A while back I posted at a frugal living website asking for ideas on how to make jewelry cleaner. Here are some of the responses I received.
:: Warm water and baking soda in a flat bottom pan and some aluminum foil in the bottom. OR toothpaste works great too with a old toothbrush. That first one cleans silver too. I wouldn’t use anything on pearls though it will ruin them.
:: I make my jewelry cleaner like this: 1/2 amonia 1/2 water. Let gold jewelry soak for a long while and then use an old toothbrush to scrub with, rinse and wipe dry. Do NOT use on silver jewelry (sterling). Toothpaste or a polishing cloth is the best for that.
:: For gold jewelry I use toothpaste and and old toothbrush.
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:::upcycling::: taking something that you would otherwise throw away, and finding a way to give it a second life by making it into something else.
We do what we can to make our money go further. At times, we try to make things ourselves, instead of buying it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Other times, we look for ways to use something before we get rid of it. It’s kind of fun to try and see what we can come up with. Not to mention the benefit of recycling and reducing waste. My youngest has gotten pretty good at finding a second life for things and she uses a lot of odds and ends for art projects.
Finding a second life for things, instead of throwing it out, is something I enjoy doing and find it very creatively rewarding. I enjoy finding simple uses as much as taking on larger projects. Sometimes the quick and easy projects are more enjoyable because you can see the results quickly.
:1: My husband used two thick wooden beams to make a balance beam for our kids in the back yard.
:2: A old tea cup saucer became a place for butterflies to drink by adding some small rocks and water.
:3: Some old picket fence panels got painted and placed around our pool pump.
:4: Crushed up cookies at the bottom of the bag get tossed on top of pudding or ice cream. (my kids love this!)
:5: Old washcloths and towels become cleaning rags
:6: Sunday comics to wrap the kids birthday gifts (they think this is cute!).
:7: A very large piece of cardboard became a mobile jigsaw puzzle holder while it’s being worked on.
:8: We save buttons, tassels, old earrings, greeting cards, etc to use for art & craft projects.
:9: An old plastic container became our buried time capsule.
:10: Four wheels from a table left behind by the previous home owner became the wheels for Buddie’s (our iguana) cage…even though she’s hardly ever in it. We only use it when people are over.
:11: My youngest just did this 5 minutes ago: She’s got a cold and is on the couch with a box of tissues. She just finished the box, so I gave her a new one and went to throw the old one out. She told me not to because she was going to use as a garbage pail and put the old tissues in it.
:12: When a folding table started to rot, we removed the folding legs and attacted them to a piece of wood to make a new table.
Recommended Upcycling Books
Another thing that my husband & I did when we first bought this house was start composting. We really didn’t do it very well, got discouraged and then with the adoption process underway, composting was the last thing on our mind. But, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought again lately. One of the things we’ll have to do first is make a bin. I don’t want to spend a lot right now because I’m not sure it’s going to work (especially with rainly season upon us) or that we’ll be able to keep up with it. We might actually start collecting grass clippings now and start in the fall when we can use the fallen leaves as a base.
These are some ideas I found online that we might want to incorporate when we do start one.
Old Fencing Take down the fence in sections. These sections can be used to make a great compost bin, ready-made with small space between the slats so your compost can breathe.
Dresser Drawers Take an old dresser / bureau. Knock out the bottom of each drawer. With a few 2×4′s you can attach the drawers together to make a small compost bin. Detach the top of the dresser and attach to the top of your bin with hinges at the back for easy accessibility.
Simple Compost The simplest compost bin container – 4 sticks of wood in the ground, Wire or plastic netting round the sticks, lined with cardboard.
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Here’s a few more recipes for homemade cleaners you can make yourself. Invest in a few spray bottles and make them before you need them. That way you always have them on hand for cleaning jobs.
OVEN CLEANER
2 Tbsp. dish washing liquid
2 Tbsp. borax
1/4 c. ammonia
1 1/2 c. warm water
Mix together, apply to oven spills and allow to sit 20-30 minutes. Scrub with an abrasive nylon-backed sponge and rinse well.
GENERAL-PURPOSE CLEANER
1 tsp. borax
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vinegar
1/4 tsp. dish washing liquid
2 c. hot water
Combine all ingredients. For a more pleasant smell, use lemon juice instead of vinegar.
EASY SCRUB
3/4 c. baking soda
1/4 c. borax
Dish washing liquid
Combine the baking soda and borax. Mix in enough dish washing liquid to make a smooth paste. (Add 1/4 tsp. of lemon juice for a more pleasant smell.)
HEAVY-DUTY DISINFECTANT CLEANER
1/4 c. powdered laundry detergent
1 Tbsp. borax
3/4 c. hot water
1/4 c. pine oil or pine-based cleaner
Slowly stir the detergent and borax into the water to dissolve. Add the pine oil (available at hardware stores and supermarkets) and mix well. For bathroom cleaning, use the mixture full strength. In the kitchen, dilute with water.
GLASS CLEANER
2 Tbsp. ammonia
1/2 c. alcohol
1/4 t. dish washing liquid
A few drops blue food coloring
Water
Combine ammonia, alcohol, dish washing liquid and food coloring,
then add enough water to make 1 quart. If you prefer a
non-ammonia cleaner, substitute 3 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
for the ammonia.
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