Simple Homemade Cleaners

Or as we call them around here, Elise's Elixers.

I started making most of the cleaners I use around our home after I read this post from Young House Love a year or two ago.  I'd heard of different recipes people used, but never were they so simple or effective!  Here are my favorites that have become essentials at our house:

Air Freshener - Essential when your bathroom has no windows and a ridiculously loud fan!  But the stuff from stores gives me a wicked headache and not to be gross, but it doesn't always get rid of the smell, just sort of mixes it so you have Apple Cinnamon ______ (insert gross bathroom smell).  This stuff is the opposite.  No headache.  Gets rid of the smell.  No chemicals!  And really inexpensive.  Oh, and no ridiculously loud noise when you spray it - just saying.

All you need is:
A spray bottle
Favorite scented oil (I buy lavender oil at Whole Foods (or on Amazon for even less) and Tea Tree Oil at Trader Joes for super cheap)
Rubbing Alcohol (super cheap at Costco)

The ratio is 2 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol.  Add in as many drops of your favorite scented oil as you like.  I do about 30 drops of lavender or tea tree.  I guarantee you will love it!

Oven Cleaner
I tend to get distracted when cooking, which means that my pots and pans boil over a lot and my stove top and the inside of my oven are messy.  I've never seen anything work as well (especially on grease) as this little trick.

Spritz water all over the surface you need to clean.  Sprinkle baking soda liberally on top of the water and allow it to sit for 5 minutes or so (until the water is absorbed and you can see that the baking soda is absorbing the mess).  Scrub with a washcloth and rinse.  It will be shiny, non-greasy, and clean!  This also works well for greasy pans.

Tip: Costco sells HUGE bags of baking soda for $6.  I use it for cleaning all the time and always keep one on hand.

Shower Cleaner
I've tried a bunch of them, but this works better than anything else I've found.

Plain old bleach and water.

I use about 1/2 to 1 cup of bleach in a spray bottle and fill it the rest of the way with water.  I keep it in the shower and any time mold and mildew starts to pop up, I spray it down.  Usually right before my shower so that I can rinse it off a few minutes later.  Sometimes I'll even bring my scrubber (it has a little handle and I only use it for the shower) in to my shower with me and scrub down the walls while I'm in there.  That might be TMI, but it's an easy way to do two things at once - and not worry about getting my clothes messy!

Obviously bleach is not the safest chemical and a lot of people try to avoid it.  I've done that too.  But it's so much more effective than anything else, and it's the active ingredient in most bathroom cleaners anyway.  By buying plain bleach I save a lot of money and my shower gets clean =)

Check out the link above to the YHL post for more ideas.  Here's to inexpensive, easy cleaning!

Simple Meaningful Art

I framed this "To Do" list last spring to write on with dry-erase markers, but quickly realized it was easier to write my to dos on the giant mirror that hung on the wall nearby (ala YHL).  So after months of not using it, I was ready to make a change.

I've been reading this awesome book by John Piper and came across a quote that I loved and wanted to hang on my wall as a constant reminder.

So I grabbed my favorite book of scrapbook paper (which I've used to make a baby book and tons of stationary)...

...and got to work.

The first step involved cutting out a piece of scrap paper with the right dimensions for the frame, folding it into 4 equal sections, and practicing spacing my words out evenly.

It took a few tries, which is why you can see pencil and marker on my practice sheet.  Next I cut out a properly sized piece of scrap book paper, and carefully wrote the quote down.

And here's the final product!

I love the way it constantly points me toward eternal things.  I don't want to waste my short life on things that will not last into eternity.

Easy Art and Updated Storage

I adore this idea from Nesting Place blog today.  Wrapping shoe boxes with paper, fabric, etc. to make art.

Here's the picture from Nesting Place:

 

houzz

Love that!

This weekend I did something similar - not to make art but to update some ugly storage on our desk.  Months ago I took a cardboard box and covered it with masking tape, hoping that it would just be a nice, unnoticeable beige.  It looked like this:

Not the best.  And why I chose to write in such big letters in the middle of the box is beyond me.  Though it used to be oriented a different way so the words weren't sideways.

So I turned it into this:

Here are my steps to updated storage:

1.  Cut out a piece of scrapbook paper so that it is approximately 1 inch larger on each side than the box top.  Glue on to top of box using Tacky glue.  Put extra glue on all four sides, approximately one inch from the top.

2.  Fold down extra paper so that it sticks to sides.  Repeat on the bottom.

3.  Put glue on one side of box.

4.  Cut out piece of scrapbook paper so that it is the exact dimension of the side that is glue and lay over glue, smoothing it down.  Repeat on all four sides.

Much better!

Easter Basket to Anytime Basket

Last Easter I was feeling pretty blue.  We weren't able to go to church because my hubby couldn't be in big crowds yet (and church is always crowded on Easter) and we couldn't visit our families either.  Two awesome things happened though: we watched an amazing live church service from Mars Hill Church and Pastor Mark Driscoll, and my husband surprised me with an Easter egg hunt that culminated in this special Easter basket filled with treats:

After 6 months admiring it and being reminded of my Easter surprise, I decided that I needed to do a little updating to make it match our decor a little better. 

First, I un-threaded the orange and gold ribbon that ran around the middle of the basket.  It actually wasn't even glued in so it was very easy to do!  Then I pulled out my set of craft paints and painted over the butterflies and the pink strips.  It took multiple coats (and a very small paint brush) but this is the end result:

And now for a close-up:

I love how it matches my bookshelf and that I can now enjoy it in all seasons!

I'm still not sure what to do with the extra baskets sitting inside of it - and I'm hoping to make some fabric flowers to put in that vase... eventually!

My Favorite Books

From time to time I update my Favorite Books page - and I just finished writing about one of my favorite authors, James Harriot.  If you love animals, or books, or know someone who is or wants to be a vet, check it out!