home organization – Luv Saving Money

Spend At Least $15 At Lowes Get $15 Cash Back

We have so many home improvement projects going on here. We just had to replace our hot water heater, I painted the mud room and hall, we’re getting new flooring in (from Lowes), and I’m building a new shoe rack. Every dollars saved at Lowes would be a help for us right now. I’m betting a least a few of you are thinking the same thing.

Step 1:
OFFER LINK
Using my link, signup for a FREE TopCashback account.This offer is for new TopCashback members only.

Step 2:
Follow the directions listed on the offer page to purchase. You must spend at least $15.00 to receive $15.00 cash back.

Step 3:
Within 7 days of purchase, $15.00 will appear in your TopCashback account. You’ll be able to withdraw this within 14 days of purchase. You can withdraw the money straight to your checking, PayPal, or claim as gift cards.

Tips:

Important: Check your email to confirm your email address. Click on the link in your email to authenticate your new account.
Want to purchase more than $15.00? Make a second transaction instead of adding more to an existing cart to maximize additional cash back.

Terms & Conditions:Note: Transactions must contain at least $15.00 worth of purchases (before tax +shipping) to ensure the $15.00 cash back is credited to TopCashback accounts. Transactions may initially track lower, but within the 14 days after purchase it will be uplifted and turn payable at the amount of $15.00. Transactions may take up to 7 days to appear in your TopCashback account. The deal is open until 11:59pm PST on 5/25/2021 or until supplies run out; whichever happens first; applicable for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback. Only one TopCashback account is permitted per member. Cannot be combined with other TopCashback freebie offers. Do not close the window, open any new tabs, or use non-TopCashback approved coupons while checking out.

Bissell SpinWave Wet and Dry Robot Vacuum Review

I’m not new to using robotic vacuums but I am new to using a Bissell brand robotic vacuum. I had also never tried a robotic vacuum that also mops. Every floor in the downstairs of my home is some sort of hard floors. I have tile in the kitchen and bathroom, linoleum in the laundry room and mudroom, and hardwood floors in the living room. But I also have a combination of hardwood, laminate, vinyl flooring, and carpet upstairs. So Is it going to work on all of them?

My Experience with My OLD robotic vaccuum

Last year for Christmas I asked my husband for a popular name brand robotic vacuum. We’ll just call it Brand X. It was NOT a Bissell. The more I used it I realized it is not the solution I had hoped for. This particular model has this little knob that sticks out of the top. When cleaning along my cupboards in the kitchen that knob would get stuck under the rim of the dishwasher and if I didn’t moved the fatigue mat from in front of the sink it would get stuck under the lip of the cupboard in that area too. After a while it had trouble getting over the small area rug we had in the mudroom. It would occasionally get hung up on the hardwood threshholds into the bathroom or kitchen. While it was ok for light daily cleaning it didn’t pick up things like pieces of popcorn, small chunks of food particles on the kitchen floor, a small piece of gravel in the mudroom, etc. It was basically good for just every day dirt and some pet hair.

With having 4 kids, they’re constantly leaving stuff out like legos on the floor, a dirty sock, a tissue, etc. I would have to make sure I picked up everything before I could run this robot vacuum. If not and it would happen to suck one of these things up it would become clogged.

In short, I could never ever run it while not at home like some of the commercials claim. I felt like I was constantly having to unclog it or move it then restart it to get it to work. Plus I’d have to pull out the regular vacuum or broom and dust pan for the things it wouldn’t pick up.

Also Brand X robotic vacuum was very noisy. My husband would complain if I ran it while he was trying to watch tv. The kids would complain if I ran it while playing video games. I’d have to pause it if I wanted to talk on the phone or go to another floor of the house. I was not impressed with Brand X.

My Experience with my Bissell Spinwave Wet and Dry Robotic vacuum

The Bissell Spinwave Wet and Dry Robotic vacuum is much quieter than my Brand X robot vacuum. While we can still hear it, it isn’t “turn up the tv because you can’t hear it over the vacuum” loud.

The Bissell Spinwave doesn’t get hung up or caught as much as my Brand X vacuum. Because it doesn’t have that annoying little knob on the top like my old robotic vacuum does, it doesn’t get caught under my dishwasher or cupboards.

Both vacuums were easy to clean out and empty. And both vacuums held about the same amount of debris. So I can’t really say one is better than the other on that aspect.

The Bissell spinwave, of course, also has the mop function that my old robotic vacuum didn’t. In my opinion, the mop function is good for light daily cleaning. I definitely do this. Having tile floors in my kitchen and downstairs bathroom though, I still feel the needs to scrub them good because the mop function does not get into all the little divots, and bumps in the tiles. The mop feature is helpful for light spills, dirt tracks, etc so I definitely like to use it.

They highly recommend the Bissell floor cleaning solution for the mop well. The instructions say it’s specially formulated for use with this vacuum and using a different cleaning solution, such as Pinesol for instance, could void the warranty.

I feel like with any robotic vacuum you still have to make sure your floors are picked up well even from small pieces. I could never run my robotic vacuum while not home. With 4 kids and 3 cats, there’s forever something on the floor.

Final Thoughts On The Bissell Spinwave

I definitely prefer this one over my old robotic vacuum. The fact that it can vacuum and mop give it more value to me. Since it is quieter, it is less annoying to me. I feel like I can still carry on with life. Since it doesn’t get hung up as often as my old robotic vacuum I feel like i can get more done and I’m not babysitting the vacuum cleaner.

Bonus Feature

When you purchase this particular product, a portion of the sale goes to the Bissell Pet Foundation and it’s mission to save homeless pets.

I received this product at no cost from BzzAgent. Any opinion expressed is my own.

Closet Organizing Tips From a Mom of 4

Growing up I was the oldest of 4. We lived in a small house. My sister and I shared a room. My brothers shared a room. Our rooms were far from spacious but it was enough. My mom seemed to be always cleaning, decluttering, sorting. I didn’t understand it at the time. Now that I’m a mom of 4 myself, I get it.

I could talk about organizing for a while. I feel like there’s still a lot of tips out there that I just haven’t learned yet. That’s why I’m sharing mine with you. If I can help one mom keep their sanity then I feel like I did something. While there’s lots of areas of the house to organize, I’m going to stick to closet organization for this post.

When we bought out current house we went from having hardly any closets to having tons of storage space. I thought, “Oh we have tons of storage space. I’m gonna be so organized” Now I wonder how we ever did it with the limited space we had before.

Just yesterday, I cleaned out and reorganized the master bedroom closet. It was a daunting task but I really felt like I did something when I was finished. So here are my favorite closet organizing tips

My Favorite Closet Organizing Tips

I go through mine and the kids clothes twice a year. Usually in the spring and again in the fall. We donate clothes that don’t fit and no one else in the family can use. This also gives me a good idea of what the kids might need coming up for the next season. Clothes that are stain, torn, etc are either repurposed as cleaning cloths or are thrown out.
Clear shoe boxes. This is my favorite. I get muti-packs when I find them at TJ Maxx or Ross Dress for Less. I can get a 10 pack for 12 dollars sometimes and it’s easy on the wallet. I store my shoes in those. It’s more uniform and visually appealing. I can see into the boxes to see what shoes are in there without having to open the boxes, and it keeps the dust off the shoes I don’t wear as often. They’re not just for shoes though. They’re great for organizing small toys, crayons, hair clips, whatever you can think of really.

If it’s not been worn in 2 years, get rid of it. I give myself 2 years. Sometimes there’s just a one size difference. Sometimes I think I’d wear the shirt or skirt in certain circumstances. But, after two years, if I haven’t worn it, it needs to go.
Belt/accessory/handbag organizing racks. There are so many depending on space. You can get some that hang on the wall, there’s organizers that hook over the door, there are even some that can simply hang on a clothes rack, like this purse organizer. I just ordered this accordian wall rack for my purses and scarves.

When going through your closet have 2 garbage bags with you. One for garbage and one for donations. I fille up a big garbage bag with things like really old pants that the elastic had dry rotted, broken hangers, packaging, expired products, shoes that have seen their better days, etc.
If you have a small closet or no closet at all, one thing my mother did was to pack up the clothes at the end of the season, put them in a garbage bag or tote marked with the gender and size and put the in the attic so they could be passed down to my sister, a cousin, or donated to someone in need. This cuts down on the amount of clothes you need to find a space for in the closet or bedroom and it’s not so overwhelming to look at.
As I said, in our old house we hardly had any closets or storage space. We ended up finding creative solutions that fit our budget. You can get tons of ideas from browsing storage and organization categories at your favorite stores. From moveable racks, to temporary and shelving solutions that can be cut to fit to fancy closet systems.

Everyone helps with their own closet/dresser. This allows your child to have a say. They may want to get rid of something you didn’t think they would. They might have sentimental value in a specific shirt or hoodie. Their room is their space. They should have say in how things are organized, what is donated, etc. After kids learn how and what to do they have sense of pride in taking care of their space which carries on later in life. Plus, things get done faster when the workload is split.
Organize like things together. Long sleeve shirts in one space, pants in another space, t-shirts in a different space. Even if it’s just making sections in a drawer.

If you’d like to see more posts like this, let me know in the comments section. Please consider sharing my blog posts with the social share icons at the top or left side of the post.

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