Cleaning Lady Tells All!

Yes that's me! We recently had to let go of our cleaning lady due to the new job role I have taken on.  (insert your spoiled rotten comments here). It was a sad day but we remains friends and she was very understanding. That being said, those dirty job duties fall back on me. As I was mixing up my favorite cleaning solution yesterday, I thought it would be nice to share my secret with others b/c who doesn't like to save a buck here and there right?

It's a little product called Simple Green. I learned about it from technicians in my previous job who used this to soak parts that were covered in old dried up ink and was always told it worked miralces. I found out that the all-purpose cleaner was available in 1 gallon bottles at Home Depot, so I tried it. The mixing instructions are listed on the back for the job requirement. General cleaning is 1oz to 1 cup of water per the instructions. Now I will admit that I do 2 oz to 1.5 cups water b/c that what fills my empty Lysol Kitchen Cleaner bottle. I've been using it for a couple of months and happy with the results. It works great on dried up food on the counter and smells great. Recently I ran out of Scrubbing Bubbles for the bathroom and switched to this as well, and have even used it on my toilets.

I know it's early but let's do the math: Paying $10 for a bottle equal to 128 oz, I'm essentially only paying 15 cents for my new cleaner as opposed to $4 or $4.50. One gallon could make up to 64 bottles of cleaner which could save me around $250 over time! That's a steal! This product can be used with laundry and tougher jobs like lifting grease and oil which is listed in the instructions as well I just haven't tried those yet. Another great thing is that there are no harmful chemicals used so it's better for the environment and will not agrivate those with allergies.

This mom wins again!

Day Off = Pay Off

Yea yea yea. Once again I haven't posted since May. Just to bring everyone up to speed; quit my job, stay at home mom, best decision I've ever made in my life, Sam turned 2, we get to play all the time, hope to do this more often, yadda yadda yadda. So my original intent was to work part-time but decided against that. For the time being, my son still goes to the sitter's two days a week to be with his friends and get away from me. Now I know that many people are wondering what the hell do you do with your time two days a week with no kids and no job, right?
The first few weeks I spent catching up on many projects I neglected for three years. I also became reaquainted with my kitchen. MostlyI'm doing all my chores those days so that when I'm with my son we have nothing to do but play, learn, and meet new friends. Today, however, I've started the first of many DIY projects. I have a passion for that as well as organizition, creativity, being a mom, and blogging about it of course. So today I was able to put them all together!
My son is a lover of books and we frequent the library. Unfortunately it was starting to take over his room. I went on a search and found a way to get a stack of free pallets and then turned to etsy and pinterest and was able to find this link with some simple instructions to take back his nighstand.

DIY Pallet Shelves

After a little blood and sweat, but no tears, I think they turned out great!

Mountain of Books

BEFORE:

 

FREE GIFT FROM MY PALLET FRIEND:

 

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS AN ELECTRIC SAW!

 

FINISHED PRODUCT 

 

 

The reclaimed wood gives them more character which fits well in this household. Eight cuts with a hand saw took up most of the morning but it was totally worth it. Most importantly, it was TOTALLY FREE!!!!!! Can't wait to see what else I can make. Stay tuned for more ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle......