Make this one change for Perioral Dermatitis, and you could heal at an insanely rapid pace.
5 Skin and Body Care Items for Mama and Babies
Today I have 5 skin and body care items for mama and babies.
[Read more…] about 5 Skin and Body Care Items for Mama and Babies
Making Your Own All Natural Cleaning Supplies
For the final post in this series, I’m doing one last “sweep,” i.e. cleaning, natural cleaning that is, and teaching you about making your own all natural cleaning supplies.
{In case you missed them, here is Part I, Part II and Part III of this series.}
Making Your Own All Natural Cleaning Supplies
The best part of making my own, all natural cleaning supplies was that I didn’t have to be a mad scientist.
How? With the Come Clean Natural Cleaning Set. (Remember, we are not trying to be rock stars in every single piece of our lives. Do what you can. With cleaning, I needed the extra assistance.)
This set comes complete with
- 2 Spray Bottles
- 1 Mixing Container
- Lemon Juicer that fits all 3 bottles
- Microfiber cleaning cloth
- Reusable stickers to label each bottle
- Easy to follow natural cleaning guide with recipes for every room in your home
To begin with, I decided to make a kitchen/bathroom spray, a glass cleaner (the windows in her room are dirty!) and wood polish (for her dresser and crib).
My favorite part of doing this was reading through the guide. I learned how to make everything on my own, all naturally, from kitchen to laundry, general living and even dog shampoo (<– making that one soon!)
Today I’ll share with you one of the recipes.
Window Spray
This one was my favorite to make because I have been looking for a Windex replacement. I know that some people love the smell of Windex, but I don’t. It’s gross. And it smells like chemicals. Making the window spray was simple (the recipe is in the book):
I used this castile soap.
It works like a charm!
All other recipes can be found in the book, which comes with the set (one of you will win it!).
Oh, but p.s. the wood polish = fantastic. Call me un-domesticated, but who knew there was more to Olive Oil than the sparkling addition to a baby spinach salad?!
Now that she is here, I have made it a focus to implement only all natural cleaning in our house, in her room. Toxic chemicals are most of what standard cleaning supplies are made of. If I can do one more thing (a simple thing at that) to help rid her everyday exposure, then that’s the best I can ask of myself.
I hope you have enjoyed this series.
Lord knows I have so much more coming on our Little Legume.
So many stories. So much love.
Xox,
SKH
{Disclosure: I was given this set and all items used in the Mighty Nest Series from Mighty Nest. I was not compensated for my thoughts. All opinions are my own. Always!}
How to Organize Baby Clothes
I must be putting up a great front for y’all that I’m organized and handy around the house. Someone from the homeskillet MN commented on this awesomeness from me, but I had to assure her that this is simply not (typically) the case. Ryan will attest to it. I am just a measly ‘ole duck. Quack. But still, I can teach you how to organize baby clothes.
Somehow, with the Little Legume, I am learning to be more organized with her stuff.
- Part I: First Comes Love, then Comes Cleaning {and a Mighty Nest Giveaway}
- Part II: How I Have Organized the Little Legume’s Clothes: Part I
For today, let’s chat the baby changing table/dresser and stand-alone dresser.
How to Organize Baby Clothes
These are the things I have been doing.
Stand-Alone Dresser Organization
We found her dresser at a secondhand store a long time ago. It used to be in our guest room, but guest room turned into my office when my office turned into the baby’s room. At the time, our guest room was super country-esque. We had cowboy pictures hanging on the walls, painted chipped-wooden signs (that my dad made for Fiona and Reagan) and this chipped-wooden dresser which we decided could go in the baby’s room.
Even though I coo and caw and say “goo goo, gaa gaa” with the Little Legume, I’m not big on girly, baby, baby rooms.
We march to our own beat…..always, and I have every intention of teaching her the same.
We put this stand-alone dresser in her closet, and I threw a bunch of socks and accessories in the top drawer.
That was messy.
But I am thrifty.
I grabbed 3 miniature baskets from Michaels. I didn’t even pay $5.99 for each one; they were 40% off that day. <– go ahead, start cheering, I know I’m a saving champ.
I filled each basket with cute socks and accessories. I placed them in the top drawer. And when it was done, neat ‘n tidy was all that remained.
The bottom two drawers consist of: pajamas and pants/leggings.
Baby Changing Table/Dresser
We didn’t spend a billion dollars on her changing table/dresser, either. Not necessary. All she cares about is smiling (or screaming) at us while we change her on that table.
I think it’s a CafeKids changing table. I don’t even know. All I know is that we got it on Amazon and with Prime, paid no shipping to have it delivered to our front door. The only person who suffered was Ryan, putting it together until the wee hours of the morning. Bless his soul.
It is a changing table + has room for 3 “cubbies” and 2 dresser drawers beneath.
I “splurged” on cubby baskets. I got them from Pier One Imports.
I filled each basket as such, left-to-right, just how I use them six hundred times a day:
- Basket 1: diapers, diapers, diapers
- Basket 2: diaper wipes, refill (I always get stuck mid-change with no wipes = ew) and Diaper Genie refill
- Basket 3: California Baby Natural & Organics lotion and bum cream, All-Natural Hand Sanitizing Wipes
The main reason I put the all-natural hand sanitizing wipes here is that, truth be told, we honestly, truly, 100% have A Gutsy Baby. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or a fancy trick God is playing on me, but I got A Gutsy Baby. Hate it, love it – yes, I’ve felt all those emotions, but they are what they are.
I love knowing, for those times we have a mess on our hands – hers or mine, literally – that there is a wipe nearby to the rescue. Furthermore, a wipe that is safe for kids, non-toxic, and comes from rapidly renewable resources that grow abundantly worldwide.
And finally, next to the changing table/dresser, we keep 2 very important things:
There are no miracles that happen at 2 am, except for the miracle that my husband does a lot of 2 am feedings to help me. What else helps at 2 am (or any time of the day) in the nursery? Cleaning. Messy happens.
We keep the 2 am Miracle near the changing table because it’s a cleaner safe for cribs, changing tables, changing pads, diaper pails, walls, and mattresses. {It is also safe for car seats, highchairs, toys, doors, and floors.}
And the wood fiber cleaning cloths accompany the 2 am Miracle cleaner. And they are colorful!
If paper towels were super absorbent and longer lasting with designs based on the natural origins of wood fiber, they’d look exactly like this. These reusable cleaning cloths are the perfect paper towel alternative, great for spills, cleaning, and well, more spills.
There is just one more part of this series. In case it’s not planned for that post, is there anything YOU want to know about her room and my awesome organization/cleaning skills? <- I kid. About the awesomeness.
I hope I’ve sparked some new ideas for you, for your own baby/children’s room and/or for healthier cleaning/living in general.
Xox,
SKH
How I Have Organized the Little Legume’s Clothes: Part I
On Wednesday, after I unloaded my heavy weight -> clash of old and new life and choosing less to gain more, I moved forward in the best way possible. Already, these past 2 days have been much better and much more productive. Thank you for all your kind messages. I’m looking forward to sharing with (showing you) the fruits of these decisions in the months to come.
As I mentioned in those posts, my Mighty Nest Series was nearly done prior to the mini meltdown, so I will still be posting these for y’all.
Part I: First Comes Love, Then Comes Cleaning {and a Mighty Nest Giveaway}
How I Have Organized the Little Legume’s Clothes: Part I
Clothes. Meh. I’ve never been a girly, girl…..until the Little Legume came along. Suddenly, all these baby girl clothes make my heart gush with “ooohs and ahhhhhs.”
This does not change the fact that all these magically adorable tiny pieces started out a complete mess.
We barely had to buy anything because people just kept on sending more and more things for her.
I decided to organize and put away her clothes in 4 main places:
- hanging up in the closet
- in bins
- in a dresser
- in her changing table
Cleaning
Fact: I am NOT a cleaner. I never have been, and I never will be. But with the Little Legume, her stuff has to be clean and it has to be done in the best way possible. Why? Because she was a Premie, her immune system is still developing and, well, just because I’ve chosen that for her.
Before I hung up her clothes or put them away in bins, I scrubbed them down. Really….think about everyone who laid their germ-y hands all over them in the stores. I’m not a germ phobe, but still, ew.
The job only required 2 items:
a Naked Sponge
For just $3.35 you can have a Naked Sponge 2-pack. What I love most about these is that they are completely free of any and all harmful chemicals and colors – aka no “color bleeding” on my stuff. They are dishwasher safe, and they can be used in all areas of the house.
Pure Castile Soap
The Unscented Baby Mild Pure Castile Soap by Dr. Bronner’s Soaps is perfect not only for light cleaning, but also doubles as a baby soap. How? Because there are no chemicals in it, no fragrance and “All oils and essential oils are certified organic to the National Organic Standards Program.”
To clean the bins and hangers, I just used one part soap to 40 parts water, since cleaning these items are light-duty cleaning. At that pace, this bottle will last me a very long time. And for only $6.95 that’s completely doable.
Once this basic cleaning of bins and hangers was done, it was time to organize.
{Remember, you can win both of the above and so much more! Enter now.}
Hanging Up in the Closet
Self explanatory. I like things to match, so I bought a ton of miniature white hangers.
The hanging-up items include: complete outfits, jackets, nice dresses and sweaters. They are only the ones for 0-3 months, and once they are hung up according to style, I then arrange them by color. My organizational skills are out of this world. Don’t be jealous.
Bins
This is a cheap way for me to store her clothes out for a year ore more (yes, we have clothes that will extend beyond her 1st birthday).
Now, please don’t tell Ryan I told you, but his method of labeling her bins was just not very pretty. Do you see those hand-written paper labels with scotch tape oh-so-vibrantly visible? I mean, c’mon.
And when I told him that it wasn’t very pretty, he replied, “Yes, but it’s practical.”
I’ll give him that (love him for that), but I made just one small (and I might add add, practical) upgrade that made all bins look better…..for only $2.49!
I went to Michaels to find a solution. I knew I needed 4 pieces: 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months, 12+ months.
I found these super cute tags, on an end-cap (<– read: on sale) nonetheless:
For $2.49 her storage bins had just gotten an upgrade. p.s. Are you just about dying at how cute this ruffle skirt is? Thank you, Cousin Amy 🙂
I stuck each tag on the appropriate bin, and then placed the bins on her rustic dresser in the closet.
Simple, prettier and mostly….done and organized.
See you for more soon!
p.s. EVERYTHING included in today’s post was bought for less than $10 per piece. Where do you buy things on the cheap?!
Love your guts,
SKH
Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Restaurant
Isabel Marant Sneakers Different Career Fields in Photography
Ornately decorated sweaters were worn with skirts or trousers
woolrich outletPull Out Spray Kitchen Faucet
woolrich outletPull Out Spray Kitchen Faucet
What’s appropriate for wearing under a cardigan
woolrich rot Think about the following components within fashion
What’s appropriate for wearing under a cardigan
woolrich shop Think about the following components within fashion
woolrich rot Think about the following components within fashion
What’s appropriate for wearing under a cardigan
woolrich shop Think about the following components within fashion
Cleaning When Baby Arrives
We have had her about 2.5 months and have loved her since the very first time we touched her sweet little hands. So now it’s time for cleaning when baby arrives.
We spent November, December and much of January just getting by on love and Peet’s Coffee.
Those early days were all about love (and Peet’s Coffee – do you see my eyes in desperate need of Peet’s Coffee?!).
We had just 5 things when she came to us
- her room
- a car seat (which was actually far too big, so we had to buy another, much smaller, one)
- a pack ‘n play (again, we were expecting a 1-2-year-old)
- a crib
- LOVE
On top of the fact that we had to go on several a baby shopping spree, nothing in her room was ready.
But again, we survived purely on love.
And then it all sort of hit us like a 100-pound stack of bricks, and the messy, chaotic, dirty, unorganized clutter-filled space had begun to stress us out.
It looked like this.
And then it got worse and looked like this.
Enough was enough.
First comes loves, then comes cleaning.
We began taking the room apart, little-by-little.
We organized. We set up baby shop. We cleaned.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to show you what we did and how we did it.
But for today?
ENTER TO WIN MY FABULOUS COLLECTION OF GREEN CLEANING SUPPLIES! {Giveaway is over.}
Includes:
- Come Clean Natural Cleaning Set
- Naked Sponge, 2 pack
- 2am Miracle: Natural Nursery Cleaner
- Wood Fiber Cleaning Cloths
- Unscented Baby Mild Pure Castile Soap
- All- Natural Hand Sanitizing Wipes Canister
p.s. To know me, to my blog is to know that I rarely do giveaways. I couldn’t help myself with this one since one of my personal goals for 2014 is to “swap out all home cleaning and personal care items for more unprocessed ones .” I want the same simplicity and wellness for you and your family:)
The giveaway will stay open through midnight on Monday, February 10, 2014.
Question: What are your best baby/child room cleaning and/or organizing tips?
(Seriously, I still need a TON of help –> give me your best in the comments below!)
Time to clean….
Xox,
SKH
p.s.s. Know someone who is about to welcome a new baby, just welcomed a new baby or simply needs a good children’s room cleaning/reorganization? SHARE THIS POST with them!