31 days of Homemade Solutions - Day 1

In this day and age, there are so many people jumping on the 'Green' bandwagon and for good reason.  Our world is fragile right now and we have to take steps to change how we live so we can cherish the world we live in.

I chose to bring you 31 days of Homemade Solutions that are made from scratch.  These are awesome 'recipes' to kick start your green living.  A lot of these solutions have been around for years.  I think that the world we live in now a days is all about convenience.  We buy foods that are preserved and prepared cause they are convenient and take less time.    We buy beauty products cause its an immediate gratification to just open a bottle and use it.  We all know that there is NEVER enough time in the day, for us to do everything we want to get accomplished.  But by taking a few extra minutes, you will probably get an even better result, it is good for the planet, and it is cheaper in the long run.

So to begin our great series we are going to talk about homemade cleaning wipes.  Wipes are always expensive, because of their convenience and a lot of people are willing to pay for that convenience.  But there are others who choose to make it themselves and others who need to budget and this is a great solution.  Whatever reason you have, these are easy and work great.

You will need the following ingredients.

1 cup water

1 cup vinegar

1 Good roll of Paper Towel

1 essential oil (this is up to each individual as to what oil you want, it is to simply mask the vinegar smell, something like lavender would work)

A few drops of dish soap

1 container (the container you use is up to you.  It could be an empty baby wipe container, it could be a Tupperware or plastic container with seal tight lid)

1. Using a serrated knife cut down the paper towel roll in half or to the size you need for your container.  Please measure what size you need in the container so you will be sure it will fit once cut.  The ends will be a bit messy but not to worry.

2. Pour the ingredients into the container you are using, adding a couple drops of the oil of your choosing and a few drops of the dish soap.

3. Gently mix the solution.

4. Now its time to remove the cardboard roll inside the paper towel, you may need to wiggle it a bit to get it started.

5. Place your precut towels into the solution and attach the lid tightly.  Turn the container over so that the towels in the middle will soak up some of the solution.

6. Once the towels are saturated turn it right side up and they are ready to use.

See how easy that was?  I know that at this moment with G without work for almost a year now we need these easy do it yourself solutions to help make ends meet.  I love the convenience of having cleaning wipes around.  It is so easy to grab and wipe down the counter in a jiffy, and they are safe for your kids to use to clean up after themselves too.

Have you ever made this?  If so did you do it this way or another way?  If you  made them differently please comment and let the readers know of other options.  I hope this works for you and if you choose to make these, feel free to stop on by and tell me what you think of them.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kylara

PS.  Below will be the links to the 31 Days whole series for you to easily read each post.

 Day 1 - Homemade Cleaning Wipes
 Day 2 - Homemade Dryer Sheets
 Day 3 - Homemade Facial Masks
 Day 4 - Homemade Air Fresheners
 Day 5 - Homemade Sand Dough
 Day 6 - Homemade Furniture Polish
 Day 7 - Homemade Hand Cream
 Day 8 - Cleaning Burnt Pots and Pans
 Day 9 - Homemade Body Spray
Day 10 - Homemade Make-up Remover
Day 11 - Homemade Modge Podge (Glossy and Matte)
Day 12 - Homemade Lotion Bars
Day 13 - Non Toxic/Edible Glitter
Day 14 - Goo Gone Recipe
Day 15 - LCD Screen Cleaner
Day 16 -Dish Detergent
Day 17 - Face Scrubs
Day 18 - Dishwasher Rinse Agent
Day 19 - Washing Machine Cleaner
Day 20 - Bathroom Cleaner
Day 21 - Foot Scrub
Day 22 - Contouring Bronzer
Day 23 - Carpet Cleaners
Day 24 - Various Bath Recipes
Day 25 - Hand Lotions
Day 26 - Bath Cookies
Day 27 - Cream Eyeshadow
Day 28 - Drain Cleaner
Day 29 - Fixing Water Rings on Wooden Furniture
Day 30 - Body Oils
Day 31 - Shampoo and Conditioner

31 Days

Tomorrow is the first day of October.  For awhile now I have been coming across blogs that are part of a series online called 31days that TheNester offers once a year.  I believe this is the third or fourth year of this series.  Although I have just begun to blog about homemaking, blogging in and of itself is not new to me.  I have been brainstorming for a week about what I could write about.  Then last night at 4 am, this subject came to me.  So here I am about to embark on 31 days adventure. 

Last year there were over 700 participants doing the 31 days series, so am hoping it is even bigger this year and I definitely wanted to participate.  So stop on over and peek at all of the different series that the blogging world is sharing with you.  I hope you will enjoy my participation, as well as find more blogs offering something of interest to you.

I will be adding other posts, that are not part of the 31 day series to the blog this month also, so there could be some days where you will be seeing two posts a day. 

Make sure to grab a coffee, a snack, and sit in a comfy chair, cause you will probably spend a few hours checking around.  But most importantly, have fun.

I so look forward to starting tomorrow.  I hope you will come and visit each day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kylara

Note: Edited to provide links to Nester and the 31 dayers Link up post.

Thursdays Think Tank is still Open, click over to offer your suggestions HERE

Thursday Think Tank - Need a home decor project that could use these leaves

I am going to try and post things I find and need your ideas to use them in a DIY project on Thursdays here and there.  Use your creativity to suggest projects you think my 'thing' would be perfect for.  Once I have a few ideas I will then make my favorites.  Once I am done creating, I will post a 'FINISHED' in the blog title.  Any open Think Tanks will be labeled for your convenience in finding them.

Today G came in from doing some errands and brought with him these extraordinary leaves.  Autumn has always been my favorite time of  year.  All the gold's and reds everywhere catch my attention.  I love the colors of these leaves and would love to do something with them.  The tree is dropping all these lovelies on my yard and I plan on ironing wax paper on them to preserve the leaves.

This is where you come in.  LOL  I would love it if you could comment and let me know what kind of DIY project you think would showcase the leaves well.  I will try and pick a couple of the projects to make.  You can link me to projects, give a description of what you think you would use them for, link up a picture etc.  

So let the Think Tank begin!!!!

I will be adding a link in future posts about this at the bottom of my  posts till the Think Tank is finished and I have picked my favorite decor ideas to make. 

Thanks for Stopping By,

Kylara

Blog Parties, Linky Parties, they are everywhere, are they for you?

As I was checking out some of my twitter feeds I came across something I have been seeing all over blog land.  What are these "Linky Parties/Blog Parties" everyone is talking about?  There seemed to be a lot of different opinions on how these parties should be done correctly.  In our audience of homemaking, DIY, and cooking blogs a lot of people are investing their time in these endeavors and receiving tons of traffic to their blogs.  If you have the time to spend to do a little advertising, there can be some great advantages to participating.  You meet others of like mind who may become dear friends, you get a chance to see what others are doing, you may be asked to do feature articles on other people's blogs… and the impact of these things on your own audience, should grow your following if you participate correctly and stick with quality posts.

I started to do some research, as I was interested in the link exchange and the benefits of free advertising.  I found a bunch of great articles.  I am going to share three amazing resources I found that discuss this process, its rules, and its advantages.  I know that some of you will definitely learn a few things from this that perhaps have been confusing.  All of these articles are exceptional. 

The first link I want you to visit is from Serenity Now - What is a blog party series.  It is a great in-depth discussion on the subject and it really shows you the basics. 

The second blog post I want to share is from Craftminders.com - Linky Party Etiquette a more common sense approach to these parties as an analogy of dinner parties.  If anything from the previous blog post was a bit confusing this  surely will help you to better understand.

The third post is a more technical explanation from ItsSoVeryCheri - Linky Party Etiquette, SEO, and How to Get Featured More.  I would recommend reading these three posts and I am sure you will come away with a strong understanding of this process, and how it can impact your blogging experience.

Both of these articles bring something different to the discussion, and are excellent resources.  This next link I am about to share with you comes from Tools Are For Women Too and is a rather large resource of blog parties organized by the day of the week they are posted.  I am positive you will find a party or two to attend.

Due to my 5 year break from blogging, I have to say that this is all very new to me, but I at least will feel comfortable when I do decide to join in on the fun of these blog/linky parties.

Do you party?  Which are your favorites and why??  Do you have any advice for those just thinking of joining a party for the first time?

Thanks for stopping by,

Kylara

Community Random Acts of Kindness aka C.R.A.K.

     I was watching Lovetown USA on the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), and saw a woman who left love notes around town for others to find and brighten their day.  I have always wanted to do something for our community to help each other and perhaps bring more faith and compassion to other people.  Perhaps even to make our city participate in our community and make it a better place.

     In thinking about this after the show ended, I really begin to think of ways I could participate in my own way.  Due to my disabilities I am not often out and about and hardly leave my own home.  But this was a way to touch people here and there, by making them think differently.  Even changing one person, for the better would make the project even more worthwhile. 

     I also thought that I would share this journey with the world in hopes that it would be embraced and show others how simple an idea can be that could touch so many.

    I will be writing notes with a Random of Act of Kindness card attached , asking people to perform small steps in making our town a community once again.  A few years ago our community was rocked by a child abduction that turned to murder.  Since then I have seen people seclude themselves even more and everyone is "Me" centered.  You don't find others willing to nod, smile or say hello anymore and I believe that perhaps I can make a difference here and get people to think of others and small ways to make our neighborhoods more community oriented. 

     I will then have G, drive me around town to tape these notes where I know that people will find them.  As I write the notes, I will be sharing them here with you and perhaps we will even have people who have picked up the letters pop in and express how they took steps to change.  I do hope to hear from you all, with ideas and hopefully you will join me.

     This project has been named C.R.A.K, Community Random Acts of Kindness.  My first notes will be written and distributed this week.  Look for them this week! 

Thanks for stopping by,

Kylara

Hello Everyone,

     My name is Kylara and I am so excited about bringing you the projects that I gather and placing them in one spot to share with you all.  I am disabled and spend a lot of time within the walls of this house that we rent.  There may be times when I do get ill and the blog will have lapses in posts due to that.  Our kids are grown and out of the house, so its just G, myself and our two amazing dogs, Phoenix, and Smudge.

     Obviously full renovations are not a possibility since we do not own the house, but that doesn't mean we cannot incorporate our style and love's into these walls to make it feel like a home.

     I want to help others make their spaces more about themselves and bring comfort whether it be through cleaning, organizing, crafting, decorating, cooking, etc..  I will also be bringing a pet project I am about to begin to all of you so you can see the results of my work and possibly improve my community as well.

     So grab a drink, curl up in a comfy chair and let me take you on this journey with me.  I hope that you will all find something of interest here and I look forward to making new friends and possibly inspire others to make wee efforts to change their home lives.

     This journey is one I will not be taking alone.  I want you the reader to be a part of this as well, with your comments, project ideas, and suggestions on how to improve on the blog.

     I believe that somewhere along the way we lost touch with the basics of creating a home for our families.  The lifestyle of the 50's wife, appeals to me on so many levels.  I hope that most of the projects undertaken show you how easy it is to make small inexpensive changes that pack a punch to your surroundings and offer you support at the Homemaker's Haven.

Thank you.
Kylara