Monday, April 4, 2011

Lemon Fresh

I do my best to keep cleaning costs to a minimum.  He works hard to earn an income to provide for us and a large part of my job is to keep the outgoing costs to a minimum.   After all, someday I hope for us both to be home and enjoying our old age together. :) 

One of the big things that I've learned about is home cleaners.  When I grew up I thought that everything must be purchased and in order for it to be really, truly clean you must use lots and lots of stinky ~make your lungs squeeze~ cleaners.   Brilliant, huh?

So when I learned that all I really needed to keep my home clean was vinegar, water, baking soda and soap...I about dropped over.   Only problem is that my handsome hubster HATES the smell of vinegar.  I don't blame him...it is not the most appetizing smell to hit you when you enter the kitchen.  So I've added essential oils or substituted rubbing alcohol or peroxide for random things.   You'd be amazed at what a little bit of liquid vegetable oil soap mixed with tea tree oil and water will do for your counters....and the smell?  Divine! 

Anyhooo....so I read somewhere....and now I honestly can't remember where (would love to give them credit)......that if you put lemon peel into vinegar it will change it to lemon scented vinegar.  No way! Yes, way.   I tried it.  I have now had strips of lemon peel (cut very shallow to avoid the white as much as possible) at the bottom of a small bottle of vinegar.

 It worked!   It actually smells like lemon instead of vinegar!  I am excited to make up some new cleaners that smell lemony fresh for spring!

My Mr has been secretly saving his pocket money.   We budget very carefully and each of us gets a certain amount of money to spend on what we want.  He had been socking some of his away and saving it to buy me something.    He waited patiently for a particular sale and when it hit, he came home with this:

It is a battery powered hand tiller for the garden!   The sale included an extra battery for free. :)  I've had some issues physically in the last few years and I don't have the hand/arm strength I used to....or should for my age.  So this will do wonders!    Mr has been great to help me in the garden when I ask {even if gardening isn't exactly the love of his life} but this will give me some independence in that area so I don't have to wait for the muscles to come and help before I can move forward on gardening projects.

He is the best!  {Love you!}

The sun is shining here and the rains at night have been washing away the snow and dirt.  I walked around the garden today, first time this year, and actually saw a few green sprouts! :)  

Blessings on your day!
the Mrs.

2 comments:

  1. Hi there, I think you may have found the citrus cleaner over on my blog...check it out..it's gotten very popular in the blogging world...
    http://justlikemynanmade.blogspot.com/2011/05/citrus-cleaners-so-easy-and-good.html
    What ever you do...don't use mandarin...everyone who has tried...has had it turn bad..
    Thanks for becoming a follower on my blog...and also thanks for letting me know that a battery powered hand held tiller is such a thing...I want one....what's it like to use?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello! Perhaps it was you, my memory isn't the best! I've started seeing this kind of thing all over the place! :)
    The hand tiller is SO easy to use! I love it! Great for spot tilling to avoid weeds as well. Now that I've used it over time and for different purposes, I am even more grateful to have it!
    Thanks for the visit!

    ReplyDelete

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