Mom Goes Green

Indoor plants are a fantastic way to bring the outdoors inside, no matter what time of year it is (and, with temperatures starting to drop, windows and doors will likely be spending more time closed!).  Not only can plants breathe life into a room, but did you know they can also, literally, breathe fresh clean air into your home as well?!?

Sadly, our indoor air can become even more polluted than outdoor air(!) due in part to everything from VOCs in paint to all of the horrible things we track in on our shoes and then send airborne!

Just take a look at what some of the most common household plants can “do” for your home!:

• Areca palm – this one is the top purifier and also humidifies the air as it cleans!  (Lady palm and bamboo palm also do an amazing job!)
• Peace lilies – also a great all-around air purifier, and incredibly easy to maintain.
• English ivy – fantastic for removing airborne mold (up to 60% of airborne mold in just six hours, by the way!).
• Spider plants – great at removing 100% of the carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide from the air in only 24 hours.
• Boston ferns – another great over-all air purifier but especially for removing formaldehyde from the air.
• Rubber plants – great for cleaning out those VOCs.

To reach maximum effectiveness, it’s recommended to have at least one 6” plant per 100 feet of living space.

Amazing, isn’t it? Actually, it’s exactly what I would expect Mother Nature to provide… something to clean-up our dirty work (and dirty air!).

Mom Goes Green is always sharing ways to try to improve the things around you… your family’s daily life, your home, your community, our planet.  But what about you? What’s a stressed-out and tired Green Mom to do?

Well, this weekend is a long holiday weekend for many of us.  Why not take time for YOU (for a change!)? Here are three simple ways (with relatively earth-friendly twists) to naturally rejuvenate and leave the stress behind (even if only for a night!):

• Go ahead and splurge – take a bath and add some natural and organic bath salts.  Studies show that the salts increase prolactin levels by up to a third and help in relaxation!
• Grab a cup of hot organic coffee or tea – it can actually trigger psychological warmth and pleasant feelings, even after only holding it for 10 seconds!  For a natural antidepressant, add a nice spice… cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, you choose.
• Turn off the TV and read – stimulating your mind actually creates happiness.  To be eco-friendly, borrow books from the library or a friend, make your purchase at a used book store or, for the avid reader, buy a Kindle or Nook.

There you have it… simple steps… and what it takes for a stressed Green Mom to shake the blues!

Not long ago I shared my little trick for removing rust from metal (our daughter’s Razor scooter had taken the brunt of the cold and dampness in the garage over the winter)…

Now, more annoying rust came-a-callin’… on a piece of brand new clothing! (This is the part where I clenched my teeth and let a few “choice” words fly!)

Well, never fear.  When rust spots seem to pop up out of nowhere, you don’t need to add it to the batch of clothes that have been designated for ‘cleaning duty days’ and ‘yard work sessions’.  You can salvage it with a few simple items:  distilled white vinegar & salt or just a simple lemon.

Here’s how:

• Saturate the rust stain with distilled white vinegar and pour on a generous amount of salt.  Rub the salt into the stain…. OR….

• Squeeze the juice from a lemon onto the stain (bottled juice works too).

• For both options, the best ‘next step’ is to actually put the garment in the sun (Mother Nature will do her magic) until the garment has dried. If Mother Nature isn’t cooperating, no problem… just let it dry on its own.

You might want to repeat the process for super stains but then just launder the garment as usual and VOILA!…

Guess what?… no more rust stains! And guess what else?  No chemicals needed! Fantastic…

So, it finally feels as if Spring has arrived! Your indoor spring cleaning is probably underway but, if your yard is like ours, it may look like the outdoors needs some attention too.

Along with the sprouting of our lovely spring bulbs, some not-so-lovely things are sprouting up too.  Yes, I’m talking about weeds!

Want to control them environmentally and safely without harsh chemicals? Then here are two simple items for your shopping list:  distilled white vinegar and a sprayer bottle.

If you’re like me, you may already have a sprayer bottle or have kept one around just waiting to be reused, so your list may contain one, simple item… vinegar, because (just like my kids) weeds hate the taste of vinegar!

All you need to do is fill the bottle with vinegar and spray the nasty culprits! It works best with young weeds and, for those tough hardy buggers, it may take more than one application but, I assure you, it works! I should also add that it works best on a sunny day and when rain is not in the forecast. 

However, this also comes with a warning… vinegar is NOT selective. It will kill whatever you spray.  You need to be cautious not to let it come in contact with prized flowers or plants, so make sure your bottle has a very controlled sprayer and not a wide range mist.  For this reason also, vinegar is best for gardens, flower beds, sidewalks, driveways and around paver stones, but isn’t recommended for lawns since it will take your grass right along with the weeds!

Ahh… vinegar! Is there anything it doesn’t do?!?  Okay, well yea… there are “things”, but the list of what it DOES do just got longer… and you can now add “weed warrior” to that list!

Yesterday we were gifted with some fantastic warm weather and bright sunny skies (an anomaly around Ohio these days!).

After school, all our daughter wanted to do was jump on her Razor scooter and scoot around the neighborhood.  But when she pulled it out of the place in the garage where it had been propped up, for the better part of winter, we were mortified… rust, rust, and more rust!

It’s only a year old and it had been well cared for, but it looked like it had literally been left out in the elements for weeks.

Fortunately, I had exactly what we needed.  Not a chemical, not a commercial cleaning concoction, just plain old aluminum foil waiting in our pantry.  Before my daughter started to panic, I got “the supply”.

All you need to do is tear off a sheet, roll it into a ball (shiny side out, preferably) and start rubbing away the rust. And voila… shiny and new!

This works wonderfully on chrome and many types of metals.  For the tougher spots, you can also saturate it in distilled white vinegar for a few minutes and then put the aluminum foil to work.

The beauty of it all?  When you’re done, the aluminum foil can go in your bin for recycling!

Mom saved the day!  The scooter was scootin’, “green principles were intact” and everything (and everyone) was bright and shiny!

Lately I’ve been on a coffee kick.  (Nothing jump-starts me like a nice {BIG} cup of organic java!)  But coffee can certainly dull the whiteness of our teeth in no time.

I’m not inclined to run out and buy whitening strips or invest in expensive treatments at my dentist.  And there has certainly been plenty of debate over the safety and side effects of using some of the solutions on the market.  I’ll admit that about 10 years ago I tried some whitening strips at home and they made my teeth so sensitive I tossed them in the trash.

Enter: baking soda

Besides all of its cleaning, deodorizing and health purposes, baking soda is a great, safe alternative to whiten your teeth.

A few times a week, put your toothpaste on the brush, dip the toothpaste in baking soda and brush away.  This is a great remedy to help gently remove stains, freshen breath, dissolve plaque, and prevent decay… and then, as crazy as it sounds, you can use some baking soda to polish your chrome bathroom faucets while you’re there!

Now, it’s time to get back to that cup of organic coffee (followed up by some baking soda brushing!).

Refrigerators happen to be a home appliance that MUST consume energy at all times.  In fact, they contribute an average of 8-10% to our monthly energy bill, and that is unavoidable.

I’ve shared my simple “1-2-3” tips for ways to make your refrigerator as efficient as possible, but sometimes the energy loss has nothing to do what you’re doing… it can have a lot to do with what your refrigerator isn’t doing:  holding the cold!

Poorly sealing door gaskets may be the problem and (just like my recent tip to check water waste from your toilets) there is a simple way to find out if your fridge is failing you!:

• Close a dollar bill (half-in/half-out) between the door gaskets. The bill should be difficult to remove.  If it slips out easily, your door isn’t sealing properly and you’re likely losing cold air… the gasket may need to be replaced.  Do this test for your freezer too.

I seem to be on a home maintenance kick, but my husband wouldn’t be surprise… he’s quite “un-handy” and dubbed me Mrs. MacGyver (while he’s more like MacGruber)!

Anyhow!… give the test a try. If your refrigerator keeps running and running… well, you better go catch it!

By now, plans are likely well underway for your big holiday celebration. Maybe you’re hosting a party, celebrating Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at your house and (hopefully) pulling out all of your loveliest silverware and serving pieces (instead of all the throw-away stuff!).

Do those lovely pieces include silver?  Have you CHECKED your silver?  Maybe there are long periods between uses and you might want to check now to make sure they haven’t tarnish…

If they have, fear not! You can clean them without using any harsh chemical cleaners and concoctions.

Here are three easy and safe ways to get them sparkly and clean:

• Line your sink with aluminum foil.  Place the silver on the foil and add boiling water, one cup of baking soda and a dash of salt.  Let the silver sit and in a few minutes the tarnish will transfer to the foil!  Then just rinse and dry.  (Remember to recycle the foil!)

• You can polish and clean them by hand using a soft cloth and toothpaste.  Rinse them with warm water and dry.

• Another by-hand formula is 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water.  Clean them with a soft cloth with this solution… and again, rinse and dry.

So, shine ’em up, keep the chemicals at bay and let the party commence!…

Indoor plants are a fantastic way to bring the outdoors inside, no matter what time of year it is.  Not only can they breathe life into a room, but did you know they can also, literally, breathe fresh clean air into your home as well?!?

Sadly, our indoor air can become even more polluted than outdoor air(!) due in part to everything from VOCs in paint to all of the horrible things we track in on our shoes and then send airborne!

Just take a look at what some of the most common household plants can “do” for your home!:

• Areca palm – this one is the top purifier and also humidifies the air as it cleans!  (Lady palm and bamboo palm also do an amazing job!)
• Peace lilies – also a great all-around air purifier, and incredibly easy to maintain.
• English ivy – fantastic for removing airborne mold (up to 60% of airborne mold in just six hours, by the way!).
• Spider plants – great at removing 100% of the carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide from the air in only 24 hours.
• Boston ferns – another great over-all air purifier but especially for removing formaldehyde from the air.
• Rubber plants – great for cleaning out those VOCs.

To reach maximum effectiveness, it’s recommended to have at least one 6” plant per 100 feet of living space.

Amazing, isn’t it? Actually, it’s exactly what I would expect Mother Nature to provide… something to clean-up our dirty work (and dirty air!).

Now that summer is here, I’m finding myself with more and more fresh, organic produce in the house.  That would normally sound like a major “plus” until a few pieces of fruit prematurely ripen and I find myself with some unwelcomed guests in my kitchen… you know what I’m talking about – pesky fruit flies.

Well, not long ago, I accidentally found a fantastic solution to the problem thanks to a few sips of unconsumed wine left in a glass overnight.  It seems those little pests happen to love wine as much as I do!

By morning three of those buggers had actually immersed themselves in the leftover wine and solved the problem themselves.  A little extra research and experimenting and I found a solution worth sharing, and this is all it takes:

• Put just a half-inch of red wine into any glass, cover it tightly with a small piece of plastic wrap (yes, I know… plastic wrap {bleh!} but desperate times call for desperate measures!), poke some very small holes in the plastic wrap and well… that’s it!  Just leave the glass in your kitchen near the problem area and the fruit fries will make their way in, but NOT make their way out!

Red wine seems to be the best because it is the most aromatic and attracts them more than white wine.  Fruit flies love fermented red grapes!… just like me! (oh yea, I mentioned that, didn’t I?)

So the next time they attack your kitchen and your fresh fruit, use it as an excuse to pop the cork and share a little… I promise, it truly only needs to be a “little!”