Cleaning with Vinegar

No more commercial cleaners for me!  In fact, I needed a spray bottle to put my 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.  So I searched through my cleaning products and found one that was full of some other type of cleaner.  I smelled it and decided that this bottle would become the new home for my vinegar mixture.  I poured the other stuff down the drain and nearly gagged as it went, thinking I should have worn a mask!  The smell was so strong, surely that can't be healthy; especially with an asthmatic in the house.

I originally wanted the vinegar mixture to get rid of ants.  Yes, ants!  It kills them and removes their scent trail so that others can't find their way.  Who knew?  After I sprayed the ants and the area where I suspected their entry, I noticed a few stains on my carpet.  I used to be devoted to Spot Shot for those "tough" stains.  Let's be honest.  I really don't know how tough they really  were because I never tried to clean them with anything else.  Well, today, I used the vinegar mixture and voila!  Clean carpet once again!

Vinegar is safe to use on wood floors too.  Just be sure to use white vinegar and I like to keep mine mixed 50/50 with water.  Some use straight vinegar, but the scent is too strong for me and the mixture does the job just as well.

Realizing that vinegar is an age-old, all-purpose cleaner, I'm happy to have come to my senses to realize that commercial cleaners are harmful to pets and humans and release toxins into the atmosphere.  Of course, many of them say they are "safe" but I've learned that their definition of safe differs from mine.  You see, organizations are allowed to say that something is safe as long as the percentage of toxins is low enough to meat their standards.

To sum it all up, I'm thrilled with my vinegar spray bottle and plan to use it for many purposes, including cleaning my floors, countertops, sinks.... even for killing ants!

Webkinz Tags

How do you keep from losing or accidentally throwing away these little Webkinz tags?  The best solution I found (photo to come) is to put them in a binder.  I happened to already have some plastic trading card binder sheets and we just slip the tags right into the pockets.  Two will fit into each pocket easily so that you can easily see the type of Webkin it's for.

I tagged one sheet for each child.  If you want to take it a step further, you can create a sheet for tags that have not yet been entered on-line.  If you're like me, I try to hold the kids off as long as possible since a new pet must be entered within a year to maintain the account.

We also put other tags and certificates in this binder - for special dolls like Cabbage Patch and American Girl.  It really helps to keep this stuff organized and protected!

New Buffet

After spending too much time in search for a cabinet or buffet, we finally settled on this one. Yes, it's from Ikea! I promise, I do not work for this company! They just have affordable items that fit well in our house.
This wall in our kitchen has been an eye sore for quite some time. I'm glad to finally have something there that looks nice and is functional. And it costs way less than adding more cabinetry!

New Desks from Ikea

We had a 5-foot brown folding table in our classroom and replaced it with two smaller white desks that we purchased from Ikea. They match the main desk and bookshelves, which makes them a perfect fit. Having two desks is much better for the kids to each have their own space and because they are smaller, we have more floor space.

Chalkboard Ideas

I'm looking for a place to hang or paint a chalkboard in the classroom. Any ideas? We were going to hang cabinets above our square cubbies, but realized that it just didn't look right. So, now I'm thinking about hanging a picture frame on that wall and painting the wall inside of it with chalkboard paint. Another option would be to chalk-paint a lightweight board to fit inside the picture frame for a smoother surface.

I realize that the space looks a bit out of sorts, but it really is functional. The aqua baskets (from Wal-Mart) inside the cubbies (Ikea) are for our library books; one for each child and one for "returns." Each basket has a label on the front and handles on each side that makes them easy to pull out.

Clean Sweep!

Ok. Let's get this out of the way first. Before and after pictures of our home office/classroom.

I know that these photos may not look much different, but look closely. We got rid of the old brown desk that was falling apart and replaced it with a wonderful new (and smaller) desk from Ikea. Because the desk is smaller, we had just enough room for a drawer unit (also Ikea) to the left of the desk. So far, I love it and have managed to keep things tidy.