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How To Be Organized: The Best Cleaning Tips of 2011 (PHOTOS)

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With the new year just around the corner, we thought it was time to look back on some of our favorite stories of 2011, starting with cleaning tips! We've all been around for a spilled wine glass or smelled something strange we've never noticed before, but sometimes you just don't know how to respond. To help you out, we pulled together ten useful and inventive cleaning tips for you to continue using come January. Flip through the slides below and let us know which tip is your favorite!

1. Decoding That Weird Home Smell
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Do you suddenly smell vanilla in your living room? Does the kitchen smell like garbage? Check out this story on decoding that weird home smell.
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How to Be Organized: 15 steps - wikiHow Get Organized: 10 Ways to Cut Clutter in Your Home How to Get Organized - Ways to Organize Your Home - Good ... 50 Ways to Make Your Home More Organized, More Attractive, and ...
 
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House husband
0 Fans
02:31 AM on 12/29/2011
When it comes to getting those pine needles out of the house, nothing beats an ELECTRIC powered hand held yard vac. Needles can ruin a household sweeper when they are sucked up in large numbers.

One word of caution: Run the extension cord to the outside of the house and hook up the vac and start it up before coming back in with it vacuming as you walk back towards where the tree was set up. This keeps the initial burst of dust which always appears when you fire these things up from coating the house with a layer of dust.

Remember, DO NOT try this with a gas powered model.
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PITTSBURGH FAN
0 Fans
10:42 PM on 12/28/2011
PLACE THE JUNK MAIL IN ANOTHER JUNK MAIL SELF ADDRESSED PREPAID STAMPED ENVOLOPE AND REMAIL IT.. SAVES JOBS AND I'M SURE DRIVES THE RECIEVING PARTY ALITTLE CRAZY BUT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE, I'M RETIRED I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY ....P.S. JUST MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ANY INFORMATION THAT PERTAINES TO YOURSELF, NAME ADDRESS ETC...
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marpearl
15 Fans
09:33 PM on 12/28/2011
By stopping junk mail , you make someone lose their job at the post office! Is it that hard just to throw it away.
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nemo1967
5 Fans
07:59 PM on 12/28/2011
pannel 4. how cuuuuuute gimme one my baby goldie :)))))) man...cute well that is nature pet should clean up up hairy .. never poo/ pee on couch .. just spray clean pet 's four leg of paws........
pannel 11. this bedroom look junk.......
ok so house clean about get ride of rodent on kitchen need paster..
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Astro11
4 Fans
07:21 PM on 12/28/2011
Junk mail is annoying. I agree. HOWEVER, if it were not for junk mail first and 2nd class postage would be a lot higher than it is now. Just grin and bear it and realize you are actually saving postage which, of course, is goin up just 1-cent come January. Don't forget to purchase your FOREVER stamps.
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Fishwife2
0 Fans
05:42 PM on 12/28/2011
How do you get the post office to stop filling up my tiny post box with weekly "coupons" and flyers? I put a sticker inside my box for them to not put any of that in but they do it anyway. Yet, I can't get the lazy mail carrier to bring my packages to my door - she crumples a note into all the junk mail that there was no room and I'll have to travel 5 miles to the post office to pick-up my package, the ONLY item I did want, but which is now 5 miles away, not on a public transportation line and not walkable due to multiple lane highways in-between; and ultimately on its way back to the sender since I have no way to retrieve it. Kramer on Seinfeld had the right idea - no more mail. I gladly pay extra for things I actually want to be delivered by Fedex. I like UPS too but they often only transport partway, then dump off for USPS to finish the delivery, in other words, I won't get it!
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kyfoe1stldy
0 Fans
08:59 PM on 12/28/2011
Delivering mail (ALL MAIL) is the job of your mail carrier, like other places of employment if you do not do your job you will be fired. Under some circumstances a carrier can even serve jail time for not delivering the mail. As for her being lazy if you would clean out your box,as you should, there would be room for your box.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
onwisconsin
Trust women; protect choice.
1616 Fans
12:08 AM on 12/28/2011
Dog toys are our only organizational issue. We both pick up after the pooch each night. We're not limiting his toys or his access to them.
Otherwise, my husband does a great job organizing most of the house, I do the kitchen and the garage (I do woodworking and home repair as a hobby).
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