Sparkling glasses

I love my dishwasher it saves me so much time 

and uses much less water than washing by hand.

I am, however, concerned about the toxicity of dishwasher tablets/ liquids.
(I am going to have a go at making my own dishwasher detergent
I found an easy recipe from our home made happiness.)

I especially never buy the glass cleaning/ liquid stuff.

Though there is no doubt that these products make your glasses sparkly.

My solution:
just add white vinegar to the rinse chamber of your dishwasher.

I've been doing this every wash now 

and now my glasses are sparkly and clean.  

White vinegar is such an amazing product and has so many uses 

you basically never need to buy any other product.

I bought a 5L bottle from Davis trading. 

What do you use white vinegar for?

Madeleine  x

Lampshade redo

 I was given this cute lamp for my birthday a few years ago 

but it never really went with my decor.

So when I saw some beautiful fabric on sale at spotlight 

I just knew a redo was in order.

 I pulled the lamp a part and

sprayed the base white with my favourite white etching primer.

I masked the cord to make sure it didn't get sprayed. 

I was very glad at how easy the pink dots came off

with some nail polish remover.

 

 My lamp shade came a part so I was able to lie it on the fabric
and draw around the shade.

If I had thought about this properly I would have realised that I had to leave about 2 cm extra to allow for the curve of the shade. 

But I didn't so my lampshade fabric didn't meet up as it should have. 

I used a spray adhesive to spray the shade and the fabric.

I then rolled the fabric on the shade rubbing it with my hands to get it all smooth. 

 This is what my lamp should have looked like.

Plan B: get out the hot glue gun and some black ribbon 

(yeah for craft supplies). 

 I put hot glue all around the top/ bottom/ seam

then I sprayed the ribbon with spray adhesive 

and pushed the ribbon onto the shade.

I used my cool wooden pegs as mini clamps. 

I now have a beautiful new lamp for very little money  

I only used about 1/4 of the fabric I bought

and a few hours work.

I also bought some beautiful butterfly fabric to cover the lampshades in our bedroom so watch this space. 
Madeleine  x
Linked to the real housewives of Riverton, Liz Marie blog, my merry messy life, the frugal girls, thrifty decor chick, cherished bliss, delightful order, crafty scrappy happy, handy man crafty woman, cherished handmade treasures, earning my cape, frugally sustainable, its just called spicy, home stories a to z, romance on a dime, tip junkie, toot your horn Tuesday, our delightful home, sugar bee crafts,

Insulating difficult spots

 During our renovations we insulated all the walls; internal and external.

The external walls we insulated to keep heat in

and the internal walls we insulated to help soundproof them.

Our house is brick so there is a big gap between the frame and the bricks.

This gaps makes insulating the external walls difficult 

as the insulation would just fall out.  

Solution: Staple a sheet of plastic (great recycling) to the wooden frame. 

  Then add your insulation; it'll stay put for years to come.

I love a nice cosy warm home.  

Madeleine  x
 Linked to home stories a to z,

Protecting your clothes from the sun

The New Zealand sun is super harsh! 

I love love a sunny day and just sun shine. 

It's so wonderful but with a hole in the ozone layer over us we need to be careful.

Here we all know to keep covered up and not sit out in the sun.

I wear sunscreen everyday of the year.

In NZ most people hang our clothes on the line to dry rather than using a dryer.

The sun is super harsh on our skin and clothes as well. 

This does mean that our clothes get worn out quicker. 

It is a good idea to turn your favourite clothes inside out to protect the colours.

I dry my best clothes (especially black ones) on clothes racks in the shade. 

This means the clothes don't dry as quickly but it sure protects the colours. 

Result clothes stay better for longer saving me money! 

Toothbrush alternatives

We all need to brush our teeth young and old.

Some annual statistics from Go Bamboo;

30 million toothbrushes are thrown in the tip in Australia and

22,000 tonnes of toothbrushes are thrown in the tip in the USA!

That's a lot of plastic. 

There is a lot of choice out there here are my picks of 

the most environmentally friendly options.

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I love bamboo. 

These bamboo toothbrushes are fantastic and completely biodegradable.

The handle is made from bamboo and the bristles are made from biodegradable nylon 4.

The toothbrushes come in a recycled cardboard box.

Once you have finished cleaning your teeth with this brush 

you can clean other items.

Mr Ecochick likes to use it to clean electronic equipment since the bamboo is antistatic.  

Then simply throw the toothbrush in the compost bin or bury it in your garden to break down. 

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I love that Preserve toothbrushes are made from recycled yoghurt cups.

 In the US you can drop off your old yoghurt cups to be turned into toothbrushes.

Also in the US simply save your toothbrush packaging and when the toothbrush is ready to be thrown out put it in the packaging and send it back to Preserve.

In NZ you can cut the bristles off and throw it in with your recycling.

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 Another option is an electric toothbrush.

Electric toothbrushes really do a great job at cleaning your teeth.

Although the heads are not recyclable it is much less plastic being thrown away then a whole toothbrush.

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 The original toothbrush was the miswak stick.

The miswak stick is a root from the Peelu tree (Salvadora Persica).

Peel some of the stick away and the chew on the stick to clean your teeth.

Being from a tree this stick is completely natural and of course biodegradable. 

 Has anyone used these toothbrushes? 

or feel inspired to try an alternative to your plastic toothbrush?

Linked to frugal Tuesday tip, nourishing treasures, natural mothers network,

Car survival kit

You never know when something might happen so it pays to be prepared. 

I have my car all packed up in case of an emergency.

In my boot I have a 3L container of water, a change of clothes for John, myself and Mr Ecochick, a towel, some disposable nappies and wipes (cringe), jumper leads, reflective triangle, some large plastic bags, some toilet paper, a blanket, a thermal bag with some protein shakes, crackers and other snacks in it.  

 In my glove box I have a first aid kit with lavender and tea tree oil, a spare set of glasses, a torch, disinfectant, wipes and an old cell phone (that can make 111 calls).

Do you have anything in your car?  

Organising the toy cupboard

A few months ago I made a play room for John in our lounge.

John loves having his own space that he can play in.

I love that I can pack all his toys up in one place 

but over the last little while it has got very messy. 

All the toys were kind of thrown in there at the end of the day.

We couldn't find toys when we wanted them and also only a few toys got played with as every thing was a mess.

 I got these cool bamboo boxes from freecycle.

 I pulled everything out of the cupboard and sorted it out.

I tried to get rid of some toys but John still plays with all the toys we have 

especially now that he can find the toys.

I organised all the toys so that like is with like ie all the wooden food is together, all the trains are in a big basket. 

Having the toy cupboard organised makes it much easier for John to find toys to play with and also he is now playing with a wider range of toys.

It has now been easier to keep the cupboard tidy.

Linked to creative corner hop,   

Home made bee balm

I love making my own products. I find it so satisfying. Not to mention it saves me lots of money! I also know exactly what has gone into the product. In my search to find a new baby botty balm I came across this easy recipe from a delightful home. Stacy calls this non-petroleum jelly but I think bee balm has a nice ring to it. This bee balm can be used anywhere that you would normally use petroleum jelly. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) is a by-product of oil drilling. So basically when you use petroleum jelly you're rubbing oil (gasoline) on your body. Eww and double eww. 

What you'll need:

30g grated beeswax

1/2 cup olive oil

What to do:

Melt the beeswax and olive oil over a low heat in a sauce pan (this happens very quickly so stay close by).

Once melted pour into clean glass jars.

This balm can be used on anyone and anywhere. It makes a great baby balm and lip balm.

Madeleine  x

 Linked to craft gossip, wildcrafting Wednesday, tip junkie, sugar bee crafts, romance on a dime, toot your horn tuesday, pinteresting party, our delightful home, the grant life, your green resource, nourishing treasures, pinkapotamus, its just called spicy,

Hanging basket lining

 On my veranda I had three empty linerless baskets.
So I decided to line the baskets with weed matting.
I got the weed matting off freecycle but if I hadn't been able to get some I was thinking of using the reusable bags that a lot of shops sell and hand out.  

What you'll need:
Weed matting or reusable bags
scissors
twine
the biggest needle you can find

Push the cloth into the basket.

Cut around the basket with about 10cm extra fabric.

Fold the fabric into the basket.

Make sure the chain is hanging free under the basket

(I had to unpick my cloth to release the chains the first time grr).

Using the twin and needle sew the fabric to the basket.

Sew the whole way around the basket.

 

Take care when sewing the fabric to push it all the way down to the edges of the basket.

Otherwise you end up with the fabric not reaching the basket edges.

Once complete cut a piece of plastic and lay it in the bottom of the basket 

to help with water loss.  

Fill with potting mix and add your chosen plants.

I added some aloe vera plants that I had looking very sad in pots too small for them.

The first basket I did I used cable ties to attach the fabric 

but mum mentioned this wasn't very ecofriendly.

She came up with the idea of using twine.

I only had plain twine but I wish I had some beautiful coloured twine.

Linked to cherished handmade treasures, cherished bliss, frugally sustainable, I heart pears, home stories a to z, romance on a dime, claiming our space, Sugar bee crafts, tip junkie, 

Scraping the bottom

 When I was feeding  a little baby the other day
he chose to have Marmite on his toast.

Marmite is one of John's favourite breakfast spreads but there is
a country wide shortage.
So I literally had to scrap the bottom to get one more piece of toast.
This might seem so simple but by scraping out the last part of a jar
you can save some money and also no need to waste anything.

 

Linked to frugal Tuesday tip,

Mama pads organisation

 Being a woman one thing we have to deal with is our monthly cycle.

There are loads of green sanitary options out there from organic cotton, or natural disposables, to mama pads or menstrual cups.

Whatever you choose to use you want them near the toilet for easy access.

Personally I don't like to see the little boxes or packs on the windowsill 

so I choose to keep mine close at hand but out of site.

I got this cute box from a friend for my birthday a few years ago.

It looks great and fits my mama pads perfectly.

I have ordered my pads from lightest pads at the bottom to biggest on top.

It's great to know my pads are on hard but are not all in your face.

 

 Where do you keep your monthly goods?

Metal rubbish bin

Some more deplastification going down at my place. 

Years ago I bought this big plastic rubbish bin.

The bin has served us well all these years but it's plastic.

So out it goes (well it's now in the garage for some other project).  

I now have a pretty new metal bin.

Actually this is one of the metal garbage cans that I got from mum last year.

Originally I got these cans from mum to use as planters.

Since this was a planter it now has holes in the bottom 

which is only a good thing.

Looking good Mr Metal bin.

Vegetable fritters

We made a yummy dinner the other night.

Fritters are a great way to feed a family cheaply and 

also the kiddies can get involved.

Fritters are a great way to get your kids to eat vegetables.

Fritters are super versatile you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand.

This recipe comes from the good old Edmonds cookery book.  

There are 2 issues with making this recipe:

Making sure you have enough fritters! 

Getting the heat right in the frying pan.

What you'll need:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

2 egg whites

1 onion

1 cup grated vegetables 

2 T oil

optional extras: 

1 T coriander

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp oregano

1 cup cheese 

Sift flour, salt, curry powder and baking powder in a bowl.

Stir in onion.

Add milk slowly and mix until smooth.

Add other vegetables and herbs.

Beat egg whites until stiff.

Fold egg whites into vegetable mixture. 

Heat oil in a nonstick frying pan.

Drop a spoonful of mixture into frying pan.

Cook until bubbles appear then turn over.

Serve hot with sauces of your choice.

 

Linked to homestead barn hop, pinteresting party,

Sewing rubbish tin

 Another one of my little spray projects is a new sewing rubbish tin.

I love reusing items from around the house.

This time I used an old formula tin. 

 I sprayed the tin 3 times but this time it just wasn't enough.

 Another coat later and the tin was ready.

 I used the same transfer mod podge technique that I used on my French pots.

I got my picture from what katie did next.

I love my new sewing rubbish tin.

The bin keeps all my rubbish threads nice and tidy ready to be thrown out. 

Looking great on my new sewing desk. 

Linked to delightful order, crafty scrappy happy, handy man crafty woman, toot your horn Tuesday, our delightful home, pinteresting party, it's just called spicy, cherished bliss,