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DIY

Home Decor

Home Decor on a Budget

Hello all! Happy happy Tuesday! I hope you’re doing well. Today, as I was driving home from work thinking about setting up some more fall touches around the house, I started to calculate how much money I could spend on making fall happen around here. Now, if you know me at all, you know that there are two things I’m very passionate about: home decor and budgeting. Most of what I do here is super budget friendly, and it’s a part of everything I do, but I realized I’ve never shared exactly how I budget or why. So today I wanted to share with you a few things you can do to decorate on a budget, but more importantly, why you should keep a budget.

Now, this blog is not about money. It never has been. But I know most people feel like they could use some more of it (me included), and it seems like there’s never enough for extra things at the end of the month, especially for frivolous things like decorative pumpkins. I get it. But hear me out.

I budget absolutely everything. Ethan and I start each month with a written gameplan of what we’re going to spend our money on for the upcoming month. And because we’re like most millenials with a mountain of student loan debt, most of our extra cash goes there. But that’s not what’s important today. At the beginning of the month, each of us get a certain cash amount to spend on whatever we feel like spending on that month. For me, this usually falls into the frivolous decorative pumpkin category.

But here’s the cool part. I have cash that I get to spend on decor each month that is totally accounted for. It’s written into our budget, and so I can shop for house stuff completely guilt-free! If I want those curtains, or that pumpkin, or those candles, I can buy them because there’s a certain amount already set aside for that type of spending. Of course, it’s pretty tiny, but it’s there nonetheless.

Now, while we’re talking about tiny budgets, I have learned to get pretty creative when it comes to decorating. Here’s how:

One. DIY it. Almost everything in our house is made or refinished by me. Our headboards, most furniture, candles, signs, wall art, just about everything. I can’t even calculate how much this has saved us throughout the entire house. Our headboard was made from fence posts our neighbors were replacing. Seriously! It cost me nothing! Getting creative with the things around you is my biggest advice to someone wanting to decorate on a budget.

Two. Shop after-season clearance. Since I was a little girl, my favorite shopping day has been the day after Christmas. It’s the best time to stock up on things for the next year because as soon as December 26th rolls around, everything is 50-80% off. This can be a little annoying because you have to wait an entire year to use it. But it is a pretty fun surprise opening the things you bought and forgot about a whole year later. It’s like getting gifts for yourself!

Three. Shop the flea markets and the thrift shops. I went down this weekend to our local thrift store where I realized when the owner approached me asking about my family, that I am now a regular. I mean, I’m in there all the time. But I’ve gotten a heck of a deal on many occasions. My favorite type of thrift store is one where you can negotiate prices, especially after you’ve built a relationship with the staff. I can talk down just about anything when it comes to flea market and thrift store shopping. And if the seller isn’t willing to come down, just walk away! Someone else will have something just like it who is dying to get rid of it! It’s all about patience.

Four. Allow yourself some spending. Seriously. Picture it as an allowance to yourself. I have bought almost everything in our house with my spending money, and I never have to worry about feeling guilty or saving for priorities. The essentials are taken care of, and this money is free for the spending!

My house is certainly not very big or fancy, but I love making it my home. Sticking to my budget when I’m decorating is something I take super seriously. While I would love to go out and spend a ton of money on new furniture and rugs and all kinds of things, I piece things together super slowly as time and money allows. Here’s a sneak peek of our fall dining room. Those flowers? I picked them from the side of the road. They’re just weeds.

If you take away one thing from this, let it be this: I don’t spend a lot of money on my house. At all. But that doesn’t keep me from trying to make it a house that I love. I hope this inspires you to be able to decorate your own home on a small budget. I promise it can be done. That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day.

September 13, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Tutorials

What I’ve Learned Finishing Furniture

Hello all! I hope your week is off to a great start! I’ve been busy busy busy with school starting a few weeks back, but now I’m ready to get into the routine of school being in full swing and I’m ready to start thinking fall!

I’ve been out in my garage working away on tons of projects out in the garage, and if you follow along on Instagram, you might have seen the early stages of this dresser I’m about to show y’all on my IG Story. This dresser turned out even cuter than I thought it might, and so I wanted to share with you guys some of the process and tips I use, now that I have more than a project or two under my belt.

Okay, so this is how this little guy turned out. So cute, right? I didn’t take a picture when I first started, because I’m so forgetful when it comes to that kind of stuff, but it was dark green. Like 90’s dark green. Gross.

The first thing I did was strip all the paint off the dresser. Using a good paint stripper is not for the faint of heart, since it smells, and I burnt my arms a couple of times, but it is essential in removing old paint more quickly.

What I couldn’t take off with the paint stripper, I took my sander to. This took a while, but prepping the entire thing helps the end result. Once I finished sanding, I wiped the entire thing down with Mineral Spirits to clean it off.

See those cute little scallops on the bottom? Adorable. Anyway, once it was all clean, I primed the entire thing. Even though chalk paint claims to be prep-free, I have found that it saves paint to prime first, as well as makes it last longer. After I primed, I sanded everything down with a 220 grit sandpaper. This is super fine, and eliminates brush strokes. I do it super lightly and super quickly to make sure I don’t sand off the primer completely.

I painted the frame with Annie Sloan Old White, and the drawers with a local handmade chalk paint (sorry I don’t have the color for it). I lightly sanded everything down again, and on the drawers, I sanded a bit longer to expose some of the primer. That happened kind of accidentally, but I ended up loving it!

Here’s a closeup of how the drawers turned out. I love them! After I finished painting, I gave everything a coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax. This sweet little dresser was a super fun project, and it turned out even better than I imagined.

Now, this piece won’t be staying with me. I’ve been working hard gathering materials and working on projects like this one because I am going to be a vendor at the upcoming Vintage Market Days! I love this event so much, and this will be my first time as a vendor! Here’s a link directly to the Facebook event. It’s in Waxahachie, which is just south of Dallas. If you’re going to be in the Dallas – Fort Worth area that weekend, you’ll have to stop by. This event is going to be amazing, and if you’re in the area, I would love to meet you! This dresser and many others will be headed to my booth, and I cannot wait to show y’all more!

That’s all for today friends! Have a fabulous day!

August 29, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Room Tours

Our Dining Room: A Blank Slate

Whoooooie! This month has been busy! Progress at the new house is going super slow, and we’re not even remodeling anything! I can’t imagine how slow things will be when we actually buy our own house. We have been busy busy busy with summer ending and school starting back up. It has taken me forever to unpack all the things (still not finished), and actually putting rooms together is taking longer than I thought it would. But, this is my favorite process, even if it does take forever, so I can’t complain too much.

Today I want to share with you guys where our dining room is currently. I have to preface this by telling you that it’s unfinished, but if you read the title of this post you probably already knew that. I just recently got curtains hung, which was a whole hassle in itself. I originally bought curtains from Target, which would have been perfect but they were too short and they were sold out of the length I needed. So those got returned. Then I bought some online from JCPenney, and although the length was good, I didn’t like the texture (silky was not what I was going for when I envisioned a calming, farmhouse feel), so those got returned. Then I waited a week until I had a chance to make the drive up to IKEA, and I finally got the perfect curtains. Third time’s the charm, I should have known.

Okay, so these are the curtains I bought from IKEA and they are perfect. Plus they were the cheapest of the three pair I bought, so I was definitely stoked about that. Now that I have the curtains hung, I feel like I’m in a place to start decorating. It’s a perfectly blank slate which currently looks like this:

We have an open concept floor plan at our new house, and it really isn’t very big, so the dining room is really more of a nook in the main living area. It also has two large windows that take up most of the entire wall space here.

On the right hand side is the kitchen, and this picture is taken from the main living area. We have our little coffee station set up, and that’s about it. Honestly, I kind of like the bare look. Obviously that won’t be staying, but since I have little wall space here, it will never look super cluttered in here.

The curtains are a little bit long, as you can see here. I know some people are a fan of the puddle look, and at this point, I’m really not sure about it. I know it’ll stay this way for a while out of sheer laziness, but I might eventually get around to hemming them.

In the background here you can see our little coffee cart. I have an idea on what I want to put on the wall above that, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet either. It’s about the process y’all.

We actually have been eating here much more frequently than we ever did at our old home. I don’t really know why that is, since we had the same table and chairs (which I madeover here). This space is light and bright, and I certainly couldn’t be upset with that. For now I’m enjoying the process of putting this together slowly but surely.

The tabletop will probably be left blank until I’m ready to start decorating for fall. But since I have a whole house to put together before then, I am in no rush for fall decorating this year. I hope you enjoyed this little mini tour of our unfinished dining room. Well, that’s all for today friends. Have a fabulous day!

August 18, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Furniture Makeover

Annie Sloan: One Year Later

Hey y’all! Phew. The past few weeks have been CA-RAZY. With moving into the new house two weeks ago, and setting up my classroom, and Ethan being in and out of town for work, things have been hectic to say the least. Today is the first day we’ve had internet at our house. Like, we had to go to McDonald’s to pay bills last week. So that was a low point.

Things are starting to feel a tiny bit more settled now finally, and I can’t wait to share with you guys more of the house! Today I want to talk about something I think a lot of people have had questions about. How well does chalk paint hold up? Since I’ve been setting everything up at the new house, I’ve been inspecting and reworking all the things we had in our previous home.

About a year ago, I gave our living room coffee and end table a little makeover. I used Annie Sloan chalk paint, which I’ve used for several other projects throughout our home. I love this paint, and I’ve talked about great it is, but I’ve never had much experience with the paint over a long period of time. Now, our coffee table is the hub of the living room. We’re pretty casual, so this table gets a lot of wear from putting our feet up on the table. We also eat off this table and write on it. It’s basically a work horse.

I’m not being paid by anyone to tell you this, but I have to say, after about a year or so, the top of this table needed a second coat.

The edges of the table top started to wear down (and not from the distressing I intentionally added), and it was starting to look a little more shabby than I was wanting.

In about twenty minutes, I just slapped on a quick top coat of the paint in the Old White color. I didn’t even tape off where I had painted the gray stripes. Just a quick and painless coat of paint, and wax a few hours later.

With this specific project, it doesn’t bother me that I had to do a second coat. With something bigger and more time consuming, it might be a little bit more annoying. Now, there may be people who are better at applying the wax than I am, which could protect the paint better. I’m a novice at this stuff, but that’s my experience. This will in no way prevent me from continuing to use chalk paint in the future. I love the stuff! But, with something bigger, I might look into another solution in the future. We’ll see.

Have you ever had issues with this in the past? If so, I’d love to hear about how you solved them! I know that this has been a quick and simple post, but I wanted to pop in and share what I’ve been up to! Well, that’s all for today friends! Have a fabulous day!

August 2, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Room Tours

Our New Rental: Before

In case you missed my last post, we have moved! As of today, we are 100% moved into our new rental. Our old placed is cleaned out and ready for some new renters and I could not be more happy to leave that sad little place behind. It has been a whirlwind of trying to move everything, clean everything, meanwhile trying to get a weekend away to visit some friends. Plus it’s Texas, and it’s July. So this week has included a lot of sweat. Not that you needed to know that. But it has been stressful.

Anyway. now that we’re moved in, I am ready to start setting up shop. And by shop I mean home. I snapped a few photos of what the house looked like before I started doing anything. And I’m not sure whether I’m sharing these because I really have no shame, or because I want to have a record of how far I’ve come when I’m looking back at this time.

So if you want to see some super terrible photos, continue reading!

This first photo is part of the living room, looking into the dining room. There are two large windows in the dining room which let in a ton of light, so I’m super excited about that. What I’m not super excited about (and you can see it in the left corner of this picture) is Atlas’ crate. It’s huge and we don’t really have an out-of-the-way spot for it. So I’m still trying to figure that out.

this is the guest bedroom, which at the time of this photo, I couldn’t find any blankets for. Again, I really have no shame here.

This is the guest bath…it’s small and has no window, but it is a full bath, which is an upgrade from our previous home that only had a half bath for the guestroom. So I’m really not complaining.

Here’s a shot of the living room. I’m not totally sold on the furniture arrangement, but hey, at least I was getting the slipcovers washed, right?! The living room space is a bit wonky, so I think that’s going to be a fun little challenge for me. Obviously I need to decide quickly though so Ethan can mount the TV and we can continue on with our lives.

Here’s a terribly embarrassing shot of the master bath. But I wanted to share it mostly because this is the first time we’ve had a master bath, and it has two closets and a big tub and a shower and double vanities and a window and if you can’t tell I’m really excited about all of that. Because we had none of that in the old house.

Here is the actual master bedroom. It’s a bit smaller than our old bedroom, but it’s a much more efficient use of space, so it feels perfect.

This last room is one that I’m going to have to work really hard not to be the junk pile room. Because that’s currently what I’m working with. We have plans of turning it into an office, with a really cool DIY desk. First it has to be cleaned out. Obviously. You can see that this room has tile flooring, which is actually what all the bedrooms have as well. I’m not super excited about that, but we will have to get area rugs and make the best of it.

Overall, I’m super excited about this new house. We haven’t gotten the final word on whether or not we can paint the house, but the color is light enough that I can live with it if we can’t. If we are allowed to paint, this girl will be in heaven painting everything in sight white.

Well, I really should get going because as you can see, I have a lot of work to do! Hopefully you’re not too disgusted by the fact that I just shared these photos! I know they’re terrible, but I really do want to remember how it looked the exact moment we moved in. Hopefully y’all can see my vision with me! Well, that’s all for today! Have a fabulous day, friends!

July 18, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Tutorials

DIY Pallet Flag

Now that summer is officially here, it’s almost time for one of my favorite holidays… the Fourth of July! I’ve always loved this holiday, and I don’t even really know why. The fact that it’s in the summertime probably helps! 🙂

The past few weeks I haven’t been super productive, but this past weekend we went away to celebrate our anniversary, and some time on the beach has done me some good! I came back feeling pretty refreshed, and inspired to create something new.

As I mentioned in my last post, this summer we are saving all our pennies for a big goal, so we don’t have a ton of room in our budget for extra fun stuff. Which is totally fine. Because I am super excited about the possibility of something new. Anyway, I was wanting to add something new to our front porch for the holiday, but I wanted to spend zero dollars. Mission accomplished.

I found this old pallet in the trash pile while I was driving down the road… #noshame. I had Ethan drive by in the truck and pick it up. I’ve had it for about a month with no purpose, sitting in the garage. Until yesterday I decided to make a quick project out of it. See, there are perks to hoarding junk in your garage. Totally justifiable.

I didn’t have any red paint on hand (because red is pretty nonexistent around my house), so I decided to make this pallet flag a neutral one. This isn’t my original idea, I’ve seen it all over Pinterest. But this neutral one is my own version.

It took me about fifteen minutes to do the whole thing. I just free handed the stripes, and for the stars, I made my own little stencil. To make the stencil, I just drew a star on a piece of paper, and cut it out. I then used the paper to place my stars where I wanted them. Easy peasy.

Now my little porch area is Fourth of July ready! This little rental that we’ve lived in for the past two years of our marriage has been both a blessing and a curse. The list of things we dislike about this rental is more than a mile long, and the list of things we like are pretty slim. Actually, the positives can be narrowed down to two things: the rent is cheap and there’s a front porch. I am not kidding when I say that’s about it. But this little porch area really is my favorite spot, and I have loved adding more fun touches to this spot.

Now I’m feeling pretty productive for a Monday morning, but I have much more to do. I just wanted to pop in and show you this little DIY! This (like all my projects) is an easy one, and I hope it inspires you to create something today!

Well, I’m off to cross more things off my to-do list. That’s it for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

June 27, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Recipes

Homemade Strawberry Pie

Hey y’all! It’s June and you may not know what that means, but in my world, that means it’s strawberry season! I don’t know about you, but I love me some strawberries. I love them because they’re so sweet they’re not even like fruit, they’re more like candy. Which is exactly why they are incredible.

When I was growing up, every June we would go strawberry picking at a local farm. Now, we were not farm people at all, we could best be described as extreme suburbia. When strawberry season came around though (in New York where I grew up it was usually the last week of June), we would head out the the farm to do some picking. My mom and my siblings and I would fill up basket after basket, eating yummy berries as we made our way through the rows. After we loaded our trunk with berries, we would head home where we would make strawberry jam for the rest of the year, pies, shortcakes, and of course some just to eat. Those were some good times.

The last time I picked strawberries myself was two years ago when, two days before our wedding, Ethan and I picked fresh berries for the chocolate covered strawberries served at our wedding. I haven’t been picking lately, which is fine because I don’t have a need for a ton of berries. When they’re in season though, they’re super cheap at the grocery store and so I stock up and get baking.

Today I want to share with you guys my homemade strawberry pie recipe. This is the first (and pretty much only) recipe that I have tweaked and changed myself to truly be able to call it mine. Now, I’m sure there is someone else out there in the world who has the same recipe as me, and that’s totally fine. I can honestly say though that this is my own recipe from my own baking experience. And I make everything from scratch. The crust, the filling, and the whipped cream. I know that some people can get overwhelmed by making their own crust. But let me tell you a secret… it is SO EASY. And it’s way tastier than store-bought crust. I promise if you make your own crust, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.

The first thing you’ll want to prepare is the crust. You will need:

2 cups flour

2/3 cup shortening

1/3 cup cold water

So, you add your shortening and flour info a mixing bowl. Mix it around with a fork until the shortening is in small, pea-sized bits. Then slowly add your water, a little at a time. Pour some water in the bowl (about a tablespoon or so), and mix into the flour mixture. Continue to add water until a dough forms. Toward the end, you will use your hands to form a dough ball. Then. on a floured surface, flatten the dough with your hands. With a rolling pin, roll it until it is about 16 inches across. You will want this to be as circular as possible. Once it is rolled out, fold the dough in half, and then half again. It should basically look like a fraction (1/4) of a circle. Lift the folded pie dough into a pie plate, and unfold. The folding is just a trick to transfer it from countertop to pie plate. Use your fingers to mold the crust into the dish. I usually use the back of a spoon to create a pattern around the edge of the crust. Poke holes in the crust with a fork. Now you’re ready to bake! Place the empty crust in the oven at 450 for 5 minutes.

Once the crust is done and cooled, you’ll get started on the filling. Here’s what you will need:

8 cup strawberries

1/2 cup water

1 packet of strawberry gelatin

1 tbsp cornstarch

2/3 cup sugar

First, you’ll take six cups of strawberries, and set them aside. Cut off the greenery, and cut the berries into quarters. Some people like to put whole berries in their pie, I prefer smaller pieces. That’s totally a personal preference though. Place these strawberries into the pie crust.

With the remaining two cups of strawberries, cut them (this time you will want them to be in pretty small pieces) and place them in a bowl. Using a berry masher, mash the berries until they are as pulpy as possible. It should basically look like juice with some small chunks mixed in. Transfer these into a pot.

On medium heat, add your water to the strawberries. After you add the water, you will add the sugar, gelatin, and cornstarch. Continue mixing until the sauce thickens and begins to boil. Once it is boiling, take it off the heat, and pour over the fresh strawberries in the pie plate. You will want to make sure the sauce is poured evenly around the pie.

Once the dish cools a bit, place it in the fridge for three hours. Just before serving, you’ll want to make the whipped cream, which in my opinion, is the best part! You will need:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

approximately 1 tbsp sugar

approximately 1 tsp vanilla

I say approximately because I don’t actually measure these, I just kind of pour them into the mixing bowl. I leave them in the Kitchenaid for about five minutes, or until the cream starts to thicken. You can add more sugar or vanilla, depending on your taste preferences. It’s totally easy and totally up to you! Scoop a little on your pie, and enjoy!

And that’s pretty much it! The most time consuming part is cutting all the strawberries, but overall, it takes me about 40 minutes to prepare. Guys, I seriously love this pie. I’ve experimented with a few different factors, and this is what I’ve found to be the best! I cannot recommend this one enough, especially now that strawberries are in season and super fresh. Well, I’m off to enjoy some pie! Have a fabulous day, friends!

June 6, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects

How I Fake Calligraphy

Hey guys! Hope you’re having a great day! I just got in from mowing the lawn (yuck). It’s hot and sticky outside, and I’m pretty sure my outdoor quotient has been met for the day. Now that Memorial Day has passed, summer is here, and that means BBQ and fireflies and porch sitting and bringing a little red white and blue into the home. Yesterday I took out a few patriotic decor items out of the closet, and I put a few things together. I made a little hand-lettered print, and I realized it’s totally something I should share!

Now, a little background. It seems like everyone is on this hand-lettered kick in decorating, and I’m all about it. I have seen some really beautiful calligraphy around, and I just don’t have that sort of talent. I’ve never taken a class or anything, I really would not consider myself someone who actually knows something about the matter. I do, however, love creating little prints for our house. It’s basically free art, and there’s no way I’m not getting on that train!

So here’s how I, someone who is totally not an expert, create simple hand-lettered pieces from my home. I bought a multi-pack of pens from Hobby Lobby. I don’t see them listed online, but it was a three pack of square tip pens in various sizes. Are they good? They work for me, and that’s good enough.

You may still be able to find this pen in the store, and with their 40% off coupon, it only cost me a few dollars.

This pen has a square tip, which is pretty much the secret to creating pretty writing.

When I’m writing something, I use a normal cursive font, the same that I would write with using a normal pen. The trick to using these calligraphy pens is holding them at about a 45 degree angle. It took me a little while to get used to holding the pens correctly without moving them.

For this little print, I used a page from my old hymnal, the page with My Country Tis of Thee on it. Perfect for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. I printed a line from the song, and this is what I came up with:

Easy. (I think that might be my motto around here: do I do anything that’s not easy.) I have little prints around the house, and I love it because it’s so cheap and quick. And on the hymnal, I love it even more. It adds such a nostalgic touch for me. And the mini clipboard is from Hobby Lobby. I got it recently, and it’s perfect for switching out seasonal prints.

Have you ever tried hand-lettering? I promise, it’s much easier than it seems! Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

May 31, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Home Decor

Rusty Porch Bar Cart

Good Morning, friends! Today is my first official day of summer break, and as I’m typing this, I’m lounging around in my pajamas. I’m ready to have a nice refreshing break from work this summer!

Now that summer is officially here, I have lots of plans which include porch sitting, painting things, lounging, and not much else. 🙂 I’ve been working on making our porch a little bit more enjoyable this season, and I wanted to share a new addition to the front porch. A month or so ago, I added our cable spool table to the porch, and it has been wonderful! I knew that I wanted to add more, so when my father-in-law sent me a picture of a rusty old bar cart asking if I wanted it, I jumped at the chance.

I’ve been desperately trying to keep a few plants alive (not very well, I might add), and I knew an old bar cart would be the perfect thing to house my little plants. The problem was that it was so rusty, I couldn’t even tell what color it was originally. I wanted it to be rusted, but I wanted to see if there was a way to scrub some of the rust off so that some of the original paint was exposed.

I didn’t really want to buy anything to remove the rust with, knowing I would only use it for this project (assuming it even worked) and would then be destined to cluttering the back of my cleaning supply closet. So, I figured I’d do my own thing. Recently, I shared my DIY all-purpose household cleaner, and I’m happy to report that it truly does work for all purposes. You can check out the full article in the link above, but it’s what I used to expose some of the original paint on this little cart.

I generously sprayed the cart completely. I let it sit for about an hour, spraying a bit more at that time (the Texas heat didn’t quite allow for a soak, as it just dried it up). After about two hours of the solution on the cart, I began scrubbing with the same brush we generally use to clean the grill. As I would scrub a certain spot, I would hose it down. If it needed more scrubbing, I would spray a little more solution on it, and immediately continue scrubbing.

Eventually I began to see little spots of green paint emerge from behind the scrub brush. I’m not going to lie and say this was super easy; it took quite a bit of elbow grease. I did intentionally stop at this point, since I wanted the cart to keep a bit of it’s rusty charm. If you have a bit more muscle than I do, you could certainly scrub off more rust than I was able to.

This little cart makes the porch just a little bit more cozy! And I’m absolutely thrilled with how it turned out, with it’s rusty, chippy goodness. I think once I get up from this couch, I’ll make my way out there to enjoy this little spot. Do you have something old and rusty? I’d be willing to bet you can clean it up a bit with some elbow grease and some items you have around the house!

Well, that’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

May 27, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

Organization

DIY Household Cleaner

Hi friends! Long time no chat! I’ve seriously been so busy lately I haven’t had a spare moment to update here and I feel terrible! I’m so glad I could finally carve out a little time to stop by and say hello! School (which is work for me, since I’m a teacher) is moving full steam ahead into the end of the school year and I’m struggling to keep up. Thankfully in just two weeks I’ll actually have some free time!

Well, I’ll be short and sweet today, but I wanted to share with you a little homemaking tip for you fellow budget conscious friends. If there’s one thing I hate spending my money on, it’s cleaning products. They can be so expensive, and it seems like you need a different product for everything! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather spend my money on pretty things for the house than boring cleaning supplies. A while back, I shared my DIY laundry soap, which has saved me tons of money over the past few years. If you didn’t catch that post, you can read all about it here.

Recent’y I’ve started making an all purpose cleaner, something that takes the place of many of the bottles that I previously had under my sink. So here’s the super easy all purpose cleaner that I make for my home.

I use about 1.5 cups of vinegar and put it in a jar, and then add one small lemon, thinly sliced. I place the lemons in the vinegar, and leave the jar to sit for a few weeks. This will allow the lemons to fully soak into the vinegar. I don’t really know much about chemistry (I barely passed that class in high school), but I know both lemons and vinegar have some super strong stuff in them, so working together makes them doubly great I suppose? Who knows. I just made that up.

After two weeks, I pour the liquid into a spray bottle, and that’s about it! My spray bottle has a pretty narrow neck, so I don’t bother trying to squeeze the lemon slices into it. I just throw them away. My spray bottle was something I picked up for a dollar or so in the cleaning section at Walmart. Lemon and vinegar are both pretty inexpensive, so this is something that comes out to be much more budget friendly than typical cleaners.

I use this spray for just about anything. Countertops, stove top, sinks, shower walls, and even the inside of the fridge and microwave. The lemons take away the strong smell of the vinegar, and it smells more like citrus than like vinegar. I absolutely love using this method because it saves me a couple dollars, and I do enjoy making the things I use in my home. It’s also chemical free, which I know is a big deal for a lot of people. Safe for expectant mamas, and easy to make!

I told you I’d be short and sweet today, but once my summer vacation has started, I’ll be around much more frequently. I hope you enjoyed this little post, and that you’ll give it a try. I would definitely recommend this one, I can’t stress enough how easy it is! Well, that’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

May 9, 2016 by Fawn Rumfield

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