Favorite Non-Toxic Cleaners and Quick Cleaning Tips

Posted By:  Stephanie

I've always liked the thought of cleaning with non-toxic cleaners but didn't act on it until I was pregnant with Little Lou.  At that time I decided it was time to find some great non-toxic cleaners so that I was able to keep our family safe from harmful toxins that are found in many cleaners out there while still getting our house fresh and clean.  I was not paid or perked to write about these cleaning products, I just wanted to share my findings with you.

I love the Mr Clean Magic Erasers for the tough stuff that just wont scrub off with anything else.  Seriously, these are magic.  Kristi posted how she was able to get 30 "Magic Erasers" for $8.49 on Amazon.  Now that is a great deal!

Of course I still have my love for vinegar which I posted about here.  I go through this stuff like it's going out of style.  I haven't been one to contribute to the shortage of bacon, but if there was a shortage going on with vinegar I would be guilty.  = )

Next up are my favorite cleaners that I use on everything from bathrooms, including toilets to mirrors, counters, kitchen sink, microwave (although there is a super awesome tip that Kristi posted on and easy way to clean your microwave I still like to use some cleaner in it when I'm finished) and even Lou's highchair.  I use the product Biokleen which is non-toxic, cleans great and smells good too!  This All Purpose Cleaner has been great on my glass, I just use a microfiber towel (sorry don't have a picture of those but I get a huge pack of them from Costco and they last forever) and this cleaner and I don't end up with any streaks.  Love it! 

For the toilets and the area around them (walls and floor) I use Bac-Out which is a stain and odor remover.  Even if I don't smell anything I'm sure there's some nasty stuff there that needs a little extra powerful stuff to clean it.  

Next up is what I use on my floors.  This stuff is awesome, it cleans the floor well and leaves it seriously sparkling clean.  I was actually on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor last week with this stuff and that's what made me think I should really share with all of you how great it is and what other cleaning products I love.  This particular cleaner is for stone, tile and laminate floors by Bona.

We only have a couple area rugs in our house, the rest are all either laminate, pergo or hardwood.  This is the hardwood cleaner I use and to be honest, I should really clean my hardwoods more often with this stuff.  How often do you clean your hardwood floors?

Now a few tips on how to keep your house looking somewhat decent and ready for random people showing up at your door, that is without doing the 30-60 second clean up that leaves you sweating like you just ran a marathon when you greet your guests.

1.  Never leave a room empty handed.  If you are leaving a room grab at least one thing that needs to be put away.

2.  If you have kids have them clean up toys as they are finished with them and move onto something else.  If nothing else clean up toys with help of your little one (all of them even though they are just going to come out again) before nap and before bed.  That way you will have two times a day that everything is picked up and you don't have to wake up to a mess.

3.  Always rinse your dish and put it in the dishwasher as you use them to prevent a sink pile up.

4.  In between cleaning the bathrooms water and toothpaste splatters on the counter/sink.  Keep baby wipes (again they are non-toxic and you aren't disinfecting just cleaning up) under the sink to quickly wipe down the counter and sink to keep a nice looking appearance.

5.  Clean up dishes in the kitchen as you cook.  For example, while one thing is cooking wash the pot/pan that you are finished with.

6.  When you wipe down your kitchen counters open the microwave and always wipe it out too even if it doesn't look dirty.  This will prevent you from having to use the tip linked to above.  It doesn't take but an extra couple seconds but it keeps you from more work later.  Seriously, who wants a guest to come over and you end up heating something for them in a nasty microwave while trying to hide it from them, no thank you.

5.  Fold laundry as it comes out of the dryer to prevent piles of laundry.  I have to admit that this is something that I normally do, however since we've had Lelo 6 weeks ago I've kept up on folding towels and burp cloths but the clean clothes are in a heaping pile because I've only actually folded laundry twice since then.  Oh well, I'll get back into the groove.  At  least we have clean laundry right?  * The correct answer to that would be yes, you don't want to make me feel bad, do you? = ) *

What are your favorite non-toxic cleaners?  I would love to know if there's something that works great that I should try!

How to Make Liquid Hand Soap

Posted By:  Stephanie

Good morning!  Today I'm going to show you a quick tutorial on how to make liquid hand soap.  Seriously, it is so easy and such a money saver that we should all do this.

Gather all your supplies:

1 gallon distilled water

1 8oz bar of soap

*after trial and error on my husband's part making body wash we found Dove does not work well*

Glycerin

 *usually found near the band aids*

1 TBSP measuring spoon

Cheese grater

Step 1:  Grate the bar of soap and add the soap and 2 TBSP Glycerin to a pot of 1 gallon distilled water.

We (my husband and I) used a 5.5oz bar of soap and found that if we used a bit less water or an 8oz bar of soap it would have worked a little better.  We were still happy with the results so the soap wont go to waste.

Step 2:  Turn the heat to medium/high heat and continue to heat until the soap shavings dissolve.

As it is dissolving stir it up, this process doesn't take long.

This is what it will look like once you're finished dissolving the soap.

Step 3:  Wait about 24 hours for the soap to settle and become less runny.  Get out your handy mixer and mix it...mix it real good. (said in the tune of Push It by Salt and Peppa)

Step 4:  Use a funnel and pour your soap into the gallon container the water came in for storage.

That's it, you're done!

Of course everything turns out better when you have a messy cute assistant helping out.

Now get to it!  

Seriously this is SO easy and will save you tons of money over time.  Like I said though, don't use Dove bar soap for this, it was a runny mess!  I personally prefer the natural soaps for 2 reasons:

1.  The cost savings is even greater

2.  When we did try the dove the smell wasn't pleasant it was all chemical, no thank you.

Pine Cone Door Hang Decoration

Posted By:  Stephanie

Two Thursdays ago Lou and I went over to visit and have a craft day with my friend Breanna from Dollar Store Mom.  Our day was cut a little short when Little Lou was very tired and made it clear that I needed to focus on her need for a nap, not my crafts.  Before we left I did manage to get small a craft underway.

I had seen a similar idea in a magazine with pine cones hanging from the back of chairs in a dining room.  I really liked the idea but I knew that anything hanging from the back of chairs in our house wouldn't last but two minutes - if I was lucky.

I gathered 5 pine cones that I had from previous years.  They are the ones that you can get in the stores that have the yummy smell on them.  These don't smell anymore but I still had them, knowing I would find a project for them some day.

Using my glue gun I put some glue on white ribbon I found for $1 in the craft section at Wal-Mart.  I'm lucky to have one of the only clean nice Wal-Marts that exist.

Then I pressed the ribbon onto the pine cone and set it out to completely dry doing this will all 5 pine cones.  This is were I left off and had to go home for nap time.

Once I was able to pick back up on the little project I held up the pine cones on the ribbons and adjusted them how I wanted them to hang.  I glued each layer of ribbon to keep them in place.

With the same ribbon I made a bow and glued it on top where it would cover the glue that was soaking through from where I glued all the pieces together.  I trimmed the longer pieces on top so that you can't see above the bow.

Last step was to make a loop to hang the pine cone door hang from.  I made a loop and glued it on the back. As you can see the back isn't all that attractive, that's why it's the back, right?

I love how it turned out.  I really like the white and that it is a subtle decoration, we have a lot of the traditional red and green inside, the white is kind of nice.

What do you hang on your door?

Amazing Deal!

Posted By: Kristi

I remember years ago when I tried cleaning with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for the first time. It was the easiest cleaning I had ever done. In less than five minutes my entire bathtub was sparkly clean. I only wished that I had heard of this Magic Eraser sooner. I have been using this product ever since, paying around $7.00 for a box of two.

Fast forward to this last week. Pinterest taught me something amazing, again. The Magic Eraser is made of melamine foam which is used to insulate pipes, duct work and is a soundproofing material. Who knew? I also learned that melamine foam cleaner sponges (who cares about the Mr. Clean brand name, right?) can be purchased on Ebay. THESE are the ones that were recommended by a few different bloggers found via Pinterest. That's right, a pack of 30 for only $8.49! WOOHOO!

They came in TWO days! Way faster than expected. They work just as good, I am a happy girl! These are definitely something I will be hoarding. = )

If you have a favorite cleaning tool please tell me about it. I love myself a good cleaner!

PMW Innovations - Grand Opening!

Posted By:  Stephanie

My mother-in-law Cathy and I have started a new business, PMW Innovations.  We are making multi-function fabric gift bags, tote bags and we also have some crafting supplies available as well!  While this launch is VERY exciting, it is a little nerve racking at the same time.

PMW is short for Professional Mom and Wife which is what I became when I decided to stay home with my wonderful daughter.  When her first birthday was approaching I decided I wanted to start a new tradition for her, I wanted her to have fabric gift bags that she would get presents in each year that she could then pass down to her kids.  I loved her gift bags and decided I wanted to do the same thing for Christmas for our family; I wanted to make some bags that we would use as a family to reduce waste while also building a new fun tradition.  I thought other people may like the idea too, that is when Cathy and I started PMW Innovations.  Our bags have evolved so much and we now have high quality bags to offer which are fully lined.  My Girl is lucky to have the first bags ever but I’m sure she’s going to wonder why she has the bags that aren’t lined and don’t have fancy grommets to keep the bag from wearing too quickly.  You can use the bags within your family, use them for something other than gift giving, or give a gift in them for your family or friend to then pass onto someone else.  These bags can be used hundreds of times!

We are offering 15% off your total purchase during our grand opening with the coupon code HAPPYDAY.  We would love to offer more of a discount but with our already low prices this is a GREAT deal.  If you spend more than $50 you will receive FREE shipping!  Please take a moment and check out our shop at www.pmwinnovations.com. Thank you!

Restaurant.com - 90% Off!

Restaurant.com is offering 90% off, ending today! Use the promo code WOW at checkout to receive this special offer.

Note: We do not receive any perks by sharing this information. We just don't like to pass up a good deal. = )

Closet Turned Craft Room

Posted By:  Stephanie

OH MY GOODNESS, I have my own CRAFT ROOM!  I was originally supposed to have my craft space in our laundry room but that just wasn't working out.  My space kept being taken over and I didn't get to use my craft space, not even once.  I finally got to the point where I thought enough was enough and I needed to officially have my own little corner for my crafting fun.  I talked to Will about my idea to move our things in the closet into the laundry room (more on that later) and then turn our closet into my craft room.  I was SO pleased when he agreed completely and was happy to help with the change.

There is still a lot to be done to make the room my own but this is what it looks like so far.  In the before my clothes are not  in the picture because I thought to snap it after all my clothes had already been taken out, they were on the right.  Please notice how crisp and white the room looks in the after picture.  My way awesome husband painted the room for me and I didn't even have to ask!  Previously it was a dull wall paper with some funky stripes.  Not anymore yahoo!

See those pink crates?  Those are brand new from Walmart.  I was so excited when Will and I found these for $1 each, regular price $3.49 each.  Sweet savings!  I wanted something to be able to put all my supplies because I don't have drawers and I wanted to be able to make the shelf look a little more uniform and organized.

We could have taken down the shelf but I actually decided I wanted to keep it there so that I can store things on it if I would like, or maybe I'll use it to display things eventually.  I'm not sure yet but I thought that if we took them down I would be sorry.  Lets be honest, it would have been a lot more work too.  I may eventually take down the one rod that we left up, but for now I think I may end up using it to organize some of my things.  I'll post about that when and if the time comes too.  Will put this shop light in the room for me so that I would have plenty of light when working on my projects.  He put in a bulb that is like natural light which is nice because there isn't a window.  It works great!

Will ran the cord to the light down the wall in the corner and it plugs in under the desk in my extension cord.  There aren't plug ins in the closet my craft room so the extension cord is plugged in out of the room right around the corner in our bedroom.  I will just pull the plug in the room when I'm not using it so that isn't not out the door all the time.  The table is from Ikea.

I got the small black crates at Walmart too.  I'm not using them yet but I'm sure I will be very soon.

This is my super exciting purchase that Will convinced me I should really get it I wanted it, and I DID!  I've been wanting one of these for awhile and I'm glad I waited until I had my craft room to get it.  I think that made it even more exciting.  I will eventually hang it on the wall, I'm just waiting to use the room for a bit so I know exactly where I want it.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to have my new craft room!  Thank you Will for being such a great support of my crafting and my need/want for a craft space.  Thank you even more for painting and installing that light!  I love you!