Announcing: a Spring Cleaning Series

I'm so excited to announce a series I'll be starting now, Spring Cleaning for the Lazy/Busy/Procrastinating Mom.  I'll be sharing some tips and tricks that I've learned that help me get my house clean!  And I'll be cleaning right along with you!  Let's get started!

First step for you to do today: gather your supplies.  My list:

• Unpaper towels/dish cloths/paper towels- make sure you have some clean rags or a full roll of paper towel
• Cleaner of choice.  I use a solution of half vinegar, half water.  But just make sure you have some of your favorite!  
• Broom and dustpan.  I know someone who's broom recently broke in half.  If you have needed to replace yours for whatever reason, do it now!
• Mop and bucket.  Make sure your mop head is good to go, replace it if you need to do so!
• A good attitude!  

Next, get ready to get to work!  Prepare yourself by one simple task: washing, drying and putting away ALL your dishes.  If you have a build up, take the time to get through it earlier in the day or before dinner.  That way after dinner you just have the dinner dishes to do.  By the time you go to bed tonight, try and have everything put away.  This means that tomorrow, when you get really started you will have one task done.  

It's also important to keep up on the dishes throughout spring cleaning!  So make a pact with yourself that you will take 5 minutes after every meal to handle any dishes from that meal, and that you'll take 10 minutes before bed to finish things up.  25 minutes out of your day and I can promise you that you'll have a clean sink at the end of the day!  Set the timer when it comes time to do your dishes and you'll be surprised at how much you can get done when you focus.  Anyone can focus for 5 minutes!

Bonus task: laundry.  Get as much laundry washed, dryed, folded and put away as you can today!  If you have a backlog, at least try to get everything that's already clean folded and put away.  During this process, we're only going to do one load at a time from start to finish to help make sure we don't have any piles of clean clothes cluttering things up!

Happy Cleaning!

Happy Spring!

Happy First Day of Spring!  I've been spending my days outside with the kids.  They play in the backyard and I sit in my Adirondack chair and read L.M. Montgomery novels on my kindle.  It's pretty idyllic.

As the weather has been ridiculously warm (over 80 today!) I've really been in a spring cleaning mood.  This has been very good for the children's new playroom.  It's also been good for the state of my home in general!

One thing I've noticed though, is how much I use my unpaper towels in a day.  I easily go through 3, 4 or even 5, and currently I use them only in the kitchen and for wiping up random spills in the house.  I don't currently use them in the bathroom or for mirrors (although I'm planning on starting to do so when I get around to cleaning those, lol).  A deep clean of my kitchen used 2 unpaper towels.

But how many paper ones would I have used?  10, 20?  How many rolls would I go through during spring cleaning?  2, 3, 4?  More?

Here's my challenge for you.  Pick one room in your house, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room or the bathroom, that you will only use cloth in.  Maybe you can only commit to using a cloth dusting rag instead of paper towel with pledge.  Maybe you're ready to cut paper towels in the kitchen.  And maybe you're ready to get over your fear of the germs lurking on your rag after you clean the bathroom.  Whatever it is, for spring cleaning, use cloth!

To help you out, I'm giving you two things!  For the next week (until 3/27) unpaper towels are 10% off, and there's a coupon code for free shipping on anything in the shop (Code: SPRING2012)!  Happy Cleaning!

Greenify your window cleaning

When I started using vinegar and water to clean, one of the hardest places to let go of chemicals was windows.  Somehow, Windex seems like it does the job right.  I still have "issues" with my system, and I was excited to see this post at Simple Organic about several different systems.

The Experiment

1. A vinegar and water mix
 – I chose to use 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar, which seemed to be the most commonly used ratio.
2. Alcohol
 – Many actually said they used vodka, but like others, I used 70% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol since it’s much cheaper.
3. Cleaning mix
 – 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol.
4. Norwex polishing cloth
 – granted, this isn’t a homemade option, but you only use water with the cloth.
5. Newspaper and vinegar
 – I’ve always been told that newspaper does a great job and had never tried it.

 Read More

 Currently, I don't use any of those mixes!  I use a microfiber cloth with a mix of water, vinegar and a dash of Castille Soap.  Typically it doesn't cause too many problems, but it seems to take FOREVER to wipe it clean without streaks.  I'm thinking I'll try one of the better options that she found.  Can't hurt, right?

Moving forward!

I'm so excited that my kickstarter project was sucessful!  This means that I'll really be able to get things going in a good direction with This Cloth House!

Some of you may be wondering exactly where your money is going to go!  I'll be using this blog to share the journey, of course, but let me break down some of the plans right now.

• Fees.  Part of the money, unfortunately, does need to go towards fees to Kickstarter and Amazon.  Not a huge amount, but that's part of it!
• Fulfilling rewards.  Those of you who get rewards will be getting them soon!  You should have already gotten a short survey to fill out.  That will start the process of getting you your reward!
• Marketing materials.  I'm going to be getting some marketing materials... brochures, a banner for craft shows, small things like that.
• Lighting.  Right now, I work from a desk in my family room.  During the day I've got some great daylight coming in, but if I want to work at night I'm currently using two broken lamps.  It's kind of funny when you look at my lopsided lamp!  But I'll be getting some good "daylight" type lights.
• Fabric.  First fabric order is going to be a bulk order of the cotton birdseye I use for unpaper towels!  I'll also be getting various other fabrics.

And from there, we will see how the needs pan out and what needs to be gotten!

A product dear to my heart

I'm so excited to tell you about the newest product coming to This Cloth House: handkerchiefs.

These simple cotton muslin hankies are perfect for every day use.  They are lightweight, which means they are easy to stick in your purse or pocket.  They feature a simple rolled hem and will be perfect for drying noses or eyes.

They also feature the tiniest little heart in one of the corners.  It measures about a half an inch and is hand embroidered in "This Cloth House blue" (the same blue as the logo).

Why a heart?  Well, because these hankies are not just another product.  Part of the proceeds from the sale of these hankies will be donated to Children's Hospital of Michigan.

I'd like to introduce you to my sister, Celeste Marie.  Celeste was born in March of 2005 with a congenital heart defect, and she spent the entire 4 1/2 months of her life inside Children's Hospital.  Part of that time was spent waiting for a heart transplant that wasn't to be.  Celeste has had a huge impact in my life, particularly when it comes to supporting transplant donor drives and children's health issues.  That's why I decided that part of the proceeds from these hankies are going to Children's Hospital.

Hankies are also the perfect symbol of Celeste's life.  She was the first sister after four brothers, and we cried tears of joy to know that.  And of course, there were many tears as we dealt with her birth defect and her eventual passing.  Any life, no matter the length, is full of moments that require a hanky to wipe your eyes.

The Celeste Handkerchiefs will soon be available in the shop.  Pricing and other details will be available soon.

Why I do this

I've shared about how I firmly believe in this movement towards green living. But there's a different reason as to "why" I have this venture.

Yep, those two.  Ultimately, why I've started this business is to help provide for my family.

Things have not been easy in our household.  My husband has had an extremely hard time finding a job that doesn't require years of experience, and all the truly "starter" jobs have lots of competition.  I have my degree, but we've chosen for me to be the primary person at home with the kids.  When your whole paycheck would go toward day care costs, it doesn't make sense for both parents to work outside the home.  Plus, since I breastfeed my babies, it'd be much harder and cost more for me to work outside the home.  Breastfeeding is not only best nutritionally, it's free!

So, since I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I started This Cloth House.  So far, I've been wise enough with my funds that I haven't lost any money, but I want it to go so much further.  I'm double invested emotionally.  I've got my philosophical reasons, and my family reasons.

And both of them make the journey SO worth it!

Announcing: 15 days, 15 Hundred

I'm so excited to announce the start of my kickstarter project. First, let me tell you a little bit about what kickstarter is!




Kickstarter.com is an amazing website that helps fund creative projects. Here's how the process works.

-An artist/creator sets a goal. They offer rewards based on the amount a backer donates.

-A backer pledges a certain amount of money.

-A lot of other backers pledge enough to hit the goal

-Once the goal is hit, if time remains before the project closes, the project can continue receiving pledges.

-If the goal is NOT hit, then none of the pledges go through.

-If the goal is hit, the backers pay their pledge amount.

-The artist then creates the rewards and sends them out to the backers.

-Then the artist takes their money and creates!




My project is very important to me. My goal is this:

To develop This Cloth House into a leader in education about using cloth products in the home. I'm raising funds to develop initial inventory and sample products as well as to get marketing materials.


One of my big goals is to put together a party kit, so that I can go to people homes and teach them about cloth and sustainable living. Yes, I'd be your cloth house "Mary Kay lady".




I look at my products not as just something to sell. Cloth inspires me. The feel of a piece of fabric, its weight, its colors and patterns... there's something magical about it. These items are pieces of beauty, that not only bring frugality into fashion, but truly help a family express their personal style.




Right now, there's 200 facebook fans. In order to hit my goal of $1500 you would only have to each donate $7.50. That's a meal at McDonalds, or maybe a coffee and pastry at Starbucks. Do you think you can help me out?




I've come up with some amazing awards. There's anything from a handwritten thank you note, up to Two Clean Kitchen Sets, that contain a dishwashing apron, 20 unpaper towels, 6 napkins and 2 hand towels for you and a friend. I'm not just in this to meet my goal, I'm also in it to help bring my vision into your home.




Please consider helping me meet my goal at my kickstarter page. We've only got 15 days to meet this goal! If you can help THANK YOU so much. If you don't have the funds at this time, THANK YOU for reading this and supporting me in spirit. Please share this with your friends. I'm going to need all the help I can get! And if we get past the goal and exceed it, man oh MAN will I have some sort of fantastic something for all you loyal fans!




And here's the link, one more time: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1862261922/this-cloth-house