Try a Green Cleanup To Keep Your Home Clean and Fresh

Traditionally, cleaning your home typically includes chemicals. Although effective, the use of chemicals can be harmful to humans, pets, and the environment.

Green cleaning has become popular and is a great way to clean without the use of harsh chemicals.

What is green cleaning?

It is the act of cleaning with products that are friendly to the environment, or, “green.”

Although you can buy commercial products that are labeled as “green,” you can keep your cleaning tools as environmentally friendly as possible if you make them yourself.

There are a number of green cleaning recipes out there.  Here are a few of my favorites that I make myself that you may want to try 🙂

Baking Soda and Water to Clean a Bath Tub

One of the most common products to use to clean out a bathtub is cleanser. However, cleanser is a harsh chemical.

Instead of using a cleanser, try a mixture of baking soda and water. Baking soda is kind to the environment and to your skin.

Vinegar and Water to Clean Your Bathroom Floor

Typically, to clean a floor, people use floor cleaner. These cleaners contain chemicals that can be harsh to breathe in, harsh to the skin and bad for the environment.

Instead of floor cleaner, try a mixture of vinegar and water to clean the floor. Vinegar is strong enough to take care of stains and odor, and it is a natural ingredient that is kind to the environment.

Vinegar, Water, and Alcohol to Clean Your Windows and Fixtures

Window cleaner is the most popular way to clean windows. But harsh chemicals are contained in conventional window cleaners.

Instead try a mixture of vinegar, water, and alcohol to clean your windows. In addition, recycle your newspapers to wipe your mirrors down instead of using paper towel, for example.

Citrus Can Freshen Your Bathroom

The main thing that people use to freshen their homes is room freshener. But you can do it naturally with citrus and other natural products.

Use one orange, grapefruit, lime or lemon, and include vinegar. Peel the citrus; put the peels from the citrus into a bowl, along with the vinegar, and place it in your bathroom to freshen the smell.

Using natural products to clean and freshen your home is a green way to do it.

Environmentally friendly products have become more popular in the 21st century as we grow more and more concerned about what’s happening to the environment.

Watching Cooking Videos To Learn More About Cooking, What A Great Idea!

I am somewhat of a newbie when it comes to cooking. I’ve never really had much of an interest in cooking until recently, so I started watching cooking shows and videos. To my great surprise, I really enjoyed watching the different demos and learned a considerable amount as well! I learned about techniques that I never even knew existed before. The demonstrations on these shows and videos made it look easy and for the most part are straight forward to follow. Easy enough for me to attempt them and to my great surprise I had success on many of them.

One of my main reasons for not having any great interest in cooking is time.

With a busy schedule I don’t always get the time to spend hours preparing a gourmet meal. Quick and simple is better for me so I have focused on shows that demonstrate recipes that don’t take long to make and call for simple ingredients that I most likely have available in my kitchen.

I know it’s definitely healthier (and cheaper!) to cook over eating out all the time so I have attempted to do more cooking at home over the past few weeks and to my surprise have found it to be enjoyable.

Watching these cooking videos and shows online is definitely educational for those wanting to learn more about cooking and I love the variety that is available to watch. Depending on the type of food you enjoy (healthy or less-healthy!), there is something for everyone!  I have found a few of my favorites that I watch and would encourage you to give it a try too if you are looking to increase your skills in the kitchen!

Residential Cleaning Services Can Help You Stay On Top Of Things

Cleaning house is a chore that never ends. Even if you’re willing to do all the work, you could definitely use a helping hand. You may feel like getting down there and polishing the floors and doing other spring cleaning chores from time to time. Yet, you’d not believe just how much of a relief it is to hire a residential cleaning service.

After talking over everything you want done, you can then just lightly pick up throughout the week, never really having to dedicate yourself to all that extra cleaning.

You might be thinking about all those extra chores like laundry, dishes, or cleaning windows. Maybe doing laundry was never your thing, it’s not mine. When you set things up with a cleaning service company, they’ll usually have you fill out a form and select specific things you want done. This way you can share the work and give them the tasks your not into doing yourself. You’ll obviously want to feel comfortable with the company, and check out their references.

 Hey, your home not ever be completely spotless, specially if you have children and pets. But if there’s a lot going on, it’s nice to have some help, at least until the kids get older and can lend a helping hand with the household chores.

It’s easy to let the cleaning get out of control when you just don’t have the time.

Can you imagine how this would give you more free time to enjoy yourself? Does it seem like you’re always using your days off to catch up around the house? You might enjoy cleaning your place, but if you’ve got the extra money in your budget, why not let someone else do the work? Spend that time doing something else you enjoy even more.

Why not put your feet up and relax a little.

These days, everyone’s busy working, taxiing kids around to sports games, running errands and taking care of business. When does it end? Having a look at the various cleaning companies in your area, and selecting one that you’re comfortable with, is where to start. A good residential cleaning service company is going to make it look easy if you are willing to give them a try.

They’ll likely clean your home much better than you’ve ever done it before. It’s what they do for a living, so they know what needs to be done.

Create and Publish Your Own Cookbook

Have you ever wondered what it would take to publish your own cookbook?

With some time and effort, you can put together a cookbook of your own and publish it yourself, in some cases at little to no cost, and bring in some extra money. If you’re concerned that you won’t be able to format or upload it, you can even hire some low-cost services to do it for you.

First, you need a collection of recipes. Gather together all your favorites, and type them up in the same format that you see in professionally published cookbooks. Have someone you know who is excellent in spelling and grammar proofread it for you—preferably more than one person. It’s better to hire a proofreader, but if you can’t, at least get a few people to proofread and give you honest feedback.

Your cookbook should have pictures of the food if you want it to sell well. Professional food photography is expensive, but if you spend some time learning how to take good pictures using a decent camera, using white plates and an appropriate tablecloth as a background, and using natural lighting, you may be able to come up with some usable images.

Next, you need to learn how to format your cookbook for eBook retailers. Each retailer has their own guidelines for publishing, but if you follow the Smashwords guidelines, that style of formatting should work for all eBook retailers. In order to publish your book as a physical book, there are several options. The most popular, as of this writing, is Createspace, which is owned by amazon.com. You can hire someone to format your eBook and your paperback book file for $40-150 if you don’t want to be bothered learning the details on your own.

It is highly recommended that you hire a professional to create your cover, especially for a paperback. It is more affordable to get both a paperback and an eBook cover done at the same time. This can be done by an experienced amateur graphic designer for as little as $100.

If you decide to learn all the necessary steps on your own, you can get your book published for as little as $1.

Once your book is completed, you just need to upload the files to the appropriate book retailers, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble (Nook Press), Smashwords, and Createspace for the paperback. This can also be hired out, but a new author shouldn’t spend more than $1000 on all these services combined, and you should never give away any of your rights or profits.

You may want to start a blog, join a food blog or some social media accounts to promote your book for free, or just get working on your next cookbook.

Sometimes the best advertising you can give yourself is to get the next cookbook out there to be noticed.

Simple ingredients from your pantry at home can be utilized to create homemade cleaning products that are eco-friendly …

Diluted White Vinegar

White vinegar that is mildly acidic dissolves hard water deposits, soap scum, and dirt from smooth surfaces. At the same time, it is gentle and can be used in a solution to clean hardwood floors. As a natural deodorizer, white vinegar does not just cover up odors, it absorbs them. Once you use diluted white vinegar to clean and it dries, any acidic aroma disappears.

Since the vinegar does not contain coloring agents, it will not stain the grout on your tiled surfaces. It also cuts detergent residue, which makes it great to use as a fabric softener.

Undiluted White Vinegar

White vinegar poured straight from the jug will help you clean tougher surfaces, such as soap scum or hard water deposits. You can use it to clean the inside of a toilet bowl.

To do this, first, dump a bucket of water straight into the toilet, in order to force the water out of the bowl. This will allow you to access the sides of the toilet bowl. Then, pour the undiluted vinegar around the perimeter of the bowl, and scrub the bowl with a toilet brush. Continue scrubbing to remove odor and stains.

Green Cleaners

“Going green” is becoming more and more popular, and this concept can be used even when cleaning your home. Making your own cleaning products is friendly to the environment. There are various recipes that you can use to make your own cleaning products for various cleaning jobs.

Homemade Glass Cleaner

Mix 1 cup of rubbing alcohol, 1 cup of water, and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a spray bottle. The homemade glass cleaner can now be used to make your mirrors and other glass surfaces shiny and spot-free.

Homemade Spray Cleaner

This recipe is great if you would like to make a cleaner to wipe down your kitchen and bathroom countertops, and it is extremely simple. All you have to do is mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 1 cup of water.

Strong All-Purpose Cleaner

Do you want a strong cleaner that can clean all of your tough messes for a fraction of the cost of store-bought cleaners? Well, you should give this recipe a try. Grab a spray bottle, and mix in the following ingredients: 1 tablespoon of clear ammonia, 1 tablespoon of clear dishwashing liquid, and 2 cups of water.

There are other ingredients that you can use when making homemade cleaners, such as baking soda, ammonia, and rubbing alcohol. Once you begin making your own cleaning agents, you won’t have to buy any from the store ever again.

So many people have been reporting online about their experience with oil pulling. A notable amount of people had health improvements, especially on the inside of their mouth. Others couldn’t handle the oil taste and gave up too soon.

Now, as a lot of you may not know what oil pulling is, allow me to explain. Oil pulling is the act of putting a tablespoon of oil in your mouth and swishing it around for 20 minutes. The objective is to draw out toxins from the inside of your mouth and also from the rest of your body.

Some of the Benefits of Oil Pulling

The benefits from doing this somewhat nasty or frightening task have been reported on major forums and blogs. What people said was quite interesting. Many have noticed their teeth actually whiten. Which is weird because it is oil that is doing the trick. Other benefits include; cavity and gingivitis prevention, sleep and sinus improvements, better breath, and stronger teeth and gums. Some people that have TMJ which bothers the jaw noticed an extreme reduction in pain. Some of the people reported an alleviation from headaches, hangovers, and even skin issues.

So although you may have to suffer for 20 minutes tasting that disgusting oil in your mouth, it may be worth it for you to give it a shot.

A Simple Procedure

The procedure is very simple. The hardest part about it is picking the right oil you want to use. Doctors actually recommend coconut oil because it has vitamin E in it. Coconut oil also has antioxidant and anti-fungal properties as well. So maybe picking the oil isn’t the hardest part after all. Especially since all the other options are vegetable oils.

So after choosing the oil you’d like to use, let’s move onto the rest of the procedure. So you take a tablespoon and fill it with the oil of your choosing. Then, you insert the spoon into your mouth and pull it out, leaving the oil inside your mouth. You then swish it in your mouth in a very gentle manner for 20 minutes. The oil should eventually double in size. This happens because it swells up in your mouth from all the toxins it absorbed from your teeth, gums, and the rest of your body.You then spit out the oil into a garbage bag (as it may clog your drain due to the consistency), and rinse your mouth out with warm salt water.

Why it Works

Let’s discuss the science behind how this works. Human gums are extremely vascular, this means there are a lot of veins in the gums which go to the heart. Also, underneath the tongue is the most vascular region in the human body. So when you take this oil and hold it in your mouth, not only is it taking all the toxins from the inside of your cheeks, lips, and throat. But it is also extracting toxins from the rest of your body. The oil literally pulls out the toxins from the blood in your body. This makes it very practical for body cleansing for overall health.

If you’ve been experiencing bad breath, and people are pointing it out to you on a daily basis, this is a no-brainer for you. You should be feeling a sense of urgency to try out oil pulling for the first time. No matter how gross of a task it may seem to be to you. Having bad breath is unprofessional at any scale. Let’s say you were to go to a meeting where your intention is to close a deal. If your breath is extremely bad, your chances of them liking you as a person, in general, are much lower. There are many studies of this happening to people. It’s in our human psychology, if we don’t like the person, we won’t do business with them; and bad breath is an indicator of a person we want nothing to do with.

The Conclusion

In conclusion, oil pulling is a very healthy thing for you to do for your body. It pulls out toxins and cleanses your overall health. There are even some added benefits to this great procedure. Whiter teeth, stronger gums, teeth, sleep benefits, solutions to sinus problems, and TMJ pain reduction. It may be an unappealing thing to try, but those who have are the ones who know how to take care of their body.

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