Lazy Sunday

July 1 - Talk about something eco-friendly you already do.

Sorry to take the lazy way out here and just post a link, but I just posted about this last week! See my post  Being Eco-Friendly from June 24 to read my ramblings about all the fun stuff we do in our house to save money, reduce our strain on our resources, and be eco-friendly! If that's not up your alley, check out my Summer Blog Challenge page for more posts that are bursting at the seams with pretty photos, fun stories, and good information.

Back to normal posting tomorrow, I promise :)


This post is part of the Summer Blog Challenge. To see more posts inspired by the challenge visit my Summer Blog Challenge page!

How To Get Rid of Carpet Stains - Fast!

I think you're gonna like this one... it's pretty great...

June 29 - Write a "how-to" post.

Chances are, if you breathe, eat, drink, or live with others, there's a stain or two on a carpet in your home. Maybe it's soda, maybe it's food. Heck, maybe it's vomit - who knows! In our home we {had} a nice dark beer stain on our living room carpet.

And it stared at me all.day.long. No matter what I tried I couldn't get the darn thing out! It was stubborn. Dark, stubborn beer stain. Take note if you are feeling helpless about stains in your home:

And that, my friends, is bound to happen when your husband is a dark beer snob.

So here's what you do to get rid of your beer/food/vomit stains:

Move your furniture so you have enough space around the stain to get around. Vacuum the part of your carpet you'll be cleaning. Keep that vacuum near by - you'll need it again soon!

Moisten a dishtowel/washcloth/sponge and blot it on your stain. If your stain is still wet, you can skip this step.

Sprinkle baking soda over the moist stain. I rubbed it in with my fingers because my baking soda came out all clumpy. I think it worked better this way.

You should wait at least 10 minutes so now's the perfect time to go do something else - like some anatomy and physiology homework! 

Once your time is up, vacuum the baking soda paste up. You don't have to get it all but make sure there's not a lot left on the carpet.

In a small bowl or mixing container, combine about a cup of bathtub warm water with a splash of white distilled vinegar and a touch of dish soap. Like how precise I was there? Fine, if you really want a specific measurement I'd say it was a cup of water, a quarter cup of vinegar, and a tablespoon of dish soap. Happy? Good. For the record, I used the cheap distilled vinegar and the blue Dawn. Don't worry - you use so little of it that the blue color doesn't matter.

Using your wet towel/washcloth/sponge, soak up some of the soapy vinegar mixture and dab it onto the stain. It may get foamy, depending on how much baking soda you left on the carpet.

Keep blotting at the stain with your liquid mixture until the stain comes out - which for my pesky stain, wasn't that long.

Grab a dry towel and pat the carpet as dry as you can.

Your carpet should be looking a heck of a lot better! Vinegar and baking soda for the win! Again!

Stare at your now-brownish, gross colored liquid and think about how happy you are that you didn't have to go out and rent one of those expensive carpet cleaners.

Finally, if you're anything like me, you'll find about six gazillion more stains that you'll want to do the same to! I seriously spent an entire afternoon blotting my carpet. Furniture was everywhere, I used a pound of baking soda, Trevor must have thought I was nuts, but hey, at least my carpets were stain-free!

So, tell me, what are you gonna do with all the money you're saving using this method rather than hiring professionals? Seriously, try this and let me know how it worked for you!

This post is part of the Summer Blog Challenge. To see more posts inspired by the challenge visit my Summer Blog Challenge page!

Shared at : Sassy Sites, 504 Main, Homemaker in Heels, tatertots & jello, Stuff and Nonsense, Family Ever After, Little Inspiration, Natasha in Oz, A Pinch of Joy, You're Talking Too Much, I {Heart} Nap Time, Petite Hermine, My 1929 Charmer, Sweet Little Gals, Marvelous Monday & Whipper Berry!

Cleaning With Vinegar and Water

I'm warning you now - this post will not be filled with pretty pictures because... *dun dun dun* I'm here to tell you about cleaning my microwave.

Natural (or reduced chemical) based cleansers have totally caught my eye recently. I've been questioning the use of nasty chemicals in our house because it was zipped up tightly all winter long to save on heating costs and I know that the air doesn't move around a lot in our home unless the windows are wide open.

I have been using a bleach cleanser in the bathroom because 1)bathrooms are gross and 2) I can never seem to get rid of the 'bathroom smell' but the bleach does the best job at it. With that said, I always have my eyes peeled for a good natural cleaner than is inexpensive, easy to make/buy, and (most importantly) does a great job getting my home clean.

I came across a vinegar and water cleaning solution on Pinterest - I think - and I filed it away in my brain to do 'someday'. However, when I was cleaning my kitchen the other day I decided to give it a try. I didn't have a 'recipe' to follow so I made it up as I went.

I put about 1.5 cups of water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and added about 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar. Then, I tossed it into the grimy microwave and heated it up for 3 minutes. I wasn't sure if 3 minutes would be enough, but I figured I'd try and add more time if I needed - which I didn't.

You'd think that after heating up a vinegar mixture your kitchen would smell like a pickling factory but it really didn't have much of a smell at all. I was able to get right in and scrub!

I used the vinegar/water to wipe down the inside of the microwave and most of the junk came right off. I had to scrub a bit harder on the ceiling of the microwave but it wasn't anything back-breaking.

It took me maybe 10 minutes, start to finish and my microwave looks better now than it has in years!

Seriously, if it can make my microwave sparkle, it can clean anything. Seriously... just look at these before and after pictures. They're gross. In fact, it's kind of embarrassing how nasty we let our microwave get!

Try it in your own microwave and let me know how it works!

Know of any other good (read: actually works) natural cleaning 'recipes'? I'm looking for effective but inexpensive and always love to see what other people come up with!


Linking up to Natasha in Oz, My 1929 Charmer, Singing Three Little Birds, A Little Knick Knack, You're Talking Too Much, A Pinch of Joy & Tater Tots & Jello!