Showing posts with label domestic godesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label domestic godesses. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
5 Uses For Vinegar Around The House
8:00 AM | Posted by
Anonymous |
Do you want to know how to use up that white vinegar you bought to color eggs with this year? Here are some ways to use it around the house as a cleaner, disinfectant, odor remover, blemish treatment, stain remover, and fabric softener. There are many other ways you can use vinegar as well but these are a few ways that Traci (izzysmom7) and her family use vinegar around their house.
1. As a cleaner/disinfectant: Do you want to freshen up the water lines in your coffee maker? Run a cup of vinegar and two cups of water through the maker. If the maker hasn't been used in awhile run a few cups of vinegar through, discard, and then run a few cups of water through. Make a solution of vinegar and water and use it to clean your counter tops, floors, or any surfaces you need to disinfect. My family and I use full strength vinegar to remove hard water and lime stains in the showers/bathrooms.
2. Odor Remover: Ever come across an odor in a room of your house and not been able to remove it with the typical household odor sprays? Place some apple cider vinegar in a bowl in the room and in a few days the room will be fresh and clean smelling again. My daughter and husband often have allergic reactions to candles and sprays, this has been a great alternative for them. If you want something to use the apple cider vinegar for when you are not removing odors, ask me to share my pulled pork BBQ recipe with you.
3. Blemish Treatment: Do you have a teenager or do you yourself suffer from acne? Nothing is worse than waking up in the morning before you start your day to find a blemish staring back at you in the mirror. When I was in college a friend told me to try placing some vinegar in a bowl, then use a cotton swab to add it to the blemishes. I let it sit for thirty minutes and then rinsed with lukewarm water. No blemish treatment will instantly remove our unwanted blemishes, but this method is a green way to help treat them. I suffer from dry skin so I recommend applying a good moisturizer after the vinegar treatment if you do as well.
4. Stain Remover: How many of your little ones love to stain their clothes with some of those impossible stains? My child prides herself in finding those impossible stains. While I do have stain removers in my house, one day I had more stains than remover. I went to the web to see if there was something I had around the house to help with a pizza sauce stain. I found out that vinegar and baking soda would do the trick. It will smell strong as the baking soda and vinegar bubbles and fizzes but it will remove your stain. Wash your clothes after each treatment the same way you would if you used a store bought cleaner. Extra Tip: If it is a stubborn stain that the above treatment will not remove, place your stained garment(s) out in the sun. The great outdoors will not only give your clothes a fresh smell but the sun will act as a bleach, helping to remove your stains.
5. Fabric Softener: Use 1 to 2 ounces of vinegar in the rinse cycle while doing laundry. It will help remove the soap residue and soften your clothes. You could also place the vinegar in a softener ball as well. Extra Tip: Do you use dryer fabric softener sheets and wonder how to remove the residue they create over time on your dryer lint trap? All you need is some vinegar (more or less depending on the last time you cleaned the trap), water, a scrubbing pad and some elbow grease (may need to scrub harder if you haven't cleaned the trap in a bit). You will the know the trap is clean once the water no longer clings to the top of the trap and flows through it.
Submitted by Traci from NorthMetroDCMommies. Originally posted to the NorthMetroDC Blog.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
You Are Not Just A Mother, You Are YOU First!
Mothers face many challenges in today’s world. They carry the responsibility of many roles. Through these roles we become different things to different people. Sometimes we get divided over having a career and having a families or find conflict between the different jobs that we try to do. Making the question “Who am I?” even harder to answer.
It grows harder because mothers see this little person that looks up at them with innocent trusting eyes, mommy is everything to that little one. She makes the hurt from boo-boos go away with a kiss, chases the monsters from under the bed away, and rocks them after a bad dream. Every mother takes that responsibility and carries it with her no matter where she goes. It is an awesome responsibility of caring for this wonderful little person and being mom is always on the mind. As much as it is wonderful to revel in mommyhood, we still need to remember that being a mother is just one part of us, the more we allow ourselves to see who we are the better examples we can set for our children to leading a balanced life.
As a mother, I have struggled to find my own identity. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a business owner, a sister, a friend…..but who am I? It is easy to define yourself by what you do and what you mean to other people. As we take on these different roles our own identity gets blurred. It is harder to make the distinction. Who am I if I am not Logan’s mom or Ben’s wife?
Who are you? A wife, a mother, an employee, they are all a part of who we are, but they do not define you. We are the only ones that are able to define who we are. When are we just women? Women that have our own values, ideas, and philosophies, women that are able to embrace their different roles in life, but still are able to maintain there sense of “self”.
The importance of women defining who they are is giving them a chance to grow as women. To recognize that they need to take off all the different hats that they wear during the day and take time to honor who they are.
The problem is that because they are in so many different roles that they stop seeing themselves separate from them. They stop taking time for themselves, because they are giving so much to everyone else. Does this sound familiar? Have you lost your identity among the different jobs that you do everyday? How do you see yourself?
Here are a few questions that can help you determine if you are defining yourself by what you do instead of who you are:
Do you spend at least an hour a day doing the things that you want to do? (Reading, participating in hobbies, watching your favorite TV program, etc)
When asked to describe yourself do you start with “I enjoy…” or “I am a woman that believe/feel….”? Or do you say, “I am a mother…” or “I am a nurse…”
Are you able to say “no” to things that interfere with the things that you want to do? Or that you do not have time for?
Do you feel that your life is in balance? Which means that you get enough time to pursue your own interest instead of just the interest of your children or significant other?
Do you feel that you spend time equally on yourself as you do on others?
If you answered “no” to any of the questions it is time to get back in touch with yourself. You need to not only stop defining yourself by what you do but you need to spend sometime getting to know who you are.
Here are some tips for you to get in touch with the forgotten woman inside.
Make sure that you spend time perusing your own interests. The problem with defining yourself by what you do is that you don’t give yourself time to do what you want to do; your time is spent doing for others. Do something that you have always wanted to do; take a class, start a book club, anything that gives you some time to just do your own thing. Above all make the time to do it! It’s ok to do something for yourself.
Say “NO” frequently! Just because you take on different roles does not mean that you have to do everything for everybody. Recognize when there is something that others could really do for themselves. Do not let yourself be taken advantage of! REMEMBER it is just as much of a benefit for others to learn how to do for themselves as it is to you.
Make sure that you have OFF DUTY time! Just like a conventional job, make sure there is a time of day when you are done. Don’t work right up until you go to bed. Give yourself time to unwind, distress, and relax. Wait until the kids are in bed and take a long hot bubble bath. Curl up in your favorite chair with a good book. Meditate or do yoga. Do whatever relaxes you. You need this time to maintain some balance. Because of you multiple roles you are “on the clock” the majority of the time. You have to have time to distress! Without it you are going to “burn out”. Visualize your bank account if you keep making withdraws without making a deposit, eventually you are going to just run out of resources. Make sure to take time to revitalize yourself.
I have found that by maintaining my own identity that I am a better mother, wife, daughter, business owner, sister, and friend. It maintains balance in my life because I know that even though I am different things to different people; I know what it means to just be me.
{Originally posted on TriadMommies}
It grows harder because mothers see this little person that looks up at them with innocent trusting eyes, mommy is everything to that little one. She makes the hurt from boo-boos go away with a kiss, chases the monsters from under the bed away, and rocks them after a bad dream. Every mother takes that responsibility and carries it with her no matter where she goes. It is an awesome responsibility of caring for this wonderful little person and being mom is always on the mind. As much as it is wonderful to revel in mommyhood, we still need to remember that being a mother is just one part of us, the more we allow ourselves to see who we are the better examples we can set for our children to leading a balanced life.
As a mother, I have struggled to find my own identity. I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a business owner, a sister, a friend…..but who am I? It is easy to define yourself by what you do and what you mean to other people. As we take on these different roles our own identity gets blurred. It is harder to make the distinction. Who am I if I am not Logan’s mom or Ben’s wife?
Who are you? A wife, a mother, an employee, they are all a part of who we are, but they do not define you. We are the only ones that are able to define who we are. When are we just women? Women that have our own values, ideas, and philosophies, women that are able to embrace their different roles in life, but still are able to maintain there sense of “self”.
The importance of women defining who they are is giving them a chance to grow as women. To recognize that they need to take off all the different hats that they wear during the day and take time to honor who they are.
The problem is that because they are in so many different roles that they stop seeing themselves separate from them. They stop taking time for themselves, because they are giving so much to everyone else. Does this sound familiar? Have you lost your identity among the different jobs that you do everyday? How do you see yourself?
Here are a few questions that can help you determine if you are defining yourself by what you do instead of who you are:
Do you spend at least an hour a day doing the things that you want to do? (Reading, participating in hobbies, watching your favorite TV program, etc)When asked to describe yourself do you start with “I enjoy…” or “I am a woman that believe/feel….”? Or do you say, “I am a mother…” or “I am a nurse…”
Are you able to say “no” to things that interfere with the things that you want to do? Or that you do not have time for?
Do you feel that your life is in balance? Which means that you get enough time to pursue your own interest instead of just the interest of your children or significant other?
Do you feel that you spend time equally on yourself as you do on others?
If you answered “no” to any of the questions it is time to get back in touch with yourself. You need to not only stop defining yourself by what you do but you need to spend sometime getting to know who you are.
Here are some tips for you to get in touch with the forgotten woman inside.
Make sure that you spend time perusing your own interests. The problem with defining yourself by what you do is that you don’t give yourself time to do what you want to do; your time is spent doing for others. Do something that you have always wanted to do; take a class, start a book club, anything that gives you some time to just do your own thing. Above all make the time to do it! It’s ok to do something for yourself.
Say “NO” frequently! Just because you take on different roles does not mean that you have to do everything for everybody. Recognize when there is something that others could really do for themselves. Do not let yourself be taken advantage of! REMEMBER it is just as much of a benefit for others to learn how to do for themselves as it is to you.
Make sure that you have OFF DUTY time! Just like a conventional job, make sure there is a time of day when you are done. Don’t work right up until you go to bed. Give yourself time to unwind, distress, and relax. Wait until the kids are in bed and take a long hot bubble bath. Curl up in your favorite chair with a good book. Meditate or do yoga. Do whatever relaxes you. You need this time to maintain some balance. Because of you multiple roles you are “on the clock” the majority of the time. You have to have time to distress! Without it you are going to “burn out”. Visualize your bank account if you keep making withdraws without making a deposit, eventually you are going to just run out of resources. Make sure to take time to revitalize yourself.
I have found that by maintaining my own identity that I am a better mother, wife, daughter, business owner, sister, and friend. It maintains balance in my life because I know that even though I am different things to different people; I know what it means to just be me.
{Originally posted on TriadMommies}
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