I was online looking for some activated charcoal odor eaters for my fridge but didn’t find much… so then some Googling lead me to this slightly ridiculous product for $10

  

Yup it’s a bag full of charcoal…
So then I was like hmmm isn’t that what fishy filters use….
yup, it is called “Activated Filter Carbon” for aquarium filters, so I bought a TON of that for $7.99
(Amazon beat Walmart on price for this)
So then in a scrap busting fest I made 5 various sized pouches out of breathable fabric to make little odor eating pouches.

I made a bunch, on the larger ones I divided the areas into sections to give maximum surface area.
I serged mine to make it even easier, just pinning them once full, no serger, just make a simple pillow, or I also used a organza gift bag for one (Top Left Photo).
These are kind of messy to make cause of the black dust, but it’s not too bad, also be sure to craft yourself a funnel for less mess.
Note, these absorb odor, they have no fragrance.
They are definitely helping with the following locations in the house: litter box, fridge, freezer, garage, pantry with trash can, I even sent one to Bestie in case Baby Girl doesn’t poo roses…

Do you ever wait for one of the bloggers “you know” to try the latest “amazing pin”, yeah me too, too many pin failures.

So when fellow Alpha Gamma Delta Blog Network member More Than A Momhad success with it I knew I had to tackle the nearly 60 years of grungy build up in our 1954 bathrooms.

I wasn’t convinced I would have as great results with my super old dirt, but with a lot of elbow grease, a grout brush and a scrub brush it looks sooo much better!

To boot the ammonia softened the paint splatter from the at least 3 different colors this bath has been!

So the recipe,

For a Full Size Spray Bottle (I recommend this, my tiny bathroom still used the whole thing)

3 1/2 cups water (28 oz)
1/4 cup baking soda
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp ammonia (1.33 oz)
2 Tbsp vinegar (1 oz)

For the small dollar section spray bottles
1 3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp ammonia
1 Tbsp vinegar

Method:

1. Rinse your floor.
2. Spray down let it sit.
3. Scrub, scrub, scrub.
4. Sop up the dirty gross water.
5. Rinse.
6. Repeat.

Tip, it’s not going to look impressive until it dries.

I plan on using the cleaner regularly as preventative maintenance.

Give it a try, Lucy will help you…

Kitty Lovers, Watch my funny Lucy in a giant box video here, she totally thinks she’s Maru

It’s definitely taken me a while to get ‘a method’ down, but I think I’ve found the perfect system for me.

1. I bring fabric home from the store, or from my Mom’s stash. I keep it in a separate pile.

2. Once I’ve got a ‘loads’ worth or I have a project I must start right away, I prep it.

3. I do long length rolled hem on the two raw edges of all the woven fabric. This prevents the washer from ‘eating’ your fabric, and having to cut apart the ‘strings’ in order to get the fabric out of the washer.

4. Wash as you would when the project is completed. For me this is just ‘warm’

5. Dry as you would when the project is completed.

6. Now you have an indicator that the fabric is washed because the edges are serged, no more playing sniff and guess wondering if the fabric is ready to sew. For the knits I take a safety pin and pin it to the selvage and use that as my “I washed it indicator.

Those are my two cents on fabric prepping.

What are your favorite methods? I’d love to hear.

Here’s a quick tip to revive lettuce, give it a quick ice bath after rinsing, I leave mine for about 10 minutes. This is also helpful in the summer when tap water is soo warm!

Oh and if you’re looking for a good battery vacuum, the Eureka Quick Up 96JZ is the only one my dad likes and he’s the vacuum expert (and has bought millions) since he’s got a Sheltie and a fuzzy wuzzy Bella in his house!
Dad also occasionally runs his filter through the dishwasher on the top rack… I just rinse mine. Make sure it’s fully dry before putting back in the canister.

One of my little goals for 2012 was getting better at using up what we had and throwing less food away, we certainly aren’t horrible at using stuff up, but there is always the stuff we just forgot about.
This little trick has been helpful, I’ll write the date, what it is, and how much of it there is on the container in dry erase marker, I just wipe it off with a napkin or my thumb before microwaving or dishwashing.  This is more helpful when freezing stuff, since when you pull what’s frozen you are way less likely to remember.
I especially like writing how much there is so I don’t have reweigh it to log it into MyFitnessPal.

1. Grab a dull old rotary blade (don’t waste a new one on paper)
2. your super cutting mat
3. your too big pile of presents
4. wrap like the wind!

This seriously made made wrapping presents sooo much easier and faster!!

You can use a ruler if you wanna be anal but most of the time I didn’t =)

I recently discovered this and tried it, it's a little scary at first but OMG think about all the rock solid sugar you'll be avoiding, plus it's cheaper!

Supplies:

• Plain Old White Sugar
• Molasses
• Fork
• Mixer (Optional but recommended)

Start off by finding Molasses in the grocery store, I found mine by the Maple Syrup.

Measure out how much brown sugar you need to make, add 1 to 2 table spoons per cup of sugar.

Start mixing it with your fork, it's going to look clumpy like this, but don't freak out.

Beat with the mixer to continue to combine, slowly add more molasses until you get the desired level of light or dark brown sugar.

Just keep on mixing and you'll get beautiful brown sugar like this.

Next time I'll definitely be using my KitchenAid stand mixer, but it's not hard at all, it just looks a little hopeless at the beginning!

Happy Baking!