Thursday’s tip: Crayon-free walls April 26, 2007

I’ve read lots of tips on cleaning crayon off walls, and those that didn’t use harsh chemicals never worked too well for me. But, I don’t like harsh chemicals and I don’t keep them in my house, so I have stubborn crayon marks on a few walls.

Until today. I got creative and combined a couple of tips. Turns out if you sprinkle some Borax and some baking soda on a damp sponge, it’ll take crayon off your walls! Scrub gently until the marks are gone.

Better yet, buy washable crayons. They come off with a baby wipe after just a couple rubs.  And I’m a big fan of having your child help clean up. With the baking soda and borax, or the baby wipes for washable crayons, your kids (age 18 months and up) can be involved in the clean-up – they may even think it’s fun. Regardless of whether or not their help is efficient it does teach that actions have consequences and drawing on the wall means time cleaning up.

Oprah’s Green show April 23, 2007

Oprah had a great show on Friday about making environmentally-friendly choices. The goal of the show was to show viewers small things they can be doing in their every day lives to help the environment. A few highlights -

• Paper or plastic? Neither! Bring your own reusable bags when you shop. The plastic bags take eons to biodegrade, and paper bags use a staggering amount of trees every year. So, BYOB! Bring your own Bag!
• Water – one liter of bottled water takes 5 liters of water to produce. Use tap water – filter it if you feel the need, and buy a reusable aluminum bottle.
• “Fake” Clean: Clean doesn’t smell like pine or lemon. Clean doesn’t smell! The chemicals in regular cleaners aren’t healthy for people, animals, or the earth. Use natural cleaners and a natural cleaning company (need we say, like Broom Huggers!)
• Did you know that appliances and electronics still use 40% of their power when they’re not in use? Your toaster, lamps, tv – they all use 40% of their power as long as they’re plugged in, on “standby.” The solution? Use a Smart Power Strip. Turn of the power strip and it’ll keep those appliances from sucking energy. Also, it groups your electronics in ‘clusters,’ so that when you turn off your TV, it also turns off your DVD player and surround sound too. Clever!

There are some awesome resources at Oprah’s website, along with some video feed. Check it out!

Dare I… April 20, 2007

… mop today? I just know that as soon as I mop my floors, my kids will find the single messiest thing in my home and smear it everywhere. But company is coming. So I suppose I dare. Surely the Catholics have a Patron Saint for clean floors? Anyone know about that?

Edited: I just found Zita, patron saint of maids. And it turns out, her feast day is just around the corner – April 27! Maybe I should wait until then to mop… (says the procrastinator inside me)

Tune in tomorrow! April 19, 2007

Oprah is having a special ‘green’ show tomorrow. Gotta see that! Tune in to Oprah tomorrow to see the real deal, or check back here tomorrow evening. You can bet I’ll give a  recap!

Thursday’s tip: Pasta clean-up April 19, 2007

What’s your worst cleanup task? For me, one of the worst (and most frequent with 2 toddlers at home) is pasta. Mac & cheese, specifically. C’mon, with two little kids, it’s a staple in my house. And the 3-yr old is fine – she tries hard to get it all in her mouth, but there is the occasional spill. It’s the 1-yr old that makes me crazy. If I’ve just mopped my floors, I pretty much have a guarantee that Little Man will dump the entire contents of his plate onto the floor. I think he can sense that the floor is cleaner than usual, and wants to contribute to ’solving’ the problem. How sweet of him. Somehow, the time since the floor has been mopped is indirectly proportional to the amount of food he throws.

So, when it’s mac & cheese or spaghetti, it’s pretty frustrating. Not only is the food wasted, but when I try to clean it up it gets smushed to the tile. Now, I’m afraid to admit the following, but I do so in an effort to help someone out there who’s struggling with this issue. Pasta is easier to clean up the next day. After it dries. That’s right, I’m proposing that you let food sit on your floor overnight. It hardens and just pops off! Easy as pie! Of course, this only works if it’s been spilled in a low-traffic area. If it’s high traffic the opposite happens. Little feet mush the pasta into the tile, their socks, and then track it onto the carpet, couch, and every other surface their feet grace. Much bigger problem.

Now, I hope no one’s been offended with my proposal to let it sit and harden. But when your every day consists of picking up after 2 toddlers, you just have to let some things go. Am I right?

Tea tree oil shampoo? Can it really be? April 18, 2007

Thanks to The Alternative Consumer for pointing out Boo! Shampoo, infused with tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is one of the most widely used essential oils out there – it has great antiseptic, antiviral, anti fungal, and disinfectant properties. You can use it to clean all sorts of surfaces, from wood floors to scraped knees. We’ll take a jaunt into all the many uses of tea tree oil another day, but for now, did you know it’s an insect repellent?

Amazingly, tea tree oil can be used to prevent head lice. Because of this, it’s been used as an additive in Boo! Shampoo, to be used for daily shampooing for all hair types. The formula also contains calendula, lavender, ginseng, wheat protein, rosemary, and honeysuckle. Mmmm… Sounds like a treat for hair, mind, and body! This is the perfect thing to send the kids off to camp with this summer, and if you like it, keep using it through the school year. How much easier it is to prevent lice than to get rid of the nasty buggers!

Step it up 2007 — Take Action! April 14, 2007

Today is the day! Americans are joining together in cities across the nation in a grassroots effort to push Congress to reduce American carbon emissions 80% by 2050.

With news coverage from the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Business Week, and the Christian Century to name a few, this year’s Step it Up campaign is making waves.

The actions around the country are pretty exciting – in New York they’re doing a Sea of People to show what will happen if we don’t take action to stop climate change;  Park City Utah did some aerial artwork; participants are doing a human postcard in front of the Capitol. Virtually every major city in the US has multiple actions happening, and there isn’t a single state that doesn’t have a couple things going on.

Even if you’re not participating today in a Step it Up action near you (Atlanta has numerous – if you’re local), there will be a petition through Move On that you can sign and send to your congressman.

Check out here why we’re asking for 80% by 2050. It may sound like a lot, but it really is what’s necessary. And really, we’ve got 43 years to do it. That should be enough. Right? Well, only if this grassroots campaign becomes mainstream. So do your part. This is important – not just for me (or us), but for my kids and grandchildren (and yours too).

Consumer guide to energy savings April 13, 2007

There are some very simple things you can do to save a few bucks on energy and water. There are also some more expensive things you can do. Here’s a list of the most helpful.

• Turn your hot water heater down to 120 degrees. It’ll save you energy, and also be safer for your kids to avoid scalding.
• Use the energy-saving settings on your current appliances – refrigerator, washer and dryer, dish washer… If you have new-ish appliances (purchased in the last 5 years) they probably have energy saving settings. If not, you can turn your refrigerator temperature down a bit (does your butter really need to be one degree above freezing?), use the cold water wash settings for all your laundry, and turn off the “heated dry” on your dishwasher.
• Replace your regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. Look for the Energy Star on the packaging though, because there are some bulbs out there masquerading as energy efficient when they’re no better than regular bulbs.
• Clean or replace your filters regularly – air conditioner, furnace, heat pump.
• If you’re still loving your 1980’s style waterbed, make it! Covering up that bed with cozy blankets will keep the water temp warm and save energy. I’m serious. Better yet though, welcome to this century, and go buy yourself a comfy pillow-top.
• Wrap your water heater in a thermal blanket. You can buy them at home improvement stores, and you’ll be surprised how much $ they shave off your bill. Capture that heat!
• Find any leaks in your windows and doorways.

Did you know that most utility providers will come out and do an energy audit? Call yours. A free audit can save you lots of money in the long run, and help you help the environment.

Thursday’s tip: Clean your drains April 12, 2007

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right? Clean your drains before they get totally clogged. I’ve noticed that my drains don’t clog much now that I have super short hair. But if you don’t want to cut your hair to save your drain (really, that isn’t a very good reason to cut your hair, is it?), clean them out periodically and you won’t get a major clog. Really, it’s easy!

Pour about ½ cup of baking soda down your drain, follow with about double that amount of vinegar, and then seal with your drain plug. Follow 15 minutes later with boiling water. Kids love to help with this household maintenance task and the ingredients are totally safe (except, need I say?, the boiling water), so engage help!

Bamboo flooring? April 11, 2007

We’re in the middle of a forced renovation. That’s right, forced. Not at gunpoint, mind you, but by virtue of toxic mold (does toxic mold have virtues???). So today, after 2 months of dealing with contractors, inspectors, remediators, and our fill of hacks, the remediation seems to be finished. We won’t know for sure until the air quality reports come back next week, but a reputable company has finished working on the area. Assuming the tests come back saying that we’re mold-free, our next step will be to have the drywall and ceiling rebuilt, paint, and then replace the floors that were removed.

The drywall and paint are easy enough to fix, but I’m trying to decide between all the flooring choices out there. Providentially, perhaps, I came across a copy of this month’s Smart Money magazine, in which they suggested bamboo flooring as a good return on investment (ROI) in terms of home remediations. (They also suggested low-VOC paint, which I’ll definitely do.)  You can get hardwood floors made out of all types of wood, but the market is demanding the use of sustainable resources. And so, bamboo flooring – according to Smart Money magazine – increases the value of your home, and is also more durable.

Anyone out there ever used it? Tell me your hardwood floor stories!