background preloader

Neat uses for common stuff

Facebook Twitter

The 7 Deadly Homemade Weed Killers. “And the weeds of the garden shall be visited upon the gardener.”

The 7 Deadly Homemade Weed Killers

Remove Permanent Marker. DID YOU KNOW… You’ve probably heard all about the amazing uses of distilled vinegar, using olive oil to condition leather and even that nifty trick of using a potato to loosen a broken light bulb.

DID YOU KNOW…

Top 10 DIY Posts of 2013. The 'Dirty' on Cleaning and Personal Care Products. Erin Schumacher, Guest WriterWaking Times When you pick up a product to clean, you expect it to clean.

The 'Dirty' on Cleaning and Personal Care Products

You don’t, however, expect the product to irritate the skin, cause cancer or disrupt hormones. The same goes with personal care products. You may think you are cleaning your body and hair, but in addition you are slathering on hundreds of toxic volatile organic compounds. Cleaning ingredients vary in the type of health hazard they pose. The most acutely dangerous cleaning products are corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and acidic toilet bowl cleaners. There are various levels of toxicity when it comes to personal care and cleaning products but the toxins that I avoid above all else (and that you should memorize) are: Parabens. Banish Mosquitos With Beautiful DIY Kokedama String Gardens Design*Sponge. Natural air fresheners: 9 nontoxic options that really work. Chemical air fresheners are not just a problem for people with chemical sensitivities; they are a problem for everyone.

Natural air fresheners: 9 nontoxic options that really work

Inhaling petro-chemicals, dyes, and perfumes can cause long-term health problems. Time magazine reported that many chemical air fresheners contain phthalates, a type of chemical that causes cancer. Why willingly expose yourself to cancer-causing chemicals when you can freshen your air naturally? When cleaning your house, opening your windows, and sprinkling baking soda isn't enough, try these nontoxic options. Aura Cacia grapefruit oil. Non-Toxic Bug Repellent Recipe with Coconut Oil. How to Make Soap at Home: A Recipe for Kitchen Coffee Spice Bar Soap. I don’t know about you… …but I LOVE working in the kitchen. I may not be an awesome food blogger (many thanks to those of you who are), and I may not make the most excellent of meals, but gosh-darn I love to cook!

Cooking from scratch and fresh, local foods excite me. 7 Ways To Get Rid of Ants Naturally. It’s a compliment, I’m sure . . .

7 Ways To Get Rid of Ants Naturally

The way ants are descending on my kitchen. The sticky sweet smell of homemade strawberry jam is irresistible if I do say so myself. But after watching them take an afternoon dip in my coconut oil I’m not feeling very hospitable. I draw the line at coconut oil, y’all. All-Natural Bug Spray Recipe. This all-natural bug spray recipe is not only bad for bugs, it’s good for you.

All-Natural Bug Spray Recipe

Good because it’s super simple. Good because it actually smells nice. Good Ideas for Dryer Sheets–Bounce. 1.

Good Ideas for Dryer Sheets–Bounce

All this time you’ve just been putting Bounce in the dryer! It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.?? It also repels mice. 2. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle. 3. How to make a natural air freshener, and assemble your own laboratory for concocting teas, salves, and syrups. As a little girl I mixed up shampoos and lotions in my laboratory, trying to improve on the toiletries we had.

How to make a natural air freshener, and assemble your own laboratory for concocting teas, salves, and syrups

I never came up with anything worth mentioning, but I did once get scolded for spilling my mom's shampoo all over the bathroom rug. A friend of mine told me about the "laboratory" she'd had at age 12, in which she created, among other things, the cure for AIDs. Homemade Glue Recipe. During their childhood, kids use a large amount of glue.

Homemade Glue Recipe

Easy homemade soap. As the last generations of Depression-era children or back-to-the-landers take their leave of this world, their DIY skills go with them.

Easy homemade soap

When we try to learn from scratch, we soon discover that recipes in books don't tell half the story. DIY soap making and other skills slipping away I have never figured out why this knowledge started slipping away from us, but I am trying to re-learn some of the basics. Lye-Ability: Making Castile Soap. I always thought soap making would take a lot of specialist equipment and expensive ingredients. Whipped Dandelion & Coconut Oil Moisturizer. This recipe is super easy to make and requires just two ingredients: coconut oil and dandelion flowers. Coconut oil, reputed to have many health benefits when used both internally and externally, is readily available in most areas.

3 simple homemade toothpaste recipes. While some people in rural parts of the world may resort to the use of brick, charcoal, rangoli powder, mud, salt or ash for toothpaste, western brushers usually rely on a tube of mystery ingredients to make their pearly whites sparkle like the Pepsodent girl's. But the ingredients found in conventional toothpastes — including sodium fluoride, synthetic dyes derived from petroleum or coal tar, sodium hydroxide (also known as lye or caustic soda), sodium lauryl sulfate, titanium dioxide, artificial sweeteners, and triclosan — might make us think twice about the products we employ for the sake of our teeth.

Of course, we’re not actively swallowing the stuff, but it’s unavoidable that a bit will slink down the gullet from time to time. And given that most of us brush our teeth 730 times or more a year, there’s no shortage of opportunity to ingest ingredients better left in the lab. DIY Peppermint Mouthwash. 45 Uses For Lemons That Will Blow Your Socks Off.

These 45 health benefits and ways to use lemons will definitely motivate you to keep lemons on hand at all times and maybe even work lemon water into your diet. Use baking soda for easy-to-peel hard-boiled eggs. Natural Cleaning Recipes. Why spend a fortune on cleaning products that introduce toxic chemicals into your living space? You can use simple ingredients, such as baking soda, lemons, and vinegar to make effective cleaners that work in every room of your house. Hydrogen Peroxide Magic. DIY Deodorizing Carpet Powder. 4 DIY Natural Drain Cleaners. Orange Peels & Vinegar = DIY All-Purpose Cleaner. DIY Toilet Bombs - Deodorize & Disinfect, Just Drop Them In The Bowl. Make Your Own Antibacterial Soft Scrub Cleanser. Bar Into Liquid Hand Soap.

Top 10 Natural Homemade Shampoos. New Here? LIKE Natural Health Beauty on Facebook to get daily updates about health & beauty recipes using the most natural ingredients. Homemade Sunscreen Lotion Bars. Homemade Bug Repellent. Bug Repellent Lotion Bars. Homemade Shaving Cream – Silky & Natural.