Friday, January 24, 2025

Visiting Zandvoort in The Netherlands and a Free Dutch Design

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

As the wind is picking up and more clouds are moving in, I sure am grateful for the warmth and protection of my home while I write this. My last trip to The Netherlands was a chilly one with a lot of wind. I'll be sharing some of the details so that you might get an idea on what these towns and cities in The Netherlands are like. The towns are Zandvoort, Haarlem and Amsterdam. Perhaps you'd like to visit one day or maybe you're just curious.

There are plenty of destinations on this planet that I have absolutely no interest in going to and others where I'd really, really love to see. Places like Australia and Japan are at the top of my list, but I'm fairly sure I'll never get there. I love watching shows in these places and seeing images from friend's visits and pictures from the internet. Today, I'll be giving some tips and my opinions about these places through scrapbook pages and the free kit.

traveling in the netherlands

I already shared two blogs on visiting Monschau, Germany. You can scroll back and check those out and grab both free designs. Here's the first and this is the second.

Above is my friend I traveled with standing on Zandvoort Beach. As a former Floridian, I am not at all crazy about the beaches in The Netherlands or Belgium. That's just me.The Netherlands does have a lot more nature on their shores, but when you look over the ocean you get a very industrial vibe which completely clashes with the natural zen I try to get. The sea is full of enormous cargo ships and windmills and the sky is usually filled with, heavy steel gray clouds. It's even cold in the summer (to me) and the winds are often whipping sand in your face. I digress.

As you can see in the photo above, we had a rare glance of sunshine and blue skies. It didn't last long. By the time we walked a couple of meters, the rain started pouring. Good thing there was a place or two right on the beach where you can get something to eat and or drink. There are a lot of places, but most are not open all year. Despite a sizeable town with many permanent residents.

The buildings along the seaside are ghastly in architecture and just on the outside of the town Zandvoort, it gets worse. It reminds me of something you might see in 1960's Russia. It is a total downer. I suppose the plus side is that those on welfare can live on the beach? Can we not agree that most of today's architecture has little to beholden, unimaginative and often offensive in its simplicity? 

visiting zandvoort

We stayed 3 nights in a place that was only one street over from the beach and a good walk from the town's center which was full of shops and a bunch of cozy cafes and restaurants. Whoo hoo! Zandvoort was really a super cute town for a day's visit.Our tiny apartment was ok. I think it fair to say that Zandvoort is a tourist kind of town.

There were a lot of chain shops and a few unique ones sprinkled here and there. There was a big grocery store and a kram met vis enz. Mmmm... (a food truck with fish delights)

Gosh darn! We just missed the town's weekly market. I think it may have been a Wednesday? I am losing interest in the weekly markets here in Belgium. The prices are not competitive by any means and most of the sellers are not offering unique items. If you've not been to one, I'd still go to check it out, though. It's nothing like what we've got in The States.

Like many, many Air BnB's our place was decked out with Ikea furniture and broken appliances. The toilet right on top of the dining room. Ugh! Ya had to go up a tiny, steep staircase (very typical in The Netherlands) to get to the living/sleeping area which we didn't really dig because ya pretty much have to go to bed and wake up at the same time and if ya have to pee in the middle of the night, a little dangerous, but it was quiet, clean, warm and overall, nice.

eating in holland

I've spent a lot of time in The Netherlands and even lived there a few months and I can honestly say, I am not a fan of the food. Especially food in restaurants. I am a kind of budget client, though. I'm happy to get out of a restaurant for under 30 Euros, drinks included. The prices were fine everywhere we went, but the fare itself is mostly unappealing to me. I feel the same about England. I often go for ethnic restaurants because England's and The Netherlands cuisine just ain't mah thang.

There are some "specialty" menu items you can get that are ok like bitterballen (which my friend loved) and kibbeling (fried fish). The Netherlands is pretty darn good for fish. I love a herring (maatjes) sandwich, which is popular at markets and in big cities and towns. Find them in Zandvoort by the grocery store on the main square. Pancakes are very popular and usually palatable. In The Netherlands, pancakes are not always sweet. In the above scrapbook page, there is a picture of a pannenkoek with brie, pine nuts and a salad slapped in the middle. The Dutch pannenkoeken is like a French crepe. My friend liked it, but I was cringing. Hehehe... I had fish and chips that were ok.

Take note, if you are visiting Europe from the U.S. there are no free refills, no ice (unless you ask), no free tap water (France has somewhat of an exception.) and you have to pay a small fortune for a glass bottle of water. Soda costs more than beer and wine (usually) and condiments like ketchup and mayonnaise costs extra. Typically, around 1 Euro to 1.50 for a minuscule amount.

How about that first picture on the above page, though? Now, that was one heck of a presentation and the restaurant was super cozy. All of that food was for us, two, old ladies! We didn't even eat half of it. There was a few German things in this restaurant. I had an absolutely delicious German beer and there was schnitzel on that board that wasn't too shabby. Overall, we enjoyed the heck out of everything. The place was also by the main square.

shopping in the netherlands

The above page has photos from an awesome cheese shop in Zandvoort. There were so many choices of cheese and much, much more. I wish we had a shop like this in my neighborhood. There were awesome gift ideas as well. 

If you didn't know already, Belgium and The Netherlands are by far, the best for speaking English. It really is impressive. I like to recommend The Netherlands and Belgium to those people wanting to travel to Europe, but are a little nervous about the language thing. The beer in The Netherlands is hit or miss, but there are some stars. Besides Heineken, I'd dare try any other beer, there. Hehehe...

traveling in europe

Here we are on the train. We spent a lot of time on trains. It was our main form of transportation for the Nederlandse trip. Ya don't have to think about where you are going to park and the crazy prices to park. Getting lost is more difficult by train and traffic is finally not an issue. Some of the trains were nice and some were disgusting as hell. The toilets stank. There was graffiti and they were not all that clean. Especially those with Amsterdam connections. Go figure! We did take the bus from Zandvoort to Haarlem and that was fantastic. It was warm, clean and the driver was a hoot. He as many other Europeans just love to talk and joke about Trump. Get ready for that, too. It can turn in to a heated debate! Hehehe...

If you're like me and centered when it comes to politics, get ready for some seriously ... progressive (?) culture in The Netherlands. It's all part of the experience, right?

I want to share how we did this trip because we had such a great time and you may want to try it out for yourself. Perhaps not in The Netherlands, but anywhere else in the world.

We left our place in Belgium with the train and headed to Zandvoort. It took us around 4 hours. We walked from the station to our tiny apartment. It was quite a walk, but doable for us. Even with luggage and at an advanced age. Hehehe... I did research to make sure this was possible. We could walk everywhere, easily and we felt safe, too. This is a smaller town and it is extremely compact. 100,000's of people living right on top of each other. The very center of town is much more charming. However, small.

The next day, we woke up early and headed to the station and went in to Amsterdam. It took around 50 minutes. 

Remember! You cannot get on a bus or train without your debit card. We were literally trapped at a station!! It was kind'a scary. We had to plead our story to a metal speaker where a most kind man (it took awhile to get an actual person) freed us with a push of a button. Oh, the Orwellian vibes. Nearly every transaction had to be done with a debit card. The train and bus was debit card only. For this old lady, it was way too Orwellian for me. One cafe didn't give me a menu. I had to pull it up on my phone, which I don't have and so we left immediately. I'm not sure how far one can get in The Netherlands without a cell phone and or debit card. This is a terrible path for any country to go down, but we won't discuss that here.

After a very long day in Amsterdam we shlepped our way wearily back to our apartment. The next travel blog will be the Amsterdam trip.

Our last full day in The Netherlands was spent in Harlem which I cannot say enough awesome things about. I'll cover these trips in more detail on the next two travel blogs. I'll be going to The Netherlands again, this weekend, but this time, way up north. Exciting!

free windmill design
Your Free Design

This was a great way for us to travel. There was a lot of sight seeing as well as a good amount of relaxation. When we returned from The Netherlands, we rested two days before touring Monschau, Germany. It's really difficult to enjoy an international trip when it's non stop, go-go-go. Museum after museum. Train ride after train ride.  and really get to know it. Relax in a cafe after touring the town or a museum and swim in the culture.

Find yourself a great place to stay, book it for a few nights, really get to know it then branch out daily to different towns and cities. It's a much more relaxed way to travel. You won't feel like you're living out of your suitcase and you can soak up the atmosphere.

free digital scrapbooking kit

I'll be giving away this free scrapbooking kit when I wrap up this entire trip. Stay tuned!

The windmill design is one of three other freebies besides the kit. So, come on back and grab next week's and the week's to come.

If no one's told you, you are a star! I absolutely love that you've come to The Cherry for a visit and I hope you do it again.

Feel free to leave us a comment about your dream vacation, your favorite destination spot or a fun travel anecdote.

Happy travels!













 

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Grilling, Getting the Kids to Cook, Keeping It Simple, Belgian Butchers, Quality Products and Buying Local and in Flanders

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I dropped the ball, already! I was supposed to blog my beef n' beans recipe on the stove pot and I totally forgot to take pictures. I guess that can happen when enjoying an aperitif takes priority. Hehehe...So, I'm throwing this one together and peppering it with all kinds of meals to inspire you and maybe teach you some really important skills with shopping and cooking healthy, affordable meals.

grilling
Pulled Pork Before Pulling

For most of my life, I shopped at the big grocery store and as time passed, I stopped enjoying the experience. Prices were soaring. Quality was plummeting. Choices were growing thin. The overall experience was most unpleasant and I didn't know where my food was coming from or what was in it.

grill like a pro
Lamb Shoulder

As you may know, I have two children, now adults, with Autism and through a lot of research, I found that a pure, healthy diet can help eliminate a lot of Autistic symptoms. My youngest was non verbal for nearly a decade. He had PICA and everything was a challenge. Weeks after we got them started on a pure diet of whole, organic foods things changed quickly. Thank goodness!

yes, you can grill that

So my passion for food was becoming essential. What is more important than our health? Especially, when your physical situation prevents you from performing everyday tasks? We rarely shop our large grocery stores and opt for the little guys in town. They often provide local wares that are much better in quality and sometime superior in quality. They might be a bit more expensive, but I encourage you to shop around and find the ones that suit you best.

choosing quality meat
Meat Ribs Buik Ribben

The hubs and I were not always great cooks. We joke about our first few meals together. Spaghetti sauce from the Aldi. Soup from a can. Progresso was the good stuff! Hehehe... My husband definitely has more passion than I. We make such a super team. I come up with what to cook. I purchase the goodies and more than often, he cooks it. He says he's the sous chef and I'm the chef. Works for me!

a visit to a Belgian butcher
A glimpse of a simple local butcher. Grass fed beef is best!

Above, you see a quick shot of our favorite butcher. He's not all that local to us, but good enough. His prices are insane! He charges nearly half the price as all of the other local butchers. In Belgium, your little local butcher is still very popular, but unfortunately they are closing and no one is taking their place. The same thing for bakeries. I cannot figure out why that is. They seem to make ok money. There are a lot of people still wanting this service. They are by no means cheap. Are we losing our passion for good quality food? Do we not understand the importance of local, healthy food? I don't know. What do ya think?

We started collecting all of our receipts and we are off to check all of the butchers in about a 15 mile radius, here in East Flanders. So far we have a very clear winner. I want to check with these butchers if it is ok that I share the information, but I'm thinking if you don't know who it is, it should be ok. Also, I'm scared to tell the address of my amazingly inexpensive butcher in fear of everyone going there and getting all of the good stuff. Hehehe...

It is so important that you are aware of prices. One butcher might charge 8 Euros for a kilo of hamburger and another 11! That is a huge difference. Also, ask where is the meat from? I just love when I ask where the meat is from and they point through the window at the sheep grazing in the field. My favorite says he does the sheep and his brother the cows and pigs. For us and for the economy and the environment, it's best to buy as close as possible.

I'll be diving more in to detail about that later.


get the kids cooking

If ya want to make things easier on yourself and help your children get them cooking. All summer, I teach them how to make new things and throughout the year, they have to cook them. I have children with Autism and they are pretty great in the kitchen. Don't let any kind of disability get in the way. At least give it a few tries. I do like to keep an eye out on the youngest who needs a little help most of the time. It takes some patience, but it really is important. Kids love feeling independent and I love a break from cooking. So, it's a win win.

Above, Liam is whipping up a huge sheet of nachos. We don't always add meat. We actually prefer them without, but it's fun to change things up at times. Try bacon, hamburger, chicken or chicken burger or even left over pulled pork.

Spread a bit of olive oil on the bottom of the pan with your fingers (then rub it in your skin hehehe...), place your choice of chips on the top. (We stay away from nearly all big brands that are taking over the market. That is a whole other story I can't wait to dig in to. I'll be doing some serious investigation here, because I'm getting a bit freaked out at just how few companies own all of the food.) I buy the store brand tortillas chips if we don't make them ourself and organic when possible. We love Santa Maria Chili Beans, but you can use any kind of beans at all. I'm pretty sure we tried every single kind of beans there are. Cheese is the only other essential, but you can add anything else you like. That's part of the beauty of nachos and the kids absolutely love it. Nachos are great for cleaning out the fridge.

I love spring onions on mine, served with sour cream, guacamole and salsa. I typically make everything from scratch. It's a bit of work, but often I have left over that I can use it for another meal. It might depend on what's growing in the garden. Lately, I've got a fabulous bush of jalapeños. It's January and I still have the bush in my green house, full of peppers. I couldn't be more surprised seeing how much of nothing else is growing in there. Hehehe...

easy eat'n
Pop in to your small, local specialty shop and see what treasure is there.

My husband has lived in Dendermonde his entire life. So, he's got a lot of friends, here. Many have their own business and we try our best to visit these places. One only lives a hop, skip and a jump from ours and boy is his shop full of awesome. It's tiny and unimposing. Inside you can find a lovely array of organic and biodynamic products. How cool is that?! My favorite, wine, bubbles, pasta, olive oils of all kinds, vinegars, honey and some sauces.

Above you can see some smoked olive oil. I needed bacon in a recipe, but forgot to buy it. So, I drizzled some of this over my smokey, cheesy potato concoction. Use it for anything ya want a little smoke flavor in. BBQ, eggs, baked beans...

cold seafood salad

Y'all know I like it hot! I bought some squid salad from our local fish monger and added a generous drizzle of this chili olive oil over it for a hot, flavorful touch. This is served cold. Let it sit for a bit and don't be afraid to add a few more items to fit your needs. I sprinkled some extra garlic powder and chopped green onions really thin in there, too.

support your local shops

Specialty shops are so super fab when it comes to uniqueness. When you want a splash of something different or even exotic, specialty shops like, Belle-Olio are just what ya need. Above, I heated up some left over paella and served it up with a simple salad of field lettuce, radish and fresh herbs than pimped it up with delicious olive oil (which raw, is crazy good for you) and this honey mustard from the gods. This stuff is like crack, people. Take caution when consuming! Hehehe... I'm not a big salad fan, but when I put this stuff on raw veg, I go to town.

My apologies for slacking on the beef n beans. I did get the inspiration from Jamie Oliver and totally changed it up, but ya might want to check his out. Our family loves it. I got'cha linked up. This book they advertise is a must have! It is by far the prettiest, most aesthetically pleasing cook book I've ever seen. I use it a lot. It would make an awesome gift for advanced and new cooks in your life.

Thanks for your visit. Feel free to scroll back for other recipes, cooking tips and more. The side bar and search field is pretty handy. Here's a link with the best Italian season on the planet. This blog has tips on how to get kids to eat veggies. Maybe check out one of our 52 Weekly Menu Planners? This is how ya cook! You can save time, money and a whole lot of waste when you plan your meals. Check out some of ours. They are typically easy, inexpensive and healthy. Our Weekly Menu Planner Board and Food Boards will totally help ya out.

Happy cooking!!




 

Friday, January 17, 2025

Your First Free Digital Scrapbooking Template for 2025 and Why You Need Digital Templates In Your Scrapping Life

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Whoo hoo! I'm starting off 2025 with this beautiful, new template and it is free. My plan ... Hehehe... Is to share a free template, the first of every month. I'm still going to try to squeeze in Freebie Friday and I'll continue blogging travel and food with a scrappy twist.

free digital template

I may have said it close to a 1,000 times that I used to be a traditional scrapbooker and I still do it on occasion. In the very beginning of my digital scrapbooking experience, I did not like templates. And I mean I hated them. They felt like cheating to me. I have to shake my head as I think of this. My ill regard for templates was nearly as passionate as my current love for them. 

Let's just take that a part for a sec. Currently, I'm listening to a podcast where they are speaking about admitting your wrong or verbally expressing that you've made a mistake. Humility is a tough one. Having kids with Autism has helped greatly with my humility. It's rather freeing and certainly a wonderful human characteristic to have. Something to work on for 2025?

Hopefully, you don't smug at other types and styles of scrapbooking. Inspiration is everywhere and there is always something to find. I still use all kinds of scrapbooking styles to get my inspiration for my templates. 

gorgeous free template

Jenni makes the most stunning pages I have ever seen. Wouldn't you agree? I can't express my gratitude for the ladies that keep sticking with me through all of my crazy changes. Ya just can't stay stagnant, right? She used goodies from Thaliris. 

free digital template

Templates are amazing! You get the most gorgeous pages. Templates save a lot time. So much time! You can gather 2 dozen templates and plan an entire album. How many times have you gazed at the pictures you wanna scrap and have no idea where to even start? I was there for years, too. Templates are a great spring board. You don't have to follow exactly. Use it just to get started if you prefer or use it as a page map.

Maybe you're the type who needs to follow directions to the "T"? When I go to scrapbooking gatherings, there are always a few ladies that need to know where to put something to the millimeter. If you are this type of scrapper, templates are definitely for you. Hehehe...

Are you new to scrapbooking? This blog has been around well over a decade and it is full, full, full of free stuff, tutorials, tips, tricks and literally thousands of scrapbook pages. One of my favorite blogs is this one. It has a free template, free kit and a hold your hand, step by step tutorial on how to digital scrapbook with templates. Cool, eh? 

If you prefer to scrap traditionally and want to get started, pop over to this blog and look for dozens more blogs on how to scrapbook.

Below is next month's template. Look for it in just a few weeks. I'll try my best to keep the free templates for the first of every month. Will you be back for this one? If you do play with our free stuff, I'd love to see it. Stick it in our group or you could even send it to me in an e-mail if you like. I have a few fans that do that, too. I do still share freebies and our fans still post pretty pages. Come on over to the group and join in on the crafty-liciousness!

upcoming free template

It's in my agenda to blog my stove top beef tips on Sunday. Come on back, get a great recipe and maybe learn a thing or two about shopping healthy and shopping smart.

Thanks a million for hanging with The Cherry.

Happy scrapping!

Friday, January 10, 2025

Winter Birdie Freebie 2 A Sneak Peek of an Upcoming Free Dutch Mini and Scrapbook Inspiration

Welcome to The Cherry On Top,

There is so much to cover. This particular blog is a lot like myself, eclectic! Hehehe...I've got the second Winter Birdie freebie for ya, some fun winter pages to inspire you, a quick tip about getting your photo albums printed, an exciting announcement and finally a peak at an upcoming freebie that you will not want to miss.

free winter bird design

I totally forgot about the second winter birdie design I promised. So me! I apologize. I did write in my notes that I totally need to organize an outline for this blog. There is so much to share.

free winter design

I'm showing off my new birdie designs on my own mockups. The first one is not mine, but really neat.

free bird design

As some of you may know, I lived briefly in Amsterdam and I currently live in Belgium, a neighboring country. We often visit our Dutch neighbors and I'll be documenting some of those trips. This way, if you want to check out The Netherlands, you'll get a nifty look or if you'd love to see it through photos and scrapbook pages, you'll be set. I do love seeing my friend's photos from places I've never been and perhaps never will visit. Feel free to share where you'd love to go in the comments and keep your eyes out for this fun free mini scrapbook kit.

free Netherlands kit

I've decided to bail out of the Love For Layout Templates train and do my own thing. Now, don't be too disappointed. I'll be giving away a free template every month. I'll be back with a preview of all twelve templates, soon. Your first free template will be available very soon. Stay tuned!

Below, you see all of the templates from last year. If you need the links for the blog with the freebie, pop over to The Cherry On Top's Freebie board on Pinterest by clicking on the preview.

free layered templates

I promised some winter scrapbooking pages. I chose these since the bird is a winter bird. These are the newest set of templates in my shop, Kreative Design Studio. Last I looked, they were still 50% off.

winter templates

Here are some fun pages with the templates. The template shown in my page below is uncropped. That means you can turn the mini album into a real one. Won't that be fun?

super cool realistic digital pages

elf shoe template

You can simply add photos to the templates or replace our elements with the ones from your own digital stash.

journal notebook template

winter scrapbook pages

I love Kait's page!

winter fun page layouts

Below is my page and Jo's scrapbooking kit.

winter scrapbook pages

Did ya miss the last travel blog from snowy Monschau? Click on the pretty page to see all of my pages from our trip to Monschau along with some details on the area.

traveling to Monschau, Germany

This is the freebie from last week. I blogged about cleaning. Ugh! Hehehe... Maybe you can learn a thing or two about how to clean better, easier, cheaper and more environmentally friendly?

free printable tags

I'm never a fan of being a Negative Nancy. However, something happed to me the last time I had a book printed and I wanted to share the experience in hopes the same thing does not happen to you.

I wanted to send my mom and dad a scrapbook of me and the boys over the last few years since I've not seen my parents in nearly a decade. I chose to use SnapFish. I thought I used it before and had a good experience, but now I'm not so sure.

First, I'm sure I chose an 8x8 inch template because I always do square formats in either 8x8 or 12x12. Being the ding dong I am, I only noticed at the end that I was working in an 8x11 inch format. Duh! I obviously didn't want to design the book all over again. The cover was also not centered. I'll take the blame for not noticing that SnapFish presented a template that I didn't choose.

Without going in to too much detail, SnapFish sent two of the same albums to the same address. I could easily see that I cancelled my order, fixed the book and reordered. What I didn't know is that there was some kind of automatic payment!! They took the money out twice when I only went through the ordering process once. I didn't know businesses could do this. Of course, I couldn't reach out to any real person from either PayPal or SnapFish, initially. Eventually, the bot from SnapFish did link me up to a person. (I think. Though, the person didn't really act like one.) I had to wait in a line of over 100 others waiting. Thank goodness, I didn't have to pay for the "call".

Anyway, they did not give me my money back, but they did give me store credit which I have no intention of using. Also, the cover wasn't exactly how I designed it. The red and blue didn't show up on the cover. So be very careful of these companies that have automatic payments. I may be ditching PayPal as well. I can't even figure out how to address this issue.

printing your digital albums

To be fair, I couldn't really see the book well. It was over Skype. It seemed ok. I can also say that photos did upload quickly in their software and when you used an image, a little indication showed up in the gallery which was super handy. I added text to each page to form a poem. 

If you've never printed an album, don't let this entry deter you. Digital albums are so much easier to handle. The elements don't fall off and they are a lot less bulky. I am a regular, traditional scrapper, too. It's just so much easier and cheaper to send digital pages to The States.

plan your wedding scrapbook

If you want to learn a lot more about digital scrapbooks, click on the lovely page above. It's full of so much information, tips and tricks for digital scrapbooking with a lot of wedding pages. I've also got a video showing that album off. You might just be surprised how beautiful they turn out!

printed digital wedding scrapbook

This was supposed to be a short one! Hehehe...

Thanks for hanging with The Cherry. Follow us all around or get our newsletter. Everything is in the side bar, at the top of the blog. Pop into the group if you like. We'd love to see ya there.

Happy scrapping!



Sunday, January 5, 2025

Free Printable Labels and Cleaning Tips for Polishing Granite Countertops and More

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

I've done an entire series on laundry. This is the first one on the Do's and Don'ts of Laundry. This one is all about planing your laundry room or space, if you don't have a laundry room. I don't have a laundry room either. Boo! I was doing the laundry in the garage, but double ugh. Belgian weather is not ideal for this. Especially, when the garage is not connected to the house nor heated. In the summer it is ideal because I hang my laundry on the line.

free printables
Keep scrolling for the freebie.

polishing granite easily

A microfiber rag and something like this multi surface cleaner works like magic.

We recently redid our bathroom so I can put the machines in there. We ditched the big bath tub which freed up enough space to stack the machines. We bought one of those condenser dryers and I absolutely HATE it. I never use it. It's incredibly noisy. It makes the room damp. It takes forever and sometimes, it doesn't even dry the darn laundry! I hang the wet laundry on a rolling clothes rack and or a folding rack and place it in front of the fireplace or by an open window in the bedroom. Drying in front of the fire goes really fast. Certainly faster than the da'gum condenser dryer. Hehehe...Can ya just imagine how much energy we save?

creating a laundry space

Here's a glimpse of my bathroom. This space was almost entirely taken up by a bathtub. Now, that I have adult children, we ditched the tub and went for this cabin style shower. (Also, not great!) I should have listened to my husband. He wanted the kind that are right on the floor, but I thought they were too expensive. This one is such a pain to clean. I digress...

organizing dirty laundry

Here's a peek at how I sort our dirty laundry. Don't go putting wet clothes in something like this. Let it dry first and then put it in or your laundry will be super stinky, stinkier and possibly get moldy, too. If a wash rag or small piece of laundry is damp or wet, I'll just hang it on the side or place it on top of the tote. Each tote is a different kind of wash. I only ever wash hot darks, cold darks, lights and whites together at a hot temperature and occasionally a cold load. The totes are always in the same order. So, I don't need to mark them, but I did design some labels in case you need them. You could go for totes with ventilation or simply leave a gap of space with the lid or don't even bother with lids. Our cat will pee in the totes if I don't cover them. I know, right!? I found that out the hard way.

We purchased one of those kitty litter bins that resemble a tote, like these and ever since then, he pees in open baskets and totes. Even those filled with clean laundry. Triple ugh!

I thought, along with how I polish my granite counter tops, I'd share some other cleaning tips and specifically, what kinds of rags to use for which cleaning projects. You can see in the first picture, I use a microfiber cloth for the granite tops. Most other rags just spread the cleaner or the water all over the surface and leave ugly streaks. Most of the time I don't even use a cleaner on my surfaces. I dampen a cloth with water and use the correct linen. 

window and glass rags


I tried to get a close up of my glass and mirror rag. My mother-in-law actually showed me this trick and then the hubs bought this glass cleaner whilst I was at our vacation home in Germany. See the lines in this small rag? Don't get it too wet, if possible. This glass cleaner is crazy awesome. I rarely use detergents and cleaners, but on occasion I break out the good stuff.

Do some research on DIY house cleaners and you'll find ingredients that ya just might have in your home, now. Things like white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, essential oils and more can be used alone or in combination to clean drains, toilets, countertops, windows and so forth.

You'll save a lot of money and a lot of waste. I always reuse my sprayers until they don't work anymore. Consider laundry sheets, buying organic wash powder in paper boxes and making your own products in reusable containers. Glass is best and the most eco friendly.

Type in "laundry" in our search bar at the top of the blog and find all the other parts of the "Dirty Laundry" series.

free label printables

Turn these free printables into stickers if you like. Click on the image and download.

free labels

free pretty printables

blank label printables

Add whatever text you like to our designs.

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