10 Uses for Distilled White Vinegar

Make your home a little greener by using distilled white vinegar for some of your household chores that regularly use harsher products.

1. Carpet Spot Remover:  Mix equal parts distilled white vinegar and cornstarch.  Spread onto spot, working into carpet with a washcloth.  Let dry for at least 24 hours, preferably 48.  Vacuum over, and the spot should "lift" with the vacuuming.  Don't forget to spot test the carpet first, in an inconspicuous place.
2. Eliminate Mildew:  Use a spray bottle to apply vinegar on any surface that is mildew-prone.  This works great on the shower curtain or bottoms of rugs in the bathroom.
3. Shine Silver:  Mix 1/2 cup vinegar with 2 tablespoons baking soda.  Use this as a soak for silverware or sterling jewelry.
4. Clean Your Microwave:  In a microwave-safe bowl, mix 1 cup water and 1/4 cup vinegar.  Sit bowl in middle of microwave and nuke for 5 minutes.  When mixture has cooled enough to handle, use it with a sponge to wipe down the inside of the microwave.
5. Air Refresher:  If you cook something that "invades" your home's air (such as seafood), mix 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup vinegar in a small saucepan.  Boil until the liquid is almost gone.  The vinegar smell will not linger for long.
6. Whiten Grout:  Use a toothbrush dipped in vinegar to scrub at the grout between the tiles.
7. Clean Your Washing Machine:  Add 2 cups of vinegar to your washing machine and run as usual without anything else in the machine.
8. All-Color Bleach:  Brighten your loads by adding 1/2 cup vinegar to the wash cycle.
9. Disinfect Toilet Bowls:  Pour 2 cups vinegar into toilet and let sit overnight, if possible.  Flush in the morning.  Do this once a week.
10. Clean Eyeglasses:  Apply a few drop of vinegar to a soft cloth and wipe glass lenses.

Abeego Reusable Food Storage

This reusable food storage option is made from 55% hemp and 45% cotton fabric.  Each wrap is infused with beeswax (for antibacterial properties) and plant extracts (for antimicrobial properties).  They come in three different shapes/sizes: snack, wrap, and square.  Average life of these products is about 1 year.  Prices range from $11 to $15.  To see what these products are all about or to buy, click here.

DIY Children's Sling Bookshelf

I'm going to show you how to create a child's sling-style, wall mounted bookshelf.  These normally can run anywhere from $30-$100, depending on the style and quality.  You can make one of these yourself for only a few dollars, especially if you have the scrap fabric on hand.  For reference, home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot sell the mounts and curtain rods cheaper than most other places.  However, I really like some of the Walmart versions, so those are the ones I linked to below.

Things you'll need:

Sewing machine (not necessary, but quite helpful)
Fabric & thread
Double cafe rod mount
2 cafe curtain rods

Simplified How To:

1. Hang your rod mounts on the wall; be sure to measure accurately so the bookshelf will hang straight.
2. Place rods into mounts and measure the width (this will be the width of your fabric, and ultimately, your bookshelf).  Measure from the inside of the left mount to the inside of the right mount.
3. Sew your rectangle of fabric.  The width of the fabric should match the width of the mounts (as determined in Step 2 above).  The length should be long enough to wrap around the bottoms of books, creating a sling.  I have found that 14 inches is a good length (but allow a few more inches to account for the loops that you will have to sew at the ends).
4. Sew the loops at the ends of your rectangle of fabric.
5. "Thread" fabric onto cafe rods and place books in the sling.

Cross-Section Example:

I know this drawing is very crude, but I hope you'll still get the general idea.  ;)

For Emmy's bookshelf (pictured below), I used decorative mounts that were actually a little pricier.  I wanted triple cafe mounts (in case I wanted to add an extra sling later).  The triple cafe rod mounts can be purchased here.  The rod mounts only come in black, so if you want a different color, you'll have to paint them like I did.  Because her shelf displays her Serendipity book collection (which consists of over 50 books - and growing!) we couldn't use standard cafe rods.  With so many books, the sling was too heavy and the rods began to bow.  Needless to say, I had to have steel rods cut to length and then rounded off on the ends (to prevent any injury).   I want to add decorations to the ends of the rods, but I haven't found any that I really like yet.