We have no carpeted rooms in our house – which means I sweep fairly often. There is always at least one room that needs to be swept. I have a great all-purpose broom but find a smaller, compact broom is great for some areas of the house. By the door collects a lot of grass deposited there from our shoes. I just take out my little whisk broom and can easily sweep up the grass. It might seem a little lazy to not drag out the big broom but for small jobs, I prefer the smaller broom. It’s easier to handle and takes less effort to sweep dust/grass into the dust pan.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever talking about ironing. I don’t iron that well, so that is the reason that I’ve never given advice about ironing. However, my husband does iron very well and I’ve actually picked up a few tips from him that has helped me when I absolutely have to iron. This past week I had to iron a few things for a consignment sale and ironed the hubby way. It did make it easier and I got better results.

First I drag out the ironing board. The ironing board makes it so much easier to iron. Before I had an ironing board, I would use a towel over a hard surface like a table. It worked okay but is not nearly as effective as an ironing board.

Next I set my iron to the correct setting and give it a few minutes to come to temperature.

Then I prefer to use starch. I gently spray the garment and then ruffle it together to spread the starch. If I don’t have starch then I use my husband’s favorite – water. We have a spritzer bottle or we even use a damp washcloth to wet the garment.

Then comes the real work – ironing. Try not to leave the iron in one place for too long as you will scorch the clothing. I go back and forth – moving the iron left and right.

I’m still not really good at ironing because it does take patience – which I don’t really have. I have gotten better. It’s like everything else – practice makes perfect.

If you are looking for more room while taking a shower, then switch to hotel shower curtain rod. This circular rod really adds the room in the shower.

We have a small bathtub that my husband never liked because of its size. We bought one of these rods and it has added a lot of room in that tight spot. My husband now has plenty of space to take his shower.

The shower rod was about $30 but you won’t need another shower curtain as your current one should still fit. It’s a cheap way to add some shower space to a small tub. It also adds an some interest to the bathroom, too.

My parents last water bill was nearly triple what it normally is. So they are trying to track down the cause. There are no obvious leaks and with the amount of usage that is being reported, it most likely has something to do with the meter. But I did pick up this cool tip for finding a water leak from the water company.

This tip has to do with the toilet. Sometimes the flap doesn’t always close but usually this is pretty obvious since the water doesn’t turn off after flushing. But some times the rubber flaps become hard and won’t close properly and cause a slow leak. We had this happen in our rental house. You could hear the water dripping even though it wasn’t as loud as when the flap is open.

But here is an easy way to check for a water leak in your commode tank. Drop a some food coloring dye into the water in the tank. Wait for a while to let it settle. If the dyed water shows up in your toilet bowl before you have flushed, then you have a leak. The lady at the water company said this was the easiest way to determine if you had a lead with your tank.

Today while sitting in the living room trying to wake up, I noticed we had a visitor in the house. This cute, little mouse peeked his head out from under the couch.

He darted off but then was soon back again. If only the cat were inside! But alas, no. It will be up to us to get rid of the mouse. According to the National Pest Management Association, 21 million homes will have unexpected pesky visitors this year. Yikes! Last year we had two mice that invaded our home.

Last year we used mousetraps with Spanish peanuts. We microwaved the peanuts(roasting) for a few seconds before placing them on the trap. This gets them really smelling and is more enticing to the mice – at least according to my dad. So I’ve rounded up one trap from last year and will set it today in hopes that it will do the trick.

Then I plan to take some additional steps to help keep out any more rodents.
– Keep trash in tightly wrapped containers
– Check for drafts around windows and other openings. Then seal them up.
– Cut back brush at least a foot from the house and clean out the gutters.

Hopefully this will our first and last rodent this winter.

I’ve used plastic colored clothes hangers for years. I hang my husband’s clothes on white ones and mine on green ones. Lately, though, that’s hasn’t been the case as it has been just grab, hang, and get done with the laundry. We tend to wear the same clothes each week and have a lot of clothes that we just can’t wear anymore. So a new idea formed for these colored hangers.

I really need four colors to do this but my idea is to hang clothes on certain weeks on certain colored hangers. This way we can visually see which clothes are getting worn. When four weeks has passed, whatever still hasn’t been worn on the colored hanger needs to be given away as it’s obvious we aren’t wearing it. Right now I have three colors: white, green, and black. So I just need to buy a fourth color to really get this going. Hopefully this will help us thin out out clothing and organize our closet a little better.

Wanting to block the sun from coming through your windows and find that the mini-blinds aren’t getting the job done? Well, I had posted about using aluminum foil on windows. While it works well, it’s not an option for some people because of where they live. We have it on our back windows where we have no neighbors, so no one sees it.

While cleaning up the other day, my husband found a movie poster that I just can’t bear to part with but have no place to hang up. It has Kevin Sorbo on it (hubba hubba!) from the movie Kull the Conqueror. My husband found a spot for it in the bedroom no less! Just take a look:

He hung it in the window. Surprisingly it does help to filter the light coming in. Now I get to look at Kevin Sorbo everyday and have a cooler bedroom. What more could a girl ask for?

A cup of bleach in the laundry can really help to get out odors and stains in clothing. After using bleach in the laundry, the house always smells so clean.? In newer washing machines, it’s easy to add bleach to the laundry because there is a special place to pour it. It is then added at the right time during the wash.

If you don’t have a ‘bleach only’ location in your washing machine, then you need to add the bleach to your laundry a little later in the washing cycle. After adding your clothes and detergent, start the cycle. Wait until all the water is in the washing machine. Then add the bleach to the laundry. That’s the way my mom always does it.? With new washers, it is easy to add bleach but with older ones you still have to wait and add it at the right time.

Having a child means we go through a lot of milk, probably three gallons a week. I hate having to throw away those big, plastic jugs. I recycle them when I can for other purposes. Here are some ideas for those gallon milk jugs.

10. Refill with water and keep in automobile in case of overheating.

9. Use to take Kool-aid or tea to family reunion or party.

8. Cut a hole in the middle of the jug and use as a plastic bag holder.

7. Use a funnel and fill with birdseed instead of worrying with bags. It will also be easier to refill feeders with jug than seeds in a bag.

6. Keep spare change in it.

5. Cut bottom off and use as a scoop for grain, corn, or practically anything.

4. Cut a hole in the side and store spare car parts in it especially nuts and bolts.

3. Put rocks in it and hang around your garden to scare off animals.

2. Save to mix up cleaning solutions from concentrates.

1. Give to kids and show them how to blow across the top of the opening to make a noise. Have them form their own jug band!

Using coupons can be an awesome way to get a discount on items you already buy. Drugstores run weekly sales that make it easy and cheap to stock up on household staples like cleaning products, toothpaste, shaving cream, and more. Most of these deals will be a buy one get one or a special price for two. Combine the special offers from the drugstore with the manufacturer’s coupon and you can save any more.

You can find coupons on your local newspaper or a better, faster way is online. Savings.com is a online coupons website that lists deals from several merchants. You can search by merchant or just plug into the search box what it is your are looking for. There are also categories that you can browse if you are just interested in seeing what has been submitted to the website. Deals are listed in Digg-like form by users and can either be given a vote of approval or buried by users. This type of check and balance means that the best and most useful deals will rise to the top.

You can also find promotional codes, discounts, and free shipping coupons plus more. Shopping online is very convenient and can save you money. With the right coupon code, that savings can even be greater. Amazon.com has become one of my favorite places to shop especially since they offer free shipping on orders over $25. Amazon also have plenty of other great discounts that can be found on Savings.com.

I have just recently starting clipping coupons but have been using online coupons for a while. Combining the two will hopefully save us even more money. While the newspaper and magazines are good resources for finding print coupons, Savings.com is a good resource for finding online coupons, coupon codes, and more.