Room (House) Scenting

I  read this idea on http://www.aboutamom.com/2011/09/crock-pot-air-freshener.html and thought I'd give it a try.

Take one slow cooker (crock pot), add 4 or 5 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of bicarb for each cup of water, and a suitable room scent.

One day I will find a bulk supplier of bicarb. I can go through a 500 g box in a day of cleaning.

I chose lavender because I like the smell and it's food friendly - I want to use the cooker for actual cooking later. Other options would be vanilla, cloves, lemon or orange (peel would be good)

Mix everything in the slow cooker, turn it on and leave with the lid off for hours. Apparently the bicarb absorbs odours and the scent floats about the rooms. My lavender scent reached all the way to the other end of the house.

Not the most attractive looking dish! Hoping the white washes out easily.

Postscript: I thought I'd try lemons, but hubby had cleaned out the fridge. The dry old lemons I thought would be perfect were gone . I used an orange, but I really didn't like the aroma and it wasn't as strong as the lavender. I'll keep experimenting, although my slow cooker pot is looking a little worse for wear tonight.

Bathroom cleaning

Bathroom cleaning is a bit like exercise. Not just that it's often hard work and you end up all sweaty and revolting. It's one of those "I don't wanna, but know I feel better afterwards" tasks of life. Our bathroom used to be a bear to clean. The floor was 1970s, dark brown, inchie tiles. No idea what colour the grout was originally. The shower had cracked safety glass that probably didn't look particularly clean the day it was installed. The cubicle was tiled with silicon applied over the top of mouldy grout. Mould will grow through silicon! The basin  was cracked and the vanity was chipboard that left chips all over the floor if you so much as breathed near it. It also had a bathtub, the primary purpose of which was to collect dirt, fur and hair.

Pre-renovation

A couple of years ago we renovated. Oh, bliss. Our new bathroom has an 'all in one' shower cubicle. The walls are lami-panel, the base is moulded, the doors slide so it can be left open to dry out. The basin is a single moulded unit. The splashback is a very large mirror. And the floor, ah, beautiful floor. The floor is red cedar boards.

Post-renovation

This post isn't actually about my lovely, still-new, renovated bathroom. It's about cleaning it.

Somewhere along the way, some years ago I picked up a very simple cleaning tip. It helped in the old shower, makes cleaning the new shower a breeze.

In a spray bottle mix 1 part dish washing detergent (daggy old shampoo you decided you hate would work as well) and 3 parts cheap white vinegar (you could use expensive, but it'd be a waste). I label my spray bottle and somewhere on the bottle there's a 1/4 mark. Spray the shower, leave for an hour or so, scrub with a non scratch cloth, rinse. The vinegar works to break down soap scum and mould; the soap simply holds it in place and works on the ordinary dirt.

Bathroom spray

Do be careful of the fumes when spraying. Yes, vinegar is 'natural', doesn't mean it's harmless. After all, scorpions and red-bellied black snakes are also natural.

One of the issues I've had with the spray (other than the knock-you-out fumes) is that the shower based becomes incredibly slippery while you're scrubbing. I have found a cheap and easy solution - a piece of non-slip matting for under floor rugs. It's non-slip so you don't slide all over the shower while scrubbing, but it's a loose weave, so water flows through it readily.

Anti-slip rug mat

And a few more gratuitous photos of our bathroom. After nearly two years I still love it and think it was one of the best things we've ever done to our house.

Shower cubicle - rounded front design fits nicely in the corner and doesn't need extra floor space to open the door.

Vanity with mirror splashback.

Ready to Start Over

I finished unstitching the unwanted teal this afternoon. I then spent 10 minutes looking for the sticky roller thingie. I know I own one; I remember buying it. I bought it for two purposes - one to clean up cat hair and two to clean up unpicked stitchings. Eventually I found it in the bathrooom. Naturally - that's where I get dressed; that's where the cat hair is noticed (supposedly). Sadly, I'm far too unaware in the morning to notice something like cat hair.




The roller does, however, work like a charm on threads from unstitching.

Below is my T for Thomas block, minus the teal.


Tomorrow I might start quilting the remaining blocks or maybe I'll spend some time in the garden.

Tips - More on Routines

I intensely dislike housework. You do it, turn around, and it needs doing again. I'm not sure which happens faster - dishes piling up on the counter or nuclear fission. The sad reality of life is, however, that housework has to be done by someone; and really it's not fair to expect hubby to do it after he's worked 15 hours and I've sat around blogging and watching movies for 15 hours. Here's a few things I've learnt:

1. Time those hated activities. Most of them don't take anywhere near as much time as we think they do. Do you know that it takes less than 15 minutes to wash up more dishes than my drying rack and the counter next to it will hold?
2. Drop the perfection mentality. When I wash floors I don't move furniture out of my way unless its furniture that often gets moved. If it normally doesn't get moved who's going to know if I mopped under it or not? I won't ;-)
3. Remember - housework blesses others. If you live by yourself the 'other' might actually be yourself; but if you share a house you will bless those you share with.
4. Routines :-) That's right. Having a routine makes it so much easier to talk yourself into things. Friday mornings is my day for Home Blessing (a Flylady term). Friday I don't shower in the morning; I clean my house and then I shower - 'cause I try to go as fast as possible and I get really hot and sweaty. Here's my routine; takes about an hour (tops).

• Pick up everything that's not where it belongs. I dump it in a big basket and everyone is responsible for retrieving their own stuff.
• Strip and remake the beds every 2nd week; the towels every week; put a load of washing on.
• Spray the shower (see previous post about spray)
• Race (literally) around with the vaccy. See above about moving furniture - it don't happen.
• Then race (literally) around with the mop (see post about vinegar and floors). We have all hardwood floors through the house, so I vaccy and mop the entire house.

Routines - that's just what I do on Friday mornings. I decided not to complain or whinge about it; I just suck it up and do it 'cause its got to be done. And, yes, it does bless my family.

Tips - Routines

Just about everything I've learnt about routines I learnt from Marla Cilley, better known to the internet community as "The Flylady" (http://www.flylady.net/). I haven't followed the Flylady system completely, but I am grateful to Marla for some really important life lessons. Lesson number one - routines are not a strait jacket. In fact, routines create freedom. Actually, no, lesson number one is that most of us have routines - they're just not very effective.

I've always had a morning routine. In my last job it was a well known fact that I didn't start until 8:15, even though the official starting time was 8:00am. Every single day I ran 15 minutes late. And even then I often ate breakfast at my desk. Now why is that? Because my routine was ineffective and inefficient.

My morning routine has been "tweaked" to be effective and efficient. It took some work. Habits aren't formed overnight, but they are formed day by day. Given that I can step into the shower, and 30 seconds later wonder if I've washed my hair or my face or both (when in fact I've done neither) and stepping out of the shower with conditioner still in my hair is a common occurence - these changes definitely didn't happen overnight.

But in that routine there is freedom. The old morning routine (which I never admitted was a routine) used to cause anxiety and grumpiness (for me and family, and probably my boss). My new routine (which I happy to admit IS a routine) gives me freedom. I no longer rush around like a headless chook in the morning; the Girl goes to school with lunch in her bag and breakfast in her tummy; I arrive at work exactly when I say I will (showered, dressed decently, teeth brushed, hair brushed, and breakfasted).

To those that insist that routines create bondage - I'll take that bondage, 'cause strangely enough I'm freer with it than without it.

And my morning routine, if you're interested:

• get up (kinda obvious)
• make the bed (I'm not a hospital corners person; just straighten the sheets and quilt - when you make 'em you want 'em on display)
• loo (of course)
• take my iron, brush my teeth (these go together 'cause liquid iron tastes revolting)
• have a shower
• do my hair, get dressed (always nice for others you're going to meet during the day)
• organise lunches
• have breakfast while reading my emails (see - time for me, even in the mornings)

Tips - Vinegar and the Wash (Laundry)

Another tip for vinegar (told you I liked the stuff). I think I picked this one up from Shannon Lush. Shannon does a segment on ABC Local Radio helping people with their cleaning problems. She's got a couple of books published. I don't own any, although I did buy one for my defacto dad as a joke (he's a perfectionist cleaner - something I'm not).
Anyway, the tip. Towels should never be washed with fabric softener 'cause it stops them being effective water soaker-up-ers. But, most of us hate scratchy, hard towels. The answer is to use vinegar instead of softener. I just pour it in the softener holder in the machine.
As mentioned before vinegar helps kill mould, so it helps clean the insides of your machine at the same time.
A word of caution, however, I read somewhere that some machines don't like vinegar. It apparently attacks some of the soft fittings. I haven't noticed any problems with our machine though.

Tips - Vinegar and Floors

Tip #2 (don't worry I'll stop numbering them soon ;-) This one is also from a Mary Hunt newsletter. I guess I should have mentioned in the first post - obviously a lot of my tips haven't come from me direct; I've picked them up all over the place. Where I can remember the origins I'll give the credit. Even though they may not be "originals" they will all be tips I've used myself.

Vinegar (my favourite cleaning product) - for hard floors use a bucket of HOT water (I use one kettle of boiling water and about the same amount of hot tap water); add one to two cups of vinegar (good ol' plain white vinegar). Apply mop to water and then to floor.

This does take a while to dry. Not sure why that is the case; but detergent does seem to dry faster. I am always amazed, however, at how dirty the water is by the time I'm finished. Amazed might not be the right word. Horrified might be better ;-)

Its also true that the house smells like a salad factory for an hour or so afterwards, but the smell does disapate.

Tips - Vinegar and Dish Detergent for Showers

Here we are almost April and I haven't posted anything since late November. That's because I couldn't think of anything to post. Yesterday I was wondering who I could share something with - a tip that has saved me time and money - and that's when I realised that's what I could make the focus of my blog. All those bits of information that I've picked up through life. Time savers, money savers, energy savers, life hints, study tips. Just random bits and pieces. I'm going to try and limit myself to one tip a day, every day. Bwahahaha. Like that's gunna happen - but I will try.

So, my first tip. Got this one from Mary Hunt's daily email "Everyday Cheapskate" (you can sign up for it at http://ads.everydaycheapskate.com/).

To wash showers: mix together in a spray bottle, one part dishwashing liquid and three parts white vinegar. Spray on the tiles and glass etc. Leave for one hour. Scrub (I use scrubber pad supposedly designed for bathrooms) and rinse well. Mary's original email said "be prepared to be amazed". I wasn't - until I noticed a section I'd missed. The soap scum was about as thick as my pinky finger nail. Every where else was glistening clean. Only then did I realise just what a difference it made.

My guess is that the detergent simply makes the vinegar "sticky" keeping it on the surface long enough to penetrate the scum. My toxicology lecture (Dr Peter Dingle - from "Is your house killing you on SBS"; if you Google him a heap of pages come up) - he said that vinegar kills mould. So, you get rid of two issues at once.

I use it once a week. I use whatever dish detergent we happen to have (if it's a concentrate use only 1/2 a part); and el-cheapo vinegar. I use vinegar for so many things I go through about 2 litres a week! But more vinegar tips later.