Archive for October, 2009

269

Clean Up Your Act: All Natural Homemade Cleaners

Posted by
October 21, 2009

And now we’ll continue the cleaning chit-chat with this handy little homemade cleaner breakdown. When we talked about getting even greener and experimenting with homemade cleaners in year three of YHL, an expert in that very area offered up a few of her favorite formulas. And we jumped at the chance to learn how all natural and totally eco-friendly cleaning materials are easy and effective- and sometimes way cheaper than paying for the more toxic stuff that can hurt pets, kids, people in general and the planet at large. Here’s what Evan the all-knowing homemade cleaner girl passed along:


This has become an obsession for me. If you think of your home as a sanctuary you want it to be not only beautiful but safe for your health! Store bought chemicals and cleansers can not only be toxic, poisonous or cause other averse health effects (no wonder they have all those warnings and skull & crossbone images on them) but they can also be expensive, completely unregulated, bad for the environment and full of excess packaging that ends up in landfills every day. They often come with big bold warnings that say things like “danger”, “caution”, “corrosive”, “irritant”, and even “chronic health hazard” which by definition can mean anything from “chemicals that destroy tissue” (corrosive) to “causes sterility and birth defects” (chronic health hazard). And even those that just say “danger” or “caution” can be attached to warnings that say “may be fatal or cause blindness if swallowed” or “highly toxic, flammable, poisonous and corrosive.”

Well Evan, when you put it that way, the toxic store bought cleaners bearing those labels (which can commonly be found on everything from basic toilet bowl cleaners to oven and drain solutions) sound pretty terrible. Tell us more.

By contrast, some non-toxic and all natural ingredients like baking soda and vinegar are not only not corrosive, poisonous, or hazardous to your health in any way, they’re actually completely safe if ingested (after all they’re found in the kitchen and they’re 100% edible!).

But how do you put them all together? Here are some of Evan’s favorite all-natural homemade cleaning formulas:

Surface Spray:

All Purpose Liquid Cleaner:

All Purpose Abrasive Cleaner:

Mix to make a foamy paste.

Refrigerator Cleaner:

Wipe down inside and out and rinse with a clean wet cloth.

Oven Cleaner:

Leave 20 minutes, then scrub until clean.

Microwave Cleaner:

Combine in microwave safe bowl, heat on high for 3-4 minutes, remove bowl and wipe down inside of microwave.

Dishwasher Detergent:

Mix together and store. You can substitute ½ c. of citric acid for the Kool-Aid but it’s harder to find.

Gorgeously Green All-Purpose Spray:

Fruit and Vegetable Wash:

Spray on produce, rinse after 5 minutes.

Fruit and Vegetable Wash #2:

Spray on produce, wipe after 5 minutes.

Drain Cleaner:

Allow to foam for 5 minutes before adding water.

Window, Glass and Chrome Cleaner:

Toilet Bowl Cleaners:

Scrub with a toilet brush.

Tub And Tile Cleaner:

Soft Scrub for Fixtures:

Add enough castile soap until you have a frosting like consistency. Scrub, then rinse with water.

Mildew/Germ Killer:

 

Spray on tile and do not wipe off.

Mildew/Germ Killer 2:

Spray, let sit. Rinse after 1 hour.

Wood Floor Cleaner:

Mop or rag should be slightly damp for cleaning.

Linoleum Floor Cleaner:

Mop or rag can be fully wet for cleaning.

Carpet Stain Remover:

Combine in spray bottle. Spray on stain, wait 5 minutes, blot with clean rag.

Carpet Stain Remover:

Mix vinegar and baking soda into a paste. Gently work into stain with a toothbrush. Let dry then vacuum completely.

Carpet Deodorizer:

Mix together then sprinkle generously on carpet, wait 15 minutes and vacuum.

All-Purpose Carpet Cleaner:

After vacuuming first,

Blot mixture onto nap of rug with a wet rag, Dry and air thoroughly. Vacuum.

Air Freshener:

Mix in spray bottle, don’t spray on silks or delicates. Experiment with how much oil to add, but start with 5 drops.

Air Freshener 2:

Mix in spray bottle, don’t spray on silks or delicates.

Dusting:

 


Furniture Polish:

Mix in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces.

Scratches:

Rub into the scratches and polish.

Rust Remover:

Leave sit for 2-3 hours, then scrub w/ lime rind (or try Almost-Doctor Dan’s method).

Metal Polish (copper and brass):

Add vinegar until you make a paste. Rub on metal with a clean rag. Wipe clean.

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

For light load, use 1 tablespoon. For heavy or soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.

Liquid Laundry Detergent:

Mix soap in saucepan with 3 pints of water. Heat on low until dissolved. Stir in soda and borax until thickened. Remove from heat. Add 1 quart hot water to bucket, then soap mixture, mix well. Fill rest of bucket with hot water, mix and let sit for 24 hours. Use ½ c. per laundry load.

Laundry Pre-treatment:

Mix in spray bottle. Spray spot.

Laundry Pre-treatment 2:

Mix in spray bottle. Spray spot, let sit for 20 minutes.

Fabric Softener:

Add ½ – 1 c. vinegar to your softener dispenser

Bleach Alternative (Laundry):

************************************************

But wait, Evan has even more ideas to keep things green and clean around your casa:

And just because she’s such a pro, Evan even included her resources so you can learn more or see where she got her facts. Gotta love a girl who’s so thorough AND considerate: Consumer Reports, Nat’l Geographic, The Green Guide, Do It Green, Frugal Living, The Vinegar Institute, EarthEasy, Coyne and Kutzen “The Urban Homestead”

But what about you guys? Do you see any favorite homemade formulas above? Any others to add to the mix? We always love a good DIY project, so homemade cleaning supplies are right up our alley. And we’re itching to know what you’re whipping up in your neck of the woods. Do tell.

First image found here.

Cleaning & Organizing, Eco Mania
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126

Easy Upgrade: Leave ‘Em In The Dust

Posted by
October 21, 2009

We did it. After a few months of passively wishing that we were using reusable microfiber cloths to dust our house (instead of disposable Swiffer duster pads) we finally made the switch. We’re use-up-what-you-have-before-getting-something-new people, so we were counting down those last few Swiffer pads until the box was finally empty (here it is in our recycling bin)…

…and we could replace them with a five pack of white microfiber cloths (snagged for just $5 at TJ Maxx).

Why is this big news for us? Well since we were going through a few Swiffer duster pads a week (remember our detailed cleaning rundown right here?) we realized that if microfiber cloths are just as good at attracting dust and can easily be washable we can save around 150+ Swiffer pads, plus their packaging each year from landfills. And that might seem like a tiny upgrade to you guys, but every little bit helps. And just imagine if a few of you also make the switch to washable microfiber cloths (which are also great for polishing things, wiping down computer screens, cleaning up spills and even doing dishes in lieu of disposable sponges). All that reusing could really start to add up.

Plus we’d been meaning to make the switch for a while, and when a few helpful readers commented that microfiber cloths were their secret dusting weapon (back on our cleaning post) that was all that it took to confirm that we should go for it. And I must admit they’re pretty darn awesome. They definitely attract just as much dust as our old Swiffer pads did and they just feel like such a nice little upgrade since they’re plush and fluffy and not scratchy and disposable. Not that we rub our dust rags all over our bodies or anything, but you know what we mean…

So what do you guys think? Any takers? Anyone else making a simple switch like that around their house to save some pennies or reuse something wisely? We’re definitely sure there are other cleaning upgrades out there that we have yet to discover. Do tell.

Cleaning & Organizing, Easy Upgrades, Eco Mania
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56

The Goal: A Semi Creepy Porch

Posted by
October 20, 2009

Every other year or so we spend a few dollars on that fake spiderweb stuff and go crazy on the porch for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters. And since we skipped last year, this year was a definite go. We snagged ours for a few bucks at Target and got to work using other stuff we already had (some dead branches, a few white faux pumpkins from last year, and a some planters) along with some black spray paint and a few push lights from True Value plus three fresh white pumpkins that we had some fun with. The result? A moderately creepy porch. Mission accomplished.

The branches were actually John’s fabulous find. I sent him back into the woods behind our house to clip a few leafless twigs but pretty much all of our trees still have leaves on them, so when he stumbled upon a few old bush carcasses that we’d tossed in a pile (that were so dead when we wanted to remove them that we couldn’t even craigslist them for free) he instantly recognized their potential. Who knew dead bushes can actually be a positive on a certain spooky holiday? Then we grabbed some black spray paint courtesy of True Value and their amazingly generous gift card (read all about their awesomeness here) and lightly sprayed all the branches so they took on a deeper ebony hue. We even stuck a raven from Michael’s in one of them for good measure.

I love how John potted some of them and just leaned the larger ones on either side of the bench for a nice dead-ville vibe. And the two push lights were also John’s little stroke of genius. They were only a few bucks at True Value and when placed behind our branches at night they cast a goulish little uplit effect into the spindly branches…

… creating exaggerated shadows on the porch ceiling and tons of eerie atmosphere.

Then we just stretched some spiderwebbing stuff around the porch posts (the secret is to pull it thin so it looks less fluffy and more webby) and actually had more than half a bag leftover (so we might just do it again next year instead of waiting our usual 2 year span).

Three fresh white pumpkins were the last things on our list, so we selected a nice little assortment and decided to stick with our black and white theme from inside (after all, spiderwebs + black branches = a black & white theme going on already) so why not add a bit more to the porch in the form of painted pumpkins? We already had some black acrylic paint (Liquitex Basics in Mars Black if you’re wondering- the key is to use something that cures and works in all weather if they’ll be sitting outside) so we did a bit of brainstorming and landed on a bug theme in honor of all things creepy crawly and Burger’s absolute favorite pastime (for him, bug hunting in the backyard ranks up there with eating treats). And we actually got three pumpkins this year (as opposed to two, like we did last year) because we thought Burger deserved one for himself. The dog’s got a blog, the least we can do is pick up a pumpkin for him.

And as much as this chihuahua stencil from BHG cracked us up, we knew he would like a tribute to his backyard bug hunting expeditions even more than a pumpkin carved in his likeness. We even came up with a way to do a gross little centipede monogram of sorts with both of our first initials formed by the leggy little critters, and settled on cockroaches for the second one with Burger’s favorite- a grasshopper cricket looking thing- for the third pumkin. It only took about twenty minutes to sketch them onto the pumpkins with pen and then fill them in with our black acrylic paint (using a black sharpie for the super fine details on the cockroach pumpkin). Then we sped everything up to create this fast little time-lapse recap of the process (see it here on YouTube).

Fear not those who can’t watch videos at work, it’s pretty much just us sketching and painting in fast motion with a little bit of Burger in between. And here’s the end result…

We really liked our departure from carving (although we thoroughly enjoyed that last year) because we’re thinking our pumpkins will last a while since they’re un-cut (plus the clean-up was blissfully easy). There was one downside though: no pumpkin seeds. Sadness. Oh well, maybe we can cheat and buy some at the grocery store. So that’s our spookified porch all ready for the 31st. Now all we have to do is share some photos of Burger’s delectable costume. Yup there’s a clue in there. Stay tuned for that…

Oh and what about your Halloween curb appeal? Anyone else planning to bring home some pumpkins or stretch some spiderwebs? What treats are you planning to serve up? We try to give out the good stuff (peanut butter cups and snickers) because we remember how fun it was to hit up those houses as kids. Do tell.

Caught On Video, DIY Decor, Holiday Hijinks, Our First House
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130

Tackling The Basement: Chapter One

Posted by
October 20, 2009

So the basement has made it known that it’s not going to cooperate without a fight. The current score is something like this. Basement: 3. John and Sherry: 1. Good thing we love a challenge. Here’s where we are when it comes to our big underground overhaul…

Many people requested more nitty gritty details about how we go from before to after. Not just a source list and a budget breakdown, but our actual thought process when it comes to figuring out what functions are most important to us, brainstorming a workable floor plan, detailing the pitfalls that we encountered along the way, etc. So we’re not planning to spare a single detail when it comes to transforming our bleak cobweb filled basement into a more finished and functional storage room fit for a king (or at least our beloved extra furnishings, bikes, accessories, and seasonal decor that we wouldn’t want covered in spiders and mold). First the details about where our basement is actually located: it’s directly below the sunroom off the back of our house (accessible by descending a little brick staircase which you can sort of see here in this old photo from when we planted our edible garden).

At 19′ x 13′, it’s a generously sized room (actually the biggest in our house, along with the sunroom above it of course). But that’s about where the positives stop. The challenges in this room far outweigh any other space that we’ve tackled, from the flooding issue (we’ve seen inch-deep puddles down there after a raging storm) to the insane spider situation (webs galore doesn’t even begin to describe it). And then there’s the mildew problem- it’s on the walls, the floor and anything we store down there (we tossed two extra wood chairs down there and were horrified to notice them covered in gross mildew a few weeks later). We also have a giant unsightly water heater in the middle of the room…

basement-before-picture

…a radon mitigation system to work around (that white pipe to the left of the water heater in the photo below), a strange trap-door in the wall that leads to the crawl space…

…and just two tiny windows to let light into the cavernous cinder block dungeon of a room. Not such a good starting point.

scary-old-nasty-basement

But we’re determined to turn all of those cons into pros- or at least minimize them while gaining a lot more function and form from the soon-to-be spruced space. As we mentioned, because the room has a separate entry from the rest of the house, it will probably never be an area that we use as actual living space, but we’re psyched to turn it into a massively convenient storage room where we can stash things without a second thought… and we have higher expectations than unsightly wire shelves and bowed wooden boards so stay tuned for a room that we hope has more of a built-in look than a tossed together hodge podge of shelving systems. But before we move onto sharing our layout ideas and storage solutions, we had to tackle the issues that made the room completely unworkable. The wetness problem and the mildew invasion, which are actually stemming from the same issue: nasty moisture that gets trapped in our little underground lair.

After a bit of research we learned that there were three major things we had to do to address the water/mildew issue:

  1. kill the mildew for good
  2. seal the cinder block walls and the cement floor so the raw stone could no longer absorb up to an inch of water in a bad storm
  3. keep moisture and mildew from coming back by bringing in a dehumidifier to keep things nice and stable down there (preferable something Energy Star rated so we don’t have to spend an arm and a leg running it during the moister months).

After a bit more research (thanks google!) we learned that the most often recommended way to seal cinder and concrete basements is Drylok, a thick milkshake-like paint of sorts that goes on slowly and stinkily, but after two heavy coats it really does the job. As in no more moisture seeping through the cement and the cinder for at least ten years or more. It even claims on the can that it can stand up to a 22 foot high wall of water. Is that not downright heroic?

But the stuff isn’t cheap. Thank goodness for our spot on the True Value DIY Blog Squad.

Remember we promised we’d be blogging about a series of DIY projects that we would undertake over the next few months using a $1000 gift card courtesy of True Value? Well, their generousity really came in handy when we realized we needed to purchase at least nine (count them, nine!) gallons of $25 a pop Drylok just to seal everything up down there. Yup, that’s at least $225 spent just to solve the seepage problem alone. But doing the work ourselves really saved us a lot more cash-money. By filling any cracks beforehand with exterior caulk and cement crack filler and then rolling the two thick coats of stinky stuff on ourselves, we probably saved at least 1K and up to 3K (based on the estimates we got when we called around for basement experts who come in, caulk, and roll on the Drylok for ya). Not bad for a few days of sticky messy work, eh?

But first we had to prep the room and remove anything we didn’t want in the space so we could Drylok behind it for a seamless look. This meant removing the strange extra light fixture on the ceiling that looked a bit less than symmetrical…

… and taking down the quirky little metal time-card-slot thingie that the previous owner used as a tool organizer (which we freecycled- we have bigger plans for maximizing that wall)…

… and pulling down the old brackets that ran across the opposite wall with a few ancient pieces of bowed wood resting on them…

Then it was time for sealing up any and all cracks with concrete filler and exterior caulk and moving on to the messy Dryloking process. And in working with Drylok we learned a few things. It actually comes in two different varieties, one that’s oil-based and one that’s latex-based. It also comes in a range of colors if you select the oil-based option (white, beige, blue and gray) while the latex-based one is only available in white.

The oil-based stuff is muuuuch muuuuuuch stinkier (with all sorts of crazy warnings about brain damage and death on the label) while the latex-based stuff is supposedly just as good (although some skeptics aren’t convinced) and even though it also stinks to high heaven it’s about half as bad as the crazy oil-based fumes. We actually did our first coat in the latex-based stuff, and even though it’s the lower odor option of the two it still had us nervous so we actually threw in $30 a pop for our health and purchased high-grade gas masks to block 100% of the fumes and toxins from entering our lungs and brains. Thank goodness we did! That stuff would have brought King Kong to his knees. And we just can’t bear to spare any more brain cells, especially when we’ll need them to overcome the rest of our issues in the basement after we have this moisture/mildew thing under control…

Now here’s where the basement earned its “won’t cooperate without a fight” reputation. No sooner had we brushed on our first coat of white latex-based Drylok (to the tune of $125) when we noticed little tan dots slowly coming through our snowy white finish. It was mildew and it was popping up in every corner and even along some expanses of wall even though we had sprayed it down with a 2-parts-water-1-part-bleach homemade spray beforehand (which seemed to kill it for a while, but then we added the Drylok and bam, it was back). Needless to say it was a bit demoralizing to realize that our über expensive paint job was blocking exterior water seepage but not quite solving the mildew problem (and we know getting a dehumidifier will also help, but we were intent on killing off all the mildew before finishing our paint job).

So then it was time to pull out the big guns. We decided to do the necessary second coat of Drylok with the oil-based beige option instead of the white latex-based version. We learned that painting Drylok is not recommended since you can’t re-Drylok over it ever in the future (so if in 20 more years we wanted to reseal the basement, Drylok wouldn’t work if we had painted the walls down there). This made us opt for the tinted version since it’ll hide more dirt and the occasional singular spiderweb better than a blindingly white backdrop… it’s sort of like paint and Drylok in one step.

And everyone knows we don’t have a white wall in the house (hey, how else would all our white ceramic animals and painted pedestal tables pop?). Plus one of the experts at True Value recommended the oil-based variety since it may even block more mildew and create an even stronger barrier against moisture and future mildew growth, especially when paired with a dehumidifier. We’re planning to get that last coat on the walls tonight and tomorrow night (gas masks in tow of course- we’re prepared for quite a stink-fest) and then we’ll be back to share the hopefully mildew-free and much-more-polished-looking results. ‘Cause the leopard print look just isn’t doing it for us. And we’ve even sprayed down the mildew one more time with our homemade watered down bleach cocktail and given it a good ol’ scrub to be extra thorough before our second coat goes on later today (note: check out John’s patented socks-with-flip-flops approach, which protects him from spatter without causing him to sacrifice a pair of shoes that he actually likes).

Oh and for those who wondered how we chose beige as our color among the other options (blue and gray), we thought gray would just make the room look like a cinder block fortress (which it is, but we’re trying to play that down) and the blue was just a bit too pastel for our tastes- meanwhile the beige is a nice neutral color that will really work with the white storage systems we’ll be bringing in for a light and airy look. So that’s how we made that call. And the ceiling will also go beige for a seamless look while the floor gets a nice coat of chocolate floor paint (leftover from this project) for a bit of definition. Here’s hoping we’re on the right track…

What about you guys. Any basement projects looming on your to-do list? Any previous experience with nasty mold and mildew or moisture issues like flooding? Let’s commiserate. And of course we’re open to any and all basement conquering advice as we charge ahead. Fingers crossed that we can score a few points in the next round…

Psst- Don’t forget to drop in on Hamburger’s House for his four-legged version of The Bachelor. That’s right he’s looking for furry suitors and presenting them with bones instead of roses. Should be weird.

DIY Decor, Home Improvement Help, Our First House, Problem Solving
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1,899

Fab Freebie: Crib Your Enthusiasm

Posted by
October 19, 2009

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries***

In honor of our new nephew’s arrival this week (he’s scheduled to come via C-section on Wednesday!) we’ve got the mother of all baby-themed giveaways courtesy of LaJobi Industries. They’re the makers of stylish baby and youth furniture and this week they’re giving away an eco-friendly crib and crib mattress to one lucky parent (or parent-to-be).

The Dakota crib by Graco is their first environmentally friendly crib – it’s made from sustainable woods, the dark walnut finish is water based and all the packaging comes from recycled materials. Plus, it looks pretty darn good. You can read all the nitty-gritty details about it on Walmart.com, since they’re the exclusive retailer of the Dakota line (which also includes a changing table).

But an eco-friendly crib wouldn’t be complete without an eco-friendly mattress to pair it with. So LaJobi is throwing in a Serta Nightstar Eco Firm mattress, which is made from organic cotton layers. Together that’s a $330 package that should help both you and your baby sleep better!

Get more info on our freebies at our Giveaway FAQs page. Images courtesy of LaJobi Industries.

Fab Freebies
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