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Christmas stocking gift ideas

by Christmas

I always used to struggle filling up my children’s stockings.  It is not always easy looking for small gifts that easily fit.  I still have younger children in my family and I absolutely love to put together a stocking for them.

There are so many options for what to put in a Christmas stocking. The traditional approach to a Christmas stocking for kids is to fill the toe of the stocking with either an easy-peel orange or satsuma, or a Terrys chocolate orange.

Other ideas include adding the traditional gold coins which you could do by adding in a small bag of chocolate coins or even some money.

Putting together the stockings at Christmas is one of my favourite Christmas activities and these little. nik naks are always really appreciated sometimes more so than the big expensive items.

Last year I went on a Christmas Stocking mission and this is what I have come up, hopefully this will help give you a few more ideas.

  • Scratch card
  • Gift cards
  • Lego min figure
  • Plasticine pack
  • Hair bobbles
  • Hair clips
  • Match box car
  • Pen
  • Pencil
  • Rubber
  • Money
  • Key ring
  • Socks
  • Tattoo
  • Stickers
  • Glow sticks
  • Card game
  • Glitter
  • Badge
  • Nail polish
  • Funky tooth brush
  • Bouncy Ball
  • Marbles
  • Christmas earrings
  • Nerf Bullets
  • Chocolate
  • sweets
  • Candy Cane
  • Book mark
  • Bag decoration
  • Small action figure

Don’t forget some adults love a Christmas stocking too. For adults, stocking fillers could be chocolate, some fruit, something useful like socks and maybe some mini perfume samplers or skin creams to fill space. You can also be a little cheeky and add a cocktail can to start the festivities.

The 5 gift rule

The 5 gift rule is a useful way to plan buying gifts. This is particularly useful if you are buying for children or a large family. The 5 gift rule helps you plan for a variety of different types of gifts whilst keeping the number of gifts sensible.

For presents the general 5 gift rule is:

  • 1 thing they want
  • 1 thing they need
  • 1 thing to read
  • 1 thing to wear
  • 1 thing to do

Hope this has given you some stocking inspiration don’t forget my Christmas Calendar countdown is now available.

Happy Christmas Planning

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Christmas present hiding

by Christmas

Hiding Christmas presents is something I have to think about every year. I like to be super organised and start my Christmas shopping as early as I can, the summer sales can be great for picking up bargains but my issue is where do I hide them?

I always have to think of clever ideas where no one in my family will be quick to look. I also have to remember where the hiding spots are.

Being organised is always the key with Christmas.

I am sure some of us as children we went off looking for Christmas presents, you may even as gone as far finding them and then opened up your presents to see what was inside and then quickly stuck it back together again. Naughty Naughty!

I have come up with a list of places that you can potentially use as hiding places. But make sure you keep a list of what you have brought, who you have brought for and where you have hidden the present.  Print of my trackable printable to help you keep track of your Christmas shopping.

I have been known to hide presents to well and then I can’t actually find them when it comes to wrapping them up! Not a good move.

My top hiding places are

  • Garage or shed – Hide them in empty boxes or thick bin bags.
  • Laundry Basket – Hide items in a disused pillow case and then leave this at the bottom of the ironing pile.  I mean in my house I tend to be the only one who does any ironing so the chances of anyone looking here are very slim.
  • Suitcase – The holiday suitcases have been put away and are no longer in use so this is the perfect place to hide items
  • Family – Use the family for deliveries and to hide items, they may have a spare room where you can leave items that no one will see. This is good for larger presents such as bikes.
  • Car boot – If you have a boot tidy in the back on your car this is another great hiding spot but always ensure you lock your car.
  • Empty shoe boxes – You may have a few of these in the bottom of your wardrobe so empty out the shoes and fill the boxes with presents.
  • Loft – Perfect place that children will struggle to get into.
  • Plastic Tupperware tub – We all have quite a few of these in the kitchen cupboards, keep a few empty and use these to hold small gifts.
  • Filing cabinet – If you have a home office the filing cabinet is a great place as this can also be locked.
  • Ottoman – Mine is full of bedding and towels so I can hide items in between.
  • Underwear drawer – This is a personal space where no one should go so hide a few items in here.
  • In books – Gift cards, iTunes vouchers can easily be hidden within a book

I hope I have given you a few ideas to make your Christmas present hiding a little more stressful.

Plan your perfect Christmas with Meal Planning, Card Lists, Gift Lists, TV viewing, 10 Day Count Down and more with the perfect Christmas planner and keep all your wrapping paper, gift tags, ribbons together in the perfect fabric storage organiser. This is literally a must have!

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Hands up if you hate Oven Cleaning

by Cleaning Tips

Oven cleaning is one of the most hated and worse household cleaning tasks.  Its one of those jobs that we tend to put off as much as we can. Once you close the Oven door you can no longer see the grease and grim.

I have to always have a clean oven and being quite a traditionalist after we have had our Sunday Roast I am straight in armed in my rubber gloves ready to go.  Daily if we use the oven I wipe the Oven over with a warm soapy cloth to ensure its stays clean. If grease and grim build up your Oven Clean can become a much more time-consuming job.

Plus having an oven door covered in grease, grim and burnt food is not good for your energy consumption, opening to check food will soon add up.

I have tried many products over the years and here are a few of my favourites:

Oven Pride makes oven cleaning less of a nightmare, it’s a unique bag cleaning system that has been designed to give unbeatable results. It’s so easy to use but please make sure before you start to use oven pride you must read the instructions and wear the provided gloves.

Scrub daddy power paste is made from natural materials, is biodegradable, non-toxic and can be used throughout the home including the kitchen and bathroom. It is Lemon-scented for extra freshness and does a marvellous job in cleaning the oven. Power paste is effective with water alone. Just dampen the sponge and swirl on the paste to produce a cleaning foam. Use it in conjunction with a scrubber to remove surface debris or with a microfibre cloth. The Scrub Mommy two-sided sponge is perfect for delicate as well as heavy-duty jobs. Her FlexTexture side changes depending on water temperature. Soft in warm water and firm in cool water for tough scrubbing

Astonish oven and cookware cleaner is a cleaning paste, that cleans all types of enamel, porcelain, ovens and cookware. This one is also lemon scented to banish cooking odours.

But I am a big fan of steering away from harsh chemicals in the oven so use a more natural method of Bicarbonate of Soda and white vinegar

Bicarb is really effective and makes the daunting task of oven cleaning a little easier. All you have to do to get a shining oven is spray the whole oven down including the glass door with a water bottle so that it is damp, and pour on a thick layer or bicarbonate of soda, especially on the bottom, until there is about 1/4 inch layer of bicarbonate of soda paste on the bottom. If any of the bicarb is still dry, I wet it with the water bottle.

Once the bicarbonate of soda has been applied then you need to add some neat white wine vinegar to a spray bottle and then liberally spray this all over the oven so it reacts and works with the bicarbonate of soda.  After close the door and leave for a few hours. The two products work amazingly with each other and will start to lift all the dirt and ground in grease.

I’ve found that it is important to make sure that the bicarbonate of soda residue has been completely removed before using the oven as any remaining bicarb  may smoke if left in contact with the heating element and a spatula works well at removing this.

For the wire racks I use wirewool and washing up liquid and I find this brings them up like new.

Then there is a the grass trick which does actually work, you simply remove the racks and leave over night on your lawn, the dew and moisture loosen the burnt on food and grim.

And lastly there is the tumble dryer sheet trick, check out my little demo here.

I hope this helps with your oven cleaning and remember if you try to wipe over your oven every time you use it with a simple warm soapy cloth this job will be a whole lot easier.

For more ideas on how to use White Wine Vinegar than take a look here

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Did you know you can use the power of Steam to clean many household items?

by Cleaning Tips

Steam cleaning has become the cleaning method of choice for most health-savvy households and even medical establishments, and there are plenty of reasons why. Unlike traditional cleaning methods that can do more harm than good, steam cleaning has amazing benefits for you, your family, and even your pets. 

A few of those benefits include:

Steam cleaning refreshes your home makes it look new again.

Because steam cleaning uses high temperatures, it can remove dirt buildup and residue that has been left behind by other cleaning products. Additionally, using steam helps sanitise your home and surpasses the cleaning power of conventional methods that rely on solvents and sponges. Steam also deodorises and sanitises naturally, with the help of heat and moisture. 

Steam cleaning is versatile and can be applied in so many different areas of your home like bathroom tiles, natural stone countertops, hard flooring, curtains, mattresses and even upholstery.

Steam cleaning helps reduces allergies and dust mites.

Steam cleaning your home is a great way to keep your family healthier by eliminating allergies.

Airborne allergens are some of the most prolific allergy triggers in the home. In fact, allergens like the waste matter of dust mites is second only too pollen when it comes to causing allergic reactions. Steam cleaning your home regularly will remove these microscopic allergens for good. 

Steam cleaning eliminates stale and pet odours.

Just because you have pets around the house, doesn’t mean your home has to smell. Using steam can help you not only eliminate unwanted pet odours from your home, but it can also help keep your pet happy and healthy by killing fleas and their eggs.

Over the winter months sofas take a lot more wear and tear so a blast of steam every so often will eliminate any odours and make then feel refreshed.

Steam cleaning is an eco-friendly alternative to cleaning your home.

For the most part, steam cleaning requires mostly water, so it uses far fewer chemicals compared to traditional cleaning solutions. Apart from being safe for you, your family, and your pets, steam cleaning is also environmentally friendly since it reduces the number of chemicals that get washed down the drain and recycled back into our water supply.

Use code QUEENOFCLEAN to save 20% off my handheld steamer

What can I steam………..

Refresh the carpet

Most floor steam cleaners will come with a carpet refresh option and a glide that you then attach to the bottom of your floor steam cleaner.  The steam won’t deep clean your carpets but it will kill surface germs, eliminate nasty smells, refresh and bring your carpet back to life.

If you have carpet dents from moving your furniture then simply glide over with the steamer and the dents will disappear. The steam will also help to loosen any carpets stains making them much easier to remove.

Toilets

When using a Handheld steamer in your bathroom you can give the toilet seat and the pan a really good blast, killing nasty germs and bacteria also you can get to those hard to reach areas such as behind the toilet, the pipes and seat attachments.

Clothes

Garment Steamers are great at helping you save time especially if you are not a massive fan or ironing. A shot of steam will take creases away in seconds.  Also Garment Steamers are great for outdoor wear big heavy coats that are hard to wash and items that require dry cleaning.

Curtains and upholstery

Steam cleaning is one of the best ways to clean upholstery because the warm moisture lifts stains without releasing too much moisture into the fabric and padding, will combat any nasty odours and refresh. A steam a few times a month will keep your sofa looking as good as new and the good news it your sofa will dry quickly in a well ventilated room. Use the flat headed attachment on your handheld steamer with the microfibre cover.

Close your curtains and glide over a few times of year to give them a refreshed look and remove any creases.

Car seats

Cars seats can get very messy especially if you have children so a quick steam every so often will help your car to stay looking good, remove stains and refresh.

Shower doors and screens

Soap scum and limescale can be difficult to remove and becomes hard like cement. Using a handheld steam cleaner makes light work of this job. Blast with steam to remove that top layer of dirt and limescale and then using a dry microfibre cloth buff dry to shine and polish.

Tiles and Grout

Steam will lift ground in dirt from tile grout and will leave your tiles looking nice and shiny.

Ovens

I don’t think many of us find the oven a particularly nice job to do but steam cleaning will make this job so much easier. Add the oven attachment and glide back and forth, you do not need to press to hard just let the thick steam do the work for you. After steaming use a clean, dry sponge or towel to wipe off grime, grease, and any condensation as you go. If you have grease on the tops of your cupboards and your extractor fan from cooking steam will cut right through the grease allowing you easy cleaning.

Garden Furniture

Handheld steam cleaners are great for taking outdoors to clean your rattan or plastic garden tables and chairs. The steam will blow away any leaves and cobwebs and make lighter work off all the scrubbing.

Dirty windows

This is such a satisfying clean but you only really get the full benefits when cleaning filthy windows. Add the flat headed attachment and start at the top and work your way down, once the steam has broke down the dirt buff dry with a thick microfibre cloth.

Pet beds

Not all pet beds will fit into the washing machine but a good blast with steam will break down odours and refresh

Remember when using steam to clean you eliminate the need to use product as steam will kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria. Saving you both money and space in your cupboards. Steam can also help clean those place we sometimes forget to clean

Use code QUEENOFCLEAN to save 20% on my handheld steamer

This contains affiliate links 

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Intense Bathroom Cleaning with the Queen of Clean

by Bathroom TipsCleaning Tips

Bathrooms are one of the worst places in the home for germs and bacteria to really spread so it’s important that we give the bathroom a real deep clean once a week.

A have put together this simple guide to help you with your intense clean. This should take you approximately 30 minutes. 

Before you start you will need to make sure you have the following

  • Strong Rubber gloves & Apron.
  • Plenty of cloths and a hard scrubbing-brush.
  • Rubbish bag
  • Bucket of warm water
  • Broom/Hoover
  • Multi surface cleaner
  • Bleach
  • Lime scale remover
  • Glass cleaner
  • White wine vinegar
  • Bicarbonate of soda.
  • Sonic Scrubber
  • Karcher Window Cleaner
  • Steamer
  • Lastly tie your hair back

Before you start Clear the Bathroom

Remove all bath towels and bathroom mats.

Remove laundry basket.

Shower curtain if you have one. (put this in the washing machine)

Empty all cabinets.

Clear the sides of any products.

Clear the window seal

Open the window.

Let’s get cleaning

Fill the bath a quarter of the way with hot water and then add in 4 capfuls if neat bleach.  This will soak whilst you carry on cleaning. Don’t forget to open the window. You will see dirt that you didn’t think was there lift to the top.

Always work from the top down when cleaning so start by dusting the ceiling and removing all the cobwebs.

Dust the light fixture.

Remove the vent or fan cover and soak these in warm water, whilst this is soaking clean the fan well.  Then dry the cover and pop this back.

Using glass or window cleaner clean the window and any mirrors.  If you mirrors have bad water marks rub over these will a cut in half lemon and then rinse after approx. 15 mins. Alternatively use a steamer here.

Clean inside all the cupboards using a multipurpose bathroom spray, don’t forget to clean the doors and handles and also reach to the top of the cabinet as dust can settle here and be thick.

Clean the toilet, pay attention to the bottom of the toilet as well as the pan, and add in bleach. If you have any brown toilet marks at the bottom of the pan add in a good quantity of lime scale remover. I always like to give mine a steam too to make sure I have killed all the germs and bacteria.

If you have any lime scale on the taps then use a strong lime scale remover to remove.

Use a small hard brush to scrub the grout and the tiles. Rinse with warm clean water and then buff dry.

Use the same brush to get into any small areas and really scrub clean.

Hoover or sweep the floor.

Use a solution of warm water and detergent to scrub all tiles and the floor.

Rinse the floor with clear warm water and then use a dry cloth to polish dry.

For the plug holes use a drain cleaner or mix bicarbonate of soda together with white wine vinegar

Clean the shower door and base thoroughly. I use my Karcher for the doors as its brilliant.

Soak the shower in bleach and if it has lime scale, spray on some lime scale remover.

Make sure you clean the shower hose and the switches.

Clean the bathroom light cord/switch

Using the bleached water from the bath now scrub the rest of the bath using an abrasive cloth.  Rinse and buff dry.

Finish up

Put all items back in cupboards on the sides etc.

Bring the colour back into your bathroom by bringing in clean towels, mats, accessories and plants.

If you are at home light a few scented candles.

My Bathroom cleaning essentials are

Sonic Scrubber This is such a must as its great as cleaning in between and for tackling limescale.

Karcher This will help remove hard water stains and leave your shower doors with a perfect streak free finish.

Strong rubber gloves Cheap ones easily rip so invest in a good quality pair that fully protect your hands.

Cleaning Caddy  Keep all your bathroom essentials in one box to save you from going up and down the stairs.

As I get asked all the time here is the link for my Glitter toilet seat

If you feel that this has helped you then why not take a look at my simple daily tasks to help you stay on top of your home or Get the children helping out more

Now Enjoy a nice CLEAN Bathroom

Lynsey Queen of Clean xoxox

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