Whole House Air Freshener

Whole House Air Freshener:

Pour some vanilla extract into a coffee cup, place in oven at 300F for an hour or so.

Steel told me he wanted to eat what I was making!  I felt so bad that there wasn't any goodies in the oven that he could enjoy.

My inspiration:  lifehacker.com

Magical Grease Stain Remover

Q:  What is worse than grease stains?
A:  Grease stains that have been through the dryer!

Ahhh, not so fast!  I was surfing around one night and came across a post from Elementary Organization where she was talking about using baking soda.  I figured it was worth a shot since my sweatshirt was basically ruined.  I read on and found several people had commented and suggested using Dawn dishwashing liquid.  Well, that sounds even better to me.   I had some of that under the sink!!!

I tired it...

After the washer and dryer...

Wow-ness!  

Make Your Own Dishwasher Detergent

I finally finished up my box of dishwasher detergent and it was time to make my own.  I found several recipes floating around with slight variations.  I can say that this works great for me.  I use the borax and washing soda for my own laundry soap and had some epsom salt on hand for garden use.  I just needed to grab some Lemi Shine.  I found it in the same aisle as my borax and washing soda.

Recipe
2 cups of Borax
2 cups of Super Washing Soda
2 cups of Lemi Shine
1 cup of Epsom Salt

Directions
Add 2 T of mixture for each load of dishes.

I wrote the recipe on the old dishwasher detergent container that I used to store my new concoction so I would have it on hand as needed.

Make Your Own Laundry Soap - Dry Version

I prefer this to the liquid version.  It is much easier to make and lasts much longer.  And you don't have to worry about the temperature of the water and the gelling of the soap, etc.  I made several batches of the liquid and each turned out a bit different in consistency, it was quite puzzling.

I have a front loading washer that has a drawer to pull out to fill with detergent and I thought that I could only add liquid soap.  I was wrong.  A friend told me that she used dry in front loader's soap drawer and the game was on!  I absolutely love this soap and it's so cheap.  I haven't bothered to figure out the savings but I have yet to buy more of any of the ingredients and I've been making my own soap for 4 months.  All of the ingredients totaled less than $10 and I have made 3 batches of liquid and 1 batch of the dry.  That's good enough for me!

See liquid version post here.



Ingredients
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1 1/2 cup Borax
1 1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 1/2 cup OxiClean
(All ingredients were purchased at Walmart in the detergent aisle and conveniently located next to each other.)

 

How I Did It

1.  I chopped the bar of fels naptha into small-ish pieces with a butter knife.  It chopped easily.  I placed the pieces, along with 1/2 cup of borax into my Magic Bullet and chopped it up.  The borax kept the soap from sticking to the blade.  (I, actually, separated this into three small batches since the whole batch wouldn't fix in my magic bullet.)  

                                   

                                   

2.  I added my chopped soap into an empty (and washed) ice cream tub and added the remaining ingredients.

3.  I secured the lid on the ice cream tub and shook it until I was satisfied that my ingredients were good and mixed.

4.  I add 2 Tbsp. to each load.

I prefer this to the liquid version.  It is much easier to make and lasts much longer.

I have a front loading washer that has a drawer to pull out to fill with detergent and I thought that I could only add liquid soap.  I was wrong.  A friend told me that she used dry in front loader's soap drawer and the game was on!

See liquid version post here.

Family Room Painting Complete

I finished painting the family room!  The cheap, flat paint was terrible!  I would try to scrub the dirt away and the paint came off but the dirt would stay!  Painting was a must.  AND...they painted all the doors and trim the same color as the walls.  It was bad, bad, bad!  

I painted the walls with Sherwin Williams SW6086 Sand Dune Duration Home, satin finish.  Check out the color here.  Check out Duration Home here.

I painted the trim and doors with Sherwin Williams SW7006 Extra White Super Paint, semi gloss finish.  Check out the color here.  Check out Super Paint here. 

You can't really tell in the pictures but the new color is darker and less yellow than the old, yucky flat color.  Painting the trim white was a definite must but it also really sets off the color.  AND best of all...my walls are finally clean again!  If they get dirty, which they will, guess what...I can clean them!  Love it!

Here are some before and after shots.  It's kind of a hard to tell but I sure can.  Steel told me it looked new!  I love him!

Before (Yuck)

After (Ahhh!)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

 I still need to replace the light switch and electrical outlets.  I am switching out the cream color for white but I have more painting to do first!  All this room needs is some new carpeting, but the budget doesn't allow for that at this time.

I do have to mention that not only is this room painted which is a winter project (yes, late) complete but, it is also spring cleaned which is a SPRING project complete!  Yeah!

Make Your Own Carpet Stain Remover Solution

I want to first start by saying...

I am not a fan of Berber carpeting.  I have never had any luck with cleaning it.  It's so tightly woven that it is impossible to really get in and clean the fibers.  In our house, it is impossible to keep the carpets clean so being able to clean them is a necessity.

I found this homemade concoction at Glamour.com that is supposed to be the best.  I have decided to put it to the test.  (I have since seen this concoction mentioned many other places, seems like it is everywhere...)

The concoction calls for 1 part dawn dish soap to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide.  I did no such measuring.  All I can say it that I had more peroxide than dish soap.

Pink Spot:

I think it cleaned very well.  It cleaned better than any other cleaners that I have tried.  I'm still not a fan of Berber.  Since I was doing just a general cleaning of the carpet and not direct stains, it was difficult to tell in pictures so I did not include any.  You will have to test it out for yourself.  We have Cream/White (I know, I know, I didn't choose it.) carpeting.  If trying this concoction on a color, I would suggest testing it in an inconspicuous area first.

It cleaned so well that I decided to use it on the whole floor with my Bissell carpet scrubber.  For this I used approximately 1 part carpet cleaner (still have some and I won't let it go to waste) and 3 parts peroxide in the cleaner solution compartment.  Worked like a charm.