Book Baubles

I made these cute little Book Baubles last year for Christmas, but I have left them up year round as nice, INEXPENSIVE, style pieces. 

I wanted to share with you how simple they were to make.

I selected thick paperback books from the thrift store. 

 fold 2 pages at a time.

 2 pages at a time and crease really well. 

Start in the middle of the book. Use 5-ish pages per loop.
You  may have to run a line of hot glue if your loop wont stay tucked. 

Clean Your Whole House Naturally

After reading the book, Healthy Child, Healthy World, WD and I became sold on the idea of making our house healthier for ourselves and our future children by removing the toxins and poisons.

Here are some of the natural cleaning solutions we use. We are completely chemical free except liquid dish detergent (still in bulk from couponing) and the barkeepers friend I keep to polish my sink, I haven't found a greener solution for that yet, but we only have to do that when aluminium comes in contact with it.

Switching to the natural cleaning method is much cheaper too. Even when I was couponing, cleaning supplies weren't this inexpensive. 

Save money, be healthier- win, win. 

White Vinegar- buy it in bulk.

Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to your wash cycle as a natural fabric softener and to remove odors.

Add 1 tablespoon to your rinse aid spot in your dish washer for a cloudless spot free shine on your dishes.

We have a straight vinegar spray bottles used for: 

Cleaning or disinfecting countertops, degreasing pans, spritzing the tile shower in between scrubbing, cleaning the tub and toilet, cleaning windows, and cleaning up pet messes. 

Diluted vinegar (about 1/2 cup vinegar, rest of the spray bottle water) spray bottles used for:

Mopping the floor (spray, then mop with dust rag or microfiber cloth), spot cleaning the walls or any other painted surface if water didn't work first. You can also use this as your all purpose cleaner too, safe for pets and kids. 

Hydrogen Peroxide

Leave this product in the dark bottle it comes in, but you can twist a spray nozzle on it too. This is great for stains on white shirts, and really grody tile grout.  Use it to do the deep cleaning on your toilet and tub too. It also works great on windows and mirrors, be patient it takes a little longer to dry.  It can discolor your clothes, so be mindful of that. 

Baking Soda

After living in two apartments with nasty acrylic tubs, all full of scratches I buy the big box of baking soda. No bathroom cleaners worked as well as baking soda and a brush, and I tried enough to cause brain damage, I'm sure. Baking soda is an abrasive that is soft enough to clean off acrylic and plastic surfaces like a miracle without damaging them, just like it does your teeth! You can also sprinkle it on carpet and vacuum for a fresh room, and leave in your fridge to keep the stink away. I put mine in a small shallow dish, covered with a coffee filter fastened with a rubber band- not willing to waste the whole box. 

Borax

Borax is my new best friend. When we moved into our house WD's shower had this weird grey discoloration all over his 1960's green shower. We tried EVERYTHING, even left straight bleach sitting on these spots and nothing helped. I figured the shower was a goner, maybe someone dumped some super toxin in there to clean the drain and left it too long of something and it ate the enamel off the tile. BUT BORAX GOT IT OFF! I was scrubbing the grout last week, and realized there was also grey clumpy stuff all over the doorway- like where a glass door had been removed.  The borax paste began to slowly remove the ancient adhesive, and I thought I would give the grey mystery stains a try- maybe it was where someone tried to wash adhesive down the drain. A LOT of elbow grease + borax + teeny bit of water, and it came off!!!

You can also mix it with jelly/honey/syrup in a sealed container with tiny holes and kill ants with it!! We also used it to make gak when I was a kid... do you remember gak? 

Tea
 Cleaning wood floors with black tea is a safe and natural way to make your wood surfaces shine. The tannic acid in tea, finished with a light buff of olive oil, does wonders for wood! Steep one of two tea bags in quart of water and let the water cool to room temperature. Remove the tea bags, and dip a soft cloth into the solution. Wipe down the floors, and admire how easily the scratches and imperfections disappear!
Olive Oil
Polishes wood, and heals water rings. Read Post Here
Washing Soda

Boosts your laundry detergent on super dingy loads. Mix with water for an all purpose cleaner.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

Homemade Dish Washing Detergent

If there is a specific cleaning question you have or product you would like to replace naturally, please ask. I would love to find the answer for you!

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

One of my most popular posts is the homemade liquid laundry detergent.  I made my first batch of liquid detergent in January, and this double batch lasted me from the January to June. There are only two of us, but I was pretty impressed. That would mean I could most likely only have to make detergent twice, maybe three times per year. The liquid detergent is a little slimey, gloopy and doesn't look like traditional liquid detergent so may not be appealing to some people. If that was a problem for you, this recipe may be appealing.
This is an original Bricks & Bauble's recipe. 

This powdered detergent recipe is HE (high efficiency) safe. So here is what you need:

• 2 cups of Borax
• 2 cups of Super Washing Soda
• 1 bar of Ivory Soap
• 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap
• 1/2 Cup white Vinegar 
• You may also want a food processor, I used my Ninja blender. 

1. If you are using a Ninja or a food processor roughly chop the soap, then tossed it in the ninja until it was pulverized into powdered dust. If you aren't using a Ninja, just grate the bar of Ivory soap & Fels Naptha washing soap. 

 2. Add the Borax and Washing Powder to the soap  and either stir, or blend together. Remove the combined powdered. 

3. Separate 1 cup of detergent and put it with the vinegar back into the Ninja*. Blend into as fine pieces as possible slowly add more dry powder, and mix again. Continue until the laundry detergent is fully blended. 

(Vinegar helps remove odor, and works as a natural fabric softener.)

If you still think it's too clumpy, you can sift it through a colander and re-blend the clumps into powder. *If you are not using a food processor or Ninja, combine with a fork. 

4. Add the powdered detergent into an adorably stylish jar (or whatever else you can find.) 

Bonus points for a cute label on your stylish jar! 

Use 1 Tablespoon per load. 

(Extra stinky load? you can use 2 Tbs)

Natural, Homemade Bug Repellant

This is a Guest Post from Ashley Pahl at She Makes a Home. I am so excited to share these natural bug repellants with you because using harsh chemicals and poisons are dangerous for pets and children. If you love this post, please leave Ashley a comment!

 Hello, I'm Ashley Pahl from She Makes a Home, and I'm so excited to share some tips with you here on Bricks and Baubles! With the weather being so intensely warm this year, we've been having pest problems more than usual - mostly fruit flies and ants in the home.

Luckily, it only takes a few household ingredients to take care of these problems.

To get rid of fruit flies, you will need:

• Apple cider vinegar 
• Liquid dish soap
• Banana peel
• a small container

First, fill the small container about 2 cm deep with the apple cider vinegar. Next, put 2-3 drops of liquid dish soap into the vinegar, and stir it around. Finally, a couple pieces of banana peel placed inside the dish is all you need - just make sure the peel is covered by the liquid.

The flies will be attracted to the sweet vinegar and banana peel, but the dish soap will trap them once they land. The vinegar smell might be a bit strong at first, but it helps to place the traps near where the flies are hanging out - near fruit bowls and sinks. You can move your trap around the house until you've caught them all. Empty and replace as needed.

To get rid of ants:

Ants are smart little things. The day that they invaded my home, I got rid of most of them via vacuum, but new ones kept coming in. Killing them on site will not stop the problem - once they locate a food source, they leave a scent trail for others to follow.

To repel ants, you will need:

• Vinegar and water
• Cinnamon

and if they persist, you will need:

• Borax
• Jelly; powdered sugar and water; or peanut butter
• a lidded container with holes punched in the top

If an ant problem isn't that bad, you may be able to keep them away by:

1. disposing of the ants that already came inside

2. cleaning the room thoroughly

3. spraying a mix of vinegar and water on the floor where the ants were walking - it erases the scent trails they left for others to follow

4. sprinkling a line of cinnamon in front of the opening they used to get in (you will need to have seen where they were coming from)

Ants cannot stand cinnamon! I couldn't believe it when I first tried this method. I read that ants hate peppermint, and won't cross lines of chalk or baby powder, but all of the other methods failed. A thick line of cinnamon did the trick: I watched them walk into my living room, walk up to the cinnamon, and turn around and leave! After you haven't seen ants for a while, clean up the messy ground cinnamon, and replace with cinnamon sticks left around the house where ants might return.

Now, if there are so many ants that you just can't contain them, it's time to step-up your efforts. Mix 1 tablespoon of Borax (20 Mule Team - found in the laundry detergent aisle), with 2 tablespoons of jelly; or, mix 1 tablespoon of Borax mixed in with 1/2 cup powdered sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup water, to make a paste.Put this bait into lidded containers with holes punched in the top for the ants to access the bait, and take it back to their colony. Keep these containers out of reach of children and pets - behind furniture or under appliances are good places.

Some ants do not like sweets - if this is the case, try peanut butter instead of jelly or sugar.

You may actually see increased ant activity as they go for the bait, and this is good - it means they are taking it back to the colony to share. The Borax will do them in when eaten, and hopefully take care of your entire ant problem within a few days. I have tried this, and within a week our ant problem was gone.

Have you tried any of these method with success? Or do you have any ideas for naturally getting rid of other pests? Share your ideas in the comments!

Cinnamon is magical! I used a cinnamon air freshener that was primarily cinnamon essential oil to rid my bathroom (behind the toilet) of spiders! It worked great! Thank you so much Ashley!!