Christmas is a chaotic time of year when time is scarce and the to-do list is long. Unfortunately, it’s also a time of year when having a clean and gorgeous house is a must. Chances are you’ll have some company during the holidays, whether it’s a fancy soiree or unexpected family who drops by. With a constant trickle of visitors, now’s the time to start getting your house in holiday shape. But before you get to it, take a minute to read my holiday cleaning tips:

1. Clean before decorating: Before you get your stockings hung and the tree up, give your house a deep clean. Starting with a clean house eliminates having to move decorations around for after-the-fact cleaning. Plus, so many things that come with the holidays (like cookie baking and parties) will mess up your house — so best start with a clean slate!
2. Add a decoration, take one away: Most people accumulate a pretty large collection of Christmas decorations. These on top of your home’s normal decorations can be overkill. Let your Christmas decorations speak for themselves! I like to use the “add a decoration, take one away” approach: for every new decoration I put up, I take one of my normal decorations down.
3. Tame that clutter: Christmas gifts mean there will be a whole influx of new items in your house. Before the gift giving starts, reduce your house’s clutter. If you have children, ask them to choose 5 (or some predetermined number) toys to get rid of. Donate these toys to a charity and let your child know that their old toys could be another child’s Christmas gift. Also make yourself follow the same standards: Remove unworn clothes from your closet and donate them to charity. Coats are a great item to donate during the holidays as well.
4. Clean one mess before the next begins: This one might seem obvious, but you know how it gets: After decorating Christmas cookies, the kids are chomping on the bit to put up the Christmas tree or start wrapping gifts. Wipe off the counters and get all the dishes clean before moving onto the next holiday task. It’ll look like a tornado has gone through your house if you don’t.
5. Set up a gift-wrapping station: Gift wrapping can get messy. Little bits of paper, tape, ribbon, price tags — all this can cause quite the clutter. Set up a card table or a designated area of the house to be your gift-wrapping station. Equip it with everything you need: wrapping paper, bags, ribbons, bows, tape, pens, gift tags, permanent markers (for crossing out prices), scissors, a garbage can, etc. This way, everything is in one spot.
6. Put things away…the right way…: Ah the dreaded de-decorating. There’s not much fun in admitting that the holidays are over, but do be sure to do a good job in taking holiday decorations down. Wrap delicate ornaments in tissue paper and safely tuck them away in boxes. Put ornaments back in the respective containers so you can easily find them next year. And for goodness sake, coil your Christmas lights in an organized manner. A tip from the wise: Save the cardboard rolls from your wrapping paper. Coil the lights around these for tangle-free storage.

Author bio: Sarah Beckman is a newlywed looking forward to her first Christmas with her new husband. She’s an editor at Affordable Style where she writes on everything from styling reading glasses to tips on how to tie scarves.

Now that Summer is upon us and school has officially closed, the days around here are about to get real busy.   If you read my previous post about how busy the month of June is going to be for us, you should have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about.  My kids get bored easily so it’s a must that I keep them busy.

Summertime for us is filled with lots of Fun activities for the kids.  But needless to say, all of those extra activities usually comes with an extra busy schedule also.  We try to spend as much time enjoying our summers as we can, but as a mom, there are still those things around the house that need to be done.  Cleaning isn’t the most fun thing I do, but it is definitely something that needs to be done.   Truth be told- when you’re juggling work , kids, dinner and laundry, keeping the house spotless sometimes doesn’t even make it onto the to-do list.   That’s just how busy our days usually are which is why I try to do most cleaning on the weekends.   

Sometimes I feel like hiring a professional cleaning service wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.  If I had a summer wish, it would be for a cleaning crew to come in and keep up the house ALL summer long so I would have more time to spend with the kids.   I’d be one happy momma!  The kids would love this also.

That would mean, we could do more things that we enjoy!  Since we love the outdoors, we would spend lots of time at the park and cooling off at the pool.  I would also have time to make that trip to the gym and not feel guilty that there are things that need to be done around the house.  Catching a movie or going to the museum would also be on the list.  We haven’t caught a good mid-day movie in a while so that would be fun also.   Or maybe I would just prop up my legs and relax a little.  Since there’s rarely time for me, to just sit down and do nothing, I would definitely take advantage of that.  My nights would probably end with me crawling into my bed lying in the dark and just think about the day I had. I would think about how relaxing and enjoyable my day was and wish for another day free from cleaning.

So what about you, what would you do if you had the extra time you could spend with your children?

This is a sponsored post but all opinions are 100% mine and not influenced in any way.

You’ve heard the saying “they don’t make things like they use to?”  The same can be said for the design of car windshields.  I have a mini van and it’s so hard to clean the inside of those things.  You’ve got to contort yourself into odd shapes with your face pressing against the glass trying to reach the bottom of the windshield.  Then when you do get your arm down there you can’t get your hand between the dash and windshield to do any good.  That’s just trying to clean the passenger side, trying to do the driver’s side is harder yet with the steering wheel in your way.

Well, I recently received something designed to make that job much easier, The Windshield Wonder.  The Windshield Wonder is a long handle with a pivoting head that’s covered with a removable micro fiber.  You can use plain tap water to clean the inside of the windshield with hardly any effort.  When I cleaned mine I was able to clean the entire windshield while sitting in the passenger seat with very little effort.  My windshield was clean with no streaks at all.  It comes with a small spray bottle you can fill with water and 2 micro fiber covers that can be machine washed.

I was thinking the Windshield Wonder could also be used to clean the back side windows that you can’t reach unless you climb into the far back of the van.

The Windshield Wonder can be purchased at CVS, Walmart and Walgreens for $9.99

A product was received for review. I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting. The opinions expressed are my own and were NOT influenced in any way.

Photo Credit:  http://www.buywindshieldwonder.com/

With Springtime just around the corner, I’m sure most of you have spring cleaning on your mind and ready to CLEAN HOUSE.   For those of you with pets, I’m sure you look for a product that is not only effective but also safe around your pets.  You want something that tackles the dirtiest of messes yet pleasantly scented with a natural smell… so why settle for less?  Your home should be clean and safe too!

That’s where Paw Safe Household cleaners come in.   According to their website:

Paw Safe Household Cleaners are formulated without harsh chemicals, using natural plant-based ingredients like deionized water, vegetable derived surfactants, citric acid, emulsifiers, fragrance and organic pigments. All are safe and just as effective as traditional cleaners at cutting through grease and grime, lime scale and soap scum, without leaving dangerous chemical residues behind… PawSafe Household Cleaners earned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for safety and cleaning effectiveness.

Not only are these products safe for your pets , they are safe for your entire family.  With small kids around, having a safe product is not an option, its a MUST.

Keeping in mind that your family and pets are important to you, the makers of Paw Safe Cleaners have generously offered to give 3 of my readers each the FULL line of the PawSafe cleaners.  Now, how awesome is that!?

3 lucky readers will reap the benefits of the following products:

Paw Safe Window Cleaner
Paw Safe Floor Cleaner
Paw Safe Multi-Surface Cleaner
Paw Safe Tub & Tile Cleaner
Paw Safe Toilet Cleaner
Paw Safe Toy Cleaner

BUY IT: You can learn more and purchase all of the above Paw Safe Products HERE.

WIN IT: 3 Lucky readers will win the Full Line of products mentioned above.  Visit PawSafe and tell us which product you need the most.  

Mandatory Entry:

This step is required to qualify for the drawing. Be sure to leave your email address in at least one of your comments so that I may notify you in the event you are the lucky winner!

 Extra entries:

• Subscribe to Cocktails With Mom
• Follow me on Google Friend Connect (on the right sidebar)
• Follow Cocktails With Momon Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway! ( once Daily)
• Blog about this giveaway then leave me the link! ( 3 entries)
• Leave a comment on any Non Giveaway Post
• Enter any of my other Giveaways!

Please leave a separate comment for all that you do to ensure you get all possible entries! Remember to include your email address on your comment!

Contest ends,  Mar 15, 2010 at 12:00 noon CST. Winner will be chosen via Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to respond to my notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place.

Disclosure: I was not provided with any of the PawSafe Cleaners and no other compensation was received.  The Products mentioned above were for giveaway purposes only. The stated opinions are my own and I was NOT influenced in any way.