Top 8 Ways to Clean with Vinegar

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br />                                                             <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E_RtJLHgWJU/WGwYa6WDxrI/AAAAAAAANtw/BsjRHnc8csEnl4Euq4Y7WQx2v1EoTCQNwCLcB/s1600/vinegar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E_RtJLHgWJU/WGwYa6WDxrI/AAAAAAAANtw/BsjRHnc8csEnl4Euq4Y7WQx2v1EoTCQNwCLcB/s320/vinegar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">One of my "favorite" cleaning products is white vinegar. My grandma used it and so did my great-grandma and they passed it down to my mom who passed it down to me. If you want it can be the only cleaning product you may ever need. It's <b>really</b> that <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">powerful, economical and even better it's all natural.</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The uses really are endless. </b></span></span><br /> <b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></b> <b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"> I'm going to show you the top 8 ways I use vinegar to clean around my home:</b><br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>1. To Clean Hard Water Stains</i></b>. - We have well water and don't use filters which means our water is super hard. There is gunk everywhere. The most affordable way to clean the faucets and shower heads is to dip them in a bowl of vinegar. I hold the bowl of vinegar up to the faucets for a minute or two and then use a light scrub brush to clean it off and wipe it off with a rag and voila....they look like new.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">2. <b>To Dust. - </b>If you take a spray bottle and fill half of it with vinegar and the other half with water, just shake it up and spray onto a dust rag or cloth diaper and voila....you made your own dust spray.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. To Clean Windows - </b>Use the same formula and bottle and spray it on your windows and wipe them down with newspaper. Newspapers don't leave streaks. You will love it.  Then I recycle the newspaper to my compost bin. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. To Clean my No -Wax Floors.</b> - I have no wax floors in some areas of the house and it works great when I dump 1 cup of vinegar into a gallon of warm water and mop. It's very shiny.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. To Prevent Mildew</b>. - Mildew is real where we live and one way I prevent it is to spray down the bathtub enclosures, tile and around the sink with my spray bottle solution of half vinegar and half water.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>6. To Clean the Kitchen Sink</b>. - I don't know about you but I can't stand when an odor is coming out of the kitchen sink.  I pour 1 cup of vinegar down the drain and let it sit for at least an hour or more and it eliminates the odor.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>7. To Clean my Oven. </b>- Yes, I have a self-cleaning oven but it costs a fortune and it stinks to turn on and it's dangerous to use and I don't want my family exposed to those chemicals. I take a bowl of water and dump in a cup of vinegar and some paper towels and soak down the inside of my oven and use the paper towels to wipe it out. It works great and it doesn't stink.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>8. To Make My Own Febreeze. - </b>Mix 1/4 cup vinegar, 3/4's cup water and 8 drops of lemon essential oil and mix it together in a spray bottle and use it as a homemade air freshener. It usually is good for up to 1 week.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">Bonus Idea: </u>Switch out the kind of essential oil you use for different scents. You can use lavender, orange and thieves. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">So save a fortune this year on cleaning products and feel good about what your family is using around the house.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">For more ideas on homemaking go <a href="http://www.cottagemakingmommy.com/p/homemaking.html">here.</a></span><br /> <br /></div>

Top 8 Ways to Clean with Vinegar

                                                            One of my "favorite" cleaning products is white vinegar. My gran...

How to Take The Pressure Off in the New Year

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img alt="night, person, silhouette" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/32237/pexels-photo.jpg?w=940&h=650&auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb" /><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Every year the holidays roll around and I do great about getting up our Fall stuff. Usually I have Fall up in late August because I'm so over the brown dead grass that we put up with at the end of Summer every year, but by the time November rolls around I come down sick as a dog with sinus stuff and it all goes to pot.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">After lots of thinking and contemplating I realize that I always wait until a month before any holiday or celebration to work on it and it's just <i><b>not enough time with real life going on too. </b></i></span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Every year</b></i> I say I'm going to get out Christmas cards, host a family gathering for extended family and get homemade bread made for gifts. Every year I go shopping and come down sick. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Long story short. It's time to remake what I do and when. That goes for everything. Friendships, parties, gatherings and holidays.</span><br /> <br /> <img alt="Free stock photo of sea, beach, holiday, vacation" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/5358/sea-beach-holiday-vacation.jpg?h=350&auto=compress" /><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">When I was in my 20's I had more energy and could pull off stuff faster but in my 30's and a move to a farm, where my sinuses are inflamed constantly, I can't get it all done at once.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">It's time to THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">I've been thinking for the last 2 years instead of sending out Christmas Cards I want to try and send out Happy New Year's Cards. The only down side of that is that they are hard to find in bulk.</span><br /> <br /> <img alt="Free stock photo of fashion, person, red, love" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/220436/pexels-photo-220436.jpeg?h=350&auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb" /><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">So moving on I've decided sending out Valentine's Day cards is practical for us. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">They are affordable and available and it's my hubby's birthday a few days before so it's a great way to start off the new year letting people know you care about them.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">I need to finally get the Christmas decorations painted in late Spring and I can plan our garden the entire month of Jan. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Just because other people do it their way doesn't mean we have to do it the way they do it. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">For instance the farm is invaded with friends and children from late May until Mid August. I love it and have for a long time but the down side is that I can't get much done in that time frame because there are people everywhere.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">This year I'm going to pull back and say no - so we can get caught up. Instead of having them down constantly I'm going to limit their visits. Not only will it save us financially it will allow us to have more quality time with them and work on some stuff we need to get done.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">We used to foster kids and those kids are always welcome but we have a lot of friends that come down with their kids and move in for the Summer. We foot the bill for everything. It get's old. Food, gas, entertainment and the insane amount of whining that we hear gets old. I want to spend more time with happy people. So I'm going to limit them to coming down twice during the Summer and maybe for only 3 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">See sometimes in life we have too learn to take the pressure off and think outside of the box.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Just because everyone else does it one way doesn't mean we have to do it that way too.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Here are some ?'s to ask yourself  now.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">1. Do I have to do it?</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">2. Do I enjoy it?</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">3. Do I get anything out of it?</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">4. Am I making a difference?</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Obviously if you have to do it</b>- like taxes- you have to do it.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"> <b>If you don't enjoy it don't do it.</b> I enjoy having company at the farm often, I don't enjoy having them for a week at a time in the heat of Summer. So the solution is to have them come down less often and for shorter periods of time.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>If I don't get any enjoyment, satisfaction or brownie points for doing it</b> ---- I need to stop doing it. Just because other people send out super cute Christmas cards every year doesn't mean I have to.. I can' do Valentine's cards and accomplish the same thing.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>If I'm not making a difference there is no point in doing it.</b> If someones or somethings life isn't changed as a result of my choices why are we doing it anyway? Ask yourself this. I put up decorations on our front gates every month and for every season. I do it because I enjoy it and so do the people that drive by. If I don't get anything out of it there would be no point in doing it.</span><br /> <br /> <img alt="White Blooming Flower Under the Tree during Daytime" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/60006/spring-tree-flowers-meadow-60006.jpeg?h=350&auto=compress" /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">This formula can be applied to anything in your life. Just because other people did New Years words and resolutions doesn't mean I have to. So I didn't. I just told myself to do the best I can do everyday. </span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">It's what works for me.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">So there you have it. You have your own permission to take the pressure off and enjoy the new year.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Happy New Year,</span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size: large;">Valerie</span><br /> <br /></div>

How to Take The Pressure Off in the New Year

Every year the holidays roll around and I do great about getting up our Fall stuff. Usually I have Fall up in late August because I'm...