Clear the Clutter Challenge Day 20: Cleaning Supplies and the Rag Pile

Cleaning Supplies and the Rag Pile.  Sounds like the start of a wonderful romance novel, doesn’t it?!?  Challenge Day 20 is about that pesky rag pile and the excess cleaning supplies.  You know you have a problem when you don’t even want to throw the old rags away!

I know there are people out there who aren’t savers.  If you don’t have a huge pile of old towels, shirts, and random fabric scraps, you can skip this day and go on to something else.  This is also a pretty short challenge so it should be doable in an hour or so.  I hope.  : )

To Do:

• Go through everything in the rag pile.  Some things aren’t fit to be, well, rags.  Throw those away!  Anything with excess holes and frayed spots needs to go in the garbage.  Seriously.  Throw.  Them.  Away.
• If you know someone who can use them–i.e., does mechanical work, staining, has a kennel, etc.–donate half of the rag pile (or more) to them.
• Make your stash manageable.  We all need to keep a few, but it doesn’t have to be a box full.
• Store them all in one place away from anything flammable.  I prefer the laundry room.
• Go through all cleaning supplies and properly dispose of anything that is old, out-of-date, or never used.
• Organize your cleaning supplies in a way that makes sense to you and makes cleaning easier.
• Try making your own cleaning supplies.  (Totally optional, but the dish liquid/vinegar mixture is the best bathtub cleaner I’ve ever used!!)

Organizational Tips:

• Group supplies together by the space where they are needed and keep them as close to that space as possible.
• Fix a bucket or caddy with all bathroom cleaning supplies and keep it under the sink or in the closet.
• Put supplies in something that is portable just in case you need them in another area.

That’s about it.  There is not a lot you can do with cleaning supplies and rags, but today’s challenge is meant to be short and sweet anyway.  We all need simple tasks every now and then!!

If anyone has tips for storing cleaning supplies or even tried and true recipes for cleaners, I would love to hear about them!!  And don’t forget to keep checking back with the Clear the Clutter Challenge.  We’ll be doing a giveaway when it’s over and I’ll be updating how the decluttering is going here!