A Little Spring Cleaning Idea....Kids' Nook

Before

 Since I am a Pinterest junkie, I have seen these cute ideas for children's reading nooks and making little couches and things for them to have a little corner for themselves. My kids don't read to themselves yet, but they love books and, like every boy, they love hideouts.

So, my "office" is in the corner of our living room (which is one huge open area...living, dining, kitchen), and they like to play right by me when I have some work do to. I needed to do a deep clean on the area anyway...you know, clean all the dust bunnies out really good from under and behind the desk and untangle all the wires, not to mention straighten up the top of the desk.

After

I decided to turn the printer cabinet the other direction at the end of the desk, move the desk down a few inches and there was room for a little nook! 

I eventually want to make this cool little couch made out of all sorts of pillows (or at least find a little small couch or cute armchair to replace Spidey), but for now, stuffed animals, Spiderman chair, and a few random pillows from the kids' room are a big hit!

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

While browsing my Pinterest pins, I came across a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent. Why not!? I already had the ingredients for the powder version because they are also ingredients that I use to make my own laundry soap. I LOVE it!! I simply used a clean and dry recycled spaghetti sauce jar to keep moisture out and I added a few drops of lemon oil for disinfecting and smell (just add two or three drops to dry mix and shake well to incorporate)....it smells fantastic! I also did the vinegar in the rinse and all my dishes came out spotless!

POWDER BASED RECIPE

Mix the following inside a container with a removable, snap-top lid or a jar with a lid:

• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of either baking soda or washing soda

Seriously, that’s it! Add 2 tablespoons per load along with a splash of white vinegar in the rinse chamber of your dishwasher to prevent spots and/or residue. You can even make a fancier version by following the basic recipe above with the addition of several drops of your favorite essential oil (naturally antiseptic tea tree oil is an excellent choice).

LIQUID BASED RECIPE

Pour the following ingredients into a recycled plastic bottle with a squirt-top and shake until thoroughly incorporated:

• 2 cups of vegetable-based castile soap (such as Vermont Soap Organics or Dr. Bronner’s)
• ½ cup of water
• ½ cup of white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
• 3 drops of your favorite essential oil

Prior to each use, shake your homemade dishwashing liquid well and then measure out 2 tablespoons per load.

That's it!! It's green, easy, and cheap!!


Source for recipe

"Spring" Cleaning Epiphanies

Ok, so I have totally thrown my original blog plan out the window and will now post whatever I  feel like, whenever I feel like it. So, today, instead of crafts, it's just a few organizations things that I've discovered in the last couple weeks while doing a total spring cleaning thing on my house. This has been a major undertaking seeing as how it hasn't been done in a couple years- In my defense, I am usually a total neat freak, but I had a baby in May and gall bladder surgery in August, so deep cleaning wasn't exactly a top priority! I'm sure most women can relate!
Anyway, it's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate if you don't go through it on a regular basis...sad actually. So, at this point, I have managed to get it all done, except for one closet...the dreaded storage closet where I keep all my craft/scrapbook/wrapping supplies and boxes and boxes of photos...oh, and a few sets of sheets are in there, too!

So here's a few things I've discovered:

1. I thought I was going to need to buy a lot of storage containers to get everything organized neatly. It turns out, as I got rid of things I no longer needed, I found that I had several containers to use. So, don't go buy any, until you do some clean out! For example, I cleaned out my closet (it was horrible!!!) and ended up with several empty plastic shoe boxes.

2. You CAN have too many shoes.....seriously...I hate to admit this, but I had shoes in my closet that I've had since probably high school (that'd be about 13 years ago) and hadn't worn in years!

3. If it's the third time, you've looked at something you haven't used in a while and think to yourself , "I might use that someday", then you should probably get rid of it! Especially clothes!! Our church has a Love Closet every 3 or 4 months which is like a free yard sale for clothing, bedding, and baby stuff for our community and my car is full of stuff to take there now! If it's not used up, someone else can probably use it!

4. You wouldn't believe the space you will have in  your kitchen cabinets if you get rid of old small appliances that don't work! I learned that those old appliances and electronics can go on the scrap metal trailer so you can actually turn some trash into cash! Woohoo! OR, you can take them to Goodwill and they will get them there, too, and they get the money for it. (Just be sure if you do computers, to destroy your hard drive)

5. When you do a cleaning out, you WILL find something you were either looking for or forgot you had!

Don't try to do it all in one day! Make a list of things to do in each area and slowly, within weeks, you will have it all done! Happy Cleaning!!

Thrifty Thursday--Laundry Soap

This is tough stuff!!

 There are a million recipes on the web for how to make your own laundry soap and I found one that I personally like and began using it this past summer.
   The one I like is a recipe used by the Duggar Family and is on their website. I figured if it worked pretty well for 21 people, then it sure could work for the four of us!
   The recipe makes A LOT, so I decided to sell some at our local farmer's market and give it to people as well. I ended up basically having free laundry soap for myself, which is still a pretty sweet deal if you've been down the detergent aisle at the store lately and noticed the price! I like liquid, some people prefer powder, and there are thousands of different ways to do both as well as tutorials on You Tube. (Simply search for Homemade Laundry Detergent) I use it on all our laundry, including baby clothes and it works great! It even doubles as stain remover by applying it to set a while directly on stains before you wash!
   You might want to experiment if you like scents or don't like certain ingredients...there are lots of alternatives and most are a great "green" choice- environmentally and for keeping some cash in your wallet!

HAPPY WASHING!!

My homemade soap removed the poo stain!!

Thrifty Thursday--Cheap and Clean

I LOVE baking soda....No, not just to use in baking, though I do bake a lot...I love it for CLEANING!!


There are a zillion uses for baking soda if you scour the web, but here are some that I've tried out that work great:

1. Most people know about putting the box of baking soda in the fridge, but it also works great in diaper pails!

2. Cleaning stainless sink...wet the sink, sprinkle with soda and scrub a little, rinse it really good and it's shiny!

3. Use it in your garbage disposal...sprinkle some in and let it set a couple minutes, then run disposal

4. Getting stains out of your crockpot...I do not like to spend forever scrubbing stubborn stains out of my white crock, but by making a paste just like cleaning the sink and letting it sit just a couple minutes, all the stains will come off and it will be super clean once again...even the brown stuff from beans!

5. If you really want some super bubbly cleaning power for sippy cups, mix just a LITTLE vinegar with baking soda....be cautious because it will erupt (this is how they make those science project volcanoes! Seriously!)...works great for the cup, straws, lids, and the little valves, too.

6. Clean your coffee pot...I run vinegar and water through once first, then plain water about three times and put baking soda in the pot the second and third time...gets all the gunk out and makes it look like new with little or no scrubbing.

7. Sprinkle it on your carpet or rug and vacuum away! It will neutralize odors, even those caused by smelly little boys, and I would know! (; 

The best part is, baking soda is very cheap!!! And, you can buy large boxes of it, not just the tiny ones for an even better value.

Here's some more uses for baking soda, too!