The inexpensive, safe and effective cleaning agents found right in your home!

Baking soda and Vinegar are household products that most everyone has in their homes. However, do we know all their magic tricks?

Over the years, I’ve experimented with various cleaning brands and slowly, baking soda and vinegar became a distant memory. If it was working why change you may ask…Well…I love new and fragrant residual scents after cleaning. So I bought into those persuasive television ads….the ones where scents still emanate long after cleaning.

However, with the emergence of COVID 19 and the demand to actually ensure that germs are killed and objects are properly cleaned, I’ve rediscovered my love for these old favourites. In fact, these cleaning agents are much safer options and are very effective.

Vinegar

Vinegar is actually a weak and diluted form of Ethanoic acid and can effectively be useful for the following:

·        Fruit, Vegetable and Meat cleaner
·        Glass Cleaner
·        Car Deodoriser
·        Sticker remover
·        Cleaning and whitening tiles
·        Removing stains, whitens, brightens and removes mildew from clothing
·        Disinfecting and cleaning microwaves and cupboards
·        Unclogging and removing bad odours from sinks
·        Preventing mildew
·        Cleaning and deodorising toilet bowls
·        Removing fridge odours
·        Keeping car windows frost-free
·        Removing salt and water stains from shoes
·        Relieving sprained ankle pains and itching from insect bites
·        Alleviating dogs’ and cats’ itchy, scaly ears.
·        Cleaning, shining and protecting furniture

Baking Soda

Sodium Bicarbonate also known as Baking Soda is another substance that has many beneficial qualities. These include:

·        Deodorises shoes
·        Whitens teeth
·        Kills weed
·        Soothes pain from canker sores
·        Serves as a mouthwash
·        Alleviates heartburn
·        Cleans burnt stains at the base of pots
·        Polishes silverware
·        Cleans vegetables
·        Cleans bathrooms, sinks and toilets
·        Removes carpet stains
·        Eliminates garbage odours
·        Cleans kitchen appliances
·        Whitens laundry
·        Acts as an Air freshener
·        Relieves itchy skin and sunburn
·        Improves exercise performance

Rediscover your love for these relatively inexpensive, safe and effective cleaning agents!

Home Gardening

What do I know about it???? Almost nothing.......................

So planting and gardening have never held any real interest for me as I've regarded them as a man's job. While I do see the value of people engaging in them as a livelihood, I never really comprehended how persons would willingly expound large amounts of efforts to dig up the earth in the sun as a hobby. However, with a rise in prices of food and influx of the use of fertilisers and GMOs, I do believe its worth the investment in attempting to grow basic items.

If you're like me, I propose you start small, perhaps watching the successful blossoming of one or two plants may inspire you to add a few more to the collection of your very own home garden.

You don't need a lot of space. In fact, if you can acquire empty bottles or cups that can be spared for potted plants, that would be a good start!

Perhaps the easiest and simplest idea would be growing item that it most used in a Caribbean kitchen..........seasoning.

Growing Never-ending Chives

When using your chives, don't discard the ends, instead, place them aside for growing. In a cup one-third filled with water, place the ends in the cup. In literally one day, you will see shoots coming out from the cut chives. After a few days, you may change the water and place the cup where it can receive sunlight for a few hours. In fact, you can leave on a window sill. In about 2 weeks, you will have enough to trim off for use. 

There ya go! 

Here's a link with more easy ideas!

Decluttering and Minimalism

When it comes to living away from your parents, the choice to tidy up is really your own. It’s then you can objectively weigh the pros and cons of accumulating items you’ve collected over the years.

With the end of Covid work Regulations, I am back out to work physically everyday. Most of the time getting ready for work is spent just trying to find something to wear. I’ve seriously been in need of finding a way to reduce the time spent getting ready! Like you, organising that entails categorically folding is pointless since it’s a matter of time before the chaos ensues.

I stumbled across the concept of Minimalism years ago when I was reading someone’s blog. The concept was definitely something that appealed to me. Reducing the options to ONLY what you need. Minimalism isn’t just reducing the amount of stuff you own, it's far bigger than that.

According to minimalists.com, Minimalism is “a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom”

It’s a mental parallel to help one to get rid of discontent, reclaim time enabling us to pursue passions, live in the present and contribute beyond ourselves.

In essence, by consuming less, we create more….

I wish to share four pointers for beginners who may wish to attempt this new lifestyle:

1.Write a Vision for your new minimalist self.

Identifying all the ways you can benefit by living more simply. For eg., Unable to sleep properly at night because of stress, need more time to travel. Jotting these down will help you focus on the reasons to following through on the plan.

2. Have a clean slate.

Have a walk through your home with a box for the purpose of tossing duplicate items and items that you don’t honestly use often. If you don’t use it, lose it! These can include DVDs, copies of the same book, etc. Then place the box out of sight for 30 days, if nothing was needed, the items should be given away.

3. Set-apart a clutter-free zone.

Start with a counter-top and use this as the inspiration to live with less. Once you see the rewards of this space, enlarge the area to eventually be a room. Once you find yourself enjoying that space, you will feel inspired to expand the area.

4. Challenge yourself to minimise your items to a particular area or space.

You can choose a couple drawers, a closet or shelf and challenge yourself to only have items kept in that area. You will have to carefully select items that are most needed.