Under Construction

Hey all,

In case you're wondering what's happening on my blog...it's UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Last year when I started my blog I was pregnant with my 2nd baby while caring for my baby son A who had just recovered from heart surgery. My pregnancy took some nasty turns when I developed kidney stones, had to get a catheter, and be on bed rest much of the summer. So, my blog went on the back burner, and now I'm ready to get back at it. You'll notice some blank pages here and there and it's just part of the process so bear with me:)

Thanks!

Cleaning with Vinegar - Microwave Oven

After searching the internet for more great natural cleaning ideas, of which there are many, I decided to make myself your guinea pig and test the outcomes of each one I found. They range from every room inside the house (kitchen, bath, laundry) to various items outside the house (grills, lawn furniture, camping equipment, etc). I was actually amazed at how much money I will be able to save by buying vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice rather than all of those toxic chemical cleaners. Especially if I buy my 2 main items, baking soda & vinegar, in bulk.

So onto the testing. This time I'm trying out a simple, yet effective, treatment on my microwave oven. And it worked! Why continue cooking my food, that I will ingest, in a microwave that heats up the contents within after cleaning it with a chemical cleaner? YUCK! That chemical will inevitably get into my food! By using natural products that we can actually cook with and ingest, I believe I am yet again making my home a little safer and healthier for my family.

4-5 things needed:

Dirty Microwave Oven

Microwaveable safe bowl

Water

Distilled White Vinegar

Lemon Juice (optional- for scent)

 Above: BEFORE pics of my Dirty Microwave Oven

First, pour water and vinegar into your microwave safe bowl (2 parts water, 1 part vinegar). Add 1 part lemon juice if you want to add that fresh scent. I did! Heat the bowl until water is boiling for at least a minute (I cooked mine for 3 minutes) because it takes a couple of minutes to get to a boiling point. 

When you open the door, take a towel rag and wipe every inch of the interior down, dipping the rag into the bowl of water for more saturation. The walls have been steamed so the food particles should wipe off with ease! I found this to be my favorite part of the process - it was so much easier to wipe down. You can see my results below:)

 Above: AFTER Pics of my clean, fresh smelling, non toxic, microwave oven!

It smelled good, looked good, and is safe for my family to use. So this natural cleaning trick gets an A from me:)

I hope this helps!!

Cleaning with Vinegar - Glass & mirrors!

White Vinegar, Water, Spray Bottle, & Coffee Filters

Clean your mirrors and glass!

This is one of my favorite non-chemical cleaning products! I use this on my mirrors and glass surfaces and it leaves no lint or streaks:)

1) Get an empty spray bottle (most stores, only $1) and mix 1 part white vinegar with 1 part water.
2) Use coffee filters to wipe down the mirror/glass - rather than newspapers (dirty blackened hands left behind) or paper towels (lots of lint left behind). Filters leave NO LINT!!!! ( I buy mine at Wal Mart for only $0.97/box)

Look at my before and after pics below to see how well it works.

BEFORE - Close-up of my messy bathroom mirror

BEFORE - The whole messy mirror

AFTER - Tada! Isn't it beautiful?! No lint, no streaks, no more water spots.

Hope this helped you!

Cleaning with Baking Soda - coffee stained pots

Baking Soda

I was always a typical woman, going to the cleaning isle at the grocery store, trying to get as many cleaning products I could that would clean my home in dramatic ways on the cheap. I never knew about a world that dates back to our grandparents where you can use just a few simple household pantry items to clean my entire house! This is pioneer stuff people - just like making your own soap or bread (another post I'm hoping to get up soon!).

One of the women I mentioned in my "beginning" post that is a part of my community of friends (Jen C), started this exploration in me to clean my home where my pets and children would be safe. No more having to lock up 20 dangerous chemical cleaning products under my sink or worry about my baby crawling on my floor.

Baking Soda is one of those simple household pantry items. Not only does it get things clean but I feel safe using that surface minutes later.

I was sharing this exciting realization with my mom when she told me about some ways of using this product. Baking Soda, by itself or mixed with just a tiny bit of water, makes a paste that will literally eat away at stains. So we tried it out in my coffee pot. My thermos like coffee carafe stays slightly heated by the heating element pad for about 2 hours every morning. Over the years it created a charred film on the bottom of the carafe (picture below).

Inside my coffee carafe - YUCK!

 I poured 1 cup of Baking Soda into the carafe, stirred in about 3 Tbs of water and let it sit all day. I went back to see its progress 4 hours later and I found black pieces floating on the now milky liquid. I poured in another cup of Baking Soda, a touch more water, and let it sit another 4 hours or so. I couldn't get my hand in to reach the bottom with a sponge, so I used a thin baby bottle cleaner sponge on a stick to scrape the bottom. I rinsed the carafe with water hoping to see a shine and boy did I! See the pics below of my "like new" coffee carafe!

Sparkling Shine inside my coffee carafe!

Even the inside walls were shining!

I was amazed at how well this worked, having never tried it before and I am now a believer! I will soon be trying this product on many other tough cleaning missions in my home and report back to you:)

Hope this helps!

Get Organized: Sack Lunches Made Easy

When I got married I vowed to love, honor, and feed my husband healthy food! Everyday for 3.5 years, I have been making him a sack lunch. He is a man who appreciates a good meal and it keeps us on a tight budget:)

Tips:
1) Go grocery shopping once a week.
2) Buy food for all lunches for the whole week (look for sale items, in season produce and use coupons)
3) Prepare the items for lunches in one day!!!!!
4) Buy a variety of plastic containers and plastic bags.
5) Make the same type of main dish everyday for a week (your family can handle it!) Prepare it in one day or make a fresh sandwich that morning. Use the freezer for single servings from large meals like soup or casserole)
6) Main meal ideas:
- Sandwiches (meat & cheese, PB&J but use a different jelly each day maybe, PB&Honey)
- Homemade Soups and casseroles (Make a large amount, dish out into single serve freezer containers, label, freeze, pull out when needed)
- Leftovers (sometimes I just have too much food leftover - either freeze it or give for lunch)

Supplies:
Plastic containers (Glad, Ziploc brands etc) variety of sizes
Plastic bags
1 main meal
1 veggie (pre-cut with salt & pepper or swimming in dressing or dressing on the side)
1 fruit (canned but in individual containers or fresh whole or pre-cut up in bags)
Optional:
Dessert or snack item (like cookies or granola bars or chips)
Dairy item (like yogurt or cottage cheese)

The main idea is prepare everything in advance so this is not a lot of work on busy early mornings! I hope this helps make your life more organized:)

How to Make a Bow Holder (Bow Board)

This is a really cute, easy, and inexpensive idea for organizing your girls bows or make it as a gift! It requires very little time to make and can be made custom to the style your girl is into.

Supplies needed:
Canvas
fabric (1 yard)
ribbon
staple gun
glue gun
pencil

These canvases are easy to find at any craft store in the painting section. Usually sold as a single or double pack and very inexpensive.

 Above: A view from behind. Use both hot glue and staples for extra durability.

 Above: A close up of the back.

Craft #1 - Mod Podge Letters for Kids Room

Here is one of my favorite craft ideas for decor in your own home or for gifts! Mod Podge is a glue like clear glaze found at most craft stores that allows craft paper to adhere to any wood item then is also used to give it a glazed finish. In this case I'm making a name to hang on the wall in any kids room. Super easy! Thanks to my crafty friend Crystal for teaching me how to do this technique:)

Supplies:

Wood Letter (or other item)

Craft paper

Mod Podge

Scissors

Pencil

Sponge brush

Paper towels

Optional:

Ribbon

Staple Gun

Above:  See all of these little mistakes on my letter! No one will ever notice them once it gets hung on the wall! Trust me:)

Above: Here's how I fixed a letter that had bad lumps - I hot glued some dollar store decals over the bad areas. Everyone thought it was really cute.

Above: I added these pink ribbons to the tops of the back of the letters because they didn't come with pre-drilled holes to hang them on the wall. I attached the looped ribbon pieces with hot glue and staples for extra security.