Good-Bye dish pan hands!!!

My new found hand savers, Playtex Living Gloves. These little gems are not new to the market.  In fact they have been around for awhile, in the not so flattering bright yellow. Which for me I never wore them before because I can't stand the color yellow. Thanks to Playtex you can find them in pink and purple.I love these gloves they don't have the powdery stuff on the inside that would get all over my hands and under my nails, this was another plus for me. They also have a no drip cuff so water won't be running down your arm.  Nothing worse than washing dishes and water soaking the sleeve of your shirt.My hands have also thanked me for purchasing these gloves because they are no longer cracked from being in water all the time.You can purchase Playtex Living Gloves at your local Wal-Mart or online. Wearing gloves while cleaning and washing dishes will also save you money, because you'll no longer be using a ton of lotion to repair the cracked hands.

Homemade Laundry soap

I recently tried homemade laundry soap, now for some people it may not be their cup of tea but for me its great! First of all its saving me a ton of money, second I'm not worried if I buy a cheaper brand that it will break myself or my youngest daughter out. Its also really simple to make took me mayb 10 mins.

You can find recipes for this all over the net by doing a Google search.  I happen to have a lovely Mom who makes homemade goat milk soap so I used her soap because I always have it on hand.  You can use whatever bar soap you'd like. I also used borax, water, and baking soda. Most recipes will call for washing soda but for some reason nobody carries it in my town.

Now you might be wondering how well it worked on our clothes. I would post a picture of the water but I found it so gross that I do not want to share lol.  But its gross in a good way because my clothes are alot cleaner than they have ever been using store bought crap. One thing you should also know before using it is the soap will not be all suds, but don't worry the stuff is working. I no longer have to use any bright and white to keep whites and colors looking their best! Which saves me even more money!!!

Try it and I'm sure you'll be grossed out and shocked at home nasty the water will look and be wondering why you paid those high prices for something that perhaps was not doing a good job at getting the clothes clean I know I was.

Annoyed!

I don't understand how I can stick to my routine and manage to get my house all clean and organized but maintaining it is a different story and why I do not get.

This in itself is enough to drive me crazy. Maintaining order should be the easy part but not fo me. I get sidedtracked by kids and school work that I put off daily things that would keep order in the house.

I have been reading Sinks Reflections by FlyLady and well some of what she wants you to do like wear ur shoes just doesn't work for me.

Now my question is what do you guys do to stay with your routines? Recently I got an iPod touch which is becoming my right hand since I've started using it for everything such as shopping lists, budgeting and my routines.

Rainy Days

Its a rainy day here in Southwest Mo which has been kind of nice since its given me a chance to take a break from pickin up rocks in my garden spot.  Which if you live in this area or one with tons of rock you know what a mountain of work it can be not to mention how frustrating it is to think you finally got them all only to look again and the rocks are popping out like the plants should be lol.

While I should be catching up on some house work that stacked up over the weekend while my in-laws were down. I have been farting off on the computer reading blogs and other time wasting things. I hate rainy days I never want to get my booty out of bed lol.

household cleaners from your Pantry

I thought I'd share some of my cleaning recipes made from stuff most people keep on hand. After realizing how much I spent on cleaning products and tired of trying to keep from smelling the chemicals in bought cleaners I decided to find something better for my nose and wallet. I spent alot of time reading and trying different recipes.
All the recipes I'll be sharing are ones I use in my home all the time and work well for me. I do suggest you check your care guides before using any of these cleaners.


Homemade Glass Cleaner
I use this glass cleaner on more than just glass. We have chrome fixtures in our house that were always getting water spots and hard water junk until I started using this cleaner on them.


Recipe
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup tap water
2 tablespoons white vinegar


Mix the ingredients in a spray bottle and label it then your set to clean. The alcohol is what helps with the spots and streak free because of how fast it dries. Its is much better than windex has every worked for me. Even removes the nasty build up from smoking that gets on everything.


Homemade Furniture Polish
I even let my kids 5 and 3 polish the furniture now because this will not hurt them if they would get it in mouth or near eyes.


Recipe
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
optional several drops of essential oils (just makes it smell pretty)
Mix in a wide mouth jar then shake the tar outta it. Pour a small amount on a clean dry cloth and wipe on furniture. Then take another clean rag and wipe off any extra and buff it to a shine.


Oven Cleaner


I use baking soda it is kind of a pain but it works and you aren't smelling the oven cleaner which I can't use it makes me sick every time no matter how well vented the house is.


I cover the bottom of the oven with baking soda then mist with water from a spray bottle. Let it sit for a couple hours then mist it again and let it sit over night. The next morning I wipe it out using a wet rag and water you will need to wipe it alot to get the white residue completely out but at least your not cooking in chemicals anymore.


I also use a baking soda paste well its a little thinner than paste but I use it on my kitchen counters and in my bathroom.


Do you have a favorite homemade cleaner you would like to share with me? Leave a note in the comments.

What a wonderful day

Spring has finally sprung here, which, I am very thankful for I had all I could stand of being stuck in the house from the cold and snow this winter. Plus the kiddos where like caged bears and getting very hard to deal with.

As I sit here typing this post my new kitchen toy is hard at work for me. Wondering what it is? Well my loving hubby ordered me a bread machine or as i call it the poor mans stand mixer lol. I love homemade breads but for health reasons I just can't handle kneeding the dough myself.

This is the third time I have used it in a week mostly I just use the dough setting on it but I have baked one loaf in it which turned out very nice.

I highly suggest if you love fresh bread and can't fit a stand mixer into your budget you check out a bread machine they are well worth the money. The one I got has a cool setting for making jams too. I have not tested this setting yet but once the strawberries I set out this week start producing I plan on testing it.

As for getting myself organized its coming along slowly. I figured out I can only add one thing a month too my routine otherwise between kids and school I fall back into old habbits, but its baby steps and I'm making progress which is the most important thing to me.

I also took the big step of quiting smoking and I'm proud to say it has been 24 hrs since I had one.

More on household notebooks and a couple recipes

As promised here is the place I used for all my papers I put in my house hold notebook. Organized Home it is a great resource for cleaning the clutter up and printables.

I also wanted to share to great recipes I tried last night. My girls love homemade pizza and normally I buy the pizza kit from the store because I hadn't found a good crust and sauce recipe that didn't take me all day just to make dinner. That is until now! Here are the links sauce and the crust.

Also I wanted the share this litte gradening thing I bought that is well worth the money. Its a Jiffy Pro Greenhouse. Now this thing amazed me I plant seeds for my garden instead of buy sets because its cheaper. I planted seeds on a Thrusday and by Saturday I had cucumbers poping up everywhere! Walmart sells them for 6 bucks and the thing I liked is you can buy replacement peat pellets and reuse the tray.