasher, pour a cup of
white vinegar in an empty
machine and run through
the cycle.
“Most people are unaware that the kitchen sink
is one spot with the most
germs,” says Clay Nichols
of www.DadLabs.com, a
website that helps modern
dads tackle the challenges
of paternity, one day at a
time. Nichols understands
the challenges of juggling a
busy schedule and tackling
household chores. He suggests using the moments
in between other tasks to
clean as you go.
» Clean early and often.
If areas of your house are
forgotten for weeks at a
time, dirt, dust and allergens can build up quickly.
“Kids and pets can create a
lot of mess in a house,” says
Nichols. “It is important to
clean daily, and in doing so,
you free up your weekend
for quality family time.”
» Don’t forget to look high
and low. Dirt and dust don’t
only settle on the ground.
To reach the tops of bookshelves and ceiling corners, use a high powered
vacuum such as the Hoover
WindTunnel Air Bagless
Upright vacuum with a 12foot premium stretch hose
that allows for optimal
cleaning reach. Weighing
just 12 pounds, it’s easy
to use in any part of the
house, and the powerful
wind technology helps remove even deeply embedded dirt within carpeting.
For hard-to-reach areas,
you can use the on-board
attachments to get behind
the couch, the refrigerator
and along baseboards — it
Ways to get the kids gardening
appropriate tools for your Enjoy
children to use, so they can
You’veworkedhardprundig in the soil and water ing, weeding and watering
the plants right alongside your plants, and now, you
you.
have a blooming garden
to show for it. Don’t forget
Harvest
to teach your children the
Now it’s time to enjoy the importance of appreciatfruits of your labor, liter- ing the beauty of nature.
ally. Once your plants are Take a break to sit back,
ready for harvest, work relax and enjoy your garwith your kids to find den, as you contemplate
great-tasting recipes they what crops and flowers to
will love, incorporating the include the following year.
foods grown by you.
Cultivating your garden
From vegetable pizza to and watching it grow need
salad to fruit smoothies, not be a solitary activity. By
the nutritious meals you getting your children inplan and make together volved in the process, you
Teach
will be extra satisfying will teach them valuable
Kids are never too young when you know the in- skills they can use for the
to learn how plants grow gredients came from your rest of their lives.
andwheretheirfoodcomes own backyard.
From StatePoint Media
from. In fact, growing a
garden is an ideal handson lesson in life science,
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ecology and nutrition,
and is a lot more fun than
simply hitting the books.
However, some of the concepts of gardening may be
difficult for younger kids to
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Giving your kids their
Envirowood
very own gardening projects will help motivate
them to cultivate their
green thumbs.
A gardening set designed
with kids in mind is a great
way to get them started.
For example, Miracle-Gro
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Be sure to invest in age-
can even be used to clean
upholstered furniture.
» Check behind the lines.
When cleaning carpets,
flooring and baseboards,
move furniture out of the
way. If you’re looking to
refresh a room, try placing
key pieces in new spots.
To get rid of the carpet indentations left behind by
heavy furniture, place ice
cubes an inch to an inchand-a-half apart within
the indentations and allow them to melt. The carpet fibers will absorb the
moisture and begin to take
form.
» Fight allergies. Remove
dust and pet hair with the
Dirt Devil UpKeep Turbo.
This new cyclonic upright
vacuum cleaner is easy to
maneuver and features a
HEPA filtration system.
“This vacuum will help
ensure your home is ready
for all kinds of traffic at a
price that won’t keep you
from enjoying other family
activities,” says Nichols.
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Spring is here and it’s
time to think about your
garden again. This year, as
you cultivate your thriving plot, think about ways
to get your whole family involved in gardening
— which makes for a great
fresh air activity.
Not only is gardening a
terrific way to spend time
with your kids, but it also
regularly gets them outside and away from their
TVs and computers. Here
are some tips to get your
little couch potatoes growing potatoes instead:
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For more cleaning tips
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