Spring Cleaning Daze

One of my From Dazed to Dazzling goals is to organize everything in my home (and life), and it's a never-ending process to decorate and maintain a home, so that's why I'm writing about SPRING CLEANING. Depending on the person, this phrase can strike fear in the heart, be a source of stress, or actually be a good, almost spiritual, process. I'm somewhere in-between. I want to clean things but unless I have hours (days) and two free hands, it can be very difficult to do any cleaning, let alone spring cleaning, with the boys underfoot.

Basically, spring cleaning equals more cleaning than is the norm, a sort of fresh slate for the new year, after a long, musty winter. What spring cleaning means to me: (1) reorganize desks, closets, drawers (not just clean them, but do something different to keep those areas clean); (2) get rid of unnecessary clothes, boxes, trash, or broken things (if I haven't worn it, used it, or fixed it by now, I'm probably not going to); and (3) clean floors, windows, baseboards, behind/underneath furniture, ceiling fans (i.e. things I should clean all the time, but haven't gotten around to yet). Wish me luck! What do YOU really need to do to spring clean your house?

Helpful links and ideas to kickstart SPRING CLEANING:

Attempting Aloha: Think outside the {toy} Box - Over 50 Organizational Tips for Kids' Spaces
* This is a cute blog with a TON of great ideas for organizing, decor, crafts, and more. The ideas in this post can be adapted for your stuff too, not just for kids! Although if you have kids, you know that stuff accumulates, so any idea to organize, de-clutter, or help your kids keep things tidy is a great thing.

Shopping at DollarTree.com - Spring Cleaning Edition
* This blog DollarStoreCrafts.com has inspired me to check out my local 99 Cent Store and I LOVE IT! Dollar stores are great for cheap cleaning supplies (you can find name brands like Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, Palmolive, and more), as well as thousands of boxes, bins, and baskets, just to name a few of the storage options. I've been getting crafting supplies, party supplies, and seasonal stuff there lately too. Don't underestimate these stores or criticize the people who shop there please...it's really great for some items.

Then of course there's my trusty Amazon.com. Online shopping is great because I don't have to go out (I know, I am such a home-body), and there are reviews for almost every item you could think of purchasing. Just a reminder...I get a small commission when you shop using the product links I post like the ones below (you don't have to buy that product, just buy anything like you normally would), or if you click on any of those boxes/links on the side of this blog.
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I earn money from Amazon.com, Endless.com, and MyHabit.com. Thanks for shopping! And I hope I've given you some ideas and motivation to start SPRING CLEANING! Here is a handy link to some spring poems I wrote and posted on my Cambodian Mom blog if you need to get into the spring mode.

If you can't see the links below....my product links are to things I have or want for myself: 1) 3x2 cube bookcases, 2) snap-lock lid anti-microbial glass tupperware, 3) set of 3 canvas nesting baskets, 4) wall-mount grocery bag storage, 5) clear vinyl top/cedar inserts/canvas under-the-bed storage, and 6) Rubbermaid Reveal refillable spray mop (can fill with water or your own cleaning solution).

Online Success

One step to becoming more positive and more bold is to put myself out there (on the web) and subject myself to public view and opinion. If I didn't do this, I would just be living in my own little bubble and no one would know how well or how poorly I was doing except me. What's the fun in that? So on my Cambodian Mom blog, I chronicled the past 5 weeks that I've been blogging and writing and publishing online articles. I note how I've made a few bucks (literally) through various ad programs and a few more bucks becoming an Amazon affiliate.

Honestly though, I'm doing all this to have an outlet for what I love to do - which is to write and read. And secondarily, to get validation. A pat on the back. An ego boost. Whatever you want to call it. It's so nice to write something and instantly get feedback and comments. It's even better when readers say they've learned something from your article. This is why I like Hubpages.com and think it's different from blogs or other sites. There are tons of writers (amateur and professional, new and veteran), from diverse backgrounds, that are writing informative, interesting articles, and a community of readers that encourage each other. To be recognized for my writing - that's such a new and awesome feeling.

My hub on traditional Cambodian wedding ceremonies has done especially well. Below are my achievements for this article.

February 29, 2012 - After a few days of "campaigning" my friends to vote for my article, I received this email from one of the awesome Hubpages Elite (a hub veteran who chose the Hubnugget nominees - who are new writers in various categories):

Hi sunbun143,
Congratulations! With 22 percent of the vote, your Hub was selected by the HubPages community as a winner! Excited? We are!
Your profile picture and an excerpt and link to your Hub will be included in today's weekly HubPages newsletter, which is sent to tens of thousands HubPages community members. You will also receive the HubNuggets Accolade, one of the rarest Accolades on HubPages.
Let me be the first to congratulate you and encourage you to continue to write such wonderful Hubs. You're an inspiration all Hubbers who are getting started and an encouragement to “veterans” as well.
We hope that you continue to enjoy writing at HubPages and participating in the community. We certainly enjoy your work.
Congratulations again, and we look forward to seeing you around.

March 5, 2012 - I received the accolade of "Hub of the Day" for this same article. It was promoted on the Hubpages homepage; I hope it was a good example for people curious about Hubpages and got more people interested in writing and sharing what they know. I'm very proud in particular that it shined a light on Cambodian culture and got a lot of people commenting on what a beautiful wedding it was (patting myself on the back). I think all the pictures pushed it over the top - we were all smiles on our wonderful wedding day (despite the 100+ temperature!). Below is the explanation of the "Hub of the Day" accolade:

The Hub of the Day is an exemplary Hub chosen by the HubPages Staff to be featured on the signed-in homepage for one day and in the carousel of the signed-out homepage for ten days. Staff are looking for Hubs that contain interesting and useful subject matter, high-quality and grammatically correct writing, and beautiful formatting. A Hub of the Day accolade will be displayed on the Hub itself, as well as in the Hubber’s accolade box. To see previous Hubs of the Day, we have archived them for you here. For more information on the Hub of the Day, check out our Blog post. {click HERE to check out the archives of Hub of the Day and enjoy reading other great articles!}

Additionally, over 70 wonderful people have made nice comments following the article. It's been viewed over 500 times this week and almost 1000 times total since I published it mid-February. And I've gained quite a following in the Hubpages world in just under 6 weeks with 5 articles published so far. You can always check out these articles and comment, even if you don't join (links to my articles are in the Hubpages box to the side of this post). Anyway, I wanted to share my achievements lately because that's what this blog is for - to outline my goals and challenges, to list my successes and setbacks. Two of my Dazzling goals were to learn how to praise myself for my successes and learn how to accept a compliment. So thanks for the compliment readers!