Monthly Archives: August 2012

How To Make Your Own Dusting Spray

How To Make Your Own Dusting Spray

It was that dreaded time of the month again – time to dust the living room. I really don’t like to dust, and I usually make my kids do it. I should probably dust more often than I do…but I don’t. This time I grabbed my orange scented Pledge dusting spray and thought to myself “Hmmm, can I make something that is as good as this…without the chemicals?

I found three dusting spray recipes online and tried all three. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like any of them. After messing around with the recipe I came up with one I liked. Feel free to change it any way you like. One recipe I found had 1/2 cup of olive oil in it (wow, that’s a lot!) and the other two only had 2 tablespoons (that just didn’t seem like enough). You may like your spray a little more or a little less oily than mine. I would start out with the 2 tablespoons and add more as you see fit.

Here’s my homemade dusting spray recipe:
4 teaspoons light olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle (16 oz size or larger)
*Instead of using the lemon juice and the white vinegar, you could use 1/2 cup of the homemade kitchen cleaner that I made in an earlier post. I tried it both ways and like the one with my homemade cleaner in it better because the vinegar smell wasn’t as strong.

Simply put all the ingredients in your spray bottle and shake to mix it up. Because it has water and oil in it, you’ll have to give it a little shake each time you use it. This gave my furniture a nice shine and it made me feel good knowing I wasn’t spraying things down with a bunch of chemicals. Plus this recipe is super cheap!

This mixture is much lighter in color than the homemade kitchen cleaner but, just so you or your family don’t get confused, it’s probably a good idea to label your spray bottle. You might even want to include the recipe you used so you’ll remember how to make it next time.

How To Make Your Own Cork Board

How To Make Your Own Cork Board

Yesterday I decided that I needed a cork board. I’d actually like to have a few of them. I don’t need anything very big – just something small (and cute). I don’t like to rush right out and buy something new if I don’t need to. I like to think about how I can make things using what I have lying around. A little light bulb went off in my head (or maybe above it, just like in the cartoons). I remembered that I had a very plain picture frame in my closet. I decided to paint it, and get rid of that ugly brown.

Now for the cork part. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a 20×28 cork project sheet. It was $6.99 but I had my 40% off coupon! If you’re looking for these handy sheets, they are in the same aisle as the poster board and foam board. I came home and traced the cardboard piece that came with the frame onto the back of the cork sheet. I used a craft knife to cut it out – so easy!

I then slid my cork sheet into the frame and viola! I had a cute cork board that will fit perfectly in the small space I have for it. Better yet, I have a lot of the cork sheet left over so I can do this project again and again! I have some very small frames that I don’t have any use for and I think I’ll turn them into adorable baby cork boards! I know, it doesn’t take much to get me excited.

Hopefully in a week or so I’ll show you where I’m going to hang my new cork board. But, that is still a work in progress 🙂

What Should and Shouldn’t Go In Your Dishwasher

What Should and Shouldn’t Go In Your Dishwasher

The other day I was looking at design books at the book store. I came across one called The Shabby Chic Home by Rachel Ashwell. It is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. The pictures were absolutely amazing.

I opened it up to a beautiful picture of an open dishwasher that was full of gorgeous dishes (please excuse the picture of my thumb in the picture). I thought to myself how delightful it would be to open my dishwasher and see something like that! There was a caption on the page that said “Even opening the dishwasher should be a joyful experience”. If I had dishes like that it probably would be! But it got me thinking, should dishes like that (antique, or with gold edges) really be washed in the dishwasher? I decided to look it up.

It turns out, you shouldn’t put antique dishes in the dishwasher, or any dish that is hand painted. If it has a gold edge it may be OK to put it in there but check and see if it has a label under the dish that says if it’s OK or not. Some gold rimmed dishes (if they’re marked) will withstand the heat and pressure in a dishwasher. I would be afraid to try it. I have some beautiful Christmas dishes that are edged in 24K gold and I wouldn’t even think of putting them in there.

While searching for my answers, I came across a very helpful article from Real Simple. I’ve attached the link here so you can check it out. It gives a very detailed list of what should and shouldn’t go in a dishwasher. Rather than me quoting bits and piece from it I think you should just check it out. I was surprised to see that you could put hair brushes (as long as they’re not wooden), potatoes and shin guards in there! You have to check out their complete list! It will blow your mind!

http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/kitchen/you-can-put-that-in-the-dishwasher-00000000022437/print-index.html

To get Rachel’s Book click here:

Super Inexpensive Drawer Organizer

Super Inexpensive Drawer Organizer

I have a little drawer in my laundry room where I keep a few tools and miscellaneous pieces of hardware (nails, bolts, picture hangers, etc). Every time I need something I have to rummage through there to find it. Not anymore! Today, while trying to find some tiny nails that I KNEW were in there somewhere, I had an idea. Why not use an egg carton?

I put the egg carton in my drawer (it fit perfectly!) and filled it up! Now I can see exactly what I have! This would also be a great idea for a drawer in a home office (you could fill it with tacks, rubber bands, paper clips, etc) or for your bathroom (this could be a great way to keep track of your jewelry).

I love it when simple, inexpensive things make a big difference!