Nesting and Cleaning

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ScotchBriteSponges #CollectiveBias

This week marks 35 weeks of pregnancy for me with baby #3. For the majority of this pregnancy, I haven’t really been motivated to clean, and I was wondering if the nesting bug would ever kick in. I can barely keep up with the messes my two little ones create every day, much less organizing more and getting ahead of things. I was finally in the mood to get going with things a couple weekends ago, and wouldn’t you know, my dishwasher broke down. For the last three weeks while we await a replacement, I’ve been hand washing dishes and my kitchen has been looking like a war zone!

I have to admit to being a little bit spoiled over the last several years. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had to hand wash every dish we used. Owning a dishwasher is a creature comfort I can’t imagine not having at this point in my life, as we run a full load of dishes at least once a day with all of the snacks and meals we consume with two kids.

I had been using organic dish soap for the past couple months for times I would need to wash the occasional pan, but it just wasn’t cutting it. I went to Target and picked up a few items to get me through this time when I would have to hand wash everything. Scotch-Brite® Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge, Scotch-Brite® Non-Scratch Scrub Sponge, and Scotch-Brite® Heavy Duty Soap Dispensing Dishwand were all items on my shopping list. I also picked up some Dawn Dish soap since the organic stuff wasn’t doing a great job cutting the grease. 

For the majority of the dishes I’ve been doing, I’ve been using the dishwand, but when I have a tough caked on mess, I use the blue scrub sponge. You can use these on non-stick cookware, counter cops, shower tiles, dishes, and more. My personal preference is to use it to get the caked on stuff off of my dishes that I usually would need a scraper for. I love a sponge like this for getting to the bottom of a drinking class as well. With a little bit of elbow grease and some dish soap, you can get every last bit of grime of of your dishes. 

Dishes aren’t even my biggest problem though! My kitchen has just been a mess. I’m trying to keep up with it all but in the meantime my normally off-white sink has turned this skunky shade of brown from having dishes sit in there constantly. I wanted to create a quick tutorial for the DIY cleaner I created. I hope this works for someone else as well as it works for me!

This is probably the most easy DIY thing ever. I will get the whole sink wet, and mix Dawn dishsoap with any kind of powder cleaner. I’ll take a few drops of lemon essential oil and start scrubbing the whole thing into a thick paste mixture with the heavy duty green sponge. It has been working SO well. My sink is an off-white beige and the way it sits casts a shadow, but you can see from the beginning to the end that after using this mixture, it’s much cleaner in the sink basin. Not so brown, murky, stained, and disgusting! I especially appreciate that the way this mixture works it cleans off in a quick hurry, due to the green sponge cleaning tough messes 50% faster. 

Both the Scotch Brite sponges in blue and green can be used to clean pots and pans and other surfaces within the kitchen, but I prefer to use the blue on dishes and the green on surfaces that may require cleaners that I wouldn’t want touching my dishes. It’s just an easy way for me to make sure I’m not cross contaminating when I color code like that. 

I realize that not everybody is nesting like I am, but sometimes it’s really satisfying to get your cleaning groove on anyway. With back to school time starting, it’s a great time to make some house overhauls in the next week or two. Clean the garage, clean out a closet, heck…this weekend I’m going to start migrating some fall clothing options into my kids’ room. I’m thinking of redecorating some of the pictures we have hanging too. Wait…did I say nesting hadn’t kicked in yet? I think I’m making up for lost time. 🙂

During my shopping and nesting endeavors, it’s safe to say I usually end up at Target. They always have great deals going, and you can save now on Scotch-Brite® Scrub Sponges at Target with this Cartwheel offer. During the week of 8/14-8/20 if you spend $50 on household essentials at Target, you get a $15 Target Gift Card. To see more ideas on how to clean life’s biggest messes, click HERE.

Today I am thanking the cleaning gods that my dishwasher is finally back in action. I fully expect to post more home posts in the next couple weeks as I work on new projects, like a fun collage wall in our living room. Stay tuned!

What’s your biggest mess in your home? Are you always looking for a better and faster way to clean like I am?