Archive

Easy Monday

Quick fix: DIY to a nice smelling vacuum.

May 13, 2013
Easy Monday
Leave a Comment

smell-good vacuum.

Maybe you have this issue with your vacuum and maybe you don’t, but after awhile, ours starts to smell like our dog. That is, after using it several times, the “leftover” smell is kind of stinky. So, this is a super easy, no-fail trick. All you need are some cotton balls and a smell-good scent you don’t mind using.

I’ve used vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and lavendar essential oil. Our favorite is peppermint extract, and is the best choice for me because vanilla extract gets used a lot in our house and isn’t cheap, whereas I only ever used the peppermint extract once around Christmas. Not quite as precious.

Plus, my husband and I LOVE the smell. The lavendar worked out well, but I put WAY too many drops into the cotton balls, so the smell was way too overpowering and headache inducing. 3-4 drops should do it, not 7! I guess I was being overzealous because I wanted to kill the dog hair smell.

The steps:

I usually grab a few cotton balls (4 or 5), put them in a small bowl, and soak them with some of the smell-good scent. I then put them into the vacuum bag, and use the vacuum as needed.

Enjoy your sweet smelling vacuum! It even kind of lingers for the day. Read More

Easy Homemade Facial

May 6, 2013
DIY personal care, Easy Monday
Leave a Comment

So it’s that time for me…the time when I  I attempt to get ready for the “big day.” The big day being the day when I get to see this guy again (the grown up one, haha):

frugal living 034

My husband will be returning from his shorty-short deployment  pretty soon (aka he was gone for a month and some change to upgrade his flying skills).

I tried this homemade facial for the first time, and I think it’s my new fav!

Honey-cinnamon-nutmeg facial

  • 2 tbs of honey (the recipe recommended raw honey but I used creamed honey and it came out just fine).
  • 2 tsp of nutmeg
  • 2 tsp of cinnamon
  • Mix into a paste. Leave on your face for 30 minutes, and remove with some warm water using soft, circular motions.

I scoured the net for some new natural recipes, and this one made sense for my skin-type, and was convenient to make (who doesn’t have those ingredients at home?). This particular facial calms redness, moisturizes, and is full of antioxidants from the cinnamon and nutmeg. My favorite part was how nicely the cinnamon and nutmeg worked to exfoliate and make my skin feel so soft and smooth.

Doing “pampering” things like this is relaxing at the end of a long day (and deployment days can be long). You know, it’s great to do a facial once a month if you have fairly normal skin…it sets the skin up nicely to fully absorb any moisturizering lotions you apply and helps keep your skin looking soft and smooth. Good enough motivation for me!

So just for the record, when I did apply this recipe to my face, I think I put way too much on! It totally slopped down my face and got on my clothing. I will plan on using only as much as I need next time. Somehow I thought I needed to apply all of it, but it’s not like honey mixed with nutmeg and cinnamon is going to go bad anytime soon. I feel like that’s probably a no-brainer for most people, but  I didn’t catch that, so FYI, just in case you wonder when trying this recipe.

I hope you enjoy!

Amanda.

Make it Easy Monday: Easy, fast, stylish hair

December 31, 2012
Easy Monday, Personal Care
Leave a Comment

make it easy monday
Happy New Years Eve everyone! Welcome to another Make it Easy Monday, where I try to provide, quick, helpful tips and tid bits that might make life easier for you like it has for me!

For todays make it easy monday, I thought I’d share a short list of easy, fool-proof, “second-day” hair styles that you can whip up in ten minutes or less, and still look put together. I love that! And believe me, I’m no hair expert, nor is it my “thing” but I like to look put-together, so if I can do these and have people complimenting me, so can you!

So here’s the list for any other busy moms, or women, who want to look good but with minimal effort and time: (Click on the images for the link to the hair tutorials)

The Top Knot

This tutorial is especially suited for medium hair lengths. I can get mine looking like that, and my hair rests just at my shoulders. The trick is teasing, and in using a “donut” or bun maker kit you can find at your local CVS or drugstore.

Pinned Image

The Ballerina Bun

A smoother cousin to the top-knot. You also use the “donut” for this one. You can see how my version turned out here, to give an idea of what it looks like with medium hair.

Pinned Image

The Messy Bun

The mother of easy styles. I add my own touch by using a few extra bobby pins to form more of a “bun” shape.

messy-bun-how-to.jpg

The finishing touches

Finally, you can add a head band, or scarf to any of these looks and it will make it look like you spent much more time than you really did. I love this look, and tutorial below:

Pinned Image

Adding bangs are much easier to maintain than you might think, and are also an easy way to make you look stylish and pulled together without a lot of hassle. I simply wash, and blow-dry them everyday, but hold off from washing my hair everyday by sticking it in a bun while I shower. I go the-wash-my-hair-every-other-day-route, and hit it with some suave dry shampoo if it needs it. Time saver!

If I can do it, so can you!

hair 018

For more Make it Easy Monday posts click on one of the links below:

Hope that helps!

Amanda.

Make it Easy Monday: How to get laundry done with a 9 month old

December 17, 2012
Easy Monday, Housekeeping
3 Comments

Before I delve into this post, I would like to talk a little about the recent events at Sandy Hook. If I didn’t mention anything, I feel like I be would trying to pretend it hasn’t bothered me, and isn’t worth mentioning. It did bother me, and is absolutely terrible. It also unearths a lot of heavy stuff. Guns, violence, morality, mental illnesses, God…everything comes to the surface. I think everyone who has a soul wants to know why, and wants to prevent this in the future. I have my theories and ideas on it.

It’s unfortunate to say this, but public schools have kicked God out for a while now. I truly believe God is a God of grace, and shines the light of the sun, and rain from heaven on both the good and bad. BUT his help is something he doesn’t force on us. We need to ask for it, and when schools take a stance against him, there’s no question he feels unneeded. People are fine living without Him, but get mad at him when things like this happen.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a severe penalty for kicking God out, but it goes deeper than that. Once you kick God out, you kick the right and the wrong out, truth and love. All things go to hell, so to speak, when God is removed. The world wouldn’t be perfect even if everyone brought Him back in, but I can guarantee the world would be better off, and would stop slopping down like it has, little by little.

————————————–

On to lighter material (there really is no way of not making this segway awkward, let’s be honest)….Welcome back to another day of Make it Easy Monday, where I attempt to highlight different tips and tricks that can make this little ol’ life a little, well, easier. Who doesn’t like that? The topic for the day?

How to actually get laundry done when you have a 9 month old.

Okay, so I know everyone is different, and will go about it differently, but since having a baby I have found it increasingly difficult to get laundry done. More specifically, getting it done while he’s awake. And I know, I know, “the baby is more important than the laundry.” I get that, but it’s still nice to get it done, and makes life smoother (at least for me), when I stay on top of it. That being said, I have this trick that helps me: Make a game of it!

projects 009

I put him in the laundry bin, and ride him around the house pretending it’s a choo-choo train. He loves playing in the laundry, and loves it if I hide some toys in the bin:

new 019

Truthfully the toy he found happened by accident, but what a happy accident! It was a blast for him.

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to get laundry done (without a lot of hassle)?

That’s all for now,

Amanda.

make it easy monday

Introducing Make it Easy Mondays.

December 10, 2012
Easy Monday, Tips and tricks
3 Comments

I’ve been wanting  to start a series once a week where I share an easy trick that makes life easier in the home; whether it’s related to cooking, grocery shopping, housekeeping, your wardrobe, managing life, I wanted to bring it back to the home. So I came up with Make it easy Monday!

make it easy monday

I know I’m always looking for tricks and tips to make life more pleasant, and effortless. If the series takes off, it’d be great to start a link-up down the road, where other bloggers can also share tips that make their life easier, that way we can all benefit from a web of good ideas. In the spirit of easy, I  wanted to make the posts “easy” by keeping them short and sweet. Think “tip of the day” instead of “chapter on a good idea.” Hopefully this can provide some breaks and ease for the busy, stay-at-home mom and working mom.

My first tip for this series?

How to NOT get onion juice in your eye when chopping onions

I know, it sounds really funny, but I’ve sort of just put up with crying for so long until I came across an easy and clever preventative tactic. Freeze the onion about 5 minutes before you start your cooking, and voila! Just like that, you will be cry-free! It also helps if you have a sharp knife, so try to keep on top of that if you can. Anyways, I picked up that awesome eye-saving tip in a cooking class my husband and I took during our vacation to Charleston.

It took me a few times to actually give it a try, because  apparently I’m that stubborn, but once I did, I haven’t gone back. Life is easier, and more pleasant when you can chop onions without burning your eyes. And isn’t that what we all want?

Happy easy monday,

Amanda.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 111 other followers