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Designing Closets

I have amazing closets in my home.  The only issue I have is that most of them have wire shelves. The solution is to take old floor tiles and place them on top of the shelves.  Now, nothing falls through.

Verdict:

5 stars - I found a ton of tiles in my utility closet (I really need to clean more often - who knows what else I will find).  This find made this project extremely easy to complete.  I was so happy with my bathroom closet that I also did my pantry.  I added the baskets and cute chalkboard labels to really make the closet look great.  My favorite part is that nothing falls through the cracks anymore.

Hydrogen Peroxide as Acne Killer

Hydrogen peroxide is said to help eliminate acne when used on a daily basis.  After washing your face, dip a cotton ball in peroxide and rub over your face.

Verdict:
4 stars - I think that actually washing my face twice a day has made a bigger difference than hydrogen peroxide.  Even after washing my face, I sometimes noticed that there was additional gunk on the cotton ball.  My face felt really clean after using the peroxide.  The peroxide does dry out the face, so a moisturizer is definitely a must after using it.

Suppress a Cough at Night

I hate getting sick!  I know that no one likes it, but I get stubborn when I am sick.  I have to teach and try to miss as little school as possible.  How do I help myself when getting sick?  Simple, all I need is Vicks and socks.

Directions:
Slather Vicks on your feet.  Put a pair of socks on your feet.  That's it.

Verdict:
5 stars - This may not suppress your cough 100%, but there is a notable improvement.  Bonus, my feet feel warmer and softer after using this.  I must admit, when I am feeling sick, I put this on to help get me through the day (not just at night).  Because it is on your feet and covered, the smell is not noticeable.  This little trick helped get me through the flu and a cold in December.  Regular use has also kept my feet feeling like I get regular pedicures.  In short, I highly recommend this!

Eliminating Stubborn Spots on Carpet

I had a couple of grease stains on my carpet that would not go away, no matter how much I cleaned them with different products.  This brought me to find a ton of pins using baking soda and vinegar.

Directions:
1.  Pour baking soda onto your stain - enough to lightly cover it.
2.  Pour vinegar over the baking soda - enough to react with all of the baking soda.
3.  Let the mixture set for 15-20 minutes.
4.  Rub with a damp, white cloth.  This may still take a little effort.  (Make sure the cloth is white as colors may get absorbed into your carpet.)
5.  Vacuum the area when dry.

Bubbling up with vinegar and baking soda.

Before

After

Verdict:  

4 stars - The difference is amazing in the before and after pictures.  Not sure why the carpet looks so different,  I think it may have been the time of day because it is the same spot in all three pictures.  I only gave this 4 stars because it worked well on small stains.  The bigger the stain, the more it did not seem to work the same.  I am going to go back over some stains at home.  Hopefully the second time will work better.

Cleaning Your Stove Top

Must Do!!!!!

I cleaned my stove top today.  I must admit that it was pretty disgusting.  There are two different parts to doing this.

Part 1 - Grate Directions -
1.  Put each grate in it's own gallon sized bag.  Add in a few tablespoons of ammonia.  Do not add enough to cover the grate.  The gases from the ammonia will clean the grate.
2.  Seal the bag and put it aside 12 hours or overnight.
3.  Be careful opening the bags, there smell will be awful!  Rinse of and gently scrub each grate.  The dirt and grime will easily come off.

Part 2 - Stove Top Directions -
1.  Sprinkle baking soda around on each spot you want cleaned.  Pour a few tablespoons on the baking soda (not enough to soak everything - just enough to wet the baking soda).
2.  Let mixture stand for 15-20 minutes.
3.  Wet a paper towel or cloth and wipe up your mixture.  There should be very little scrubbing as many of the stains will come right off.  I even took some of this and wiped down the top of the stove top (where the time is) and could not get over the difference.

Before                                         After

 

     Cleaning Grates                        Cleaning the Stove Top

 

Verdict:
5 Stars!!! - I cannot get over what a huge improvement there was in my stove.  I have tried cleaning the grates before but never the stove top itself.  It was so gross but I didn't want to spend a ton of time scrubbing.  My stove top looks brand new.  The difference was overwhelming.  It's so sad how excited this project made me.  I sent pictures to my best friend and mom because I was so excited.  I guess it is the little things in life that make you happy.

Vinegar + Baking Soda = More Absorbent Towels

I ran to the store today and majorly stocked up on vinegar and baking soda.  It seems that almost everything I find, cleaning wise, on Pinterest calls for these two items.

One thing I found was using these on your towels would make them more absorbent.

Directions
1.  Pour 1 cup of vinegar into the washer with your towels.  Run through a normal cycle using hot water.
2.  When that load is complete, pour 1 cup of baking soda into the washer and run through a normal cycle using hot water.
3.  Dry towels as you normally do.
* Do not use laundry detergent to wash your towels!

Verdict:

3 stars - I was amazed how the vinegar smell was completely gone after the load with the baking soda.  This was my biggest concern.  I didn't notice that the towels were more absorbent after using them, but I did feel that they were really clean.  As a bonus, the whites were much brighter!

Leg Lift Challenge

I am constantly seeing workout challenges for each month.  I searched for a good workout for January.  Most of the ones I found had calendars for previous years.  I could have followed one of them but decided that I wanted something different.  I came across the Leg Lift Challenge here. While the name of it is leg lift, it is similar to a crunch in how it feels.

I am on day 9, still going strong.  It feels good...once I am done for the day, not so good while completing the challenge.  There was only 1 day that I almost forgot about it!  My plan is challenge myself each month to a different plan.  I will let you know how the rest of the month ends up!

Water Bottle/Coffee Mug Holders

I had a bunch of coffee mugs and extra water bottles that kept rolling over in my cabinets.  This did not even include the mugs/water bottles that are seasonal.  When I saw this simple organization on Pinterest, I thought that it was pure genius.  It was a moment in which I realized, "Why didn't I think of this?"  

All you need to do is buy on an over the door shoe rack and put it in your pantry.  It can even be cut down to fit inside a cabinet.  The only thing I changed was that I used command hooks instead of the over the door hooks that came with the shoe organizer.  I attached a ribbon to them to hook them up.  I just didn't want the hooks to show in a main area of the house.

Variations:
Use the over the door rack as storage for cleaning supplies or kid's toys.

Lip Balm

I loved the idea of making different lip balms in lots of different colors very cheaply.

Directions:
Heat up and mix one cup of Vaseline with one packet of Kool-aid.  Put in individual containers to cool.

Verdict:

2 stars - I did not like how this mixed together.  If you look closely, it seemed to separate a bit on top when it cooled.  This may have caused there to be no color when I first used it.  I haven't used it long enough to see how the color will look when I use the lip balm.  I also did not like the smell the Vaseline made when it was heated up.  This was strange because I did not notice the smell before the Vaseline was heated.  Even after the mixture cooled, I could only notice the smell.  In the end, it was like putting regular Vaseline on your lips.  This is something I would not make again.  Not everything on Pinterest is a winner.

Garbage Disposal Tabs

I have made these garbage disposal tabs in the past.  I love them!  They are super easy to make and the kitchen smells incredible.  Click here for the blog I used with all of the directions.


Ingredients:
baking soda, salt, lemon, liquid dish soap

My Garbage Disposal Tabs - drying out overnight before I use them.

Verdict:
5 stars - These are easy to make.  No special ingredients need to be bought,  They smell amazing!

Decorating the Door with a Snowman

I love winter and decorating my house.  This year I decided to try decorating my front door.  I must admit, I took some shortcuts - I used leftover pieces I found in a wall decorating kit I bought on clearance.


I took a knit hat my sister made for the hat on top.  I have an over the door hanger for the front door that has a little hook on the back.  This was perfect to help hold the hat.  I used command hooks to hold the scarf up.  The snowflake is a napkin holder.

My Front Door

The Snowman Decorating Wall Kit

Verdict:

4 Stars - This was an easy project to complete.  I think I would like this better if I actually took the time to make new eyes, mouth, and buttons.  This would help make it a bit more proportional.  Until then, I will take my lazy snowman!

Cleaning Make-up Brushes

I used to always buy cheap make-up brushes.  Every so often I would throw them away and get a new one.  This was so wasteful.  Even though the brushes were cheap, the price on them began to add up. This all changed when I decided to invest in some great brushes.  Now I need to clean them on a regular basis.  I know that I need to do this more often than I do but at least it gets done.

How to Clean Make-up Brushes:
1.  Add one tablespoon vinegar to one cup of hot water.
2.  Soak brushes for 20 minutes.  I make sure to shake press the brushes against the side of the cups in order to shake off as much gunk as possible.
3.  Run the brushes under hot water.  Make sure they are thoroughly rinsed off.

Verdict:

5 stars  - It works!  I got a lot of stuff off of the brushes.  The cup shows some of the stuff that came off.  More stuff came off when I rinsed the brushes.  It was a very easy project to complete!  Very little effort is needed to complete.

Potential Issues:

Having done this before, I did notice that there was a lingering vinegar smell long after this project has been completed.  This may bother people that are sensitive to strong smells.