Household Tips

Here’s a book recommendation for homemakers: Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to CLEAN like the DICKENS for $13.59.

It contains several common sense tips that are usually ignored or forgotten. It also includes tips you may probably have not heard of yet. This book is a super-useful guide to keeping your home clean and efficient.

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Elfa Products are going on sale at The Container Store.  It’s the best selling brand of the site, specializing in compact and convenient storage solutions for the home. Below are just some of what you can get from the ongoing sale….

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How cute are these! Don’t they feel like something straight out of Beauty and The Beast, you know that Disney movie? It’s so creative and whimsical!

These are kooky cabinets designed and made available at Posh Tots, who has been in the business for years now. Expectedly though, these are ultra expensive items because they are custom made and crafted with the highest quality. These are just two samples of kooky furniture found at Poshtots, there are actually plenty more ranging from $3,000 to the highest priced at $10,000.

And I guess the end result is something that is not only pleasing to look at and a joy to own, it’s going to be a treasured piece in the house, I’m sure.

Some kids are really born privileged and very lucky!

Instead of getting your little girls the EZ Bake Oven, why not consider this new toy from Discovery Paper Recycling Studio? With it, the kids actually learn how to recycle paper and produce their own objects with it, starting them very early about learning to conserve the environment.

The toy features the following:

• Recycle and craft paper that’s uniquely yours
• Discover how to embed objects and paint with pulp
• Learn the history of paper making
• Paper features six different shapes, interesting textures and cool colors
• Get artistic, add color and small objects to paper
• Fun and educational

The kit includes:

• Manual paper blender
• Plastic tray
• Paper presser
• Mesh screen
• 6 design deckles
• 2 cleaning cloths
• Instruction manual

It is currently on sale at under $18 at the Discovery Store. Ideal for children 8 years old and above.

Via Core77

Comfort in the kitchen? I am all about that. I’m not into animal skin patterns, though…. Anyone have one? Do they actually work?

Let’s Gel announced today it has released its new line of Chef’s Mats by Gel Pro that continue to revolutionize the kitchen experience. Expanding their wildly popular offering of ergonomically perfect basket weave-textured floor mats, the latest Gel Pro Mats feature exotic faux textures, including ostrich, rattlesnake and alligator skin. The mats have become the luxury standard for home and gourmet kitchens across the U.S. The mats not only provide a one-of-a-kind comfort experience, but due to availability in a variety of colors and textures, they have also been embraced by interior designers and home owners interested in augmenting their kitchen decor.

Gel Pro Chef Mat’s are a step above other anti-fatigue mats on the market because of their style and comfort. They are scientifically engineered with the following features:
— Soft gel absorbs shock and reduces pressure caused from standing for long periods of time on hard wood, tile, or cement floors for those with back pain, foot pain or arthritis
— Gorgeous and durable synthetic leather is stain-resistant and easy to clean
— Non-slip bottom keeps your kitchen floor mat from migrating
— An antibacterial additive to eliminate mold/mildew

http://www.gelmats.com

I have to admit, I love this product. CLR (Calcium Lime Rust Remover) really does, in my experience, remove just about everything. Rust spot around the toilet, gone. Lime on the bathtub? Ditto. Here’s what they have to say about themselves:

CLR Calcium Lime Rust remover is the only patented lime and rust remover on the market today. See http://www.jelmar.com for the entire product line.

CLR Outdoor Furniture Cleaner can be used to safely clean grime, bird droppings, grease and food stains off of your lawn furniture without harming your surrounding lawn, shrubs, flowers or pets.

The use of a combination of the calcium lime rust remover and CLR Grease Magnet as well as a hard bristled brush will clean the rust and grease off of your grill grate. Once the grate is clean rinse the grate with your hose, return the grate to the grill, cover the grill with a waterproof cover and your grill will be ready for next season.

A pet peeve of most golfers is a dirty, rusty golf club. The calcium lime rust remover and a hard bristle brush will clean the clubs down to their original metal surface.

For home cleaning, the calcium lime rust remover can be used to clean hard water stains off the outside of your windows. Then before you put your screens back on the window, use a sponge dampened with the remover to clean your metal or fiberglass screens.

One of the most unsightly outdoor messes is an oil stain on a driveway. Pour Grease Magnet directly on your concrete, terrazzo, granite, stone or asphalt driveway, scrub, rinse with your hose and the stain will be gone.

I’m a Southern gal. I know that some folks immediately think South = HOT. And you’re right; it does. But we are also FIRM BELIEVERS in air conditioning. You walk from the air conditioned house to the air conditioned car into an air conditioned building… We absolutely control our environments.

Which means, when I travel outside of the South (especially to the Midwest or to Europe), I find that I have trouble sleeping. Because these places don’t seem to have acknowledged my need for a 75 degree sleeping environment. Enter a new product that I want! I can’t tell if this is sized right for travel, but what a great idea! A mattress pad that can be cool or hot with the flip of a switch! Check this out:

Cool or Heat, LLC is proud to announce its latest innovative product, the Cool-or-Heat Sleep Pad, an energy-saving, full-body mattress pad that allows people to enjoy endless nights of perfect sleep by cooling them down in the hot summer months and
keeping them warm and cozy throughout the cold winter. With a flip of a switch, the water that circulates throughout the slim-line mattress pad cools down to perfect sleeping temperature of 70 F or heats up to a warm and cozy 98 F using safe and energy-efficient thermoelectric technology. It can significantly reduce monthly energy bills by not having to pay the high cost to cool or heat an entire bedroom (or house) at the desirable temperature to sleep comfortably year-round.

The Cool-or-Heat Sleep Pad is a full-body personal cooling and heating system that fits on any size bed, right or left side, and can be used on top of the sheets or discreetly hidden underneath the sheets on top of the mattress. Each retail package includes an ultra-quiet thermoelectric power-pump with a digital temperature display that sits on the side of the bed on the floor, a slim-line soft cotton and foam mattress pad with inner tubing that circulates cooled or heated water, and a convenient corded remote control.

The Cool-or-Heat Sleep Pad is conveniently priced at under $200. The Cool-or-Heat Sleep Pad follows last year’s successful launch of the Cool-or-Heat Seat Cushion, which are both patent-protected products of Cool or Heat, LLC, headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ. For general product questions please call (877) 801-9811 or e-mail sales@COOLorHEAT.com. Visit us online at http://www.COOLorHEAT.com for more information, images, and online ordering.

air conditioning, sleep pad, mattress cover

We all like our four-legged friends to be clean and fresh, no?

I mean, they cuddle with us and sleep in our beds but they also run through the dirt and lick themselves and in the case of my darling miniature pinscher, Hines, have the tendency to pee into the wind. Enough said.

I typically bathe Hines about once a week, usually after he comes home from his one disposable-income-well-spent day at the local doggie daycare. I fill the tub with about six inches of warm water, lift him and use a plastic cup to spill water all over him, carefully avoiding his ears and face, both of which I wash with a warm washcloth. I pour a palmful of Mrs. Meyer’s Pet Clean Day Oatmeal Pet Shampoointo my hand and soap him top to bottom. I spill cups of water over his back and the soap washes off very quickly leaving no oily suds, just a fresh not-overpowering scent.

I stumbled across Mrs. Meyer’s products a few years ago when I was on an earth-friendly/no-harsh chemicals in MY home kick. At the present time I vacillate very uncommitted to any products that don’t guarantee me that they will kill salmonella and E.coli without damaging the earth or my body. It’s a toss up some days.

I digress. Mrs. Meyer’s products all smell fantastic. They don’t make your home smell like toxic waste, but they are gentle, nonabrasive and safe for pets too.

I don’t have experience using this dog shampoo on long haired dog, but if anyone out there does, please let me know.

Mrs. Meyer’s, dog shampoo, bathing a dog, pet shampoo