Spring Cleaning - Decluttering!

Today is the official first day of spring, although around here it has felt like spring for a few weeks now - which is a rarity. In college (in MN) we used to joke about there being only "Four Days of Spring" and most years it feels the same here in WI. Since it is truly spring and even feels like it, bring on the Spring Cleaning! This post is part of the Spring Cleaning Challenge and Giveaway over at I Dream of Clean. Check it out for more spring cleaning tips and chances to win some great prizes.

One of my favorite tips that I have heard along the way, I think it may have been a seminar on organization at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), is a strategic way of decluttering your house (or individual rooms). What is great about this method is that you can tackle one room at a time, that way if you only have an hour you can pick a smaller room and get one done and still feel a sense of accomplishment.

Now, on to the method, you will need two boxes (or bins) and a trash bag.

• One of the bins is for items that have made their way into the wrong room/place

• The other bin is for items to either sell (at a rummage sale, consignment store, etc.) or giveaway (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.)

• The trash bag - is for you guessed it, TRASH! 

When you are finished with each room, be sure to put the items that have been misplaced into their intended location. And anything that does not sell at your rummage sale or is not taken by the consignment store should then be IMMEDIATELY taken somewhere to be given away - so that it does not end up as clutter in your house again. Be sure to record your giveaway items so that you can deduct them on next year's taxes.

Now the hardest part about decluttering, at least for me, is my desire to hold onto things that I may be able to use in the future. You've got to get into business mode, do your best to get out of sentimental mode. If you haven't used it in a year or more, the likelihood of you using it again in the future is very slim. If it is something that someone else may find useful, put it in the sell/giveaway bin. If it hasn't fit you in the last year (unless of course you are pregnant or just had a baby), put it in the sell/giveaway bin. Anything that is broken or missing pieces - should go into the trash. If it has holes or stains, put it in the trash - it just creates more work for someone else at a giveaway place to throw away unusable items.

Alright, sound simple enough? You can do it, I have faith in you! My goal over the next day or two is to tackle my bedroom - the place where I throw things, shove things, etc. when company is coming and then shut the door and my sewing/crafting area - it really needs some organization. Where do you plan to start?

MYO - Liquid Dishwasher Detergent

In the past I had tried a powder version of homemade dishwasher detergent as well as some additions to extend the life of your store bought powder detergents, but haven't been truly satisfied with either of these options that I have tried. Then, I recently came across this simple liquid version which I usually have all of the ingredients on hand, but I was out of two of them. My Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent was nearly gone and I was at Target, where they did not have Castile Soap in bulk or tea tree oil, so I opted for the Cascade gel pack trial things since I had a coupon. BIG MISTAKE! Every time I used one of those things I felt like there was a chemical factory in my kitchen. The smell was atrocious to me. I couldn't wait to get more Castile Soap and tea tree oil so that I could try this new recipe.

Earlier this week I made the liquid dishwasher detergent and so far so good. However, this morning I noticed my glasses starting to get that hazy, cloudy look to them. I may just need to refill my rinse aid with vinegar. Otherwise it will be back to Seventh Generation. UPDATE: I added more vinegar to my rinse aid and the glasses came out clear the next morning.

Have you tried any homemade dishwasher detergents that have worked well for you? Please share if you have; I'd love to try it out.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday. Check out these websites for more great simple living tips, ideas and recipes.

• GNOWFGLINS
• Culinary Bliss
• A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

Liquid Dishwasher Detergent

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Liquid Castile Soap (such as Dr. Bronners)
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 teaspoon Fresh Lemon Juice
• 3 drops Tea Tree essential oil
• 1/4 cup White Vinegar
• 1 handful Baking Soda

Directions

1. Combine ingredients from Castile Soap through White Vinegar (do not add the baking soda) in a squeeze bottle.
2. Shake to mix thoroughly.
3. Use one Tablespoon in each of the automatic soap dispenser compartments.
4. Sprinkle a handful of baking soda over the dirty dishes and in the bottom of your dishwasher; this will help absorb odors and increase the cleaning capabilities at the beginning of the washing.
5. Be sure to use white vinegar in your rinse aid.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 0 min Ready in: 10 min

Liquid Dishwasher Detergent courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

Dirty Sink, Clean Sink

A reader asked about removing tough stains from stainless steel sinks. And lo and behold I found a recipe that is so super simple. Yesterday I tested it out on my own sink and it now sparkles. I do believe that whatever our faucet is made out of it is not stainless steel - there were still watermarks on the faucet and handles after cleaning; no matter how many times I wiped them down it would still spot up when it dried. Are you ready to remove lime deposits, watermarks, and mineral deposits from your sink?

Okay, here it is...combine 2 Tablespoons salt with 1 teaspoon distilled vinegar. Make a paste and scrub your sink - then rinse. Easy, peasy.

If you have super stubborn stains, which I did not, you can try laying a vinegar-soaked rag on the spot for about an hour then repeat previous step.

If the spots are still not gone, try heating up some vinegar and pouring it over the stained section(s).

Another recipe, similar to one that I use for my bathroom sink, tub, counters, etc. Is to use 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 Tablespoon liquid soap and add a bit of white vinegar - just enough to make it thick and creamy. Apply the paste, scrub your sink/counter/tub, and then rinse.

Let me know if you try any of these tips on tough stains and report how well it works (or doesn't).

Before

After

This post is a part of Simple Lives Thursday. Check out the following sites for more simple living tips and ideas.
GNOWFGLINS
Culinary Bliss
A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

The above recipes came from the following book. It also contains vinegar recipes for cooking, a clean kitchen, the bathroom, all through the house, laundry and clothing, beauty and grooming, home remedies, "Handy Dandy Help," kid stuff, and pets.

Cleaning Solution Discovered During Homebirth

Almost four and a half years ago my daughter was born. We were living in student family housing at CU Boulder and decided to have a lay midwife deliver our first child at home. Prior to moving out to Boulder, CO I had an OB and was set to have a hospital birth in Milwaukee, WI literally a block and a half away from our house. At the time, a hospital birth was pretty much standard procedure in my mind; the only person I knew that had a homebirth was my aunt who lived in PA and the thought really never crossed my mind. But when we visited the CU Boulder campus, we were able to connect with some friends that lived in SW Colorado and recently had their first child at home. My friend, Amanda, had been studying midwifery before her son was born. Amanda and her husband had spent some time in India and had hoped to go back and do mission work. If Amanda was a trained midwife she would be able to teach others how to safely deliver babies, the idea resonated with me. I began looking into the homebirth option and midwifery. I figured having a homebirth sure would give me an idea of whether or not it would be a good fit for me, as I'm typically a bit squeamish around blood. I checked out several books from the library regarding home birth  and got a hold of The Birth Book by Dr. Sears and started thinking about my options as we were moving and I had to find someone new to deliver my baby anyway.

We moved to Boulder in the middle of July, when I was nearly eight months pregnant; that was a long road trip! Shortly after we settled in to our new surroundings, I began my search for a midwife. Prior to moving I had done a bit of research, but wanted to do in-person interviews. God provided us with Judy, we had some crazy connections to missionaries from Wisconsin that had served in Nepal. Judy was a grandmotherly type, not at all like either of my grandmothers, but definitely wise beyond my years. It was Judy who taught me how to make the most amazing and truly healing chicken soup (I'll have to share this recipe some day) and a more natural way to clean blood out of towels, sheets, etc. After the birth when Judy and her assistant Peggy were cleaning up the soiled items, I asked if they needed bleach and was shocked that her response was "No, do you have hydrogen peroxide?" (This was before my natural cleaning product days.) The peroxide worked wonders - not a single item was left with a stain (or bleach spot). We actually had a horrible incident with bleach during our move to CO. For a long time I did not keep it in the house, but my husband kept asking for some to bleach his deer skull, so I eventually gave in and bought a bottle. Then he found an alternative to the "bleaching method" and didn't even use it.

When using hydrogen peroxide on a blood stain it is always best to get to it as soon as possible. Place the soiled item in the sink and slowly pour the hydrogen peroxide onto the stain (depending on the item you may want to do a spot test in an obscure location first). You will see lots of bubbles, just like when you apply it to a cut to disinfect. Watch as the stain magically disappears, then rinse with cold water. Voila - no more stain!


If you would like to read more about my homebirth experience, click here. By the way, I discovered that midwifery was not for the faint of heart - and not for me! Although I am very glad that others are called to it as I appreciate the more individualized care.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday. Please check out the link to find more great posts about living simply.

Counter Intuitive Stain Remover

Berry Stain

Last week I mentioned that I would share a super simple, yet counter intuitive way to remove stains from berries, cherries and wine. Unfortunately I do not think this works on cranberries. I have yet to find a stain remover for cranberries - though I ought to try this if we have the opportunity, I may not have actually tried this thinking that it wouldn't work. Hence the counter intuitive aspect of this stain removing procedure.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings and on to the details. My aunt shared this with me when I was in college. I had dropped a cherry pit on my new white shirt and was rather upset at myself for ruining my shirt when I hadn't even gotten much use out of it. Are you ready for it? She told me to pour BOILING water through the stain. I couldn't believe it. Boiling water, won't that set the stain? Amazingly, no! The cherry stain immediately disappeared as I poured the boiling water through it.

Pouring Boiling Water

Years later I spilled some red wine on a very light colored shirt, once again I had not gotten much use out of the shirt and I rather liked it. I did some research and found a suggestion for yet again BOILING water. This time, however, they recommended rubbing salt onto the stain before pouring the water through. Not sure if it is necessary, but I did it and the stain came out. I have since shared this tip with others and they were in awe when they tried it themselves. Truly amazing - and yet how simple!

I tried to get a picture of me pouring the boiling water through the elderberry syrup stain on my son's sweater, but the steam greatly affected the quality of the photo - not to mention the fact that I was using my cell phone camera.

No more stain

If you ever find yourself with berry juice of any variety, try this method and you should be pleasantly surprised. A word of caution, the sooner the action of pouring the boiling water on the stain, the more reliable. Oh and it is best to do this over a sink, wash basin, bathtub or outside as you need to pour the boiling water through the cloth with the stain. I find it helpful to drape the garment over a large bowl.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursdays. Check out these other sites for more simple living tips/recipes/ideas.
Gnowfglins
Culinary Bliss
A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa


Come back tomorrow for Craft Fair Friday - once a month I will share a crafty project that I've been working on and hope that you will too. I love to see what ideas others come up with, to get more inspiration for another project. Next week I will share another amazing discovery of how to remove blood stains without using bleach. You may already know this trick, but it was new to me a few years ago. OOPS didn't get to this idea yet, but hopefully I will one of these days.

Dish Soap Failure or Success?

Last week I promised to share my failed attempt at making dish soap. We had just enough dish soap left to get me to the end of the month, that is until my son decided to use almost half the bottle in doing some dishes, which he promptly emptied the sink and soap after filling it only with water. ERRRR. Anyway, I didn't have plans to go to the store, nor did I have much money left in the household budget, nor did I have a coupon for "Green" dish soap. So, I decided to try and make some. Originally I thought I had failed, but after reading this article on soap nuts, I decided that maybe my attempt had not failed after all. Just because there aren't suds does not mean that there is not soap in the water that is still able to clean my dishes, rather that I've been brainwashed to think that I NEED suds to be able to clean.

I found a recipe that used items I already had on hand - soap shavings, water and vinegar or lemon juice. Sounded easy enough. The kids had fun helping grate the Ivory soap (which is almost always on hand since I use it in making my laundry detergent). The recipe said to cover the soap shavings with hot water and allow it to sit overnight to soften. After a few hours I noticed it had softened and probably should have done something with it then, but the directions said overnight, so I left it. In the morning it was no longer soft - it had now become a semi-solid lump of soap gel. Now the recipe said to add more water and either lemon juice or vinegar (as a degreasing agent) until you reach your desired consistency. Hmm, this lump of soap gel was not changing it's consistency with the added liquids. Now what? I decided to throw it in the blender to see what would happen. Eventually I was able to make it a liquid again and it sure did bubble up with the added motion of the blender. Once it was a liquid I poured it into my almost empty bottle of dish soap, added some essential oils (but could not overpower the scent of the ivory soap) and decided to try it right away. The dish soap created some suds at first, but they quickly disappeared. Which led me to believe that the soap was not working.

If you find yourself in need of some dish soap and want an easy, frugal solution, try this. I figure this cost me at most, 80 cents for the bottle of dish soap. A four pack of Ivory soap was on clearance at Target, plus I had a coupon. Just remember that the presence of suds is not necessary for cleaning. Although I used Ivory soap, you could do this with left over bar soap remnants, hotel soaps or whatever you happen to have on hand or a coupon for. I've changed the recipe a bit from the original since I had some difficulty and a half batch made more than I needed.

Come back next week to find out a simple, non-toxic, counter-intuitive way to get berry, cherry, or wine stains out of fabric.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday, check out the link for more ideas for living simply.

DIY Dish Soap

Ingredients

• 1 cup Soap Shavings
• 2 cups Hot Water
• 1/4 cup Vinegar or Lemon Juice
• 20 drops Favorite Essential Oil (optional)

Directions

1. Finely chop or grate bar soap remnants, hotel soaps or whatever soap you have on hand.
2. Cover the soap shavings with hot water and let sit until softened, check after a few hours.
3. Add more water and vinegar or lemon juice and stir until you have reached your desired consistency.
4. Add essential oil(s) if using and shake before each use.
5. Recommended essential oil combinations - orange and lavender, peppermint and grapefruit, bergamot with lavender and orange.

Prep Time: 1 h Cook Time: 1 min Ready in: 1 h 1 min

DIY Dish Soap courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

FLOOR WAX that's good for your hands?

I was asked about a floor/furniture polish recipe and since I do not have wood floors at the moment, nor did I have them in Boulder, CO the thought never occurred to me. After looking in Annie Berthold Bond's book Better Basics for the Home, I found a few options. One contains water and may not be best for a wood floor and the other is waterless. Oh and she mentions that these are pure enough to be used as a hand moisturizer. Imagine that, polishing your floor and getting soft hands. The recipe below wasn't as complicated or containing as many ingredients as the water version. Another option is to just use jojoba oil, but that is rather expensive.
As I have not tried this I can't attest to the effectiveness, but I would love to hear from any of you that have already tried this or are going to.

Join me next Thursday as I share my failed attempt at making dish soap.

Basic Waterless Wax Floor Salve

Ingredients

• 4 ounces olive oil or jojoba
• 1/2 ounce beeswax
• 1/2 ounce carnauba wax

Directions

1. In a double boiler over low heat, melt the oil and waxes; this should take about five minutes. Remove from heat and with a hand mixer blend until creamy.
2. Store in a glass jar for up to a year if olive oil was used and indefinitely if jojoba oil was used (it doesn't go rancid).

Prep Time: 25 min Cook Time: 5 min Ready in: 30 min

Basic Waterless Wax Floor Salve courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

More than an Ingredient for Salads

The two items I always buy in bulk are White Vinegar and Baking Soda.  Why you may ask?  They are both great for not only for the kitchen and culinary applications, but have many other uses as well - in other areas of the house.  This is a list that I once found on a Vinegar bottle and felt it was worth hanging onto.

Uses for White Vinegar

• Laundry - Add 1 cup to your load of laundry to freshen and brighten.  Be sure to test on a non-visible section of clothing before adding to a load.
• Ease Bug Bites/Sunburn/Poison Ivy or Poison Oak Rashes - Soak a cotton ball in vinegar then dab affected area(s).
• Clean Produce - Use 4 Tblsp of vinegar in 1 gallon of water to rinse produce (this can help remove some of the harmful residues often sprayed on produce at harvest time - 15 minutes of soaking is ideal)
• Protect Garden from Unwanted Pests - Place rags soaked in vinegar on stakes around perimeter of garden.  Re-soak every 7 to 10 days.
• Remove White Rings from Wood Furniture - Combine equal parts Olive Oil and Vinegar.  Use a soft cloth to apply mixture, moving with the wood grain.  (It then says "Use a fresh cloth to polish to a shine." - not sure if you continue to use that mix or if they are referring to a furniture polish.)
• Get Rid of Mildew - Can be sprayed onto painted surfaces, bath tubs, plastic curtains, bathroom fixtures, and tile (except marble, limestone or travertine).
• Remove Odors from Hands - Rub vinegar onto hands before and after handling strong smelling foods such as fish, onions or garlic.
• Deodorize Kitchen Drains - Use 1 cup of vinegar, pour it down the drain, let it stand for 30 minutes.  Rinse with cold running water.  You can do this once a week.
• Build a Volcano - *There is a note saying that this one is best done outdoors with adult supervision.*  To build the base of the volcano pack clay or mud around a small bottle set in a baking pan until it resembles a mountain/volcano.  Be careful not to get the mud/clay inside the bottle.  Fill 3/4 of the bottle with warm tap water (colored with food coloring if you wish).  Add 6 drops of dish detergent and 2 Tblsp of baking soda to the bottle.  For the eruption, slowly (and carefully) pour vinegar into the bottle.

There is also a caution at the bottom of the list..."CAUTION: Do not let Vinegar come in contact with jewelry.  Vinegar will dissolve pearls."

What is your favorite use for vinegar?  Are any of these uses new to you?  Which ones do you use regularly?  Have more to add?