Homemade Cleaning Products - Air Freshener

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

 

Air Freshener for Pennies!!!!

 

 

Ingredients:

1c Baking Soda

4Tbs Pine Sol

Container - I used a rubbermaid container

 

Directions:

Mix together baking soda and cleaner until you form a rough sand texture. Place mixture into your storage container.  Put freshener in desired room - out of the reach of children and pets preferably. 

Shake every week or so to loosen up scent and change out each month.   

 

Cost:

Baking Soda - on hand

Pine Sol - maybe .10???

Container - on hand

 

Time:

Nothing FLAT!

 



 

You may also find inspiration at this website:

http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/05/super-simple-homemade-air-freshener.html?showComment=1305034685386

Homemade Cleaning Products - Garbage Disposal Freshener Pods

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

Garbage Disposal Freshners/Cleaner Pods

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1c Baking Soda

4 Tbs Pine-Sol

1/2c Salt

 

Directions:

 

Mix all ingredients together - to form a rough sand texture - this will fizz a bit.

Form into tabs with metal spoon or metal measuring spoon - press together firmly - place onto wax paper to dry overnight

 

Makes rougly 12 -15 tabs depending on how large you form your tabs with your measuring spoon.

 

Mine were not all dry from overnight - I turned them over in the morning and they were completely dry within a few hours. 

 

Place into an air tight container for storage.

 

Drop into disposal while running warm water and disposal on. 

 

Cost:

Baking Soda - on hand

Salt - on hand

Pine- Sol - .25

 

I've been spending how much on those cleaning tabs/packets at Wal-Mart and Target????  OUCH!



Time:
To mix together products took about 2 minutes - I ended up doubling the recipe.
To form the tabs took about 10 minutes
Drying - overnight - flipped over to dry the underside another 3 hours.


I used this site for original inspirationa and tweaked it a bit for my own recipe. 

http://srg123.blogspot.com/2013/05/diy-garbage-disposal-freshener.html

Homemade Cleaning Products - Swiffer & Floor Cleaner

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week. I still have some left of the cleaner even!!! Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

 

Homemade "Swiffer's" and Floor Cleaner

Ingredients:
Pine Sol - Disinfectant Cleaner
Water
Spray Bottle
Microfiber Towels

Directions:
Mix Equal Parts Cleaner and Water - I used 3parts to fill up my spray bottle
Place one microfiber towel on swiffer head.
Spray cleaner onto floor- wipe clean with microfiber towel
When finished - take towel off - throw in washing machine to clean!

Cost:
2 Microfiber Towels - Dollar Tree - $1.00
Pine-Sol & Water Mixture - .50
Spray Bottle -  on hand
Swiffer - on hand

And I've been paying how much for these swiffer wipes at Wal-Mart and Target????? OUCH!

Time:
Same time it takes to put a swiffer cleaning pad onto the mop head....
Cleaner mixture - not even 3 minutes to mix up your cleaner!

Homemade Cleaning Products - Disinfectant Wipes

As promised on Facebook.... the "Recipes" for the homemade cleaning products that I have made and used over the past two weeks - they have worked for the 2 weeks, and have held up, thought I would try them out before sharing with everyone...

Over the past two weeks I have used one bottle of Pine Sol that I purchased at Target for $2.42 - for several different cleaner recipes - which I will share with you all over the course of this week.  I still have some left of the cleaner even!!!  Probably close to a cup of cleaner remains after all recipes were made.

Disinfectant Wipes - 

Cost:
.50 - 1/2 roll Paper Towels
.25 - 1cup Pine Sol - rough est on price
Free - repurposed wipe container

I've been spending how much on the container of wipes at Wal-Mart or Target?????  OUCH!

Time:
Maybe took me 3 minutes to put this all together
The towels do need to soak up the mixture - that takes about 30 minutes to completely soak up to the top of the towels.

Ingredients:
1 roll Paper Towels - Heavy Duty - I used Bounty Basic - $1.00 at local Dollar Tree
Equal Parts Pine Sol & Water (I used a 2 cup mixture) - depends on the size of your container
I repurposed an empty un-named wipe container

Directions:
Cut your Paper Towel Roll in half
Take out the middle cardboard roll from paper towel roll
Fill Container with cleaner - you can pour over the paper towels if you would like too.
Place one half of the roll in the container - let it soak up cleaner - takes a little while to soak up all mixture.
I used this site - however the directions werent entirely clear:

 

http://ruggedthuglife.com/2013/05/29/disinfectant-wipes-pine-sol-or-vinegar-recipes-are-at-the-bottom-of-this-post-for-various-types-of-cleaners-you-can-create-sturdy-paper-towels-water-glad-or-ziplock-container-that-is-large-enoug/

The paper towels have held up surprisingly well - they didnt turn mushy and we use them all the time for quick clean ups!   I would recommend these for any cleaning you would do with regularly priced Clorox or Lysol wipes - you can also use your choice of disinfectant cleaner you would prefer.  I love the fresh scent of Pine-Sol.

Come and Ring My Bell!

So as you all know I am a DIY knock-off fool!!!!
Enter my husband - stage left -  come to find out - so is he!!!!!
Oh it's so wonderful to find out you were really meant to be together LOL!

While shopping for lighting for our kitchen remodel back in oh... 2011-ish we came across a super ultra mod Italian home decor store - in the East Village of Des Moines - we came across a very interesting door bell made out of 2 wine glasses - one red and one white glass - for the very beautiful price of $400+..... well the glorious and brilliant engineering/design mind of my husband started to noodle... "however can I make that?????"....

I work for a local winery and we have a plethera of wine glasses handy at our house (when they aren't being used)..... so the fit of this weird and industrial door bell seemed to be just the right fit to replace the oh so beautiful 1970's fabric covered box that housed our door bell .... I wish I had a photo of it so you could revel in the "GLORIOUS" attributes that it brought to the room.... (did anyone pick up on the extreme sarcasm there?)

Here is the physical door bell now... and some photos of the attachment process.... sorry... I didnt capture any of his super sexy welding photos - I don't want you ladies out there to see him using heavy machinery - too much eye candy  = not always a good thing :)

 

So for those less talented in the mechanical arena (like myself) there is 2 mallets that hit on the bells of each wine glass - two seperate glass bells creates two seperate sounds - when the soft mallet hits against the glass the sound reverberates around the bell and creates a beautiful unique sound. 

This mallet is old school door bell man - not in service now - so Shawn found one online for $8.00 and ordered it.... Used the steel from the shop and welded the platform to hold the glasses

 

 

Installing the platform and running the wiring to the soft mallets

 

 

Not to shabby for a DIY Knockoff - orignally priced over $400.00

Designed and Made soley by the apple of my eye....

Total spent on supplies - $20.00

 

The level of how proud I am of his talents - limitless!!!! 

 

Now just come on over and visit us.... and ring our bell!   

 

 

The Dreaded Dead Space...."YAWN".......

I would like to start out by saying that I am thankful for indoor plumbing and the fact that we have an on-suite bathroom - I would then like to state that that room needs a TOTAL over-haul someday  LOL.  I am sure that my husband is JAZZED about that under-taking.

Our toliet sits in a little privacy nook, which is nice for certain reasons, however it does make for a choppy floor plan and flow to the room.... however this privacy nook while practical does create a bit of a dilema... what do you do with the space? 

You are now entering the dead zone.... "yawn"  "snooze"  "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

 

Oh wait.... I have a couple of orange crates I picked up at the What Cher Flea Market for around $5.00 a piece... I had them in storage, had used them as end tables at one point....

 

(please excuse the unmade bed... it was laundry day - they were getting washed that day, so I dont have to make the bed, right?) 

 

Shawn leveling the shelves and installing them....

 

View with some decor purchased at the Dollar Tree

- Copper Pail

- Basket

- 2 Glass Canisters

- silver platter to set canisters on

- black framed mirror

 

Total Spent $6.00

 

I see the dead sexy plunger also made it into this photo op....

So... I painted a couple of items in glossy white spray paint

- copper pail - added grass

- black framed mirror

 

I also bought some pressed "medallions" from Lowe's for $5.00 and glued them to the mirror to jazz it up a bit...

 

 

 

I spray painted the basket a darker "oil rubbed bronze" and added a chalkboard tag to the toliet paper basket and juiced it up with a light blue bow.  I purchased the metal tag from  my girlfriends shop, Painted Daisies in Oskaloosa - I think I picked the tag up for $3.99.

 

Added a couple of towels from our linen closet and a lantern for a pretty....

 

Here's the work in progress....  

 

Check back to see the changes in our bathroom - I am thinking of painting it a beautiful light blue/grey color.  Something more spa like and tranquil - oh and not so ALMOND-Y. 

How do you Measure Up?

DIY.... Growth Ruler....  Measuring up every year...

 

I have been wanting a growth chart or a ruler to record our daughter's height on.  I have looked around for several different ideas - Pottery Barn Kids has several nice options however they are $50.00+.  I am becoming more and more "Dutch" the longer we live in Pella.... while those seem wonderful, I cannot spend that much money on a board with some paint or stickers.....

 

I was in our local Goodwill in Oskaloosa, and I found this beautiful gem... for 1.99

 

 

I was able to peel off the measurment stickers and removed the wooden cow decoration from the top.

 

Spray painted that bad boy several times - glossy white - Rusteolum

 

I cut out the numbers out of black paper from my Cricut - 5" - used George and Basic Shape cartridge

 

Measured out the feet

 

Glued on the #'s and BAM! measuring ruler!

 

I also spray painted a small 5x7 frame that was orignially black to add to the top of the ruler.  I thought it would be nice to change out the photos each year.....

 

Here's the finished product - once again. 

 

 

Retro Subway Art - new school Smothers style....

Subway Art is all the rage right now - I see it all over the place!
 - people are making these for baby gifts - decorating their homes with fun graphic prints.... and why not... some of them are free to download, you print them up and do the ole switch-a -roo with the new print in an existing frame and BAM! instant gratification! instant update!

I myself dig the graphic layout, the bold statements and the fun flow of these prints.  What's not to love?  Color, Bold Print, and I made mine up about my favorite girl - soooo.... ya it's a pretty sweet deal....oh and its FREE!!!!!!!!!!

Several sites have different ideas and instructions on how to whip these bad boys up... have a gander....

http://happytocreate.com/digital-scrapbooking-news/digital-scrapbooking-news-products-scraphappy-craft-templates-subway-stats-5/

 

and the one that I used was this site - very easy to follow instructions! :

http://lorrinteriors.blogspot.com/2011/07/sophisticated-baby.html



I decided to give it a try for our daughter's room re-do that we are working on....  check back for photos of the finished product!