From the Archives: 10 Tips for Healthy Cleaning and Living

Whether you have kids or not, its good to be (Im so sick of this word )"green". Its mainly good for you - which is most important. Lots of cleansers & household products are extremely harmful - which is why the companies never post the ingredients to their formulas; they don't want you to know you're buying something that's quite toxic. Well, here are a few ideas from the past that I've revamped :

1. Fix a squeaky hinge; door, box, wheel, etc. How do you do this? Easy, just spray the hinge with cooking spray like PAM or whatever type you use. Olive oil will also work, but it can get a bit runny.

2. Freshen up a room: Option A - get a small spray bottle -say 2 oz. - fill with water and a lovely smelling essential oil. (tip: use peppermint oil to really get the stench out of the room. My sister, who is a nurse, says this is what they do at hospitals when ...accidents happen). Shake it and spray til the room's scent is to your liking. Option B-Just get a small decorative jar and fill it with baking soda and a few drops of essential oil till its scent is to your liking - this works great in the washroom. I love the lemon/eucalyptus blend. God knows what is in Febreze!

3. Get a large spray bottle 16+ oz., fill with water and about 25 drops of Lavender & Tea Tree essential oil (its a combo oil). This should kill any mold and mildew thru out your home, just spray on surfaces and let air dry. It also smells great and works well as an air freshener too.

4. Use 1/4 cup vinegar during the rinse cycle when your doing laundry. It will work as a fabric softener without all the chemicals but with all the softness. And no, your clothes won't smell like vinegar.

5. Clean your windows, mirrors, glass with a spray that 50/50 water and vinegar (add an essential oil to tame the vinegary smell if you like) - but the smell goes away very quickly.

6. Try not to buy things new. If you can find them at the GoodWill or Salvation Army, do it. You can always find Target's clearance items at these shops so you can buy things 'new' too! You help others as well as finding cool stuff.

7. Used coffee grounds work to keep pests away from your plants. Make sure your plants can tolerate the acidity the grounds may add to the plant soil tho!

8. Kill weeds by spraying them with vinegar - careful not to spray what you want kept healthy in your yard/plant/garden. Vinegar can kill the important stuff too! Its better to use this then items like Round Up, which is very toxic.

9. Use baking soda to scrub just about anything - the oven range, toilet, bath tub, sinks, your teeth, etc. Dab some mixed with a bit of soap to get stains out of clothes as you would with Shout.

10. If you do buy any cleansers I highly recommend Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. Its like an all-purpose miracle cleaner! Use it to wash your laundry; floors; bathrooms; counters; walls; dishes; car; fruits & vegetables; plus its mild & gentle on the skin. I swear it gets our hardwood floors looking cleaner and better than Murphy's Oil Soapdoes. And it lasts a LONG time - so its totally with the $9 - $12 for a 32 oz bottle - a little goes a long way.

Ok, thats all 10! I hope it helps anyone who needs it!

Image above from The Economist

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A Rare Sale at the PeanutEnvy Shop!

There is quite the sale going on at PeanutEnvy..and a rare one too! All Russian dolls are $25{reg. $34}, Owls are $35 {reg. $42} and wallets a mere $10 {reg. $14}. There is a new member to the PE family and that would be Fritz the Fox...see him below! That guy is also $25! For more sales and updates with the shop, check out our Facebook page!

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DIY Deodorant that WORKS.

There has been a lot of discussion about the effects deodorant has on the body. Personally, I have been sick of using it because I have no idea what the long term effects really are and many people think they have no choice in the matter, other than being a reeking, smelly pig. As of late, it has made me break out in hives..and this is the "natural" stuff. I knew God didn't put us on earth for man to develop crazy chemical laden, and sometimes dangerous concoctions, if there are natural solutions to our health problems. Ever since I had my brief brush with acute and painful arthritis (that has now subsided and not come back- ptl) I have been exploring natural remedies opposed to man-made poisons from Big Pharma. So, I have been searching for the best DIY deodorant recipe and sort of stumbled upon something so incredibly simple; Castor oil and baking soda. I add a scent, like pure tangerine oil or whatever just because I don't wear perfume.

This has been working fantastically. All you do is pour a nickle (or quid) sized dollop of castor oil into your palm (add a scented oil at this point if you like - but make sure this oil is safe on skin) rub your palms together and apply it onto the skin. Follow with about the same amount of baking soda and you are done. My husband has now switched to this method, and as a man who works & sweats all day, he finds it just as fantastic as I do.

This is also extremely beneficial financially. You figure you probably spend close to $100 a year on deodorant, this method might cost $15 or less a year AND it's one less toxic thing you're not applying onto your body on a daily basis.

You can find castor oil online or go to A Fruitful Yield, Whole Foods, or any health food stores that are in your area. You can also find essential oils at these places, too!

Try and enjoy~ let me know how it works for you!

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50% off Jewelry Sale!

I've decided to stop selling jewelry in my CrankHeartPony Shop. Well, I'm still debating,  to be honest, but I think if I empty it all out, that will help me make a definite decision. So if you are interested in any goods from my Jewelry section, feel free to use the 50% off coupon code "JEWELS50". But ONLY in the Jewelry Section! :)
Enjoy!

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I ♥ Snow - Here's a Coupon Code!

Image via creativereview

 Hey all! In honor of the first snow of the season, I'm feeling generous and would like to present my readers with a coupon code good for BOTH my Etsy shops!

Get 10% off with the code 

SNOWDAY

So shop to your heart's content at 

Crankheartpony 

and PeanurEnvy

Enjoy~

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Before & After: Transforming My Kitchen

Its amazing what a little paint can do. Here is Before. Ugly. Hideous. No me gusta. Also, notice the ancient refrigerator. It worked great but couldn't sustain a family of 5.

 

At this point we painted the walls and took all the doors off the cabinets with the intent of refinishing them. Yeah...we didn't end up doing that.

Here we have the south wall, crammed with junk.

 NOW for the AFTER!

Ahh....Much better! We painted all the cabinets, windows and doors white and spray painted the hardware black. I think this entire transformation cost about $50-$75. Not bad, eh?

Now it looks like a real kitchen. I'm happy.

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Free Moo Cards anyone?

I love free stuff. I especially love FREE Moo business cards! For $6 (shipping) you can get 50 of the most high quality cards - that I've ever seen, anyway- for your business, as tags for gifts, whatever. Moo has a few good ideas for what to do with them. So of course I got some for my new shop PeanutEnvy - which needed some business cards. I love that you have options even with the free cards - you can upload images from Flickr, Etsy, Facebook, Picasa & Smugmug...because a lot of times you see "free" but you only get the most basic and generic option that really doesn't showcase anything except how bland you are. Not YOU, but how you are portrayed an said bland "free" item. You can also pick pre-made templates that are super fun and modern..unlike some free images, these ones you will actually be proud to display with your name on it. They even give you a "green" option to pick the paper you want. Anyways, the one thing you get  in exchange is a promo bar that Moo puts there for its own advertising - this makes your card slightly bigger, but hey they're free!

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How To Find the Best Vintage

If you're like me, you love vintage to keep and sell. As a seller, you can't just go to the local Salvation Army and expect to find the most amazing piece of vintage...though its not impossible. There are a few places you can find great vintage:
1. Garage sales - find some gems the owners don't realize the worth of
2. Thrift shops - some unique but often broken/ poor condition items
3. Antique / vintage shops - good finds but very pricey
4. Estate Sales. - THE place to go

Estate Sales are the cream of the crop when it comes to the best vintage finds. Yes, its a bit morbid, kinda sad and makes you really think about you're own mortality but might as well reap some benefits, right? Here you can find items the previous owner cherished and kept in pristine condition. Entire sets of dishes, pyrex, barware, you name it.

 

You can find unique, one of a kind items, old toys, all kinds of awesome gems. And in turn, make a profit or keep for your own use. Personally I love keeping vintage for these reasons: Most are made in America (a rare thing these days), made to last (even rarer), and have great designs you just don't see anymore.

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Earth Day Plan for the Frugal Future

In honor of Earth Day (you could also say 'in honor of frugality') I'm deciding to make my own reusable items - as many as I possibly can! I am done with skyrocketing prices even at the cheap stores (Walmart is not included, I refuse to shop there). I had to get baby wipes because I have a newborn and a 21 month old in diapers. I get them from target, and I get the target brand 3 pack of refills which used to cost 2.97 - now its 4.97. WTH?! So nuts to YOU Target, I'll make my own wipes! For those of you who agree...but may not sew yourself - here is a cute option... BareBebe PureBebe Cloth Wipes

 I also want to make my own produce bags. Who needs plastic poisoning their food? Not I. These ones are cool... Reusable Produce Bags by SeventhSphere

I already have the supplies to create some snack bags but I really thought these were cute.
Reusable Snack Bags by BananasaurusRex .  Its probably smart to make like 10 of these, since kids tend to lose, drop or destroy.

Reusable Paper towels by MooCowMomma

I'm still on the fence about making reusable paper towels...with 3 kids under 5, messes are plentiful. I would need to make about 50 reusable paper towels...I think in this arena, I'd opt for just buying them.

So in a few ways, I'm saving some green...which is what Earth Day is all about.

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Before & After: Making the boring UNboring

AS hard of a time I give IKEA, I do love the place and what I as a crafter like the most is how plain and simple their items can be - its makes an easy instant canvas for creativity.

Take these glass air-tight food storage jars. I got them for the many flours I use; bread, wheat, all-purpose. The only thing was how do I distinguish them from each other? Well, I had some left over Rub-ON Letters from Maddy's party favor coloring books and decided I'd use them - they were fun and colorful!
I rubbed each letter on, making sure I wasnt spelling the words wrong like "Beard Flour" or something. After all that, I sealed them with some sealer to waterproof it. Doing this is better than just using a sticker that would be ruined by water and my hands (covered in cooking oil, or whathaveyou) , or printing out a clever label and taping it to it...lame. Plus this has a very clean, seamless look. I was very pleased with the outcome of this idea and now search for cool rub-ons to put on our vast amount of glass jars I store our other dry goods in.

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A good reason to go Thriftin

If I had a dream job, it would be to shop at thrift stores all day for cool unique finds. Just the other day - when it was unseasonably nice out - we went over to a little second hand shop we like to frequent. I love the basement, its the place to find lots of fun vintage stuff. As I approached the top of the steps, be still my heart there it was - at the bottom of the stairs just waiting for someone to clean him up and take him home - my Chair. Not just a simple chair, but those desk chairs where the little table flips up. Now I'll have a place to write my hate mail to Wal-Mart. He was so dirty with God knows what caked on him, just a good cleaning revealed the vibrant shade of my favorite color blue. He's one of them fiberglass chairs with a metal base and legs. I think he was once property a bowling alley because 'Brunswick' is marked on the back. Ive actually been searching Craigslist for this kind of chair for months, all I found were ones for $75 to $100 EACH! I'm glad I waited cuz this sweet thang was only 5 bucks. Now if I wanted to - I could turn around and sell it for 20 times more, but im content in getting what Ive wanted...only when Im in dire straits will I let him go.

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DIY: Wall Decals

I was just thinking about wall decor when it dawned on me that you can create your own wall decals for the cost of one roll of CONTACT PAPER! You can get it in so many colors and faux textures. I got some vintage gold and yellow damask contact paper from an estate sale so I figured I'd give it a whirl. Heres all you do:

1. Draw out or trace your design. Silhouette's are the easiest! (One cute example is make sihouettes of your kids and put them up in their rooms.) but go for as complex as your able.

2. Roll out enough contact paper to fit your needs and draw or trace your design on the back side with a permanent marker. Remember it will be a mirrored image when your done, so numbers and letters will have to be drawn backwards.

3.When finished drawing it out, use an x-acto knife to cut out your design as neatly and crisply as you can.

4. Make sure all lines, curves and corners of the image are completely cut thru, and cut/pull of any excess paper clining to your image.

5. Wipe down the wall (or place your putting it) and let it dry completely.

6. Remove the paper backing and stick the design to desired surface. Smooth it out as needed.

7.Finito!

This is a really neat and easy DIY project that you can do to cover and / or decorate all bare or ugly surfaces! Walls, file cabinets, boxes, desks, mirrors, doors, shelves, and the list goes on.

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Green Tips for around the house

Whether you have kids or not, its good to be (Im so sick of this word )"green". Its mainly good for you - which is most important. I've been meaining to post a few useful tips - so here they are:

1. Fix a squeaky hinge; door, box, wheel, etc. How do you do this? Easy, just spray the hinge with cooking spray like PAM or whatever type you use. Olive oil will also work, but it can get a bit runny.

2. Freshen up a room. Just get a small jar and fill it with baking soda and a few drops of essential oil till its scent is to your liking. I love the lemon/eucalyptus blend.

3. You can use the same thing in #2 to clean your bathroom.

4. Use 1/4 cup vinegar during the rinse cycle when your doing laundry. It will work as a fabric softener without all the chemicals. No, they wonr smell like vinegar.

5. Clean your windows, mirrors, glass with a spray that 50/50 water and vinegar plus an essential oil to tame the vinegary smell - which goes away very quickly

6. Try not to buy things new. If you can find them at the GoodWill or Salvation Army, do it. You help others as well as finding cool stuff.

7. Used coffee grounds work to keep pests away from your plants.

8. Kill weeds by spraying them with vinegar - careful not to spray what you want kept healthy in your yard/plant/garden.

Ok, thats all i got at the moment! But I hope it helps anyone who needs it!

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Food, Gas, and the High Cost of Everyday Living - what to do?

All over the world we are seeing truckers striking, Food and fuel skyrocketing, the global economy getting worse, and all for what? So these oil bastards can make more money. So this is my counteraction to the oil problem...and money problem...and environment problem..etc. I know Im just one person, so i encourage anyone to do any of these that they are able to...

1. Take public transportation; trains, busses, L's. Cheap and reliable. Its better to put money into these than in the pockets of the oil companies. All the time public trans get in financial trouble ...lets make it impossible for that to happen.


2. Buy food locally; farmers markets are great for this. You can get tons of produce, grains, herbs, etc. The reason food is high is because we get so much of said foods from mexico or far parts of the US that truckers bring - and deisel gas is $5 a gallon! You may think farmers markets may be a bit pricey but they are willing negotiators - just bring a reasonable price.


3. Make it yourself; whatever you are capable of making, do it! If you can sew, make the things you need, if you can bake, make your own bread and baked goods; make your own cleaning products (see other blog Greening your Cleaning). There is so much we can do ourselves. The plan is to be as self sufficient as possible.


4. Buy American; this is obviously for Americans. Our country is falling apart from plants moving to other countries, outsourcing, everything under the sun is imported from China-made from children in sweatshops. Nothing bothers me more than calling up my local phone company to talk to an obviously foreign man I cant understand named "Kevin". Who do they think they're kidding???


5. Drive only when necessary; if you can find people to carpool with or public trans that goes to where you need to go, then do it.


6. Bring bags when shopping. If you need to shop, bring your own large bags and avoid using plastic ones. Most places have canvas bags for cheap for you to reuse. Plus, you dont have to worry about the bag ripping or cutting off your circulation when theres something heavy in it.


7. Around the house; Shut off lights in rooms you leave. Wash your dishes by hand, dont use a dishwasher. If you have the space to hand wash / hang dry your clothes, do that. I hang dry clothes indoors - we live in an apt - by putting them on hangers and hanging them on the curtain rods. Less electricity wasted is less toxic waste! And save some $ too.


8. Recycle! We were amazed at how much more the garbage stinks now that we put all the recycleables in a seperate bag. yikes! But I think everyone knows the benefits of recycling - just do it!

These are just a few simple ideas. Somethings will become more obvious the more you involve yourself in a more self sufficient and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Picture above is from the etsy shop of http://rls2131.etsy.com/

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Greening my cleaning

We went to the library yesterday so I could look for a few sewing books to get some new ideas...too bad most of the books were lame with ideas from the 90's {cringe} I didnt exxactly feel like making that giant beaded shirt with the tapered pleather pants. I did find a few good ones, luckily. As I was browsing thru the books, maddy started taking ones off the shelf to look at - im sure its every librarian's nightmare. She was smart enough to stack them in a neat pile at the bottom of the shelf, so that made their job a little easier. As I was telling her to stop, my eyes gazed at a book she took halfway out of the shelf called Green Up your Cleanup by Jill Potvin Schoff. I've been wanting to do exactly that so i took the book, flipped thru it, and decided it was worth checking out. So at home, im reading thru it - going in shock from how incredibly harmful cleaners are. If you look at the back of most household cleaners, the ingredients are not even listed because they're so harmful and can get away with not having to display them. The book says to avaoid disinfectants with: Cresol, phenol, ethanol, kerosesne, formaldehyde, ammonia, chlorine bleach, sodium hydroxide, and phosphoric acid. Instead of using cleaers with said toxins, it gives a very simple recipe as a natural alternative. Its called the Mildew and Germ Killer and all you need is:
1 - 16oz spray bottle
2 cups of water
1/4 tsp of tea tree oil
1/4 tsp of lavender oil
Shake before each use and use on anything you want to disinfect / kill germs on. You spray on a surface and let dry - dont wipe.
there are recipes for Laundry soap, glass cleaner,dishwasher soap (which is good to use since most dishwasher cleaners are still allowed to use phosphates, which are extremely toxic for people and environment), All surface cleaner, Scrubs, etc.
The ingredients for most of these are:

• Liquid soap -#1 pick is Dr. Bronners Castile Soap (cheap and at trader joes!)
• Borax - a mineral similar to baking soda
• Baking soda
• Washing Soda - found in the laundry section of stores (where you'd find Borax)
• White distilled Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Oxygen Bleach (usually a mix of hydrogen peroxide and washing soda)
• Club Soda
• Essential oils like tea tree, lavender, lemon,orange, peppermint.

All these are super cheap and safe - though anything can be harmful if used the wrong way. I've taken all our harmful cleaners and took them out of under the sink and hid them high up in the pantry, away from everything. Ive so far made glass cleaner (1/2 water, 1/2 vinegar) I need to get crazy stuff like borax and washing soda and I'll be set.

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