Wood Pallet Projects

After deciding to separate the back yard to keep the dogs in one part and allow a dog free zone for the children, someone suggested using wood pallets for a money saving way to make a low fence. It turned out great and some was also used on an inside wall to give a rustic decorated look. The cost (apart from purchasing screws) = zero.
Most hardware stores, throw away pallets after use and they can be found littered around the refuse bins. There are many web sites that offer tips on using wood from pallets.

Homedit.Com pallet furniture
More homedit.com wood pallet ideas

Saving Water

There was an article in this month's Woman's Day with water saving tips, that could save up to 10,000 gallons of water a year.

1. Don't leave the water running while brushing your teeth
2. Only run the washing machine when it's a full load
3. Use low flow showerhead for ten minutes when taking a shower
4. Wash all dishes and do one rinse (not sure what this means)
5. Fix leaks such as drippy faucets, running toilets

I have a few of my own.

1. I keep empty milk jugs (clean ones) by the sink and use them to catch the cold water while waiting for the hot to run through. I use the water to water plants and fill the dog bowls. 
2. Keep a small bucket in the shower and use the water to water plants or to flush the toilet. 
3. I no longer use the second rinse in the washing machine. The spin takes out most of the water and one rinse seems sufficient.

Simply Frugal has an article on saving too - you can read it here

Laundry Soap

There is a lot of buzz about liquid laundry soap, but you have to mix up batches of 5 or more gallons at a time. Instead, I have been using a dry mix of:

2 cups grated soap
1 cup washing soda (Arm & Hammer SuperWashing Soda*)
1 cup borax

For the soap I used Fels-Naptha, but also grated any extra soap I had such as the small bars from hotel stays. I put all the ingredients into a zip lock bag which made it easy to mix everything together. I add 1/4 cup of the mixture to a load, but you may need more or less depending upon how hard your water is. You won't get many suds with this mixture, but the laundry seems to be as clean as it would be using regular soap powder.

Mint Tea

Mint tea isn't complicated. All you need is a tea bag and mint.

I prefer tea to coffee and buy Orange Pekoe from WalMart which is around a dollar for 100 tea bags. My neighbor, who is a gardener, planted mint a few years ago and it has spread under the fence into my garden (it's usually best to plant mint in pots because it's invasive). I break off a sprig, wash it and let it steep in a cup along with a tea bag. I keep a few sprigs in water on my window ledge.
If making a pot of tea I remove the leaves and put them in the infuser. Mint tea is a great remedy for stomach upsets and refreshing with a few ice cubes in the summer.

Tea Infuser

Painting Tips

Recently I heard that it's better to paint with flat paint rather than satin. The reason is that satin paint oxidizes so if you need to paint over a spot, even if using the same paint can, it will be a different shade. With flat paint this doesn't happen. I haven't experimented with this so can't confirm it.

I have been trying different paints (shades of yellow) for my dining area and have a collection of samples. Instead of throwing them away, I mixed some with the white primer and that resulted in using less topcoat paint. You don't always need a primer, but I had the walls re-textured which seemed to absorb the paint and so needed to paint with a primer first. You only need enough color to tint the primer.

I also painted the interior of my garage and after watching a show about recycling paint dumped unused paint into a large bucket and used that. When mixing paint together separate warm colors from cool colors.

Breakfast Burritos

I found a great recipe for beakfast burritos, that can be frozen, over at Happy Simple Living. Hop on over and take a look.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Borax

Stir baking soda and borax together in a plastic container and use around 2 tbsp per load.
To prevent film on the dishes, add vinegar to the rinse compartment.
Use approximately 2 TBS per load.