Friday, November 29, 2013

Do What You Can at Any Given Moment

A ways back I was really into yoga, and that was one of the mantras I learned from one of my instructors. I still like yoga, although my aspiration of being a yoga instructor have taken a backseat to these things called my kids (ha ha). It is hard to find your "zen" when your family room is full of trains/Lego's/diapers/etc. Stepping on Lego's during your practice? Not so relaxing.

But that's not the point, the point is that "do what you can at any given moment" has stuck with me. And although I am in a survival mode right now ( I have not had more than 2 hour blocks of sleep in over 2 weeks! I might be certifiable) and am making concessions on many things, I still try to do what I can at any given moment.

It is slightly ironic I just had a post on homemade cleaners, and right now my bathroom is decked out with anything but. I have outsourced that job to The Honest Company, a natural company that delivers right to your door. Ahem, exactly what I need.

But one thing I am still doing (because I do what I can at any given moment) is making my own laundry detergent, even if it is just to send it with my husband/mother to actually do the laundry with (outsourcing, my friends). Making laundry detergent is just something I find really easy to do. That, and forgoing paper products- (except for cleaning the toilet ( and toilet paper). I do that with recycled toilet paper. What does everyone else clean  their toilet with?) Oh yeah, and I haven't started cloth diapering yet- but after going through 7 diapers in one night, I am holding off for now.

What's in my laundry detergent you might ask? Well it's simple. Borax, washing soda, and grated soap. That's it. I don't even really measure it any more, I just dump it in a container. But, if you want a more solid recipe, I started out with this one. And, for when I am feeling especially lazy, I just order soap flakes and then I don't even have to grate the soap. I just use about a tablespoon per load so it lasts a long while too :)




Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Low Sleep Living



Anyone who has been reading my blog might have guessed my absence is due to my having a baby a few weeks ago.

I have an older child who is 7, but it has been a while since I've done the "baby" thing- and let me tell you, only sleeping in 2 hour chunks makes "low waste/zero waste" living take a backseat on the "things to do" list.

I am using disposable diapers and wipes (I can't go up and down the stairs yet- the washer is in the basement!) among other things. I have not given into paper towels yet :) :) But who knows?

My self righteous environmentally conscious somewhat judgmental self has been humbled- I will no longer judge the mom who is formula feeding and using disposables (although I did bottle feed my first born, that is a tale for another day) because I get it- sometimes life puts you into survival mode, and all you can do is use a disposable diaper/eat at McDonalds/drink a bottled water/fill in the blank because it is all you can handle.

Not to say you should do it all the time, but we all need some grace and encouragement, not judgment.

I am not sure what the next step for this blog is, I still am focused on living and environmentally sound life, but I am not sure the spark to write about it is still here.

And even though I am not commenting on blogs, I am still reading (when I can, got to love the kindle for late night reading while nursing).

Happy Holidays to All, maybe I'll talk to you soon-

Katie

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Everything you Need to Make Homemade Cleaners- Plus recipes to clean your Bathroom

This is actually taken from my old blog, which was a home organization blog that to be honest I got bored with. (I am just never going to be that organized.)

So, what do you need to make all your own homemade cleaning products?

1.) Baking Soda
Baking soda is awesome. It is non toxic (you can eat it) and it scours like nobodies business.

2.) White vinegar
a natural disinfectant. spray it on mildew, wait, and wash it scrub away.

3.) Borax
20 mule team borax. Find it in the laundry aisle. (This you CANNOT eat. It will make you sick. or possibly worse).

3.) Washing soda
also in the laundry aisle.

4.) Hydrogen Peroxide
Located with the first aid supplies. You can actually gargle with this stuff.

5.) Fels napa laundry soap or ivory (depends what is cheaper)

6.) Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap
(The most expensive ingredient. I buy this on amazon.com.)

And, that's it. Those are all the things I use to clean my entire house. I decided to give you the recipes for all my bathroom cleaners today, because my whole bathroom is cleaned by homemade products.
I have tried a lot of different recipes, and sometimes it is frustrating because not everything works. Sometimes you have to tweak the recipe a little bit. And, sometimes you have to let it go and try something new altogether. But, here are what I use to clean my bathroom (we only have one! the HGTV people would have a coronary!* )




Shower Cleaner:
1 part Hydrogen peroxide to 3 parts water

Mix in spray bottle and shake. Spray on offending tile/surface/tub rings. Wait a little bit and scrub. Voila! If my tub ring is really bad, I scour it with baking soda!

I use this mixture to wash my sink counter too. I used to use white vinegar and water, but my husband is extremely offended by the smell of vinegar.






Glass/Mirror Cleaner:

1 part vinegar to 3 parts water

Mix in spray bottle, shake, and you're ready to spray. If you have old newspaper, you can wipe away your mirror with this. I know, it sounds weird, newspaper to clean a mirror? But it really works and it's streak free!



Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
Baking Soda
Vinegar

Sprinkle baking soda around inside of toilet bowl. Then pour vinegar over it. Enjoy volcano effect. Then, scrub with toilet brush

Really Dirty Toilet:
use borax instead of baking soda.


We didn't have a toilet paper roll holder, so rather than buy something my husband built this nifty rack with a magazine holder and hand towel holder. You can see my favorite bathroom reads, any "Calvin and Hobbes" collections. :)

Bathroom Floor Cleaner: ( I have a tile floor)

Bucket of water. Shot glass of vinegar.
Mop floor.



That's it! If you want a homemade recipe for anything, I would recommend Homemade by Reader's Digest. While I do not use all the recipes in here (I do not use anything with ammonia or bleach) It has a lot of useful recipes in it.

Well, there it is. Homemade cleaning for your bathroom. How do I organize this? I have a cupboard over the toilet (Yard sale find for $5!) that I store my homemade sprays in. I mark them with a sharpie so I know what they are!

Katie

* we do have a gross scary toilet in the basement.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Photo Friday #6 Home Tour 1

Whenever I see home tours on blogs (which I love, especially tiny houses, and minimalist houses), it always makes me look around my house and think "jeez, what do these people do? my place is a mess!" Is it because I live with 2 males? I don't know. Then I thought hm, maybe the pictures make the houses look cleaner than they are, and maybe if I take pictures of my house, it will look nice and clean and fresh (wishful thinking?)
So, without picking up first, I took some pictures and thought I would give you an "authentic" tour of some of my house.

A little background- we live in a carriage house- about 900 sq feet. The living space is upstairs, and underneath are 4 "unfinished" carriage bays- which house my husband's studio, a laundry room, and a powder room, and junk.


This is what you see when you open the door at the top of the steps. Straight ahead looks into the family room, or "the big room" as we call it here, since it is the biggest room in the house. My son fills this room with toys.




If you look right, you see where we hang coats and things. And further right, are the 2 bedrooms and bathroom, which we will not be visiting today.

 
To the right is an "L" shaped dining room and living room with a galley kitchen.


At the far right you can see a little table that is a catch-all for crap stuff like mail, etc.

And if we keep walking we can see the kitchen:




Hello kitchen! Nothing to shout about, but it gets the job done.



Standing by the table you see the small living room area, that's our "creative space"- easel, bookcase, piano, etc.



A rope rocker and a baby seat, getting ready for the new baby due in (gasp) 10 days....


The view when sitting in the rocker- you can see over the by the table was a crafty thing I made that I was proud of- a hanging clothesline to display my son's artwork. :)

It's funny, looking at pictures actually helps me see the areas I need to declutter (what's with all the bags laying on the floor? oh right, baby gifts. and that random fishnet??)

Stay tuned for the rest..

Do you like looking at other people's home tours? 

Katie