Poor Evie.  She woke up several times last night thanks to an icky stomach bug, and we’ve been cleaning up the mess ever since.  Fortunately, I’ve got some homemade tools in my arsenal that make cleaning up midnight vomit a little easier – all purpose vinegar spray (the same one I use to clean the [...]

Like most college students, my roommates and I had a hodgepodge collection of kitchenware in our house.  Mismatched silverware, chipped plates, random mugs – basically, whatever our parents no longer needed in their kitchens came to school with us.  This included a wide selection of scratched pots and pans, some of which were coated with [...]

We are leaving tomorrow for a much needed – and, might I say, much deserved! – vacation.  Ever since my husband quit his corporate job 2 1/2 years ago to build his own businesses we’ve been working non-stop.  We’re lucky if we have one day a week to spend as a family. Whenever we leave [...]

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. – Phyllis Diller We live in a spacious but snug downtown Chicago apartment.  With two bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms and space for a proper dining table and home office I know we should feel lucky.  But, with [...]

One of the biggest bummers about living in a big city is that I don’t always get to satisfy my quaint domestic desires.  Sure, I’ve become quite adept at preserving fresh foods, making homemade cleaning products and keeping my life sweet and simple, but there are days I long for a little dirt under my [...]

No matter how hard I try to avoid plastic bags, they always seem to creep into my home.  Considering that nearly 1 trillion crappy plastic bags are produced worldwide every year, its no surprise that avoiding them is tough, even for an eco-freak like me who keeps a stash of re-useable bags in the car [...]

I spent 45 minutes yesterday completing a task I had been ignoring: cleaning out the fridge. In my fantasy world, this chore would be completed on a monthly basis.  In reality, I probably get to it once every two or three months. Now that Evie is old enough to help herself to certain things in [...]

I am always tinkering with homemade ways to clean my home.  I don’t like the expense and chemical overload associated with conventional cleaners, so more often than not I turn to old-fashioned staples like white vinegar and baking soda to get a job done. For a while now I’ve wanted to make a homemade cleaner [...]

I grew up without a microwave in our house.  It wasn’t until recently that I realized this was odd.  When I asked my mom why she never installed one in our kitchen, she said quite frankly, “They kinda freaked me out.” Good enough reason for me! Although I now have a microwave in my small [...]

Some of my tricks for re-purposing common household staples were recently published in an article on Mint.com.  While I’m no fan of house cleaning, it actually becomes kinda fun when I experiment with new methods of taking care of common chores.  Products like vinegar, baking soda and banana peels take on a whole new life [...]