It's the small things ....

It has been a very busy week. I spend many, many hours planning, organizing and writing emails for our co-op. Mostly I like it and it is such a great reward to hear moms say that they really enjoy it and it honestly helps them in their homeschool journey. That makes all work worth it. Though I don't know if my kids would agree with that, since there were a few days when they had to have peanut butter sandwiches because I was in the middle of something and couldn't stop without completely loosing my train of thought. Well, we are almost done and ready to start. I just need to finish writing the contracts for the teachers, send emails to the parents, ..... well and few other things   :)    BUT, we did take a day and just went to IKEA. I really like going to that store, always have. When my son was little - we lived in Berlin at the time - my sister, her son, my son and myself used to meet at IKEA, shortly after they opened that day. We would bring our little guys to the play area and go upstairs to the cafeteria and have coffee and talk for a very long time. Since it was early in the day we could leave the little tykes often for about 1.5 or 2 hours in Smaland. That was a nice, inexpensive break for us :)    Now my little guy isn't so little any more and even though he'd like to go, they won't take him at the play area anymore. Though we all still like to go to IKEA. We went last week and had a fun time. I found a "Wäscheständer"! I am so happy about that! Coming from Germany, it is quite normal to hang up your washed laundry on a clothes drying rack since dryers are not as common as they are here in the States. We are living in an apartment where we have to pay for the wash machine and dryer, which makes doing laundry expensive. In order to cut some cost I tried to hang up my laundry to dry on the regular clothes drying racks. However, they are pretty small and a little wobbly and just don't last very well. So I often put the laundry in the dryer because I couldn't hang it up anywhere. Then we went to IKEA. There I found IT!  A beautiful, fairly sturdy Wäscheständer!  Yes, in Germany many are much more durable, however, this one is pretty good. I can now hang up to three loads of laundry and let it dry in the sunshine on the balcony. It smells sooo good. I suddenly like doing laundry again. Sometimes it is the little things in life that make a difference :)

Miracle Cleaner - seriously !!!

I know what you are thinking. Yeah, right "miracle cleaner" ... another one, sure. Well, at least that is what I thought. But I was desperate. We live in an apartment and we are not allowed to have our own wash machine, so we have to use the one here in the building. May I say " it stinks " ? And that is putting it very nicely! It costs $ 1.50 per load however from when the water starts to fill in until the last spinning cycle is done takes 32 minutes. Now, can you tell just how the dirty, muddy laundry is supposed to come out clean???? Well, it doesn't! I have been buying the "expensive" detergents and adding Oxi Clean on top of the spray on stain removers with disappointing results. Now while the water runs into the machine, I keep pressing the heat setting button which then turns the time back to 32 min because if you just let it go it will take 5 min of your time just to fill the machine with water. Well, sorry, but with this being such a short cycle already, I can't afford to lose 5 min. So, those are my little 'tricks' to try to get our laundry clean.
The other day I was on - you guessed it - Pinterest and found this recipe for a 'miracle cleaner'.  I pinned it to my board, thinking that I may give this a try, maybe, someday.....   Then, my little guy went fishing with a friend, thank you Scott you made his day :)  Due to me not paying close enough attention, Jeremy escaped out of the house with a white t-shirt. When he came back a few hours later, he was very happy that him and his friend Scott had caught some fish, which they released again. Jeremy was all smiles and his face was glowing (it was really hot and he was kinda red and sweaty) and his formerly white shirt wasn't glowing so much. It was pretty dirty. In my experience, with these wash machines here, this was a lost cause. I little spot of mud didn't even come out of his short a while ago. No, this was a lost battle.....  Then I remembered the 'miracle cleaner'. I went to Pinterest, gathered and mixed the ingredients and gave it a try. I sprayed the shirt rather heavily and let it sit just like that for about 30 min ( I had just started a load of laundry, that's how I know that it was 30 min). Then I washed his shirt together with towels and socks and such on hot. I was very curious to see what would happen. When I got it out of the laundry it was - CLEAN !!!  I was so surprised and very happy. This is the reason why I have decided to write a whole blog post on that :)   I am guessing that there are a few mom's out there that could use a 'miracle cleaner' that actually works AND is cheap!
Now, for the recipe, I got it from Modern Day Moms

Ingredients for Miracle Cleaner:

1 part Dawn Dishwashing Liquid (the original blue kind)
2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide
Mix together and pour directly on the stain.

 Now that you know the secret ingredients to certain spot removal, I think it is time that I show you what it for my son's shirt.....

Before

After (what looks like dirt on the bottom, is actually just a shadow)

Before

After

 This is my new 'miracle stain remover' :)

Update: I have had some of the mixture left over, so I just put it away. When I looked later, the color has changed and now it is clear. When I first mixed it, it was blue. I haven't yet tried it again, but will do so with my daughters filthy shirt she brought back from camp. She wore it when she got pied - let's see how it holds up to that challenge ;-)  
Updated Update: Okay, Nina used the mix on her sweat shirt she got the pie on and it sat in her bags for about one week. Then we sprayed it with the now clear 'miracle cleaner' and it worked like a charm. Came out all clean!!!  I am so happy :)                                                                         

Some Reviews...

A few months ago I was looking around the web for some recipes to make my own cleaning supplies. I came across Not A Cool Mom aka Elizabeth's Kind Cafe Blog, you can watch her videos on how to make all of this. She has some really good cleaning recipes. I have tried some of them and I thought I tell you what I think about them, after trying them for a while. I have tried the Dishwasher soap, the soap for hand washing dishes, Bathroom cleaner and the Al lpurpose cleaner.
So, here is the dish soap...

DISH SOAP RECIPE

2 cups liquid castille soap (I like Dr. Bronner’s)
1/2 cup water                                                                         
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
5 drops Essential oil (Lemon, Pine or Lavender work well)
1/2 cup white vinegar


Put all of the ingredients in an empty squirt bottle and shake. Done!

I used all of the dish soap that I made. I was not that pleased with it. It always seems to feel a little greasy and the lavender smell was at first almost not noticeable. However it seemed to become a little stronger over time. While it cleaned the dishes, I didn't really like the feel of it and I had use quite a bit of it. My personal conclusion is that I would buy dish soap again but keep the recipe for emergencies, for example when I - again - forget to buy the commercial one :)


I also made the Shower Cleaner. I use for everything not only the bathroom. It is more like liquid scrubbing powder, so be careful where you use it, I imagine it would scratch up your granite countertops. Here is the recipe......



Shower Cleaner
1 Cup Baking Soda
1/3 Cup Borax
½ Cup Liquid Soap (Dr. Bronners)
2 Tbls Distilled Vinegar
1 Cup Warm Water
4 Drops Lavender, Pine or Lemon Oil
1 Squeeze Bottle, 32 oz – She is using a spray bottle in the video, but that doesn't really work because the liquid is way to thick.

I have heated the water in a pot on the stove and added the baking soda and borax into it and stirred until it was dissolved. I was hoping that it would then come out the spray bottle, but it didn't. So I don't know if you really have to heat the water in order dissolve everything. It may be enough to just use hot tap water. You add all ingredients together and shake. It will bubble up quite a bit, so you may want to do that over your sink ;-)

Shake before each use!!! This is obviously not a 32 oz. bottle but I didn't have one at hand and so had to divide the liquid.

My experience with it? Great! It cleanse very well, though you have to add a little bit of vigor to it. I like that I can add any smell I like. Right now I am using Lavender oil for everything, I really like it. I will continue to use this and not buy any commercial cleaner. It get the tub, the sink and toilet clean. Though I still use commercial stuff for the inside of the toilet.


My next exeriment was making All Purpose Cleaner. I had to buy a large spray bottle and wrote the instruction on it. Even though I used  a permanent marker, it did not stay on but that's okay. So here it is....

All Purpose Cleaner
1 Teaspoon Washing Soda
1 teaspoon Borax
½ Teaspoon Castile Soap
2 Cups Hot Water
10 Drops Essential Oil(Lemon, Lavender and Pine work well for this one).

Shake well before use! This is a great cleaning product! It cleans even better than store bought all purpose cleaner. I cleaned my kitchen with it and it worked wonderful. I really like it and will continue to use it. Making it takes only a few minutes and since you use all the same ingredients for all of this stuff, you have everything you need :-)


This is what Elizabeth wrote on her website and I would like to pass it on, because it is noteworthy.....

A few things to keep in mind when working with homemade cleaning products…….
1)  Residue – The first few times you use home cleaning products (especially window cleaner) you may notice some residue. There are two reasons for this. First, there is build-up from your previous cleaner that becomes visible. Second, homemade cleaners require a little extra elbow grease. You will have to work that sponge or rag (hopefully not paper towel) a little more, but it’s worth it.
2) Essential Oils – Although they are natural, they can be quite potent, so make sure to wear gloves when working with Lavender and Tea Tree Oil.


The last thing I would like to share with you is the powder for the dishwasher. I don't think I have that from Elizabeth's site, but I also don't remember where I got the recipe from.

Dishwashing Detergent

1/2 cup washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax                                    
1/4 Salt
Vinegar
1 Jar



Put the Soda, Borax and Salt in the jar. Close the lid tight and shake until it is all mixed well. In your dishwasher is a little compartment where the the blue rinsing agent usually goes, FILL THAT WITH VINEGAR! If you don't use the vinegar, you will not get pleasing results. I just added the vinegar to whatever I had left in that little compartment. Use 1 tablespoon. Note: When I used 2 tablespoons the dishes had a film on them and I had to rinse twice. You may have to play with the amount according to how hard or soft your water is and your dishwasher.
My experience: This is a keeper!!! I really, really like this. I have used this for the last two or three months and I don't want to go back to the commercial stuff. Especially if you read the label and see that they actually put toxins in there, which may not rinse off completely. This works really well, gets the dishes clean, is fast to make and cheap. Just don't forget the vinegar !


These are my the green cleaning supplies I have tried. I am going to try out more, but for now, why don't you give it a try. It is fun and cheap and once you have borax, washing soda and castile soap, you have everything you need and make all of this. Oh yes, I forgot the essential oil. Give it a try and let me know what you think :D

Homemade Cleaning Stuff...

The last few days, actually since Monday two of my kids have been sick. I am very lucky though because when my kids are sick, they sleep A LOT. Nice for them and me ;-) That meant school was out for the week. I found that pretty frustrating at first, but then quickly adapted and found a few interesting recipes to try. I have told you about making my own laundry detergent, well, I am still working on that and I am adjusting it to my needs. I did 6 loads of laundry and it worked just wonderful. The only thing I did with the whites is that I added half a cup baking powder. The laundry came out as clean as it does with commercial detergent. So I am very pleased with that. That will save a lot of money. 

I also looked around and found how to somewhat make my own softener, well, sorta anyway. I had an empty spray bottle and so I filled it with water and added some softener, I happened to have Downy, but I have heard that the cheaper brands actually work better for this. 

Fabric Softener/Fabric & Air Freshener


A  spray bottle

One part softener and five parts water, shake - done.

When I put my laundry in the dryer, I spray a couple squirts on the wet laundry and turn on the dryer. The laundry comes out nice and soft and good smelling. Though I think I will try something else when this is gone because I am trying to use as much natural stuff as possible and commercial softener is just pretty heavy on the chemicals. I have an idea but I am not sure if that works, so I will have to experiment a little first. Anyway, the watered down softener also works well instead of Fabreeze which is pretty spendy. I sprayed some sneakers, works great! 

Another really cool thing I tried was homemade dishwashing detergent. I had everything I needed from making laundry detergent and so I thought I give it a try.

Detergent for the dishwasher

1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Salt


White Vinegar


Mix the first three ingredients together in a tub, I used a yogurt tub.   Pour the vinegar in the compartment where you normally put the rinse aid. That is all ! I use 1 Tablespoon per load. I tried 2 tablespoons, but the result was not so good. So, you may want to start out with 1 tablespoon and adjust from there.


There is no vinegar smell, I save a ton of money and I am lightening the load a little bit on our environment. I did several loads now and the results a amazing. Everything is clean and spotless. 


I am in the process of trying some more things, I will post about those experiments later.

Home made Detergent

I have heard that people make their own laundry detergent. The other day I decided to give it a try. I bought a bar of Castile soap with lavender at Trader Joe's, I still had Borax and I bought a box of Washing Soda. Next I grated the bar of soap. Then I boiled some water and added the grated soap and stirred until it was dissolved. Now I added one cup of washing soda and one cup of borax, again I stirred until it was all dissolved. I then took an empty bucket (it did have laundry detergent in it at some point) and filled it with hot tap water. Now all I had to do was add my boiling soap mix into the bucket of hot water, stir. Done! I let it sit 24 hours and now we have wonderful laundry detergent without all the ugly chemicals and much cheaper! My detergent didn't gel, but I have since learned that whether it gels or stays watery depends on the bar of soap you use. I used Fels-naphta before but I didn't like the strong smell. I really like lavender so, that's why used that one.  Here are some pictures.....

NOTE: I have since found out that you shouldn't use more than about 1.5 gallons of water. It got too watery the way I made it at first.

this is the water and grated soap

                                                                                         

                                    

here it is dissolved....

Here is the the mix in the bucket of water