Children and Chores: Lighten Your Load!

I'm not saying to turn your little princess into Cinderella, but it's actually good to have your kids help out around the house starting at a young age!

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I'm over at Pam Barnhill's site again today, sharing my Children and Chores: Start 'Em Early! post that shares why it's not only good for you, but good for your kids if you have your little ones lighten your load a bit by doing small jobs around the house. 

Click on over and check it out, then stop back by to let me know what you think!

Do you have your kids help out at home, or do you somehow have more hours in your day or more than two arms to get everything done yourself? I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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A Simple Way to Save a Little Money in the Kitchen

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I'm a big believer in the idea that even small steps and changes can add up to a big savings over time and this idea is just that.

While kitchen sponges probably aren't a huge budget-buster, they still represent a household expense, especially if you change them out on a regular basis to keep germs at bay.  I can't say how much money this trick will save you a year (because it depends on your sponge use), but I can say that whatever you're used to spending will be cut by 75%!

 Start with a full-sized sponge: 

Then cut it in half:

And then cut those halves in half:

Voilà!  Four times the sponges!

Now, you might be wondering why I'd suggest that you use such a petite sponge, but let me tell you, once you get used to the smaller size, I bet you'll like it better.  Most likely, you really don't end up using all the areas on a sponge anyway and the smaller size means it's easier to get the nooks and crannies of your dishes clean.

Want to save even more money in the kitchen?  Make your own dish soap and dishwasher detergent and you'll start to see those saved dollars really add up!

What do you think of this idea?  Do you feel small steps like this add up to big savings when looking at the big picture?  I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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How I Naturally Sanitize My Home, or What I Love About My Favorite Household-Cleaning Tool

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I have a really nice vacuum cleaner, but I never use it.  

I bought it after installing new carpet in my last house and man, I would vacuum all the time.  It was my favorite chore, because it was easy and active and the vacuum had a little light on it that told me when I needed to keep cleaning a certain spot...then when the light turned green, I knew that spot was clean and I could move on.  It had no bag, but a dustbin that I would have to go dump into the garbage can, and wow, even when I thought my floors were clean (the house had a no-shoe rule, to help keep the dirt away), I would be shocked at how much gunk I dumped out.  But I liked it.  I liked how I could see the progress I'd just made with cleaning - all that dirt I'd vanquished.

Our our current home, however, has no carpet.  Just laminate floors and tile in every single room.  What to do now?  I hate to sweep and mop - maybe just run my trusty vacuum some more...

And I would.  For the first year or so, I just kept vacuuming.  That great vacuum had a "floor" setting and boy, I used that sucker like crazy.  But I never felt the floors were getting truly clean.  I mean, I actually felt them, and they really didn't feel completely clean.

So I became the Swiffer Queen.  Armed with my spray bottle of vinegar and a pile of old washcloths, I would first vacuum the floor like normal (still couldn't bring myself to use that broom) and then squirt and Swiffer my heart out.  

I'd learned early on that it was crazy to buy those disposable Swiffer cloths, or even a generic brand, because I could just jam an old washcloth into the little clip-holder thingies and then throw them in the wash and reuse them!  And I didn't need a separate cloth for dry Swiffering and wet Swiffering, either, because I could use my old washcloths either way!


This method worked, but it had a huge drawback.  It was so much work.

What I really wanted was to go back to my happy vacuuming days and just run some machine over all the floors and trust that they were clean simply from that.


That's when I discovered the steam mop.

An appliance that works like a vacuum, sanitizes everything and is natural like vinegar, but cheaper to use because it just takes water and saves my hand from all that squirting?

I was too excited.  My mom had gotten a steam mop a couple of months earlier, but the one she tried didn't work at all.  I had faith that another brand would work miracles, so I researched and settled on what was to become my new favorite household-cleaning tool.

I got this and have been so pleased.

Not only does it produce floor surfaces that are so clean I would literally eat off of them, but it came with an attachment that allows me to roll it over my mattresses and couches and sanitize those, too.

Have you ever seen those pictures of all the bugs and mites that are living in your mattress, happily feasting away on all your dead flakes of skin?  (Ewewew!)

This kills those little buggers.

I suppose you could run a vacuum attachment over the mattress afterwards to suck up all those little dead mite carcasses, but I'm usually just happy enough to know that I'm laying on top of critter corpses and not little live creatures.

Now that I think about it, that would give me a reason to use my vacuum... {grin}

I love running the steamer over our couches and chair cushions, as well.  My sweet Italian Greyhound Bishnu had hardly any hair and didn't really shed, but he was still a pup who enjoyed a romp in the yard and after enough time had passed, that not-so-sweet doggie perfume would begin to fill the air.  

The steam mop would get rid of that smell, especially when I sprayed my Homemade Household Odor Eliminator on it first.

Bishnu's been gone several years, but now Gv is beginning to climb all over the furniture and those sweet little hands and feet aren't always squeaky-clean...

Additionally, I love my steam mop because I can also use it to sanitize the granite counter tops.  

Granite.  It's a natural stone.  Sitting out there in the great outdoors, it faces everything the elements can throw at it with aplomb.  Then why is it that you can't clean it with anything but special, chemical-laden, expensive granite cleaners?

Argh.  So frustrating.

But my steam mop rises to that challenge, too.  I continue to wipe the counter down constantly with just hot water, but when I want the counters really clean, I break out my steam mop.

Voila!  Disinfected counters, sans chemicals!

The mop I have came with two cleaning pads, but I (wisely) figured I'd need more, since the entire house gets treated.  I bought a set of extras and  I really like these pads, because I can throw them in the wash and then just let them air dry to reuse again and again. 

Oh, and a tip:  use distilled water, if you can.  The steam mop comes with little packets of mineral deposit-remover to clean the reservoir, but you won't have to really do this if you use distilled water.

I've had my steam mop for at least seven years.  The model I have is one of the early versions.  The drawback of my older model is that the telescoping handle sometimes collapses while I'm pushing it.  There is a newer model out and I would guess that the company has tweaked its function a bit and corrected the collapsing handle issue.  It looks to me like this is the equivalent to the model I have now.

However, in looking up the current product, I discovered this version .  Wow.  I am so saving up my nickels and dimes for this as a replacement, because not only does it do everything my current steam mop does, but it also has the capability to spray a jet of steam onto tile grout and it includes a wand to run over smaller areas of furniture.  It's not that much more that the basic version, either, so I would definitely choose this one over the other, if possible.

I'm so excited to get the fancier one at some point; I think it would really solidify this tool as my favorite household-cleaning appliance, for sure!

What do you think?  Do you have mostly carpet in your house, or laminate, wood, or tile?  Are you happy with a broom and mop, or do you vacuum and mop, or do you have one of these steam mops, too?  Let me know what works for you - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.


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Homemade Natural Household Odor Eliminator

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One of the very first cleaning products we switched out for a more natural option was our bottle of Febreeze.

Ugh.  So many chemicals, and such an unnatural scent.

My homemade version is easy, pleasant-smelling, cheap, and it works wonderfully!

Sometimes I get a little carried away with my squirting...I spray the bed, the couches, the towels hanging on all the towel racks, the clothes in the closet, the car seat, the air in all the rooms...

See if you can hold yourself back from a misting addiction when you whip up your own batch of this stuff:

What You Need

1 Tablespoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon white vinegar (it works pretty well if you don't include the vinegar, too)

2 cups distilled water (use this so you don't grow disgusting mold in your bottle!)

drops (around 10) of your favorite essential oil (use one scent or a combination - this is our favorite)

an empty spray bottle (we honestly pick up great ones at our local $ store, but these look great, too)

What You Do

1.  Dump everything into your spray bottle.

2.  Shake really well before each use.

3.  Start spritzing!

See, I told you it was easy!  Now go forth and eliminate your household's odors with spray bottle in hand!

What scent(s) did you choose for your formula?  I'd love to hear!  Leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Better Homemade Diaper Wipes, Solution and Ointment for Your Baby's Bum

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We knew we didn't want to use traditional wipes for Gv - too many icky chemicals listed as the ingredients, not to mention the extra cost and garbage generated from all those single-use squares.

We do still keep a refill packet of regular wipes in the diaper bag, though.  For longer trips, we bring along our home bum-cleaning supplies, but for short, just-in-case-it's-needed wipe situations, we've found it's easier to keep things simple and use the standard wipes.

So, what do we do at home?  First, we make our own wipe solution.  We've actually played around with different "recipes," but have found that what works best for us is just a simple mixture of aloe and water.

Luckily, we have a few aloe plants in the yard:

They're really simple to grow and are so handy to have on hand for medicinal needs; I think everyone needs to grow at least one of these plants at home!

To make your wipe solution, begin by snipping a lower leaf off with some kitchen shears and bringing it inside.  Wear gloves to do this, or just be careful, because the prickly edges of the leaves hurt if they poke you!

Next, use your kitchen shears to cut away those spines:

You could use a knife to do this, too, but it's so much easier with the shears.  Now your leaf is ready to work with, prickle-free:

Take a knife and slice through the leaf, lengthwise:

Now you have two halves with all the gel and goo exposed:

Take your knife, flip it over (watch your hands!) and scrape the goo off the leaf:

I can never really get my goo completely clear/without a few bits of leaf mixed in, but it doesn't hurt anything to keep the green in there.

Scrape your goo into an up-cycled glass jar and add a cup of distilled water.  Shake it all up and you're all set.

We use distilled water and keep the solution supply jar in the fridge to keep the mold away.  We pour just a little at a time into a small plastic container to use next to our changing table.

Now you need to make your wipes.  I cut up three flannel receiving blankets, because we had lots of those to spare.  You could get fancy and go buy flannel fabric - and even hem the edges - but we've found that the fabric doesn't unravel too badly with raw edges and we didn't really care if our wipes had some special pattern or not.

They're just wipes, after all.

But you could totally get fabric to match your nursery theme and make everything look cute and fancy and coordinated and I bet it would look fabulous.

I cut mine in different sizes - figuring that some jobs would require larger squares and some smaller.  I'm happy I did that.  

This is a larger square - probably 4x4 inches

You can even store your wipe squares in a plastic wipes container so they pop up - How fun is that?

Cleaning the wipes couldn't be easier.  I just toss them in our diaper pail - along with the diaper - and wash everything together.  I've never run out in-between washings and probably could have been fine with just two cut-up blankets, but I like to be prepared, just in case.

Besides the wipes and solution, we also have a jar of just regular water nearby.  This doesn't have to be special water, because you can just dump the old and refill it every few days.  We use the water pretty much every time we change her, before the aloe solution.  Sometimes we just use one or the other, though, depending on our mood and the job.

Some jobs need more aloe solution than others {grin}.

Our final diapering tool is a jar of Coconut Oil

Oh, coconut oil.  How I love thee.  We actually have a ginormous vat of the stuff because we got through so much of it, but I just refill this jar kept next to the changing table since it's a more manageable size.

We use this in place of nasty (or non-nasty, but expensive) conventional diaper creams and love how it keeps Gv diaper rash-free.  I think once or twice in the last year her bum has gotten a tad red, but we just let her sit in some water in the tub for a bit, then gave her some "air time" on a shower curtain liner before slathering on extra coconut oil and putting her in a clean diaper.  Worked like a charm!

Homemade wipes in their pop-up box, glass jar for water, jar of coconut oil, and small container with a bit of wipe solution that gets refilled by our fridge stash

It may all seem like more work than just buying disposable wipes from the store, but we feel so much better with this system.  We're only putting good stuff on Gv's sensitive parts and helping the Earth at the same time!

What do you think?  Will it work for you, too?  I'd love to hear about it!  Leave a comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Super-Easy Natural Homemade Dish & Hand Soap

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I was so excited to finish up our dish soap supply so that we could start using a more natural (and cheaper) homemade version.  Some DIY versions I'd seen include Borax.  While I have no problem using the stuff in the dishwasher or washing machine, we use our dish soap not only to hand-wash dishes, but also for our hand soap, so I wanted to keep the mixture as pure as possible.

Luckily, I found that I could get effective results with just two ingredients:  soap and water.

Yup, you read that correctly.  The amazing no-fail way to get things clean is by sticking to the basics.

Of course, if you want your soap smelling all fancy, you could easily add in a few drops of your favorite essential oil, but we prefer things plain around these parts.

So here are your super-simple directions for making up a batch of dish and hand soap for yourself:

What You Need:

1 bar of castile soap (this is our favorite)
4 cups of boiling water

What You Do:

1.  I find it works best to use my food processor for this (get one here).I run the soap through once with my grating blade, then again with my regular blade to process it all even finer.  This helps it all dissolve better in the water.

2.  Dump your soap shavings in a pot of boiling water and stir until it's all dissolved.  This is where the double-processing comes in handy, as it cuts down on the time spent on this step.

3.  Pour the mixture into your storage container (I like to upcycle a big glass jar, from something like pickles).  When it has cooled, then you can fill up all your hand soap dispensers from around the house (you can re-use old commercial soap dispensers forever).


See, I told you it was super-easy!  Make a batch up for yourself and let me know how it goes.  Comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Homemade Diaper Soap

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As I mentioned in my homemade laundry detergent post, I use something different for washing Gv's cloth diapers.  That's because I learned that using soap for things like diapers and towels can actually keep them from absorbing well.

The good news is, making diaper soap is even easier than laundry detergent, because you just have to leave out the soap!  

I usually end up throwing in whatever towels/washcloths we have that need cleaning in with her diapers, but other times I'll throw the towels in with another load - we're not too persnickety with our towels around here.

So here's the modified "recipe" for the diaper detergent, including the addition of tea tree oil along with vinegar in the rinse cycle, just for a little extra germ-killing power.

What You Need

3 cups washing soda (find it here)

3 cups Borax (pick it up here)

1 cup baking soda (find it here) 

3-4 drops tea tree oil (get yours here)

What You Do 

1.  Dump all the ingredients in a container (I like to use a bulk spice or shaker cheese container, because these both have a wide mouth and fit nicely on my shelves).

2.  Shake it all up.

3.  Use 2 Tablespoons per load.  Add 1/2 cup white vinegar and 3-4 drops of tea tree oil to your rinse cycle.

Oh, and as I mentioned in my homemade dishwasher detergent post, after Googling myself silly, I came up with lots of conflicting information regarding borax and whether it's safe/natural or not. Ultimately, I determined that the amount of borax we use is safe (for us).

Do you cloth diaper?  Think you'll make the switch to homemade detergent?  I challenge you to give this mixture a try - it's so easy!  Let me know if you do - leave a comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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