Getting Rid of Ants Without Chemical Bug Spray

We were warned about all the ants in the spring when we moved to the south, but our first spring didn’t bring many ants. This year is warm and wet and things are different. We found ants walking around outside in February and sure enough, this weekend ants found their way into our kitchen. The only other place we have ever had ants in the house was in Taiwan. While I want the ants gone, I am not wild about using a chemical bug spray around our kitchen. So I began researching some alternatives. What I found was that one of my favorite products is great for repelling ants – vinegar!

It is no secret that I love to use vinegar as a natural way to clean. From bathrooms to conditioner, to mopping floors, vinegar is a great alternative to chemical cleaning products. But it can also help get rid of ants. You can wipe down counters and cabinets with a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water to keep ants away. (TIP: Be careful if you have granite because vinegar can scratch it.). This works because ants don’t like the smell. Plus ants use smell to track their trails. The vinegar will hide the smell of their trails and drive them away. You can also put this mixture in a spray bottle and use it inside and out to keep ants away.

Another tip is to draw a chalk line where you see ants entering your home. This is a natural ant repellant and ants won’t cross the chalk into your house.

Reuse Idea: Cereal Boxes

We don’t eat a lot of cold cereal, but we still manage to go through 1-2 boxes a week as snacks or ingredient in other recipes. I hate to throw away all that great cardboard (even to recycling) so I began looking for ways to reuse cereal boxes. Here are thee of my favorite ideas:

Decorative Stars: I have made several of these country stars out of cereal boxes. A good coat of metallic paint, and no one knows they are cardboard.

Paper Stacker: We have a ton of decorative and school papers to organize.  Glue together 3-6 cereal boxes with top flaps removed for a great paper storage tower. Cover with decorative paper or fabric to match room decor.

Folder or Magazine Storage: Cut off a cereal box at an angle (see picture in link) and use this for students to store folders, to keep magazines handy, or to keep papers together. Just cover with decorative fabric or paper if it will be left out (unless Cheerios goes with your decor!). TIP: You can also use this same shape to store packages of zipper bags or foils and wraps in a cabinet.

Recycling Broken Crayons

Around our house we have tons of broken, tiny crayon pieces. Between kids, school, and small groups, our crayon needs seem to be never-ending. As we were cleaning up the playroom one afternoon I decided to go through all the crayons (we literally have buckets-full!) and throw away all the broken bits. Then my frugal brain kicked in and we decided it was a waste to throw what amounted to a huge pile of crayons away. I put the kids to work sorting crayons by color and then we decided to melt down and reform the crayon bits into something that was once again useable.

You can sort crayons by color or just make a mix of colors in one shape but here are the basics to once again get useable crayons from broken bits.

• Pre-heat your oven to 275°F.
• Line muffin tin (or any small shaped pan) with liners. This step isn’t necessary but will keep any of the crayon dyes from staining your pans.
• Fill muffin cups with crayons up to about 3/4 full. The actual size of the new crayon will be less. Try to make the tins equally filled to allow for the same cooking times.
• Bake for 10-20 minutes until all crayons are liquified. Time will vary depending on the size and content of your crayons.
• Let the crayons cool in the pan 1-2 hours until they are solidified.
• The crayons should drop right out of an inverted pan thanks to the wax in them.

 

Saturday Project: Spa Wrap

Who doesn’t love a spa day?! Of course this is a very rare indulgent because I actually love saving money more! But I have found a project that can bring a touch of the spa home. Check out Centsational Girl’s tutorial for making your own spa wrap form a large bath towel, some pretty fabric, and a washcloth!

Repurposing: DIY Ice Packs

Anyone with kids, especially little boys, knows that needing to ice an injury is inevitable. Here are a few alternatives to ice (which melts quickly) and peas (which shape to the injury but can mess up dinner plans!):

1. Ketchup packets: Take all those ketchup packets you get at fast food restaurants and put them in the  freezer. The ketchup doesn’t completely solidify and the packet makes a great icepack for small injuries, especially for fingers, toes, or near eyes.                                            (Image from stucihouse.blogspot.ca) 
2. Dishwashing liquid: Fill a zipper bag 2/3 full with Dawn or another very viscous dishwashing liquid and store in the freezer. This gets very cold, but doesn’t freeze completely, making it able to shape to cover injuries.
3. Alcohol: Combine rubbing alcohol with water in a 1:3 ratio (one part alcohol to 3 parts water) in a zipper bag. Store in the freezer. Again, this gets very cold, but doesn’t completely solidify, so it shapes to injured areas.

TIP: Double bag things to keep leaks from happening.

Patching Jeans

Regular readers know I am all about saving money. At our house, we patch clothes, sometimes many times, before we consider getting rid of them (often into the scrap pile to patch other clothes!) Previously I have written about ways to patch clothes with denim. But what if you want to patch the jeans instead of turning them into patches for other clothes?

Adventures in Dressmaking has a great tutorial for how to patch blue jeans. I have used this technique and it works, while also giving your jeans that great “used” look that so many people pay a lot of money for these days.

Saturday Project: Re-use Idea: Turning Jeans into a Skirt

We seem to wear out hems and knees of jeans quickly these days. And my girls are always asking for a denim skirt. So…enter the converted jeans skirt.

This is a pretty simple project. There are many tutorials out there and in the interest of not repeating what information is already around, here are a few links to great tutorials:

Old Jeans into A Skirt (kids)

5 Different Jeans to Skirt ideas

Jeans into a long skirt

Dishwashing Tubs for Organization

Most of us don’t use dish washing tubs unless we are camping. But I love these for organizing. You can pick them up for under $3 for the largest sizes at your local ‘Mart and at times they are under $1.We use these bins in all rooms of our house. You can get them in a lot of colors these days and can spice them up with vinyl stickers or paint to match any decor. Here are some ideas for ways to use dish washing tubs:

In the kitchen:

• In the fridge we have two – one for produce that doesn’t fit in the crisper drawer and one for items we use regularly such as string cheese, fajita shells, lunch meats etc.
• In the pantry we have two – one for paper products for entertaining, another for potatoes (to keep the dirt contained) and other extra produce that doesn’t need to be refrigerated.

In the school/office area:

• One for library books so you always know where they are
• One for scrap paper and one for extra printer paper
• One for math manipulatives
• One for science kit pieces
• Divide one with silverware trays for extra scissors, pens, etc.
• Art supplies (paints, brushes and the right paper all in one bin)

Kids’ Rooms:

• Toy storage for items like Legos (sort by color or set), Hot Wheels or other cars, Barbies etc.
• Clothes such as socks, underwear etc. can easily be stored in bins that are stacked on shelves in the room or closet

Bathroom/Linen Closet:

• Organized items being stored by type (bin for hair and cosmetic products, one for paper products etc. )
• Keep all first aid items in one bin, including alcohol, peroxide,, ace bandages etc.
• Store sheet sets by room in a bin
• Keep guest sheets and towels in one bin

Alternate Uses for an Over-the-Door Shoe Organizer

I love using things in creative ways to help with organization. We all know that an over-door shoe organizer can help corral shoes, but what other ways can we use them to organize?

TIP: If you don’t need to see the contents in the pockets easily, go ahead and invest the extra couple bucks in the cloth or canvas organizer. It will hold up to fairly heavy use and you will save money in the end over having to regularly replace the plastic ones!

#1. Front Closet – Hang an organizer over the front closet door, with the pockets facing into the closet. Assign each family member a row (littlest kids on the bottom, Dad on top). Fill the pockets with everyone’s gloves, hats, and scarves. Use extra pockets for pet leashes, sunscreen, bug spray, caps and visors, and all the things you like to have handy for going out but don’t want to show the world.

#2. Bathroom – Hang an organizer over the bathroom door or linen closet and keep extra toiletries, make-up, blow-dryer, curling iron, hair accessories, even first-aid items in it. This will free up cabinet and counter space for the smaller things that you really do use everyday.

#3. Kids Rooms – Put one on the kid’s bedroom and closet doors for much-needed extra storage. Keep small toys with many pieces in the lower pockets (great for Transformers, My Little Ponies or Barbies and accessories, Legos, Hot Wheels etc.). Roll sweat pants, tee-shirts, pajamas, or sweaters to free up drawer space. Store video games and system components in them to keep things tidy but accessible!

#4 Kitchen Pantry – If you are lucky enough to have a kitchen with a pantry door, hang an organizer over it to keep spices, cake decorating tools, and other kitchen items used regularly in the upper pockets. Put healthy snack choices for the kids in the lower pockets. Devote a row to zipper bags, plastic storage containers, and other things used for making lunches.

#5. Office/School/Craft – Hang in your office, school, or craft room (or a linen closet near that room) to store supplies and items frequently used that you don’t want on the desk or table. Or use the pockets to create a wrapping center and store your tags, bows and ribbon, tape, scissors, tissue paper, cards, and decorative gift bags.

#6. Guest Room – Place one in the guest room and fill it will all the things overnight guests will need: nice towels, extra shampoo, conditioner and fresh soap, extra toothbrush and toothpaste, snacks for the late-night cravings, supplies for a guest room coffee maker, and even a few good reading selections.

#7. Laundry/Utility Room – Hang on your laundry room door to hold various stain removers, cleaning supplies, and pet supplies. Keep the chemicals up high and away from little hands (and maybe the dog treats too!).

Do you have a creative way to use an over-the-door shoe organizer? Share it in the comments below or Submit Your Tip!

Saturday Project: Swim Suit Cover Ups

As I sew more, I am learning that not only do I actually like it but it comes in very handy. So I am looking for more and more sewing projects that have application to our lives. This one is perfect: The Towel Cover-Up!

The steps here are pretty easy and this is best when made from a thinner (and cheaper!) beach towel.

Needs:

• 1 beach towel per cover up (again – a thin towel is easier to work with and cheaper!)
• elastic thread (1 spool of thread should make 2 cover ups)
• Extra bobbins

1. Take a beach towel fold it in half, wrong-side out, matching up the shorter sides. Think about how you wrap a towel around you when you dry off. If you are making this for a child, you may need to cut the towel down to a smaller size (or if it is for a larger person or you want a fuller skirt you may need to add up to 1/2 of a second towel).
2. Sew the shorter sides together inside out to make a tube.
3. Wind elastic thread by hand onto 3-4 bobbins. It will take that many to make 1 cover-up.
4. Thread your needle with regular cotton thread that coordinates with your towel. Put the bobbin with elastic thread in your machine. You must use both types of thread together for this to work.
5. Once you have made the tube wrap the towel around you and mark your waist or where you want the smocking to stop. For me that was between my waist and chest.
6. Sew parallel vertical rows, starting at the top of the towel approximately 1/2″ apart. You don’t have to measure and mark each row. I just moved the material over the width of the presser foot.
7. Stop sewing the parallel lines at the spot your marked in #5.
8. Spray the elastic threads with water, then iron on the reverse side. You can also spray elastic threads and put the cover-up into the dryer (my choice!). The heat causes the elastic to pull together and “smock”.

TIP: You can add straps to the cover-up if needed. Simply take coordinating fabric or ribbon and sew straps. Be sure to measure the length of straps while you are wearing the cover-up to be sure the straps will fit properly.

TIP: You can add a ribbon under the last row of smocking to a solid color towel to add a punch of color or pattern.

Enjoy your new pool or beach cover-up!