Showing posts with label home ec. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home ec. Show all posts

March 23, 2010

Eco-Cleaning: The Bathroom (My Least Favorite)


We can all admit it, no one likes cleaning this room. It's generally yucky - with bits of funk I don't even want to describe. Fortunately for you, you may have already begun to tackle this funky chicken of a room with some of the recipes you've been supplied with already. 

I realized all that's left from yesterday's recipe list, which is applicable to your toilets, sinks, and tubs as well is the all-natural drain de-clogger. Do you remember when you were a kid, there was the erupting volcano experiment?


All you knew was that something was going to happen, but you didn't know what, and it was so exciting! Who knew unclogging that sink that's been stuck draining slow for a while now could give you (and moreover, your kids) the same thrill?!
  • First, pour one cup of baking soda down the drain
  • Then, pour one cup of distilled white vinegar (add a few drops of yellow/red drops food coloring if the kids are there)
  • After the eruption and the kiddos bubbling and squealing -- pour one pot boiling water down the drain to finish it off.
  • Flush, or turn the water on - you'll be amazed at how the water flows now!
Here's a great great antiseptic soap solution for you and the kids (triclosan is the key ingredient in those antibacterial soaps); and not only does it work, it's really bad for you because it kills the good germs too:
  • In an 8 oz squirt bottle, fill bottle with purified water, leaving about an ounce. Add 1.5 tbsp of baby-scent castille soap, and 20 drops of lavender essential oil. Gets hands clean, and gets rid of bad germs. For little ones, help them remember to wash hands long enough by singing the "ABC" song - that's about as long as it takes to really get your hands clean. Use warm water.

Cleaning the shower is no fun: there's soap scum to deal with - and possibly, mildew:


For mildew and soap scum on hard surfaces, your soft scrub and spray cleansers will do. But if  you have shower curtains and liners - you'll need to wash those. The curtains can likely be laundered in the machine; but you'll probably need to take that liner outside, and either scrub it down or spray it and then scrub. Or both. 

Now, onto the tools of the trade:
  • A natural bristle brush
  • Recycle your old toothbrush, don't throw it out (just boil before using) - it's great on grout and the metal sleeves for shower doors; and really just about any other disgusting little crevice.
  • Bucket with sponge and warm water to wipe away any excess baking soda from your soft scrub.
  • Lint-free cloth for glass
  • Micro-fiber dust cloth

March 9, 2010

Interweb Inspiration and Finds

I love it when you have an hour or so to just cruise the web with no particular destination in mind, and just follow links with the frivolity and spontaneity of a road trip. Today I found some inspiration from a couple of my usual daily reads: the fantastic Purl Bee, and the funky-fresh CraftZine.


This lampshade looks like fun, and is giving me all sorts of ideas for how I can make my own....Also over at the CraftZine blog, I found this PostCarden, which is a refined replacement to the tragically tacky Chia Pet:


There's so much goodness over at CraftZine, I'll let you head over there to decide which project to do for yourself...next stop: the Purl Bee. Oh how I love the Purl Bee, ever inspiring me with endless possibilities for new media to work with, and delicate, stylish execution of said media. Like this stunning sashiko tote:


While at the Purl Bee, a button on the sidebar caught my eye for mixtapezine...I love mix tapes, music, and the type of people passionate enough about both to make a business of it - so I clicked my way on over. It did not disappoint. Not only is the zine and blog about music, it sneaks an awful lot of playtime for crafty goodness. It was tough to pick just one thing to show you, but I decided on this gorgeous garden hex quilt:


And before I had to run off to the Post Office, the Grocery Store, and who knows what other exciting locales a domestic goddess such as myself may visit in a day - there was one more link luring me to stay online just a little while longer. And I'm so glad it called to me like a beacon in a storm, the button for Home Ec, quite possibly the hippest craftiest shop this side of the Mississippi. A visit to LA may well be in order, if only to visit this shop; but I'll definitely be getting this online meanwhile: