What’s Your Point? — Creating a Practical and Pleasurable Living Space Modern home decorating is often thought as costly. People think you need loads of money to do it. That doesn’t have to be the case. With a little thought and the right moves, transforming your home into your castle can be done without breaking the bank. Below are a couple of tips and pointers that you should consider: Purchase furnishings that serve a purpose Buy affordable but stylish furnishings that serve a purpose. If they don’t do something within the home, they’ll just be considered as clutter. You might even get fed up of them if they don’t make life easier in some way. You can, for instance, add some elegance to time telling by putting up some charming wall clocks, rather than have to glance at the DVD player or at your mobile phone. Think outside the box when arranging your furnishings and assorting accessories. This can go a very long way if when it comes to decorating your … [Read more...]
Fast & Easy Way To Clean Your Microwave!
Fast & Easy Way To Clean Your Microwave! One of my least favorite things to clean is my Microwave. It seems that for some reason it is impossible for my family to remember to cover things with a paper towel before they cook them. My the end of each week my Microwave is covered in built up gunk and goo that has had a whole week to sit and become next to impossible to remove.....that was until I learned about this amazing trick! Cleaning a Microwave is more simple then you might think. Here is a trick that I learned from my Mother in Law....just place a cup of water with 2 tbs baking soda into your microwave and cook for 3 minutes. Once your 3 minutes are up you just need to use a damp sponge or wash cloth to wipe clean. … [Read more...]
How To Properly Clean your Hair Brush and Toothbrush!
How To Properly Clean your Hair Brush and Toothbrush! Now that the kids are back in school I have had more time to deep clean my home and the odds and ends that have not been cleaned in a while. Today I decided to clean out the hair brushes and toothbrushes in my home. I usually try to do this every six months for my hair brushes and once a month for the toothbrushes. Some of you might be wondering why I clean the hair brushes in my home. But, the truth of it is that your hair brush gathers oils and such off your hair each time that you brush. It is always a good idea to clean off the built up oils to help keep not only your hair brush clean but to also keep your hair healthy and clean. Ingredients: Baking Soda Water To Clean Hair Brushes: Fill up your bathroom sink with warm water and stir in 3 TBS Baking Soda. Soak the brushes and combs in the water for about 3 hours. Drain water, rinse brushes and lay on a towel to air dry. To Clean … [Read more...]
Ways to Make Your Home More Cozy for Winter
Ways to Make Your Home More Cozy for Winter Now that September is here, it is time to get your home ready for the colder months ahead. There’s already a faint chill in the air, and this is only going to get more pronounced as the daylight hours fade away before Christmas time; that’s why now is the perfect time to do those jobs that come around each year. I’ve delegated bits and pieces to various family members, so we all have responsibilities and chores to do in the next couple of weeks. It can be a struggle to accept that the summer is finally on its way out, but by being organised you can be a little smug about how cosy your home is when your friends exclaim how cold it was when they got out of bed on that first proper autumnal day! Here are my tips for what to do next... Fix any window and door leaks A job for the DIY fanatic in your family; fixing the leaks in the window frames and doors can be essential for keeping the heat in and the cold out. When … [Read more...]
Quick and Healthy way to replace Cooking Oil in your Baked Goods!
Quick and Healthy way to replace Cooking Oil in your Baked Goods! I am always in search of ways to make things more healthy. I have been on a weight loss mission for over a year now and I am happy to say that I have picked up a few tips along the way. One of my favorite tips allows me to continue to eat all those cakes and brownies that I love so much. Ok I don't eat them often but when I do I prepare them in a healthier way! Did you know that every time you read cooking oil in a recipe for your favorite baked goods you can replace it with equal amounts of apple sauce. It is such a brilliant idea that will help your baked items to cook beautifully in a healthier way. Plus the apple sauce will leave your cakes and muffins moist and tender! Cutting the oil out of these recipes is a great way to cut calories! I wish I would have known about this tip years ago! But, now that I do know.....I will never forget it! I have apple sauce on hand all the time! … [Read more...]
How to Beautify Your Home Frugally
How to Beautify Your Home Frugally These are the times when knowing how to be frugal is really valuable. People who know how to be organized and save are lucky, because they get to do many things in their lives for a lower price than others who always wonder how money slips through their fingers. One of the things that’s really fun to do on a budget is – home decoration. You’d be surprised how much you can change and freshen up your home with very little. You just need to be organized, patient, creative and hard-working (and maybe a bit lucky at finding deals, sales and thrift shops!) Image Source 3 Ideas to Get You Started Let’s go over 3 simple tricks that will transform your home for the better. The biggest investment here will be for furniture (beds, recliner chairs, sofas), if you really need it, but there are ways to get around buying furniture and still have a “new” living room, for example. 1) Smart shopping - If you see that your furniture is old and ready for a … [Read more...]
Home Crafting Ideas
Home Crafting Ideas When you start thinking about decorating your home or making any repairs that you’ve been putting off for months, you start to wonder just how much it’s likely to cost. We’re all feeling the pinch since the economic downturn made us tighten our belts but some things we just have to spend the money on – our homes included. Some renovations are particularly expensive, mainly because you have to get professionals in, such as having your chimney repainted or having gas fitted, while other tasks can be relatively inexpensive or done yourselves. A lot of the very best ideas come from the kind of crafts you can do by investing in a few materials and turning them into something really cool, like custom fabric window treatments that let you show your creative flair and passion for interior design. Creating your own photo frames could be something the whole family can get involved in. One person could cut the wood to the right size for the frame, using … [Read more...]
Homemade Miracle Cure for Diaper Rash!
Brandie's Homemade Miracle Cure for Diaper Rash! Having my first baby was the most amazing thing I had ever done in my life. I was in heaven, he was perfect! And then we went home. He would not nurse, he was crying nonstop and it seemed nothing could be done. Along with being colicky he developed horrible diaper rash. It would get so bad that his poor bum would bleed. I tried Desitin and A&D ointment and Boudreaux Butt Paste and even milk of magnesia. Nothing seemed to work. I went to my pediatrician and she suggested mixing the Desitin, A&D ointment and milk of magnesia together to see what would happen. It was a miracle! I slathered it on as thick as I could and by the next diaper change I could see major improvement. The key to mixing these three things is getting the right Desitin. The one in the purple tube has the highest amount of zinc oxide and that is what you want. Just the normal tube of A&D works great and I always get the Philips brand of milk of … [Read more...]
Why a clean Pillow is essential to our lives!
Why a clean Pillow is essential to our lives The ugly truth of other pillows... What happens in your pillow, unfortunately, stays in your pillow. There are literally thousands of dust mites living, breeding and defecating in your pillow every day. Not to mention all the other junk you will read about in this article. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation: "Dust mites may be the most common cause of year-round allergy and asthma. About 20 million Americans have dust mite allergy... Having dust mites doesn't mean that your house isn't clean. In most areas of the world, these creatures are in every house, no matter how immaculate. But it is true that keeping your home as free of dust as possible can lessen dust mite allergy." http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=18&cont=228. You need temperatures of at least 130 degrees to kill dust mites. These little critters contribute to asthma and allergy attacks for the sixty million who suffer from this in the … [Read more...]
Searching is the Journey! – Re-furnishing a new home!
I have just recently moved, so recently that I actually haven’t seen the house yet! I know it sounds odd, but my husband went ahead of us to this new town and started working and searching for the house that would fit us just right. Thanks to technology he was able to show us our future home and I now realize that as excited as I am to move and be together once again, we have so much space and not a lot of furniture. My journey has begun in the furnishing of our new place. I am not one to hop from store to store wasting gas, time and energy dealing with salespeople who want to make a sale no matter who you are or if it’s the right piece of furniture. But none the less I am excited to furnish my home. I am especially excited about picking out the accents for each room like the rugs, lamps, pictures for the walls, etc. I am all about online shopping or at least getting all the ducks in a row before I am forced to go out. I like to know the measurements of my room that I need to work … [Read more...]
Have an ant problem? Take care of it now!
I love this time of year....well for the most part. The only downfall to the warmer weather is the bugs that go along with it. As most people do, I dislike the creepy, crawly critters that walk or fly through the air. Especially when they enter my home! Last year was the first year that I discovered ants in my home. You know the ones....the small little ants that over take your kitchen as soon as they find even one small speck of food on the floor or counter tops. I think I spent more time last summer trying to get rid of ants then I did anything else. Nothing I did on my own seemed to work! Moxie Pest Control also knows how annoying ants can be. That is why they are willing to come into your home and take care of the issue before it becomes an even bigger problem. Check out their infographic below about the Army of Ants that might be overtaking your home......who knows. You might learn something new. I know I did! Ants Graphic … [Read more...]
Rooftop Gardening – A Natural Thermostat
Rooftop Gardening – A Natural Thermostat The concept of roof top garden may raise few eyebrows today, as many don’t know about its practices and advantages. However it is a very old practice dating back to medieval periods. To be exact, in the Mesopotamian civilization in 600BC, plants and trees have been grown on terraces above the ground. During roman civilization Pompeii had similar structure known as Villa of Mysteries where gardens and trees were grown on the elevated grounds. Even during 11the century Egypt had plenty of structures that had gardens on their roof. Roof top garden is not different from any other garden except that it’s on elevated grounds preferably, on the terrace. This can also be termed as roof top farming. There are two ways of setting up gardens on top. One is Extensive Gardening where a thin layer of roofing material is used to cover the entire roof. It does not require much maintenance. Another is Intensive Gardening where entire roof … [Read more...]
5 Way to get the Garden of Your Dreams on a Budget
5 Way to get the Garden of Your Dreams on a Budget Everyone loves having a beautiful yard come spring, but it can seem overwhelming trying to fit in all these projects into a budget. The cost of the plants, seeds, tools, fertilizer and soil can really add up not to mention the additional cost of water to keep them alive. Don’t skip out on having the garden of your dreams, these tips can help you get what you want while saving money. Shop Early or Late: Just like clothes go on sale at the end or beginning of a season, so do plants. Herbs are a great item to purchase in the pre-season sales, for example basil is typically marked down come early March but it will require more maintenance to prevent freezing. In addition to these sales, many home and garden shops mark down plants as they go out of bloom, this can be a great way to get those more expensive flowers you might want without paying the high price. When you purchase these at the end of the season, be careful to only … [Read more...]
Hair Tie Organization Idea!
Hair Tie Organization As most of you know I have been going crazy with organizing my home. This is something that I have needed to do since moving into this home 5 years ago but have never found the time. One of the items that I am tired of cluttering up my bathroom is my daughters hair ties. They are usually tossed into a drawer or on the counter. It drives me crazy because when I actually need one I can't find them! To solve the problem of the hair ties being all over the house I decided to hang some simple little hooks that I purchased at Walmart. They were about $5 for two hooks and I quickly placed them next to the mirror in my bathroom. The hooks are easy to access as they are near where I do my daughters hair each morning and I am easily able to hang the hair ties onto the hooks! This has been a genius idea and has really helped me not only find them when I need them but free up some space and make things look nicer in my bathroom! YAY! Are you on the … [Read more...]
Necklace Organization for you bathroom!
Necklace Organization I have been on an organization kick recently. I has been crazy around my house as I am trying to re-do every single room in the house all at once. Not an easy feat to accomplish but I am slowly getting there. Recently I was trying to figure out a way get my necklaces out of the jewelry box that is taking up space on my counter and get them out in the open so I can physically see what necklaces I have that will match with what I am wearing that day. I went through lots of different options in my mind but I finally settled on the perfect option for me. Behind my bathroom door I put push pins in the wall about 2-3 inches apart. I can now hang my necklaces on the pins so that I can physically see them which in turn will help me to wear them more often. Also having them behind the door of the bath room is perfect for me because it does not take up much room and I am utilizing a space in my bathroom that I have never been able to utilize before! It's … [Read more...]