Tuesday 26 June 2012

FEED THE ANTS....TUPPENCE A BAG.....TUPPENCE...TUPPENCE...OK, EVERYONE SING ALONG!!!


FEED THE ANTS….TUPPENCE A BAG……TUPPENCE….TUPPENCE….OK, EVERYONE SING ALONG!!!!

ANTS!!! Just the word makes some people’s skin crawl. I remember watching a horror flick many years ago about ants invading a town. They ate everything in their pathway including people. On that lovely note, I don’t think we have any fear of being eaten by ants but they sure can do some major harm to your home, food cupboards, your lawn and garden.
A couple of years ago, we found out we had carpenter ants and that they were in the walls of our home. My husband found out that there was a spray that would combat the issue and it did work. However, we were gagged out for days and I was worried about our health and that of the cats as well. We also have little ants that eat through the grouting and mortar of our brick and tile in our home every year come warmer weather. What’s a person to do?! I was killing piles of ants on a daily basis and knew that there had to be a better solution.
Then one day, I was talking to a friend about it and she said to use cornmeal. Yup, simple, safe, edible cornmeal. I had some in my pantry and immediately put it in the crevices between my back door and the tile where they had eaten away the grouting. Then I put some near the brickwork on my front doorstep. Guess what?! It worked!  I did find a few ants over the next couple of weeks that were in the throes of death but that was it!! No chemicals choking us to death! At first, I felt a bit guilty about the fact that the ants were eating the cornmeal and then it would expand in their little tummies and then it would kill them. But then I remembered that the wonderful, chemical spray caused them to die in a bad way too.
One day my daughter mentioned to me that my little grand-daughter went through a fairly large nest of ants in our backyard. So out I went and looked for the nest so I could put some cornmeal in and around it. I was shocked at how many large nests I had in my backyard! I left some of the smaller ones alone and only did the area that my grand-daughter would be playing in. I left the really big ones out in our field alone as the woodpeckers like to feast on these and it’s cool to watch them.
So here’s to a chemical-free solution to ants marching two by two across your countertops. Oh, and if you get ants in your pants…….just add some cornmeal!

Friday 1 June 2012

Yet Another Cheap Way to Clean!!!


YET ANOTHER CHEAP WAY TO CLEAN!!!!
Being a scent-sensitive, asthmatic myself, I like to use products that are not going to have me running to the bathroom closet for my puffer, allergy eye drops and saline nasal spray :-S……..really, who would?
A few weeks ago, I was looking for a home-made cleaner recipe.One product I use is a store-bought orange cleaner and it dawned on me that it was made from orange peel, so why not try to make it myself. So I did!
Found a few sites that have great recipes for home-made cleaners but the easiest one is:
2 cups of vinegar (1/2 litre)
Add orange peels (or any citrus peel)
I just cut my orange peels up a bit, added them to the vinegar and let them set for three  weeks to allow the citrus oil to leech out of the peel. Some sites said to let the solution set for 10 days and another said 4-6 weeks. So I checked mine after three weeks and it looked pretty good.
I use a spray bottle and I poured the mixture into a measuring cup through a strainer and some cheese cloth. Then I took the cheese cloth and put it in the funnel and poured it in my spray bottle.
Here’s the pics of my process. Excuse the not-so-pro pictures! 


 I know it looks like a lab specimen but you'll have to get past that yourself! 
And happy cleaning!!

A CHEAPER AND EASIER WAY TO CLEAN!!


A CHEAPER AND EASIER WAY TO CLEAN!
OK, so who likes to clean? Other than me? :-S……I love a clean smelling/looking house. It makes me feel good all over. I love to vacuum, clean my kitchen but to be honest, dusting is not at the top of my fav list.  I love the look of just-been-polished furniture but do not like the polishes that are on the market. I used to be able to purchase a scent-free polish by Pledge but it’s no longer available in my city now . :-( Apparently the dust polish companies didn’t get the scent-free memo that’s be circulating around now for years! So many people are now scent sensitive due to their asthma, runny nose, watery eyes, clogged, sore throat etc. that you’d think that someone out there would have clued into the scent-free furniture polish niche.  Alas, it’s up to the humble home-maker/Mum to come to the rescue and I found quite a few on-line who have easy, cheap (love that word!!), do-it-yourself, furniture polish recipes.
Here are a couple of the sites that I found and I can’t wait to try them out!


&

These gals also got tired of paying high prices for products that are probably killing us and are bad for the environment to boot.
So…..cheaper, safer for us people and the environment and no spray can to go to the land fill site. I think I’ll buy me a spray bottle and I already have the other ingredients in my pantry J
Oh, and HAPPY cleaning! :-)