Search Results for: blog making a house a home

Homemade Cleaning Recipes: Wipes

Make your own laundry detergent; prepare some homemade cleaners; make your own baking mixes.  Whatever it is that you currently buy at the store to keep your home running, from baby wipes to toilet cleaner, chances are that there is a homemade version that will save your money, be gentle on your cleaning surfaces and your family. Non-toxic cleaners are healthier and easily made. Plus, who doesn’t like saving money in the household budget? I’ve gather some of the best and complete homemade cleaning recipes and make your own blog posts on Families.com. Bookmark these posts, so you can come … Continue reading →

Homemade Cinco de Mayo Fun

Ole!  It’s almost time to fiesta Cinco de Mayo-style. Fortunately, throwing a party to celebrate El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla) doesn’t have to cost you plenty of pesos.  Instead of heading to your local party shop to purchase fancy games and decorations, look around your house for items that can be given a Mexican twist. For example, you can pull out an old “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game, make some minor changes with a Sharpie and play “Pin the Sombrero on the Burro.”  The Mexican hats can be sketched … Continue reading →

Home Based Business Idea – Exterior Painter

It’s that time of year again, a time when people are beginning to spend more time outside of their houses. When weather gets warmer and people start spending time out in their yards, they may notice that the outsides of their houses do not look as nice as they did just a few years ago. A fresh coat of paint or stain can go a long way towards making a house look great, but many homeowners do not have the time or the expertise that they would need to paint their homes themselves. If you can paint houses, then the warmer … Continue reading →

What the 50s Housewife Knew

I’ve been reading a lot lately about 50’s era housewives, including a couple of blogs that feature modern women who take on living as though they were still in that era: creating elaborate dinners that often feature gelatin and liver, getting dressed up complete with lipstick before they greet their husband’s good morning, and boiling laundry at the kitchen sink. While I am not quite ready to give up my modern appliances or attitude, there is one thing that I do appreciate about that time period. Everything got used and only disposed of when absolutely necessary. For example, a 50’s … Continue reading →

Making Snow Cones from a Blizzard

That’s a desperate mom’s twist on the proverbial phrase about lemons and lemonade. When you live in the frozen tundra that is northern Wisconsin you have to flex your creative muscle on a regular basis in order to keep from going stir crazy during the winter months.  This is especially true if your home is filled with antsy children.  Even a singleton can push you to the limits if the weather outside is so frightful that winter play is limited to the living room, kitchen or basement. If you are enjoying a reprieve from Mother Nature right now, remember that … Continue reading →

Housekeeping in 2013

Getting ready to kiss 2012 goodbye, I am eager to embrace the New Year.  But I am also ready to conquer what I believe has become a lost art in today’s society, housekeeping. If you think about it, it’s kind of an old-fashioned word.  Homemaking has mostly replaced it.  But it means one and the same. It can also be a concept viewed in a negative light.  It might conjure up images of women donning aprons, scrubbing the floor on their hands and knees (forget the Shark Steam Mop!).  Or you might picture June Cleaver in her dress and heels, … Continue reading →

Make Your Own Homemade Cleaners

Home remedy cleaners are nothing new. In fact, home owners have been crafting their own cleaners for decades, and these old recipes have been proven over and over again. At the same time, there is a call for new types of cleaners, such as dishwasher rinse aids. Making your own cleaners is much less expensive than spending money on the cleaners that you purchase at the store. Try the following home remedies and see which ones you like. Toilet Bowl Cleanser The nice thing about this toilet bowl cleanser is that not only is it cheap, but it is also … Continue reading →

Two Secrets to a Guest-Ready Home

I don’t have the cleanest home in the world, and not every area is neat and organized.  But it is almost always guest-ready.  So if I get a phone call that someone is dropping by, I usually don’t have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off to straighten things up. So what’s my secret?  I have a couple. Let me share the first one.  It is that I don’t make messes and I don’t allow for them. If there is a struggle you or someone in the home is having, when it comes to messes, then … Continue reading →

Becoming an Efficient Housekeeper

It’s not uncommon to struggle with everything that needs to be done in a home.  But there are ways that you can not only become a better housekeeper but a more efficient one. Personally, I really dislike wasting time.  Although I enjoy a clean, orderly home I prefer to get on with my day.  In other words, there are many other things I would rather do than spend too much time cleaning and organizing. So through the years I have learned a variety of ways to be more efficient. And it all starts the night before. I have a rule … Continue reading →

A Day In The Life Of A Stay At Home Parent

I am sure that anyone who is the parent of a toddler can probably relate to at least some of what goes on at my house. Sometimes, though, I find myself sitting here in disbelief thinking things like “Did that really just happen?”. Then I laugh. Of course it just happened. Being a mom is a lot of different things, and interesting is certainly a word I would use to describe motherhood. Some people ask me whether I get bored, hanging out at home all day with the kids. Since there’s never a dull moment here, there is no time … Continue reading →